Roses are a favorite plant for landscaping and can be used in a variety of ways. These beautiful flowers can make the exterior of any home more elegant and inviting and choosing the right ones that will compliment your landscape and add to the style of your home is an important task.

Fortunately, the number of ornamental landscape roses make finding them an easy task. The difficulty consists of choosing the right ones from this variety. There are a number of classes of roses whose characteristics make them great for use as landscape ornamentals. For instance, the gardener who wants to grow roses up and over an archway or a trellis may want to use tall growing tea roses. Tea roses are renowned for their nodding blooms, therefore all who pass under the arch would be treated to the beautiful sight of roses in full bloom.

Roses are commonly seen climbing a wall or an arbor. For this type of landscape, the true climbing rose is the best choice. True climbing roses can be trained to many different effects, including climbing up the length of the structure, or accenting the tops and sides of a wall or building.

If you want a great background rose bush, the Polyantha or modern day Floribunda is a perfect match. These rose bushes have large sprays of blooms and can go well in a garden next to the house or anywhere that your landscape needs color.

Some rose bushes are rather large and should be planted at the back of your garden, but there are miniature or low growing China roses that are perfect to plant in front of other plants. Roses can even be used as hedges, with modern Shrub roses and Rugosa roses being excellent choices.

Color is an important consideration for your roses and you need to think about where you will be planting the roses and what color is needed for that area. Luckily, roses come in many shapes, sizes and colors so there is a rose for every spot in the garden.

When picking a rose plant for a certain area, be sure that it complimentsthe surrounding landscape. For instance, a spray of plain white tea roses can be striking against a dark red brick home, or an arrangement of pink roses can be the perfect compliment to a stone or marble entranceway. With so many colors of roses to choose from, it should be easy to find colors that compliment and enhance any decorating scheme.

One popular trend in the world of landscaping is to use a variety of different plants and flowers in the landscape. Whereas single species landscaping was in vogue a few years ago, most of today’s gardeners like to use a mix of different colors, species and styles of plants. Doing so not only makes for a vibrant garden, but it is thought to enhance the health of the soil as well.

Due to the large variety, roses work well in every concievable place in the garden and can be a beautiful part of an overall landscape of plants and flowers. There is also a rose for every climate so gardeners everywhere can enjoy this beautiful and timeless flower.

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.

Although all kinds of gardening is my passion in life, nothing but nothing gives me greater pleasure than my beautiful rose garden. They are just so stunning, and I do really love the colors and the amazing varieties which are available.

To get the best from your rose garden however there are quite a few important pointers to bear in mind, and I would like to share some of these with you.

When the spring comes and the ground is thawed it is time to start planting your rose garden. Roses have actually been a cherished aphrodisiac since biblical times, and have been around for over 3000 years. Despite this, they still hold a particular mystery and fascination, not to mention the fact that they look and smell fantastic.

One of the most important rules of growing roses is to plant the rose bush in an area that receives around 4 to 6 hours of sunlight every day. It is also advisable not to plant too many trees or other plants around the rose bush, because many of these are likely to either mix with the rose or stifle it’s growth. If you are replacing an old rose bush, approximately 1-1/2 cubic feet of old soil should be removed, and fresh soil added to replace it. When positioning your rose in the garden or landscape, make sure that you consider the growth characteristics of the rose in question.

To give you an example, place climbers and ramblers along fences, trellises, or next to arches or pergolas. This location offers them unrestricted growth and greatly increases the potential for some superb looking blooms.

Roses also look really beautiful in island beds mixed in with perennials, and miniature roses make great edging plants in front of the taller varieties. If you plant them singly, shrub roses can make excellent specimen plants, or they can be clustered to make a flowering hedge. You can also use them to camouflage unsightly parts of your garden.

Dig a hole large enough for the root mass, and loosen the bottom of the hole. I suggest that you should also add some bone meal which is a slow acting source of phosphorus. This leads to healthy root growth in the rose plant.

The plant should then be placed in the hole very carefully and the hole refilled with soil, making sure that the roots are properly covered. Water the rose plant well, and let it absorb the water before applying the final covering of soil. When this has been completed, water the plant some more and create a mound of soil about 6 inches high. The dome will keep the stems from drying out until the plant is rooted. Gradually remove the excess soil as the leaves start to open.

Special care should be taken with the planting depth, which varies considerably according to the climate you live in.

If you live in a colder area, plant a bit deeper and consult with other people growing roses in your area. If you are buying potted roses, you should plant them about 1 inch deeper than their potted level. The best time to plant roses varies depending on the winter temperature.

Where temperatures don’t drop below -10 degrees F in either fall or spring, planting is satisfactory. If you live in an area where winter temperatures drop below -10 degrees F, spring planting is preferable. Plants should be planted in a dormant condition if purchased bare root, but container grown plants may be planted throughout the growing season.

Spacing of the rose plant is highly influenced by the temperature. In regions where winters are severe, the rose plant does not grow so large as when in mild climates. Taking this into consideration, hybrid tea roses should be spaced 1-1/2 to 3 feet apart, but large vigorous growers such as hybrid perpetuals will need 3 to 5 feet of space, while the climbers need from 8 to 10 feet of space.

If the winter temperature is below 10 degrees F, roses can grow healthily if proper care is taken, so the gardener must be prepared to endure that cold and probably wet experience. In colder areas, roses enjoy their last fertilization of the season by August 15th or thereabouts.

These few pointers will help to ensure that your roses grow well, and bloom nicely all summer long.

I would also like to share with you a few important additional thoughts on how you can avoid the diseases which can attack your roses.

To make sure that your most prized roses are in the pink or even red of their health, simply follow these tips on dealing with the most common rose health problems.

Black Spots On Leaves.

This disease is commonly known as black spot. Black spots appear as circular with fringed edges on the leaves, and they cause them to yellow. The solution is to remove the infected foliage and pick up any fallen leaves around the rose. Artificial sprays can be used to prevent or treat this kind of rose disease.

Stunted Or Malformed Young Canes.

Known as powdery mildew, this is a fungal disease that covers leaves stems and buds with wind spread white powder. It makes the leaves curl and turn purple. Spray with Funginex or Benomyl to treat this particular disease which could totally ruin your rose garden.

Blistered Underside Of Leaves.

A disease of roses known as rust, it is characterized with orange-red blisters that turn black in fall. In spring it will attack the new sprouts, and this disease can even survive the winter.

What you should do is to collect and discard leaves that are infected in fall, and also spraying Benomyl and Funginex every 7-10 days will help.

Malformed Or Stunted Leaves And Flowers

The one most likely cause of this is the presence of spider mites. These are tiny yellow red or green spiders which cling to the underside of the leaves. They will suck the juices from the leaves, but the application of Orthene or Isotox may help in treating this infestation.

Weak And Mottled Leaves Showing Tiny White Webs Underneath.

This might be caused by aphids, which are small soft-bodied insects which are usually brown green or red. Often found clustered under leaves and flower buds, they suck plant juices from tender buds. However Malathion or Diazinon spray may help roses to survive these bugs.

Flowers That Do Not Open Or Are Deformed When They Do Open.

Thrips could be the reason behind this deformation and unopened flowers, which is characterized with slender brown-yellow bugs with fringed wings thriving in the flower buds. They will also

suck the juices from the flower buds, so therefore you should cut and discard all infested flowers. Using Orthene and Malathion will also treat this health problem with your roses.

I do hope that the information I have given you regarding the diseases that you can find in roses will prove very helpful in making your rose gardening more rewarding and fruitful.

What are the different classifications of roses that exist? This is a common question that arises when one is considering starting a rose garden. It may come as a surprise and it may start a debate among rose lovers but all roses are basically the same. Now before you discount that statement, let us look at the facts.

Yes, roses are typically classified into groups with similar growth habits, hardiness, shape of the flower and other characteristics. However, this is not as easy to do today as it once was. This is because the different varieties of roses have been cross bred and re-cross bred so many times that modern roses have the characteristics of several of the classes of roses. Nevertheless the rose literature still lists roses in specific classes even though they have common characteristics with many of the other classes of roses.

Probably one of the best and easiest ways to classify roses is on their habit of growth. Based on the habit of growth, roses case be classified as bush roses or climbing roses. Bush roses are generally thought of as self-supporting (free standing) and can grow up to six feet tall. The bush roses are thought of as the most versatile as they do not need to be planted up against something up which to climb. Climbing roses on the other hand must be provided with some sort of support for them to grow along. Climbing roses are best planted up against a building or structure such as a fence or gazebo.

A common type of bush rose is the hybrid teas rose. The hybrid teas are probably the most widely grown and are more popular than most of the other roses combined. Other bush roses include old roses, shrub roses, grandifloras, floribundas, and tree roses.

Climbing roses can be further classed as ramblers, climbing hybrid teas, pillar roses, ever blooming climbers and climbing floribundas to name a few. A main value of the climbing roses is to cover bare walls or fences. In addition if provided with the correct support, climbing roses can even replace a standard fence to provide a sturdy barrier.