Gardening caring for roses

Gardening caring for roses is not a lot of hassle.  People only run into problems with rose bush care maintenance when

1. They don’t get the basics right first time around or
2. They don’t follow a routine for the care of roses.

None of this is very difficult.  The first step in gardening and caring for roses is to choose a healthy rose.

Pick a rose with a well developed and healthy root ball.  Look for 2 or more stems about the thickness of a pencil, there should be no white stems.  If you are growing climbing roses the same applies but look for stems that are about 24 to 30 inches long.

The next step in gardening and caring for roses is vital.  This is about choosing the right spot to grow your roses and how to prepare your planting hole.

Choose a location that gets plenty of sun, roses absolutely hate being in shade and definitely not be at their best without lots of sunlight.  Don not choose a location for growing roses that is exposed to biting, strong winds.  If drainage is not good you can help that. We’ll get to that later.

At this stage you know what to look for when buying roses and you know the minimum requirements of your location.

Now you can get some idea of the different types of roses available and some ideas on planting.  Take a look at our pages on

Rose types and our pages on  growing roses,

You have now chosen your rose and your location.  All these steps in gardening and caring for roses are important and this next step about how to plant your roses is equally important.

Remove your rose and stand in a pot of cool to tepid water for at least an hour prior to planting.  Dig a hole of about twice the size of the roots or a hole in the shape of the roots, just a little larger.

Place a mound of nutrient rich compost at the bottom of the hole.  If drainage is poor make the hole a little larger and add a few shovel full’s of sharp sand at the very bottom.  Place rose in hole and fill back the hole.  Firmly, but gently firm up the soil around the base.  The best time for planting roses is in late October or November when there is still enough heat in the soil to encourage new root growth.

Apply a good thick coating, several inches deep, of good mulching around the base of the soil.

Gardening and caring for roses is more about doing certain little tasks at certain times of the year.

At this stage you are ready to move on to the generalities of rose bush care maintenance.  This looks at watering needs, mulching, pests etc.

You can read what you need to know on this page about Rose Bush Care Maintenance.

The only other care left to look at regarding gardening and caring for roses is the issue of pruning.  Thankfully a well tested and successful easy pruning method has been developed over the last decade or so.  This is a lot easier than the traditional method of pruning roses and is at least, if not more, successful.

You can read about the easy way of pruning roses, and the traditional way on the following link.

Pruning roses easily.

Gardening and caring for roses is not all that difficult and the rewards are fantastic.