Planting roses correctly in a proper location is the most important success factor. Before you plant your roses, let’s review proper placement.

Roses should receive a minimum of 6 hours of strong sunlight. The more the better. They benefit from good air circulation and should not be planted too near to large plants that will compete for food and water. Do not plant roses where the drainage is poor. When spacing roses, follow this guide for zone 6. Plant Hybrid Teas and Grandifloras 30-36″ apart, Floribundas 24-30″ apart, Shrub roses 4-8′ apart and Climbers on fences 10-18′ apart. Plant climbers and pillar roses right up against their supports. In general, for full coverage, climbing roses are planted on every other fence post. In the south, roses should be planted farther apart; and in the north, somewhat closer planting is recommended.

Upon receiving your roses, open the cartons to check their condition. If the plants are dry, spray with water or soak the plants. If you are not ready to plant your roses, keep them in the cartons in a cool (35-40 degrees F.) area. Check daily to make sure the roots and canes do not dry out; usually a light spray every 2-3 days is sufficient. Keep the plastic securely wrapped around the roses.

One day before planting your roses, bring them into room temperature. It is particularly beneficial to unpack them and place the roots in a pail of lukewarm water into which you have added SeaMate at the rate of 1 tablespoon to a gallon of water.

Planting Roses

While preparing the soil, keep the unplanted roses in a shady place and take care that the roots do not dry out. Prepare the planting hole by removing the soil to a depth of 12-18″. Make the hole wide enough so the roots will have enough room for natural root spread, plus 2 inches on all sides. The soil you have removed should be mixed thoroughly with organic material. It can be peat moss, compost, well-rotted manure or leaf mold. Leafgro, Chesapeake Blue or Chesapeake Green all work especially well. This should be added at the rate of one part organic material to two parts soil.

Trim any roots or stems that are broken. Then build a mound of soil in the hole so the roots are supported at a 45-degree angle. Spread the roots over the mound. The mound should be high enough so the bud union is 1″ below ground level. In areas where the minimum temperature is warmer than 10 degrees F., plant the bud union at or 1″ above ground level. (The bud union is the knob where all the canes come together to join the central trunk). Only budded roses have bud unions. “Own root” roses, usually hardy shrub roses, are always planted with the place where the canes branch out from the trunk an inch or two below the soil surface.

Fill the hole 2/3 full with the enriched soil mixture and tramp to remove any air pockets. Water thoroughly with liquid SeaMate solution prepared at the rate of 1 tablespoon of SeaMate to a gallon of water. Fill hole with solution and let it soak into soil. After solution has soaked in, fill the hole with the soil mixture to ground level, firm the soil and water again. Mound the remaining soil mixture (and additional soil, if necessary) over the rose, covering all canes to within 2-3″ of the top. Finally, make a water-holding ring of soil, about 24 inches across, around the rose. Slowly water the soil mound. Keep the mound moist at all times. This soil mound will keep canes plump and moist while new feeder roots and sprouts are forming. Carefully remove the soil mound after the sprouts have been formed. Within a week, they will turn their normal deep green color. Try to protect these sprouts from sudden late frost. (If the young sprouts should be injured, the rose will sprout again in a few weeks).

Newly planted roses should be fertilized monthly, but very lightly. Too little is better than too much. Until the leaves are full-size, use 100% natural organic fertilizer such as fish emulsion, SeaMate or Plant-Tone. Never fertilize roses in autumn.

Newly planted roses that are reluctant to leaf out can be encouraged if the procedure below is followed: Lay a piece of cotton cloth over the rose canes with one end of the cloth in a bucket of water which sits next to the rose. An old T-shirt, a piece of bed sheet (double thickness) or burlap will work fine. The cloth should not touch the ground all the way around the rose: a small air space is needed for ventilation. The bucket should be kept full at all times. The purpose of this procedure is to make a greenhouse (steam chamber) effect: this will keep the canes from drying out before the roots begin to grow. A similar process commonly referred to as “sweating” is often used in nurseries. Once very small leaves appear on the rose canes, the cloth and the soil mound can be removed, preferably in the evening before a cloudy day.

Roses are an old standby for any garden and one of the worlds favorite flowers. There are over 5,000 varieties of roses in the United States and they can be used to enhance your garden in many ways as creepers, shrubs, vines, climbers, hedges or just as beds of pure colour.

When picking out roses for your garden, it is important to get healthy plants. Make sure the stems are green and not shriveled and the roots are moist and partly fibrous. The most expensive rose is not always the best rose; it may be only a newcomer, much discussed and, therefore, a favorite.

In general, there are two types of roses: bush roses and climbers. Bush roses are shrub like and climbers produce canes that require some sort of support. The most commonly planted type of bush rose is the hybrid tea rose. Other types of bush roses include polyanthas (roses in large clusters), the fioribundas (large-flowered polyanthas), and the hybrid perpetuals (vigorous growers with a great crop in June and continuous blooming throughout the summer).

The climbers include ramblers, whose long pliant canes have large clusters of small roses that can be used for covering walls, fences and banks. The climbers also are pillar roses, adapted to growing near buildings and on posts and the climbing hybrid tree.

If you are contemplating planting roses in your garden, make sure you pick out the proper spot and prepare the soil appropriately. You should use garden loam with organic matter that contains peat moss, leaf mould, compost, rotted or commercial manure. Prepare the soil in the rose beds well before in order to allow for settling of the soil.

You can plant roses in fall or spring, but fall is actually best. When planting roses, inspect the roots to make sure they have not dried and if they have make sure you soak them before planting. Trim back any roots that are weak, long or broken.

Set the plant in a hole that is large enough so that the roots can spread. The part of the plant where the top attaches to the roots (called the bud) should be just under the surface of the ground. Plants should be spaced 18 apart. Prune the branches back to about 8 from the soil.

To grow good roses it is necessary to cultivate, to prune and to spray. If you have a well-cultivated bed you need not worry about watering. But if you start to water in hot weather, you must keep it up, soaking the roots thoroughly about once a week.

Spraying every 10 days guards against the diseases and insects that attack roses. Nicotine sulphate wipes out the green lice; arsenate of lead is used against chewing insects; or sulphur and arsenate of lead may be used in a dust, as may DDT dust.

When winter approaches, protect your roses by piling sod or straw mulch around them. If you have climbing roses, remove the supports and place the canes on the ground, peg them, and cover with soil mounds.

How to prepare any rose for winter always depends on temperature. In general, if in your area during winter the temperature drops to minus 10 degrees F or lower then any rose bush will need some protection.

Note: If you live in a area that has a mild winter then most of the following will not apply. However, the advice on fertilizing and watering in general does. (In mild winter areas a rose never really goes dormant though does require a season of rest).

Whether you have a hybrid tea, floribunda, tree rose, miniature or climber the goal is always the same… To protect the crown and roots of the plant from the worst of the winter cold and possible mid-winter thaws and re-freezings.

In the case of climbing roses and tree roses you will also need to protect the upper parts (long canes for climbers and top flowering crown for rose standards) as well.

Preparing a rose for winter will always start in spring ( yes, I did mean spring). Any rose that has had a long and well tended growing season will be better able to tolerate the worst any winter has to offer.

Throughout the growing season be sure to water a rose deeply (allow the soil to dry to a depth of 2 inches or so before watering again, the root system needs air too) and fertilize regularly which will encourage a deep and healthy root system as well as healthy canes and flowers.

Roses store nutrients in their woody canes and so the bigger the plant the healthier it will be. Maintain a routine of pest and disease prevention as well as careful pruning to remove spindly growth and damaged or diseased canes.

About mid to late August stop fertilizing though do continue to water deeply (never let the roots of a rose completely dry out). About late September stop cutting blooms and allow a few rose hips to develop which will be a signal to the plant that it’s dormant period is approaching.

Once you have had a few good frosts, leaves will start falling. Apply a dormant spray such as lime sulfur or a dormant oil spray. This will kill pests and fungal diseases that might try to over-winter on the plant or surrounding soil. It can also help nudge those final leaves off. Rake leaves from around your plants and throughout your yard to prevent the spread of disease or a place for pests to hide.

Continue watering only as needed until the first hard frost and the ground is frozen. At this point cover the base (crown) of the plant and the surrounding soil (about 12 inches around the base of the plant) with a thick layer of straw, leaves or mulch and then cover with a few inches of soil. Do not remove soil from around the plant to cover the crown, that soil is needed to insulate the rest of the surrounding roots. Instead, use soil from another part of the garden.

Climbing roses require the same protection listed above and in addition will need to have their long canes protected as well. Carefully remove the canes from the trellis, fence or wall they are tied to, lay them on the ground and cover with a thick layer of straw, leaves or mulch and a few inches of soil just like the base of the plant.

Tree roses are a special case in that not only do you need to protect the base and “trunk” of the plant but the top flowering crown as well.

There are 3 ways to over-winter a rose standard if it is planted in the ground. One, is to dig the plant up keeping a good sized root-ball and “heal” the plant into a large container then move it into a shed or garage for the winter. As spring approaches the plant is brought back outside and re-planted in the ground.

The second method is to carefully remove some soil from one side of the plant and bend it until it is laying on its side and then covering the entire plant with a thick layer of straw, leaves or mulch and 3 to 4 inches of soil. This method can be tricky for the novice gardener as there is a danger of cracking or breaking the plant at one of its grafting points.

The third method may be the easiest for a ground planted tree rose. First, wrap the entire plant in a thick layer of straw and burlap taking care to fully protect the plant from top to bottom. Secure everything with either clips, string, twine or wire and after taking a few measurements construct a ply-wood box (with an open bottom) to place around or over the plant.

Rose standards that are planted in containers are the easiest to care for. After following the advice for preparing a rose for winter listed above, simply move into a shed or garage where the temperature will be milder than the temperature outside. Check the soil now and then to make sure the roots do not dry out (water lightly when needed) and move back outside once the danger of frost has past.

Late winter – early spring: When there is no longer a danger of a killing freeze uncover your roses and water deeply if needed. Once new growth starts to appear is when you’ll want to prune. Remove any damaged or spindly canes and prune back healthy canes by 1/3 to 1/2. Then fertilize and follow all the steps necessary to promote healthy vigorous plants for the entire growing season.

Good Luck and Happy Gardening!