How to have the rose garden of your dreams – Winnipeg Free Press

By A Mystery Man Writer

At the time, it is likely you couldn’t actually hear the cheer that went up from insect pollinators everywhere when provincewide cosmetic pesticide bans were implemented. There was plenty of consternation to be heard, though, by anyone who grew plant varieties that had become chemically dependent over the years. Roses, for example. Would rose gardens ever be the same? Turns out, you can have the rose garden of your dreams without the use of any pesticides. | Alex Henderson is the curator of living collections at Royal Botanical Garden in Burlington, Ont. Henderson says that RBG planted its first rose garden in 1967 as a centennial project. For the next 50 years, the garden existed as a monoculture of roses with about 20 to 35 cultivars of the same rose variety in each bed — a traditional style that was formal and uniform. Henderson says management of the roses was heavily reliant on the use of pesticides and fungicides. | “When Ontario’s cosmetic pesticides ban took effect in spring 2009, it basically meant the toolkit we were using on the roses was removed,” says Henderson. Without the application of chemicals that the roses had become used to, the rose garden became infected with black spot, a common fungal disease of roses. “It got to the point where in midsummer there were no leaves on the roses,” says Henderson. The situation was compounded by the fact that the soil in the beds was heavily contaminated by pesticide residues and impoverished by a lack of nutrients. | By 2016, with Canada’s sesquicentennial just around the corner, Henderson says a decision had to be made as to whether to continue to grow roses or come up with a new toolkit that was sustainable and go in an entirely different direction.
At the time, it is likely you couldn’t actually hear the cheer that went up from insect pollinators everywhere when provincewide cosmetic pesticide bans were implemented. There was plenty of con