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Documents: Special Interest: Roses:
Getting Started with Roses
by Veronica Sliva
by Veronica Sliva

email: vsliva@rogers.com

Veronica Sliva is a professional writer who gardens in Whitby, Ontario. She writes a regular column ‘In the Garden’ for Oshawa/Whitby This Week. Her gardening articles have been published in a number of newspapers and Canadian magazines.
Besides garden writing, Veronica spends her days writing corporate and technical documentation for a variety of companies and publications.

July 6, 2003

Roses … probably no other flower is so loved and feared by gardeners. New gardeners often shy away from growing roses at first, and no wonder! It’s intimidating to listen to more experienced gardeners lament about roses lost to severe winters, and then fretting over black spot (what’s that?), and then debating the correct method of pruning. On and on it goes. It’s like everything else in gardening though, and comes down to choosing the right plant for the location you have to offer. If you are infatuated with roses, fear not because there is a rose for every situation. Growing roses is not difficult. Once you learn a few basics, you can begin what often turns into a life long passion and love affair with the flower of romance…the irresistible rose.

Rose Types

Generally, I think of rose types as those that need to be coddled and are therefore tender because they don’t always make it through the winter, and as those types that reliably survive our winters and are considered hardy.

Here is a brief description of the different types of roses:

Tender Types

Tender roses require winter protection and without it may not survive our winters. Winter protection means to ‘hill’ up the roses by covering the base of the plant with a few inches of compost, usually in about mid October. Sometimes it’s best to think of these tender roses as annuals, and enjoy them throughout the summer. If they survive the winter (and they often do), consider it a bonus.

Hybrid Teas

· Hybrid teas have large flowers on long stems

· Generally they produce one flower per stem

· Hybrid teas are the type typically sold as cut flowers

· They come in the widest colour range and fragrance varies depending on variety

Floribundas

· Floribunda means abundance of flowers

· The bloom with clusters of flowers from early summer to frost, with biggest show in early summer

· They are shorter than hybrid teas

· Floribundas are hardier than hybrid teas, but still need winter protection

Grandifloras

· Grandiflora means ‘large flowers’

· These roses have big flowers in small clusters

· They are the result of a cross between hybrid tea and floribunda roses

· They have longer stems than floribundas, are taller than most hybrid teas, and are twice the height of floribundas

English or David Austin Roses

· These roses are noted for full, very double flowers that come in the delicate, pastel colours of old garden roses and they have outstanding fragrance

· David Austin crossed modern climbers, floribundas and hybrid teas with gallicas and damasks to produce these roses

Miniatures

· Miniatures look like tiny versions of hybrid teas

· Their height varies between 6 inches to 2 feet (15 -60 cm)

· Most varieties bloom all summer long

· I have found that miniatures reliably come through the winter (at least for me)

Hardier Types

Climbers

· Climbers are not really a type of rose, but a category of botanically diverse roses that have long, arching branches or upright canes

· They don’t climb on their own, but need to be tied to a support such as a trellis.

Modern Shrub Roses

· These great roses need minimal care, are disease resistant and are hardy to -35 C with only snow as protection

· Available in a variety of colours and sizes, they flower throughout the summer

· The Parkland and Explorer series were developed by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Growing Conditions

Soil

Roses prefer a clay based soil over light sandy soil. However, roses will grow in almost any type of soil if enough organic matter is added. If you routinely refer to your soil as concrete, then it would be wise to remove at least half the ‘concrete’ from the planting area and replace it with something lighter.

Light

Roses like a sunny location, preferably with 8 to 10 hours of direct sunlight in the afternoon. With less light, you will get fewer flowers and the canes will become spindly.

Fertilizer

Once your roses are well established and growing, preferably after the first bloom, feed them with a prepared rose fertilizer. Roses should not be fed after July since this encourages soft growth and raises the risk of winter kill.

Water

Roses need good drainage, but they also need a lot of water during the growing season. If the weather has been dry, they should be soaked once or twice a week, depending on how well your soil holds water. Water your roses either in late afternoon or early morning, being careful to water at the soil level.

Planting Guide

1. Immediately before planting, put the rose in a pail of water so that the finer roots don’t dry out.

2. Dig a hole 18 to 24 inches deep and wide enough so that the roots can be spread out in a natural manner. The deeper the soil is prepared the better.

3. Work well rotted or composted cattle manure into the soil along with a liberal addition of peat moss. Don’t worry about making it too rich. Roses are heavy feeders and organic matter helps the moisture retention qualities of the soil. An addition of super phosphate is recommended.

4. Form a pyramid or cone of soil in the center of the hole and position the rose on top of the pyramid so that the crown or bud union is about 3 inches below ground level and let the roots fall over the pyramid.

5. Fill in the hole with the remaining soil mix.

6. Firm the soil so that the rose’s roots are in contact with the soil and there are no air pockets around the roots.

7. Soak the rose thoroughly.

Pruning

At the same time a rose is planted, it should be pruned or cut back if this has not already been done by the garden center. Only three or four strong branches from the base should remain and these too should be cut back to about four or five inches above the ground. Cut the branches back to the live wood, as indicated by white pith. Cuts should be made with sharp shears, about 5mm above an outward facing bud.

Diseases and Pests

My first choice of treatment for pest problems is one that doesn’t involve chemicals. Generally speaking, insecticides should only be used once a problem is identified.

For diseases, some Rose experts suggest a preventative approach is more desirable. They say you should spray or dust every ten days even if you don't see a problem because by the time you notice, it may be too late to control the disease. There are products that combine both an insecticide and a fungicide. Use these only if you require both.