Roses
- Virtually every flower color except blue
- A wealth of flower forms: wild and single through full and billowy
- Myriad of plant types - miniature, groundcover, shrub, climber
- Often intensely fragrant
- Excellent cut flowers
Local Advice for Local Gardeners
Roses. Need we say more? The ultimate, classic garden flower keeps getting better, with choices and color combinations, and a wide range of plant habits. They’ve gotten more disease-resistant, hardier, and easier, and even new hybrids are regaining that great old-fashioned fragrance. They belong everywhere in your garden landscape.
Roses like:
- Soil - Well-prepared, well-drained good garden soil. Clay soils benefit by addition of sand. Make sure there’s no tree root competition
- Light - Full sun for at last 6 hours, preferably morning
- Moisture - Deep watering 1-2 times a week, preferably in the morning
- Fertilizer - Granular rose food monthly throughout growing season, or use slow-release; climbers need 2-3x as much, miniatures want little to none
- Remember to choose plants with at least three strong canes
How to plant a rose:
Choose a cool, cloudy Spring day. Cut top growth back to 8in. The hole should be 18in wide and deep, add rose fertilizer. Plant at same level as in the pot. Begin to fill in hole with soil amended with 50% potting soil; when half full, water, allow to drain, then finish filling the hole. Make sure there’s a well around the hole. Mound up the base of the canes with 6in of mulch and keep moist. An odd tip some growers swear by is to put two chopped banana peels in the bottom of the planting hole.
Where to grow roses:
- Containers - Group potted roses on the patio or at focal points
- Formal rose garden - For dramatic effect, choose a harmonious color palette rather than a spotty mix
- Landscape - Groups of massed, repeat-blooming roses, each with just one variety, make a powerful impact
- Hedges - Grow at least three of one variety of shrub, English, sweetbriar or old rose 18in apart to make a dense hedge
- Archways, walls, trellises, pergolas, lampposts, fences - Climbing roses can grow almost anywhere, and also be intermixed with other vines, such as clematis
- Slopes - Groundcover roses pinned on a sunny bank look great and also stabilize the slope
- Mixed borders - Tall roses do well at the back of the border or the center of an island; use other heights as you would other perennials
Seasonal care
- Spring - Remove old mulch and add new organic material. Cut out dead and weak wood and prune according to type. Fertilize established roses when leaf buds begin to swell. Fertilize again after first heavy bloom
- Summer - Reduce fertilizer amounts to half. Deadhead old blooms with shears to encourage more. If blackspot, mildew, aphids or other insects are problems, apply appropriate treatments
- Fall - Last fertilizing a month before first frosts. Water well right after the first frost then mulch
- Winter - After the first hard freeze, mound 6-12in of mulch around the base of hybrid teas for protection
Terrain’s Top Ten Roses
- ‘Alchymist’* (yellow-apricot-pink climber)
- ‘Double Delight’* (red and white hybrid tea)
- ‘Ebb Tide’* (clove-scented purple floribunda)
- ‘Fair Bianca’* (white English rose)
- ‘Frau Dagmar Hartopp’* (pink rugosa, excellent hips)
- ‘Mister Lincoln’* (red hybrid tea)
- ‘Peace’ (pink and yellow hybrid tea)
- ‘Pink Drift’ (pink with yellow center groundcover)
- ‘Rise ‘n Shine’ (bright yellow double mini)
- ‘Zéphirine Drouhin’* (deep pink climbing heirloom)
Look for new varieties including: ‘Climbing Candy Land,’ a gorgeous pink and white striped double with exceptional disease-resistance; the excellent Knock Out Series of rugged, truly low maintenance little shrubs has even more colors this year.
*Denotes Very Fragrant
Did you know… Rose colors have meanings: yellow indicates friendship, red is romantic love, pink signals gratefulness, orange expresses desire, white symbolizes reverence, while the purple rose means “I fell in love with you at first sight!
Written by Graham Rice