SURPRISES IN BLOOM.

Byline: Carol Bidwell Staff Writer

If there is an ultimate test of a gardener's faith, bare-root roses has to be it.

You find the uprooted and severely pruned-back bushes during winter in the home and garden shops, in the supermarket, even the drug store, roots squished into a plastic-wrapped packet the size of a meatloaf, the branches looking more suitable for the trash can than the garden.

How can anything beautiful and fragrant come from this bundle of twigs?

But plop it in the ground, give it a good drink, and in a few months - amazing! - green leaves begin to show, followed by lush blossoms, year after year.

Once one of their roses has flowered and flourished, novice bare-root growers are hooked, said Tommy Cairns of Studio City, who grows more than 1,000 roses in his yard and tests new varieties for major rose growers.

``They're like a kid in a candy store,'' Cairns said. ``You see the pretty pictures on the labels and you say, 'I want this ... and this ... and this. And they're so cheap, you can afford to buy a lot.''

Bare-root roses - dormant rose bushes cultivated by major rose growers that have been pruned back, the roots lifted from the ground, washed free of soil and packaged in sawdust or other moist medium - can be purchased for $3 to $6 this time of year.

Bare-roots are also available in many more varieties than you'll find already potted and blooming at garden centers.

But in choosing a bare-root plant, all you've got to guide you is the label on the package. Unless you purchase from a reputable company with a reputation for accuracy, the rose you expect to be red may turn out to be yellow. Most labels show a photo of the rose in bloom, and give information about leaf color and care, fragrance and planting recommendations.

When you buy bare-roots, you'd better be ready to plant. They'll stay moist for several days; if you need to delay planting longer than that, you can soak the roots in a bucket of water for a few days, but prolonged soaking leads to oxygen deprivation and rot.

Cairns recommends soaking the roots for two or three hours just before planting in a vitamin B-1 solution (a half-ounce to a gallon of water), available at local garden centers.

If your bare-root plant has any new shoots, break them off, Cairns adviseD, or they'll just rob moisture from the roots, which must work hard to become established before the top of the plant sends out leaves and flowers.

Choose a home for your roses in an area that gets full sun all day, or at least six hours daily, in the morning; afternoon shade is acceptable. Plant them away from large trees or shrubs that might compete for nutrients, moisture and sunlight, and in an area with good drainage.

Cairns recommends planting each rose bush in a hole 2 or 3 feet across and 2 feet deep, wider and deeper than most people take the trouble to dig.

``The trouble is that the roses come in this tight little corset, and that makes the public think that's the size of the hole it should be in,'' he said. ``What a lot of people tend to do is put them in very small holes, and that's a disaster. To grow and be healthy, the roots need a lot of room to spread out.''

Shovel back into the hole enough soil to form a mound or cone at the bottom. Spread the rose's roots over the cone, positioning the rose so the bud union - that knobby protuberance on the stem just below the canes - is about 2 inches above ground level. Fill the hole about two-thirds of the way, then add water to allow a slow and gentle settling of the soil. Add the rest of the soil and water some more.

Mound up soil, redwood chips or other mulch to cover the bud union, keeping it moist for at least four weeks while the roots take hold, Cairns advises.

Keep the soil around the roots moist, but not soggy, and hold off on applying fertilizer for six to eight weeks.

``If you put fertilizer on too soon, the roots aren't able to use it yet and you'll burn those tiny little feeder roots,'' Cairns said. ``You can do more damage than good with fertilizer applied too early.''

You can generally expect the first flush of bloom in early to mid-April. Then you can just sit back and enjoy the roses that sprang from those bare twigs.

YOUR OWN EDEN IN WINTER

Choosing roses for your garden is a matter of taste. Would you rather have long-stemmed hybrid teas or abundant grandifloras? Full blossoms or single ones? Beautifully formed petals or fragrance to perfume the neighborhood?

You can find just about anything to suit your preference among bare-root bushes available inexpensively during the winter, roses' dormant season.

If you're going for fragrance, generally choose roses that have darker blossoms, more petals to the flower or thick, velvety petals, said Yvonne Savio of Pasadena, Common Ground Garden Program manager for the University of California Cooperative Extension.

Reds and pinks tend to have a traditional rose fragrance. Whites and yellows smell like lemon, orris, nasturtium and violet. Orange roses can smell like clover, fruit, orris, nasturtium and violet, she said.

Disease-resistant roses are also high on many gardeners' lists: Double Delight, Honor, Iceberg and Cary Grant are all resistant to powdery mildew, which can be reduced by spraying the plants - especially new growth - with water from a hose with a spray nozzle two or three times a week, making sure to spray the undersides of leaves.

Best cutting roses include Mr. Lincoln and Olympiad, both reds; America, Bewitched, Cherish, Color Magic, Duet, Sonia, Touch of Class and Voodoo, all pinks; Deep Purple, Intrigue and Paradise, all purple; French Lace, Honor, Iceberg and Pascali, all white; Gingersnap, Marina and Prominent, all orange; and Gold Medal, New Day and Summer Sunshine, all yellow.

In a recent test, the cutting roses were clipped from the plant when they were in bud and put in vases of 72-degree water; every two days, the stems were cut back about a quarter-inch and new water was added. Blooms were judged for color, substance, retention of petals and overall appearance. While all the roses lasted at least four days, Olympiad and Touch of Class remained in good condition for nine days, Savio said. Red, pink and orange roses lasted the longest as cut flowers, as did those with more petals.

Three new roses to look for in garden centers beginning this month are the 2000 All-America Rose Selections, picked as excellent growers by a national, non-profit association of rose experts:

--Gemini, a medium-tall, vigorous hybrid tea in colors ranging from pink to cream in 4 1/2-inch blooms against dark green foliage. It's disease-resistant, with a mild fragrance and long stems.

--Crimson Bouquet, a brilliant crimson grandiflora with 4-inch blooms on long stems, on a bush that grows to 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 feet tall. Disease-resistant and hardy, with deep green leaves.

--Knock Out, a maintenance-free shrub with cherry-red single blooms 3 to 3 1/2 inches across, provides a continuous show of color from spring until late fall. The bushy plant has clusters of three to 15 flowers against glossy green foliage tinged in eggplant-purple and a swirl of burgundy.

For more information on rose varieties, planting and pruning, check out the All-America Rose Selections Web site at www.rose.org, Ortho's rose information site at www.ortho.com and www.ottoandsons-nursery.com, which has information provided by rose experts at Otto & Sons Nursery in Fillmore. Or call the AARS in Chicago at [phone] or Otto & Sons at [phone].

- Carol Bidwell

PRUNING ROSES: IT'S KIND TO BE CRUEL

You water 'em, you fertilize 'em, and then, come midwinter, you whack 'em off.

To anybody but a seasoned rose grower, that whacking off part simply doesn't make any sense.

But veteran rose growers know how a good haircut gives a rosebush renewed life to send forth bigger, more fragrant blossoms come springtime.

It's a lesson Pat Ferrin and other members of the Gardening Angeles group from the West Valley Garden Club have been teaching fifth graders at Calvert Street Elementary School in Woodland Hills. Each of the students has adopted one of the 90-plus rose bushes at the school entrance, but feeding and watering and deadheading are a lot different from taking a pair of shears and cutting their bushes down to size.

``It won't hurt them,'' Ferrin encouraged as a handful of students took a few tentative swipes with clippers at a branch or two. ``Pruning them back'll make them bloom better. You'll see in a few months.''

Roses need a period of dormancy in which to rest and gather their energy to bloom, Ferrin explained. Because it doesn't get cold enough in the Valley to send the roses naturally into dormancy, pruning gives them an opportunity for a winter nap, she told the children.

Proper pruning, she demonstrated, begins with cutting the bush down to about half its height, generally with heavy lopping shears, leaving the remaining canes 15 to 18 inches tall. Then, with the shears or with smaller hand pruners, dead wood is clipped off and canes that cross through the middle of the bush are removed, as are weak canes. Each cut is made above a swelling on the outside of a cane, at a 45-degree angle, angled down toward the outside of the bush. That's where a new branch will emerge.

When pruning is done, what remains - ideally, three to five strong canes - should resemble the shape of a human hand, palm pointed up, fingers slightly cupped.

It's a good idea to smear a dab of white glue over the cut end of large branches to keep out boring insects and to avoid water pooling in the cut, Ferrin said.

One last thing: Strip off all leaves and haul them away.

``All the leaves go off because we want the plant to rest,'' she explained.

The fifth-graders, a bit reluctant at first to cut into the plants that had brought them such pleasure, quickly got over their fears.

``It's a little scary at first,'' said Terry Soltani, 10, of Northridge. ``And it takes a lot of strength. Now, I can't wait to see them bloom again.''

- Carol Bidwell

CAPTION(S):

10 photos, 2 boxes

Photo: (1 -- 6 -- color cover) Brilliant blooms (from ugly little sticks)

Bare-root rose bushes planted in winter reward gardeners' faith with spring blossoms. Variety of roses (no cutline)

(7 -- color) Proper pruning with the correct tools helps roses yield beautiful blossoms year round.

Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Staff Photographer

(8 -- color) Bare-root roses are key to a beautiful, inexpensive garden.

Evan Lee/Staff Photographer

(9 -- color) Calvert Street Elementary School fifth-grader Chelsea Duckhart, 10, gets rose-care tips from volunteer Tressie Manor in the school garden.

Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Staff Photographer

(10) It's time to gather the pruning equipment when the rose bushes show no signs of life in the leaves or stems.

Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Staff Photographer

Box: (1) PRUNING ROSES: IT'S KIND TO BE CRUEL (see text)

(2) YOUR OWN EDEN IN WINTER (see text)