Let's debunk some gardening myths

I'm wondering if one's particular climate might have an effect on which rules we follow. For example, I live in an extremely hot and humid climate. Although it rains and gets my rose leaves wet, when I must water them, I do not hit the leaves with the water. Most people here don't grow roses due to having so much problem with black spot. I find that this method of watering helps somewhat.

I also started pruning to leave open centers in the rose bushes last summer. This cuts down noticeably in the amount of black spot on roses in our climate.

Please understand that I'm not disagreeing with what anyone else has said here. I just do believe the difference might be in the particular climate we live in.

Climates certainly play a part. I would imagine your leaves are always wet anyway if you have that much humidity. Ours is very low, generally from 20 to 30%, although last year it dipped down to 11 and 12% for several days in a row.

My watering preferences have nothing to do with black spot. I really don't care if my roses get black spot. It never hurts the blooms. What I do care about is powdery mildew, which wrecks the buds and blooms as well as the leaves. Overhead watering deters powdery mildew, which will not grow on anything wet, as contradictory as that may sound.

As for pruning in the center, if you keep doing it all year, you will have better circulation. If you prune only once a year, as most people do, opening up the center will stimulate everything to grow back in the center, twice as thick as before.

I routinely rip off leaves that bother me with black spot and I agree with Zuzu about the powdery mildew. I had many old azaleas cut back drastically to improve the air flow so we'll see how the roses like it this year. A week of May rain brings most of the problems here.

Here is one myth I can definitely DEBUNK: that being that Pink daylilies won't grow here. Thank you pirl !!!

I've never heard that myth, JD. Is it common?

Never heard that either. Who told you such a fib?! that's like saying you can plant any color of daylily here but forget the pinks. Are you pulling our leg?

This message was edited Mar 15, 2009 7:38 AM

You're welcome, JD.

Long ago our next door neighbor laughed when we told her we bought 10 clematis and said they don't grow here. She knew from her experience but she bought them from Michigan Bulb Co. That explains her reasoning. We now have 50 of them and Jack and I now are the ones to laugh at the "they don't grow here" line when the end of May arrives and so many are in bloom at once.

beautiful Pirl

I get that, "You can't grow that here." alot. Well, of course you can't if you buy bad plants and treat them worse. Just sticking something in the ground and hoping is never quite good enough!

It just amazes me that anyone grows any plants if they started out with Michigan Bulb Co.

By "here" I mean So. Cal. I had more nurseries tell me that the pinks wouldn't grow here and I might as well forget it.

It amazes me how people think that if Home Depot doen't sell a certain plant, it couldn't possibly grow here.

What a bunch of bs! Wait until you visit my friend Gary's garden, tell him what those silly nurseries said! And what does a daylily color have to do with it? LOL They probably were talking about one type of pink that the nurseries get massed produced but it may be a hard dormant so of course won't do well in So. Calif. but to say it's the color of the daylily that makes it that way is just plain ignorance. Out of 70,000 registered daylilies, pinks don't grow in So. Calif.?! LOL that's so funny!

I'm not joking. I've been told this repeatedly. I agree with everything you said re: the color.