Roses

Home Studies Course

• Grow better Roses at home
• Start a Rose Nursery
• Grow Cut Flower Roses

This rose course is suited to the professional as well as the amateur grower.

The value of  rose blooms extends beyond the ornamental garden; roses are grown for many reasons including: the cut flower trade, for perfume extraction, to harvest the hips and for rose oil. This course covers all these aspects and much more. Learn the history of the rose, the confusing rose classification system, how to identify the different species, their general cultural needs (soils, pests and disease management and pruning), how to use roses in garden design and how to produce a commercial rose crop.

Roses, often referred to as 'The Queen of the Garden', are one of the most popular and prized ornamental plants. They are included in the greatest gardens in the world and many claim roses to be the most beautiful flower in existence.

Lesson Structure

There are 8 lessons in this course:

1. Introduction - identification & classification (modern and species roses are considered).
2. Culture - pruning, nutrition, pests & diseases, planting, watering, etc.
3. Propagation - seed, cuttings, layering, budding & grafting, etc.
4. Hybrid Teas and Floribundas.
5. Old World Roses.
6. Climbers, Miniatures, Standards & Weepers.
7. Using Roses - cut flowers, tubs, hydroponics.
8. Special Assignment.

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Aims

• Distinguish between characteristic plant features in order to identify different types of roses.
• Determine cultural practices for growing roses in different situations.
• Perform all operations associated with pruning roses.
• Distinguish between the culture of different types of roses, including hybrid teas, floribundas and species rose groups.
• Plan the establishment of a rose garden.
• Plan the production of a commercial rose crop.

What You Will Do

• Distinguish between the morphology of different groups of roses.
• Compile a resource collection of thirty contacts to assist with identification of roses.
• Prepare a collection of 32 photographs or illustrations of rose varieties.
• determine how to grow roses in your locality, detailing:
• soil preparation
  • planting
  • fertilising
  • staking
  • watering in
  • Describe how to propagate roses, using various techniques including:
  • Grafting
  • Budding
  • Layering
  • Seed
  • Identify the pests and diseases afflicting rose plants.
• Differentiate between the culture and use in the garden of different types of roses, including:
  • climbers
  • miniatures
  • standards
  • bush roses
  • Differentiate between the culture of roses in a greenhouse, and in the open ground.
• Distinguish between the pruning of climbing, ramblers, bush, miniature and standard roses,
• Compare the culture and application of Hybrid Teas, Floribundas and Polyanthas in a garden or nursery visited by you.
• Determine appropriate rose varieties to be included in a proposed rose garden, in accordance with given
  • specifications.
• Prepare a plan for a rose garden including:
  • Scale drawings
  • Plant lists
  • A materials list
  • Cost estimates.
  • Develop criteria for selecting rose varieties to grow as a commercial crop, for a specified purpose.
• Evaluate rose flowers offered for sale.
• Determine factors which are critical to the production of various rose products, such as:
  • Cut flower roses
  • Rose hip syrup
  • Rose oil
  • Dried rose petals
  • Nursery stock roses.

Did You Know?

• Roses are the most widely grown commercial cut flower in some parts of the world.
• There are varieties of rose that are grown successfully across climates as varied as Singapore and Scandinavia
• Many of the worlds commercially cultivated roses are grown in greenhouses or in hydroponics.
• Roses are grown as an oil producing crop for the perfume industry?
• Roses are one of the most purchased types of plants in garden centres across countries like Australia and the UK?
• Some roses are weeds (even banned) in some parts of the world.

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF ROSES?

Roses have been cultivated since as early as 2000 years BC (in China).  Modern roses have largely originated as hybrids of the species roses which have been grown for centuries. The exact origin of many of our modern roses however is complicated, difficult to follow, and some cases difficult to track down at all.  Until 1975 the popular modern rose with the conical type flower was referred to as a Hybrid Tea.  Hybrid teas are now called Large Flowered Roses by the experts. Floribundas (until 1975) were roses which were produced as a hybrid between miniature roses (ie. true polyanthas) with larger flowering roses.  Floribundas are now called Cluster Flowered Roses by the experts.  'Hybrid Tea' and 'Floribunda' are still commonly used terms though.

Modern Garden Roses
Climbing types (Recurrent and Non Recurrent Flowering)
• Climber (with stiff stems)
• Miniature
• Pillar
• Rambler (with lax stems)

Non Climbing types (Recurrent and Non recurrent Flowering Types)
• Cluster Flowered bush (Floribunda)
• Grandiflora (an American term not widely used elsewhere)
• Miniature
• Patio
• Polyantha bush
• Large Flowered bush (Hybrid Tea)
• Recurrent flowering shrub (various sizes and forms)

Old World Roses/Species Roses
Climbing
• Ayrshire
• Boursault
• Climbing Tea
• Noisette

Ramblers
• Multiflora
• Sempervirens (wild rose)
• Wichuriana (wild rose)

Non-Climbing
• Alba   tall and white
• Bourbon   flowers normally large, leaves glossy
• Boursault
• Centifolia (Province)   profusion of petals, also called the cabbage of rose
• China   usually small, compact and twiggy growth
• Damask   open bushes/diverse group
• Gallica   very prickly
• Hybrid Perpetual   similar to modern roses but better leaf cover
• Moss   foliage covered by a moss like growth
• Musk   bred in the UK between 1912 and 1939, all are free flowering and perfumed
• Portland
• Rugosa   dark green, leathery, rough leaves
• Tea Rose
• Sweet Briar
• Tea   resulted from crosses with Rosa gigantea

The English Roses
An important modern classification - these roses have extraordinary favour with the buying public. They are old world roses crossed with modern roses (mainly by the breeder David Austin).

FREQUENT QUESTIONS

Why Choose This Course

• Unique course materials (developed by our staff) and more current than some colleges (many reviewed annually); as a result, ACS graduates can be more up to date.
• We work hard to help you understand and remember it, develop an ability to apply it in the real world, and build networks with others who work in this field (It’s more than just serving up a collection of information –if all you want is information, buy a book; but if you want an education, that takes learning to a whole new level).
• Start whenever you want, study at your own pace, study anywhere
• Don’t waste time and money traveling classes
• We provide more choices–courses are written to allow you more options to focus on parts of the subject that are of more interest to you; a huge range of elective subjects are offered that don’t exist elsewhere.
• Tutors are accessible (more than elsewhere) – academics work in both the UK and Australia, 5 days a week, 16 hours a day. Answering emails and phone calls from students are top priority.
• We treat students as individuals –don’t get lost in a crowd. Our tutors communicate with you one to one.
• Extra help at no extra cost if needed. When you find something you cannot do, we help you through it or will provide another option.
• Support after you finish a course –We can advise about getting work, starting  business, writing a CV, etc. We can promote students and their businesses through our extensive profile on the internet. Graduates who ask will be helped.
• Support from a team of a dozen professional horticulturists, living in different parts of the UK, and in both temperate and tropical climate zones of Australia.

About ACS

ACS was started in 1979 by John Mason, who at the time was a gardening author, horticultural consultant and lecturer in horticulture at several colleges across Melbourne (in Australia).  Over the summer that year John discovered that there were thousands of applicants going to be turned away from horticulture courses at Burnley Horticultural College (now Melbourne University). There were simply too few courses being offered for the number of people wanting to study horticulture in Australia. This situation prompted a move to establish a correspondence course at Burnley; but after months of unsuccessful lobbying for support from government; John wrote a course, and with help from a colleague at Council of Adult Education, marketed it.

Standards were originally set in line with what were seen to be the standards of Australia's top horticultural college; and over the years, those standards have never been reduced. This makes our courses longer and more demanding than some other colleges; but it has also led to us building a credibility that stands tall in the horticulture industry across the world. 

In the early 1990's John started visiting the UK and becoming involved with the horticulture industry there. Around the mid 1990's ACS began offering RHS courses, and in 2003, John was formally recognised for his contribution to British Horticulture by being made a fellow of the Institute of Horticulture. ACS, as a school, established an office and staff in the UK in 2001, and has expanded considerably since then. Today it is formally affiliated with five other colleges in the UK (including Warwickshire College); all of who license and deliver ACS courses. 

A team of leading horticulturists work for the school's horticulture department, including 12 faculty members in both the UK and Australia

How You Study

• As soon as you enroll, we send an email to explain it all.
• We direct you to a short orientation video (downloadable over the internet) to watch, where our principal introduces you to how the course works, and how you can access all sorts of support services
• You are either given a code to access your course online, or sent out a CD or course materials through the mail (or by courier).
• Work through lessons one by one, each lesson typically having four parts:
• An aim -which tells you what you should be achieving in the lesson
• Reading -notes written and regularly revised by our academic staff
• Set Task(s) -These are practicals, research or other experiential learning tasks that strengthen and add to what you have been reading
• Assignment -By answering questions, submitting them to a tutor, then getting feedback from the tutor, you confirm that you are on the right track, but more than that, you are guided to consider what you have been studying in different ways, broadening your perspective and reinforcing what you are learning about
• Other - Your work in a course rarely stops at just the above four parts. Different courses and different students will need further learning experiences. Your set task or assignment may lead to other things, interacting with tutors or people in industry, reviewing additional reference materials or something else. We treat every student as an individual and supplement their learning needs as the occasion requires.
• We provide access to and encourage you to use a range of supplementary services including an online student room, including online library; student bookshop, newsletters, social media etc.
• We provide a "student manual", that is a quick solution to most problems that might occur

Recognition

• ACS has a highly respected international profile: by employers and academics alike. People are more aware of us than many other distance education schools –just do a search for “horticulture distance education courses” and see what comes up on the internet; or search for ACS Distance education on Facebook or Linked in, and see how many connections we have compared to other colleges.
• Recognised by International Accreditation and Recognition Council
• ACS has been educating people around the world since 1979
• Over 100,000 have now studied ACS courses, across more than 150 countries
• Formal affiliations with colleges in five countries
• A faculty of over 40 internationally renowned academics –books written by our staff used by universities and colleges around the world.

Extra Books or Reference Materials

• The course provides you with everything that you need to complete it successfully.
• Assignments may ask you to look for extra information (eg. by contacting nurseries, visiting gardens or searching the internet), but our school's resources and tutors are always available as a back up. If you hit a "roadblock", we can quickly send you additional information or provide expert advice over the phone or email; to keep you moving in your studies.
• Some students choose to buy additional references, to take their learning beyond what is essential for the course. If a student wants to buy books, we operate an online bookshop offering ebooks written by staff at the school. Student discounts are available if you are studying with us. The range of e books available is being expanded rapidly, with at least one new ebook being written and published by our staff every month. See www.acsebook.com

Learn How to Grow Rose Plants by Home Studies -Garden School Training Program -UK College