DALLAS — EarthKind roses were a star attraction at the 27th annual Dallas Home and Garden show. The rose’s benefits were touted by Master Gardeners and city officials who have incorporated them into public outdoor areas.
Show organizers estimate attendance was in the tens of thousands. Among the 700 booths at the show were several featuring EarthKind roses and EarthKind planting procedures.
The city of Addison has incorporated the roses and EarthKind planting procedures into its landscaping in half a dozen public areas.
Slade Strickland, director of parks and recreation for the city of Addison, joined Dale Groom, Texas Cooperative Extension horticulture agent in Dallas County, in promoting EarthKind benefits at this weekend’s three-day show.
Strickland told about Addison’s ongoing efforts to save water.
“Because the parks department is the town’s largest water user, a conscious effort is underway to switch city landscaping to plants that are water and weather tolerant,” Strickland said. “And EarthKind roses fit the bill.”
The EarthKind planting techniques focus on soil preparation. The soil is tilled, amended with finished compost and expanded shale, and then crowned for drainage.
After the roses are planted, hardwood mulch is added. An extra 1 to 2 inches of new hardwood mulch are added every six months, Strickland said.
“After a couple of years, the bottom inch of mulch breaks down into humus,” Strickland said. “And after that the process speeds up even more, to every six months. It makes for an ongoing feeding process that also helps hold water in the soil.
“It’s given the rose bushes larger, healthier root systems that help them pull more water from more soil. The ability to do that means less watering on our part, which means a significant drop in water usage. That means a lot at times like these when a drought brings water conservation to the forefront.”
Watering is only done for the first few months to get the bushes established, Strickland said. After that, they are watered once every couple of weeks to help them survive the drought.
Another benefit Strickland cited was no need for fertilizer.
“If you’re planting and mulching right, the plants don’t need fertilizer to prosper,” he said. “For us, that not only means a cost savings, but it also means we don’t have to worry about soil and water contamination due to runoff from fertilizers. There’s a lot to be said for that kind of peace of mind.”
The city’s initial EarthKind efforts were so successful that city leaders have since supported building the first fully EarthKind park in the nation, Strickland said. The parks department has also incorporated EarthKind plants and planting procedures into every aspect of its five-year plan.
To date, 11 rose cultivars have received the EarthKind designation. Five more are in the final stages of a statewide trial, and a nationwide trial has just begun for about 30 more.
Rose bushes at the show were available for purchase as a fundraiser for the Dallas County Master Gardeners, and recruitment was done for EarthKind Rose Brigade volunteers.
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