Monday, July 1, 2019

This Month in the Garden: Garden Rose Care: Planting, Pruning & General Maintenance

This Month in the Garden: Garden Rose Care:  Planting, Pruning & Maintaining
Welcome to This Month in the Garden for the month of July! A common question I receive as a landscape designer is, "When and how do I prune my roses?" I also get inquiries on the best time to feed roses and how to properly water them. Here are some helpful tips.

Knock Out Rose Radrazz
PLANTING: The best time to plant roses is after the last frost date in early spring when they are dormant or just pushing out new growth. Plant in an area of full sun and dig a hole that is slightly wider than the root ball. Place the rose at ground level or slightly above to allow for proper drainage. Mix a handful of bone meal or super phosphate into the soil while back-filling around the plant and add a layer of mulch to protect the roots. Bare root roses should be planted when the daytime temperatures are between 40 and 60 degrees, while potted roses can be planted anytime between spring and fall.
Pink Carpet Rose
PRUNING: The best time to prune roses is after the last frost date in early spring when they are dormant or just pushing out new growth. Prune out any dead or broken branches to return strength back into the plant. If you are unsure about a branch being alive, gently scrape the bark until you view green underneath. If the layer underlying the bark is not green, the branch is no longer viable, and should be pruned. In the case of Knock Out Roses, Carpet Rose and Drift Rose, I prune my roses back regularly during the growing season to keep the plants full and compact. 
Rose Garden with Drift Rose
FEEDING: Feeding roses is important to retain their vitality and health. It is recommended to apply a slow release fertilizer that is high in phosphorus to promote blooms. There are products on the market that include a combination of a slow release fertilizer along with a systemic fungicide to prevent fungal disease, which roses are prone to.

Peach Drift Rose
WATERING: Roses do not fare well when their foliage is persistently wet. It is best to irrigate rose bushes with drip lines during early morning hours, allowing the water to go directly to the roots and not onto the foliage. Using this method will help to eliminate risk of fungal disease. Water newly planted roses every two to three days and established roses once or twice a week to keep the soil around them moist. Over-watering will cause the leaves of the plant to yellow, while under-watering would result in dry, crumbling foliage. 
This Month in the Garden


I hope you enjoyed This Month in the Garden for July. Be sure to stop by on the 1st. of each month for This Month in the Garden, as I share gardening tips, information and horticultural adventures! Linking with:  Floral FridaysMacro Monday 2Friday Photo JournalImage-in-ing Weekly Photo Link-Up and Dishing It & Digging It.

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~As Always...Happy Gardening! ~


Author: Lee@A Guide to Northeastern Gardening,© Copyright 2010-2019. All rights reserved.

7 comments:

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    1. Thank you! There are so many wonderful varieties and I love how they bloom all summer.

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  2. Good advice, Lee. My roses are not faring well this year with the torrential rains we are experiencing. And rose rosette disease is on the rampage here again. Your roses are fabulous. P. x

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    1. Thank you Pam. Some of these are at client's homes. The rains are reaping havoc on the roses this year. There are lots of problems with fungal disease, so I am advising clients to be diligent with either a systemic or topical fungicide.

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  3. This rose garden is so clean, Lee. My roses don't look so tidy:-)
    The growing of roses here with cold winter is complicate work but I love them too.

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    1. Thank you Nadezda. These roses were all recently planted so they are tidy, but I do recommend pruning them regularly to keep them compact. I find an ounce of prevention with roses is worth a pound of cure!

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  4. Hello, your rose gardens are beautiful. I love the colors, gorgeous roses. Happy Thursday, enjoy your day! Have a happy weekend ahead. PS, thanks for visiting my blog.

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Thank you for visiting. I love reading your comments and knowing you have been here, and will try to reciprocate on your blog. If you have any questions I will try my very best to answer them. As always...HAPPY GARDENING!