Green Wednesday: Winter Rose Care and Sustainable Beekeeping Tips
By Bob Niklewicz, U.C. Master Gardeners of Napa County, and Sharon Parham, Environmental Contributor
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Every Wednesday, Napa Valley Features includes posts from environmental voices and the UC Master Gardeners of Napa County, who share research-based horticultural advice. Together, these contributors provide valuable insights into sustainable gardening practices and climate-related topics relevant to our region.
"Prune Roses Now for Beautiful Blossoms Later" by Bob Niklewicz, U.C. Master Gardeners of Napa County: This article emphasizes the importance of pruning rose bushes in Napa Valley’s mild winters to encourage vibrant spring growth and offers expert guidance on proper techniques and tools.
"What’s the Buzz About Beekeeping in Napa?" by Sharon Parham, Environmental Contributor: The piece explores the challenges and rewards of hobby beekeeping, highlighting climate-related impacts, sustainable practices and the role of native plants in supporting pollinator health.
Prune Roses Now for Beautiful Blossoms Later
By Bob Niklewicz
NAPA VALLEY, Calif. — By December most of our rosebushes are fading. They are producing fewer blossoms and dropping yellow, brown or black leaves. It is time to clean up the garden as we close it down for the winter.
As brief as winter may be in Napa Valley, we still need to prune back the roses. For most of the year we are merely deadheading, which means removing the spent blossoms to keep the bushes flowering. But now we need to prune the canes and stems much harder to prepare them for winter.
Napa Valley is in U.S. Department of Agriculture Hardiness Zones 9a and 9b. That means we seldom have hard freezes. That is nice for us, but our rosebushes think they should keep on blooming. Although they can do that and look pretty good if we leave them alone, the bushes will not store enough energy in their roots for spring growth.
By pruning the bushes back to 2 to 3 feet, we can encourage the behavior we want. Pruning allows the bush to store energy in its roots rather than spend it on new blooms.
Even gardeners don’t always fully appreciate that all living things go through a life cycle. If roses aren’t deadheaded, the spent blossoms grow seed pods known as rose hips. If the hips are pollinated and drop to the ground, they can potentially produce a copy of the parent bush, a process that happens in the wild. Alternatively, the seeds might get eaten by birds before they have a chance to drop and sprout.
In controlled environments such as our Napa Valley gardens (I use the term “controlled” loosely), we generally like to keep rose blooms on the bush. To keep the blooms coming, we deliberately stop the life cycle by removing the tired blooms — deadheading — before the seed pod develops. We use small hand shears to do the job.
In cold parts of the country, rosebushes go dormant in winter. But given our mild winters, we need to help matters along. The Master Gardeners who manage the rose garden in Napa’s Fuller Park follow an aggressive pruning protocol in January, reducing bushes by as much as two-thirds. For most of the bushes, that means a final pruned height of 2 to 3 feet.
In essence, we are forcing winter dormancy with this hard pruning. The good news is that our tough approach leads to plentiful blooms by May.
For winter pruning you need either a hand saw or sharp loppers that can cut cleanly through canes that may be an inch or more in diameter. The pruning process also involves removing any remaining leaves on the canes and stems by hand.
If you would like more guidance on winter rose care, plan now to attend the online course offered by Napa County Master Gardeners on Jan. 11. The online portion will be followed by a hands-on class at Fuller Park the following week. See registration details below.
Remember to toss rose leaves and pruning debris into your city compost bin and not your own compost pile. The municipal compost reaches temperatures high enough to destroy any bacteria or fungal spores; a backyard pile typically won’t get that hot.
Napa County Master Gardeners are usually working in the Fuller Park rose garden on the first Sunday and third Thursday of each month between 10 a.m. and noon, weather permitting, February through November. We hope to see you there.
Library Talk: Join UC Master Gardeners of Napa County for a Napa Library talk on “Growing Peppers” on Thursday, Jan. 2, from 7 to 8 p.m. via Zoom. Let’s parlez peppers — hot, sweet and mild. Learn the basics of starting peppers from seed, plus growing tips and usage ideas for your eventual harvest. Click here to register!
Rose Pruning Workshop: Join UC Master Gardeners of Napa County for a workshop on “Winter Rose Care” on Saturday, Jan. 11, from 10 a.m. to noon via Zoom. Learn pruning techniques for all types of roses along with everything you need to know to make your roses a success in 2025. Attendees will be invited to a hands-on pruning workshop at Fuller Park Rose Garden on Jan. 18 to practice what they learned. Register here.
Help Desk: The Master Gardener Help Desk is available to answer your garden questions on Mondays and Fridays from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the University of California Cooperative Extension Office, 1710 Soscol Ave., Suite 4, Napa. Or send your questions to mastergardeners@countyofnapa.org. Include your name, address, phone number and a brief description. For best results attach a photo.
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Bob Niklewicz, PT DHSc, is a UC Master Gardener of Napa County.
What’s the Buzz About Beekeeping in Napa?
By Sharon Parham
NAPA VALLEY, Calif. — A few years ago, my husband and I became interested in beekeeping. Friends were doing it, and we thought it could be fun. We have a large backyard and wanted to help the environment. Little did I know how rewarding — yet difficult — beekeeping can be. Not only is there a steep learning curve, but climate change and other environmental stressors have added their own challenges.
Hobby beekeeping has become the rage in the United States. It is part of the “back to the land” movement, which also includes landscaping with native plants, growing your own food and keeping chickens for eggs. But because so many people have honeybees now, there is a lot more competition with other pollinators for the forage they all need to survive. In addition, commercial beekeepers, needing open space to keep their hives when they are not actively pollinating crops, have brought them into the area, and this creates competition for the local bee colonies kept by hobbyists and other pollinators.
It is important to emphasize how gratifying beekeeping can be.
The sound of a buzzing hive is quite meditative, and watching the industrious bees going about their business is a constant reminder of the natural balance of our world.
It goes without saying that harvesting honey from your own hives is one of the great perks of this hobby.
There are many philosophies and opinions of how to keep bees. Should you feed your bees sugar water or let them forage for their own nectar? Should you chemically treat the beehive for disease or parasites? Should you buy bees from afar that are not adapted to your region?
To help me sort out these and other questions, I joined the Napa County Beekeepers’ Association. Their mission statement is: “Supporting Napa’s beekeeping community through educational outreach, treatment free management and pollinator habitat advocacy.” The group advocates against feeding bees sugar water, unless absolutely necessary, and against treating hives with chemicals. Nor does the club recommend buying “bee packages” that come from outside our region and have a harder time adapting to local challenges. The club promotes planting native plants, which meets the needs of all pollinators, including native bees, and helps fight climate change.
Climate change and other environmental stressors are affecting bees, too. Extreme heat waves, wildfires and smoke exposure, shorter and warmer winters, drought, flooding, extreme storms and wind events all affect bees.
These climate changes directly threaten hives and also impact the seasonal availability of water, nectar and pollen, all required for bee health and survival. The use of agricultural and home-garden pesticides and herbicides also has a direct and lethal effect on honey bees.
Finally, overall disruptions in ecosystem health and diversity can affect our bee populations, making bees more prone to diseases and parasites. Examples include mites that carry the varroa virus, chalkbrood (a fungus), European and American foulbrood (bacterial diseases), and infestations of wax moths or hive beetles. Applications of fungicides and pesticides, including neonicotinoids, further weaken bees’ ability to combat disease and parasites. Hives do better when they are not in an agricultural area.
Beekeeping isn’t easy, and there are a lot of factors to consider, but it is very gratifying and is an important part of the puzzle of keeping these vital pollinators alive.
If you have a passion for the environment, sufficient space to support a hive, a willingness to learn responsible beekeeping practices, and the time, attention and patience to do so, then you can play an important role.
Actions you can take:
Learn more by contacting Napa County Beekeepers’ Association at www.beekeepersofnapavalley.org
Visit a neighbor who is already maintaining hives to see firsthand what’s involved.
If today's story captured your interest, explore these related articles:
Napa's Path to Sustainability: Weaving Local Plans Into One Resilient Future
Birdwatching in Napa County Reveals Avian Wonders and Conservation Champions
Calistoga's Old Faithful Geyser: From Tourist Trap to Natural Wonder
Sharon Parham is a local graphic designer who chairs the Communications Committee for Napa Climate NOW!