Rita Perwich offers organic gardening principles, showing that sprays of pesticides and fungicides, even organic ones, are not necessary in a home garden.

Roses are the most popular flower in the world, yet many people are afraid to grow them, given their reputation as high-maintenance ornamentals that need constant spraying with pesticides and fungicides and frequent fertilization. According to author Rita Perwich, traditional how-to books offer misguided information that causes many aspiring gardeners to wonder why they would even want to grow roses. 

Natural Rose Gardening debunks these rose rules and myths. It educates gardeners on how to grow roses organically and sustainably without jeopardizing the environment, their health, or the health of their families and pets. 

Growing roses should and can be fun. It is not a test that requires a perfect score. This book is an important resource for readers who want to grow beautiful and healthy roses, benefit their own health and mental well-being, and stay in touch with nature and in harmony with all earth’s creatures.

Among the commonsense concepts in this book: 

• Inhabit your garden so you can observe and deal with pest and fungal problems while they are still minimal.
  

• When you decide to grow a rose, find out what its cultural needs are and give it what it needs so it will be healthy—without pesticides and fungicides. 
  

• The “Disease Triangle” is explained to help gardeners prevent and minimize the presence of disease pathogens in the garden without the use of fungicides. 
  

• Natural predators help to create a healthy and sustainable rose garden. They cost us nothing and are the most time-saving and effective tool to keep pest populations in check. Each beneficial is identified and discussed in the book. 
  

• Growing a diversity of pollen and nectar-rich plants in our garden entices beneficials to visit and stay to feast on pests. Combining plants also minimizes the presence of fungal diseases. Compatible companion plants that provide diversity are highlighted. 
  

• Roses are high-water use plants. The book discusses thoughtful, sustainable water management methods to minimize water use and maximize every drop of water to help our plants thrive. 
  

• Roses are “overfed” by many rosarians. The book emphasizes the importance of amending and improving our soil using only organics and personalizing what we use in our garden based on our soil’s needs rather than just “feeding” roses on a set schedule. 
  

About The Author

Rita Perwich is an American Rose Society Consulting Rosarian and has been a UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardener since 2001. She has been writing the monthly column “The Sustainable Rose Garden” for the San Diego Union Tribune since 2015. She contributes monthly articles to Rose Ramblings, the newsletter of the San Diego Rose Society. Her articles have been published in American Rose, the magazine of the American Rose Society. She is presently the writer of the Beginner’s Column for American Rose. Rita has had her articles published in Roses & You, the monthly e-newsletter of the American Rose Society, California Garden, Coronado Eagle, Coronado Connection, and Coronado 365. 
She is a regular presenter at Master Gardener Spring and Fall seminars. She has been a presenter at the San Diego Rose Society, Master Gardener General and Advanced Education meetings, various garden clubs in San Diego, and at Rancho La Puerta in Tecate, Mexico. In 2022 she was awarded Outstanding Consulting Rosarian for the Pacific Southwest District by the American Rose Society. The Perwich garden has been judged the "Best Coronado Garden," and "Top Ten Garden" on multiple occasions. Rita has a Certified Earth Friendly Garden. Rita’s fragrant garden includes over 100 roses and a diverse palette of many other plants.