Roses: Caring for the Beauty Queens

“A rose must remain with the sun and the rain or its lovely promise won’t come true.”
by Ray Evans

Roses: esteemed beauties in the garden and plant worlds are often treated like queens. They hold a place of honor in formal gardens. Poems and songs abound extolling loves reflection in the rose. Queens, though, can be fussy, particular and enjoy attention (at least some of them do!) Volumes have been written about the care of these gorgeous plants, contests select the most perfect forms and color, hybrids are plentiful. Today I am summarizing a few planting and care tips.

Basic facts about planting roses: Examine the site:

Buy healthy 2 year old budded plants
They like 6 hours of full sun in well drained soil with good circulation
Plant them away from foundation walls
They do not like to be dripped on so plant away from a tree’s drip line or gutter line

Feeding/ Watering: water deeply but infrequently;

Do not use sprinklers either as the droplets can bring in disease.
Water if 2 inches below the soil feels dry.
Then water to a depth of six inches saturation. Watering this deeply encourages deep root growth which makes them more tolerant to drought.

Fertilize: once/week during the months of May, June and July. Stop by the first of August.

Roses are heavy feeders. I found this great site with organic rose fertilizer and more in depth info on the feeding of your roses.

The rewards: when we pick the right site for our plants and roses in particular, use rich composted soil, add mulch, fertilize with organic fertilizers and water properly we reap the rewards. Our roses will be healthy, able to handle most drought summer conditions and over winter well. These practices can help reduce insect infestations, reduce our dependence on synthetic fertilizers which deplete the soil, harm pets and wildlife while maintaining beautiful gardens.

Spring, a joyful season filling up with roses!

Enjoy. Judith