A Gardener’s Guide to Care for Roses
One of the finest flowers in any landscape garden will be found on a blooming rose bush. These wonderfully fragrant plants have been popular for millennia and, since Roman times have featured strongly in gardens all over the world. Unfortunately many home owners decide against having roses in their gardens for fear of not caring for them properly. Such things as pruning put fear into those who just want to pop a plant into the ground and be done with it. However, with just a little research it is possible to grow an abundance of roses with little effort.
Like most flowers in the garden, roses, have their likes and dislikes and understanding these points can ensure annual displays of the most wonderful kind. Below are a few little hints to help you care for roses and get you started on the path to success.
The Basics of Caring for Roses
Roses have the usual basic requirements of water, sunlight and nutrients and getting the balance right is key to success. Your ground must not be too dry but also not to wet, a moist soil is best. When watering your roses you should ensure that the top inch or two should be reasonably dry, if it is dry further down then your rose bush requires watering. You should check often as rose bushes require a fair amount of water. One of the easiest ways to do this is to have a sprinkler system which provides a gentle spray which is far less likely to compact the soil than a hose. When watering allow the water to soak into the ground. Do not allow it to flood the area and runoff, this will cause the ground to compact which will, ultimately, lead to disease and erosion.
Besides sprinklers creating a more natural way in which to water your roses it also creates an even covering of water on the foliage. Watering is best done in the mornings for a number of reasons. Other landscape gardeners will water their roses in the afternoon but at this time of the day the sun is strong and the water can act rather like a magnifying glass and the leaves can be damaged by strong sunlight. By watering the roses in the morning the sun is less strong and the foliage will be dry by the time the sun is at it's strongest. Foliage that is allowed to remain wet for too long is more likely to develop diseases such as black spot.
Another way in which to keep the soil moist is to use an irrigation system although you will still be required to give your roses a splash of water from time to time. To ensure that the ground retains the moisture for longer it is wise to mulch the ground. Mulching is the covering of the ground with a layer of organic material such as leaf mould or tree bark. This not only keeps the ground around the roots moist it also helps keep down weeds and it can also look very pretty.
Feeding your Plants
When I was very, very small I remember my great grandfather always kept a large shovel in his front garden. It was a huge big thing, so big that I was unable to lift it. There was a rag and bone man who would walk around the local streets with his horse and cart collecting old rags shouting "any old rags" as he went. Every time he went past my great grandfather would pop out into the road, look backwards and forwards, then pop in again. On a lucky day he would grab his shovel and collect the manure which had been left by the horse saying "that'll do nicely for the roses". I would imagine that in his younger days, when horses were more commonly seen in the streets, he would have had richer pickings.
My great grandfather was a keen gardener who was very proud of his roses and for good reason. Every summer you could smell the sweet scent of his garden well in advance of entering the gate and, as you approached the house, the scent would grow stronger, until you reached his front door where he had the most wonderful lilac I have ever seen, the smell of which was stronger than I have ever known elsewhere. He always held that the secret of his success, the vivid color of the blooms and their strong aroma, was the manure he collected.
Today it is unlikely that we will see a horse trotting down our street but it is still possible to acquire manure. Roses benefit greatly from the addition of organic matter rich it nutrients and other types of plant food, besides manure, are excellent for them. Bone meal is an excellent slow release fertilizer and blood meal is also highly suitable for roses and other organic fertilizers such as fish fertilizer are also great. Slow release fertilizers release the nutrients into the soil over a longer period of time which means that they do not need feeding as often as when using synthetic fertilizers.
Depending on your soil type there are a few other things which may be done to improve your roses. Some soils benefit from a dusting of lime once a year. If you are unable to find organic fertilizer use an inorganic fertilizer rich in phosphorous. It is usually best to prepare the soil as early in the season as possible, which is just after the last frost when growth will be beginning.
Following the basic instructions above will help you to produce a quality rose garden but for advice relating to your specific area the best place to go is your local nursery or garden center. The guys there will be happy to offer all kinds of help and advice and you will be gaining from their, often vast, experience of roses and your locality.
You will find the articles below useful in learning more about roses.
More articles about roses below this video presentation
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See also: Landscaping, Lawn Care, Organic Garden, Barbeque Grill/Smokers, Outdoor Furniture, Vegetable Gardening & Vegetable Gardens
