Roses are the nations favourite flower, providing beautiful blooms and often delicious scent. They are available in a wide range of colours, forms and sizes to suit any garden style.
Following our guide, you’ll be able to start your journey to having beautiful roses for your garden, and to cut for your home.
Planting
Roses like a sunny space with good air flow, without being too exposed. They also need planting in good soil with plenty of room to spread their roots. They do not like waterlogged or shallow chalky soil. Before planting a rose in the ground, improve the whole area by forking in plenty of well-rotted organic matter to a good depth. It might be hard work but your rose will reward you with bountiful blooms.
Roses cannot be planted where another rose has previously been planted, within at least the last 5 years. This is because it can lead to replant disease, that causes the new rose plant to die. The only way to get around this is to remove and dispose of the old soil, place a large carboard box in the hole and fill in the box with fresh soil.
Before planting, sit the rose in water for 20 minutes. Dig a hole larger than the pot it was originally in, making sure the side and base soil are loosened to allow roots to penetrate. Sprinkle the hole with mycorrhizal fungi (Root Grow) to promote good root development.
Remove the new rose from its pot and tease out some of the roots. Sprinkle the rootball with Root Grow, and place in the hole so the graft union in just below soil level. (The graft union is where the rose variety is grafted onto its rootstock). Use your feet to gently firm the soil around the roots and water well to settle the soil into contact with the roots. Mulch around the base of the plant with organic matter such as compost or well-rotted manure to help retain moisture and suppress weeds. Continue to water regularly during dry periods, especially in the first growing season, to help your rose establish strong roots.
Feeding and General Care
Roses are thirsty plants but also deep-rooted. For the first year or two they will need regular watering. Once established, their deep roots can usually access moisture down in the soil, but in hot dry spells they will need additional water. Roses in pots will need daily checks and must not be allowed to dry out. When watering, avoid getting the foliage wet. This will help deter fungal diseases such as rust or black spot. It is also best to water first thing in the morning.
As well as being thirsty, roses are hungry plants that will grow and flower much better if given additional feed and mulched. In early spring apply a general-purpose granular feed to the soil around the plant and then mulch with well-rotted manure or compost. Don’t allow the mulch to touch the stems. In mid-summer, after the first flush of flowers, feed them again, especially if they are repeat-flowering varieties.
Roses in containers need feeding every fortnight from mid-spring to late summer. Begin the season with a general-purpose liquid feed to encourage healthy growth. Once flower buds form, switch to a high potash feed such as tomato feed to encourage more flowers.
If you have a repeat-flowering rose, deadhead all spent flowers at least once each week. This will encourage new flower buds to form. With roses grown for their hips, stop deadheading in mid-summer to allow the hips to form.
Pruning
Roses are pruned for two reasons: first to keep the plant healthy and second to give it a good shape.
Different types of roses have different pruning needs. The following tips are general, so please look up additional pruning instructions specific to your type of rose.
Most roses should be pruned in late winter. Make sure your secateurs and other tools are clean, to avoid spreading disease between plants. Start by removing any dead, diseased or damaged stems, including those where two stems are rubbing against one another. Make clean cuts about 5mm above an outward-facing bud and sloping away from the bud, so that water does not collect on it. Choosing an outward-facing bud opens up the centre of the plant creating more airflow and reducing the opportunity for fungal diseases.
On established roses, cut out poorly flowering old wood and saw away old stubs that have failed to produce new shoots.
Trace suckers back to the roots and pull them away rather than pruning them. Pruning suckers will encourage more to grow.
For bush roses take out one or two of the oldest stems close to ground level every year, and shorten the remaining stems by one third to a half.
Pests and Diseases
Aphids
Not all aphids are green, some are black. They weaken the plant by sucking the sap. Infestations can grow very quickly. Squash them, cut off bad infestations or wait for the ladybirds to arrive. Don’t spray chemicals on open flowers as this will kill the beneficial insects.
Black Spot
A fungal disease that is worse in warm wet summers. Spots spread to leaves and stems before leaves drop off. Collect and dispose of fallen leaves in autumn (not in home compost bins). Prune out all stem lesions in spring before leaves appear. Don’t spray while pollinators are active.
Mildew
This fungal disease looks like the leaves and buds are covered in white powder. It often occurs if the foliage is damp or humid but the roots are dry. Keep your rose well watered and water early in the morning if possible. Prune out and bin affected leaves and stems.
Rust
This is a fungal disease causing mottling on the upper leaf surface and dusty orange spots on the underside. These spores spread all over nearby stems and leaves. It is worse in warm wet summers and in places where airflow around the plant is poor.
Rose Sawflies
These are little caterpillars which munch through the leaves. Look out for the caterpillars themselves or rolled up leaves which will contain eggs or larvae and pick them off. If there are many rolled leaves, picking them off will cause more damage than the sawflies themselves.
Die-Back
This is often caused by incorrect pruning or mulching. When pruning always make a clean sloping cut about 5mm above a healthy bud. If die-back occurs cut it back to healthy growth. When mulching be careful not to bury any stems, as this encourages die-back.
Continue your Gardening Journey
Need a little extra advice? Visit your local Tates of Sussex Garden Centre today, where our friendly knowledgeable, team will be happy to help you choose the right plants and offer expert guidance.
