Growing Roses, How To Plant and Grow Roses Like An Expert
Growing roses is my complete guide to growing roses for beginners and experienced alike. From how to plant roses, how to prune roses, rose bush care maintenance as well as growing roses from seed and cuttings and how to grow roses in containers.
Rose Gardening Tips and Advice
With so many rose types to choose from your choices are endless. It can be a little overpowering at first, especailly when you consider that there are almost as many places to plant roses as there are different types of roses.
How to grow roses, colour choices
For many rose growers the idea is to plant roses of one colour. This is fine if it suits but it is neither always practical nor desirable. Others choose to go the complete opposite, in that case they choose a large selection of different coloured roses. Personally, my choice lies between those two options.
The choice of colour is your own decision but I would plant roses in grouping of 3,5 or 7. This way you get a strong representation of each colour and you can also co-ordinate your colours. This is probably the best of both worlds when it comes to choosing your rose colours.
Growing roses and underplanting with other plants
The bareness associated with the part of the rose nearest to the soil can easily be solved by sowing other plants around the base of your roses.
The main advantages of this are that there is colour when the roses are out of bloom and the underplanting hides the bare lower parts of growing roses. Opt for plants that do not have to be lifted and are shallow rooted. Bulbs are usually an excellent choice.
If you choose to underplant be aware that rose bush care maintenance can be a little more difficult because of the reduced amount of space between the roses, mulching will have to be done a little more carefully. Also be aware that other plants will avail of the nutrients in the soil around your roses so you need to make up for that by keeping the soil reasonably rich.
Different types of roses to choose from
Types of Hybrid tea roses, especially the rose types known as Floribunda are perfect for beds. These roses work very well when planted as a large grouping of the one color rather than a combination of differnt colours. The Floribunda and Hybrid Tea rose type are also excellent when used in borders.
Climbing roses and Rambling roses can be grown up through and over practically anything, so everything is up for grabs. Walls, trees,pergolas,screens and arches. just be aware that ramblers are best avoided for growing on walls as the reduced air circulation sees Mildew become a problem.
Shrub rose types are generally for borders and several different types of shrub roses are also excellent for use as hedges e.g. Rugosas are particularly good as are some of the Gallica rose types.
Ground Cover roses vary from very low growing, almost ground hugging, to about 5 feet tall. Very disease resistant they are great roses for covering those parts of your garden that you wish weren't so obvious.
Miniature roses usually do not exceed 14 inches in height. These rose types are rapidly becoming a household favourite because of their versatility. They can be used rose beds as well as edging of lawns and borders. Also a very useful way of growing roses in containers. A great way to start out for the novice rose grower useful for growing roses for beginners. Thinking of growing roses indoors? with the right conditions these types of roses can be used for growing roses indoors.
Patio roses are different types of roses to miniature roses, in fact they are smaller versions of Floribunda roses. They too can be used in beds, for growing roses in containers and as edging on paths, driveways.
How to buy roses for growing
Opt for a rose that has a nice uniform shape, for many the ideal shape is that of a goblet, or wine glass, and that has 3 or 4 good stems. If possible stay away from roses that have been pot bound i.e. in the pot for a long period of time, often years.
Pick a rose with a well developed and healthy root ball. Look for 2 or more stems about the thickness of a pencil, there should be no white stems.
One method of judging if a rose is pot bound is if you can see roots growing out through the bottom of the pot. Moss like growth around the base of the plant is also a tell-tale sign. It's not totally critical, but if you can you are better to avoid them. Bare-root roses ( roses not in pots) are the cheapest and these types of roses can be planted anytime from November to March.
Preparing soil for growing roses, how to plant roses
Plant your roses in a site that has a reasonable flow of air but at the same time is not exposed to very strong winds. Roses prefer a lot of sunlight to perform really well. Watering roses in the first year is very important but it is not a a big problem after the first year as their roots go deep and this makes them reasonably drought tolerant.
Of all the different types of roses that exist they all have one thing in common, they prefer a well draining soil. They will survive on most soils but they won't thrive if there is poor drainage. Dig the soil to a size approximately twice the size of the roots. Now add in lots of good rich compost and a good rose fertilizer.
Place a mound of nutrient rich compost at the bottom of the hole. If drainage is poor make the hole a little larger and add a few shovels of sharp sand at the very bottom. Place rose in hole and fill back the hole. Firmly, but gently firm up the soil around the base. The best time for planting roses is in late October or November when there is still enough heat in the soil to encourage new root growth.
Now place several inches deep, of good rich mulching around the base of your rose.
This is going to be your roses home for a long time to come, so get them off to the best possible start.
Rose bush care maintenance
the trick with rose bush care maintenance is doing the right jobs at the right time. Once you have a general plan of action and stick to it a lot of the hard work is taken out of growing roses.
We have now had a general look at the different types of roses and what to look out for when buying them as well as giving you an idea of what soil type is necessary.
The articles below will take you through everything you need to know on how to grow roses and as you read them you will see that growing roses is indeed far easier than you might have heard.
How to plant roses
This article shows you how to plant roses in a bed, as well as growing rose hedges and of course how to plant roses in borders.
How to prune roses, pruning climbing roses and rose bushes
Over the last 20 or so years a far simpler but equally effective method of rose pruning has evolved. No longer is there the great mystery of how to prune roses.
A great economical and fun way of increasing your stock of roses
As time passes on you might be interested in how to grow roses from seed.
Growing roses in containers
Whether for space reasons or for variety rose growing in containers is fun and beautiful. You could also consider rose growing indoors.
The link above takes you to a page that explains the traditional methods of pruning roses bushes and climbers but also shows you and equally effective but far simpler method of pruning roses.
Taking care of roses is easy using the year round calender which lays out month by month the various tasks for rose bush care and maintenance all year round.
