June 14th, 2008 Raising Roses
It must be June. Aside from the calendar, I know this because the roses are in bloom. Right now, our garden is filled with the heady scent of roses at their peak. A walk through the garden is like walking through a perfumery. From sweet to spicy, to sultry, from slightly fragranced to knock-your-socks-off intensity, roses have it all. The colours are as breathtaking as the fragrances. Virtually every colour of rose is available, including blue, though that colour is a matter of interpretation. To me, “Blue Angel” is more purple than blue. But hey, imagination is as much a part of gardening as weeding.
Roses, if you choose the right variety, will bloom all season long. There are single flowers, semi-doubles, doubles and fully petaled. The flowers and shrubs range in size from tiny to large. It is possible to find a rose to suit every garden and every gardener.
So why aren’t gardeners as rose loving as they were a few years ago? I assume it is because roses have developed the reputation of a diva. Granted, some can be divas (Hybrid Teas come to mind) but not all are like that. There are roses (Rugosa and Hansa) that can be planted, and, after a couple of weeks of attention, you can practically just walk away and watch them grow. I say practically because, like all living things, they do require some attention once in a while.
All varieties of roses have a few things in common; they like water, they like fertilizer and they like the sun. Provide them with those three things and they will thank you by performing beautifully.
Start by watering them well. That does not mean spraying the entire shrub with jets of water. The most effective way to water is setting the hose on a trickle under the dripline of the shrub. How long you leave it there depends on how large the shrub is, but fifteen minutes is the average for a large shrub. By directing the water to the roots, where it’s needed most, you avoid wetting the foliage and flowers. That decreases the possibilities of attracting diseases and damaging the leaves and flowers.
Roses are heavy feeders, so regular fertilizing is a necessity for abundant growth. There are several ways to go about this:
– Water soluble fertilizer applied every month.
- Fertilizer spikes (slow release fertilizer) inserted into the soil at the beginning of the growing season
- Granular rose fertilizer applied regularly.
- Top dress the shrub with composted manure (slow release fertilizer)
All of these methods work well. Personally, I use composted manure in early spring just as new growth is beginning to appear, in combination with water soluble fertilizer applied half strength every two weeks.
Sun. Roses are heat and sun loving beings, so plant them in full sun for the best results. Having said that, some of the roses in our gardens are planted in part sun, and they perform very well. Are they the exception to every rule? Yes, but only because I adjust the watering and fertilizing to meet the roses’ needs. And I have cheated by planting hardier varieties in the part sun areas of the gardens.
And that my friend, are the basics of raising roses.
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