16:21 - 11 June 2010
An English garden just wouldn’t be the same without a rose bush or two. But some gardeners choose not to grow these quintessential garden flowers believing that they are too high maintenance or too prone to disease.
Some rose varieties do indeed succumb to problems more readily than others, but by choosing your roses with care, and caring for the roses you have chosen you can have a fantastic display of summer flowers without heavy demands on you time and money.
There are a few simple rules to follow depending on whether you are choosing new roses, planting new roses or caring for existing rose plants.
Choosing
Choose your plants carefully to suit the space and make sure you select really good varieties. You need a variety that is tough and reliable as well as the right strength of plant for your location. It’s no good planting Kiftsgate on a 6ft arch.
If fragrance is important to you make sure the variety you choose has a strong perfume before you buy it.
Choose roses known for their disease resistance; it avoids the need for pesticides.
Planting
Prepare the soil really well with lots of well-rotted manure or garden compost. Plant deeply with the bud union about 3-4inches/7-10cm below ground level; this encourages rooting from the base of the stems and creates a solid plant that will not suffer from windrock.
Add rootgrow to the root system as you plant. This provided naturally occurring fungi and other supportive additives to the soil around your plant roots and enhances growth.
Mulch generously to keep moisture in the ground; it also helps to keep the soil healthy.
After Care
Give your roses plenty of space in the first year or two and don’t let neighbouring plants overwhelm them. Roses don’t like to be too overcrowded to start with; they need to form a framework.
Pruning is crucial but easy. Mid winter (December, January and February) is the best time. Prune them to an attractive shape and keep the plant young by removing some of the older stems after a few years.
Interplant your roses with flowering annuals and perennials to attract beneficial insects. It covers the bareness at the base of the plant, creates a skirt that attracts bees, butterflies and hoverflies.
Feed them well when they are working hard. Choose a dedicated rose food for best results. If the soil starts to dry out they will respond very well to a watering can full of water.
Fresh foliage and shoots on roses are a magnet for early infestations of aphids. Be sure to deal with these pests as soon as the first signs can be seen. Choose a control that is friendly to bees, ladybirds and other beneficial insects. Organic gardeners should encourage pest predators such as birds, lacewings and ladybirds into the garden. Put out food and water for the birds, and grow plenty of brightly flowered annuals to attract a wide variety of garden insects.
In late spring toughen up existing roses and shrubs and help them to become more resistant to adverse weather and plant diseases by treating them to a tonic of Sulphate of Potash plant food. This traditional formula is well known by experienced gardeners to encourage stems to ripen and mature and also to promote healthy growth and flower production.
Keep a watch on new rose foliage for the telltale signs of black spot. Prune out affected stems and remove blemished leaves. Choose a rose food with added sulphur, it acts as a tonic and is a natural enemy of black spot. Alternatively apply a sulphur tonic twice a year.
As your roses come into their summer bloom, prune out dead flowers as soon as they have finished. Cut just behind the immature rose hip at the base of the flower and remove this and all the dead petals. This will prevent your roses from putting essential energy into making seed and will encourage the plants to produce more flowers.
