Roses

Planting Roses

You have purchased one of our amazing roses but are unsure as to how to plant them

1. Prepare a hole about 16” deep and 12” in diameter.
2. Partially refill hole with a prepared soil mix. A good planting mix consists of mixing 2 parts of soil with 1 part Peat Moss. If you do not want to mix the soil yourself 3 way mix is an awesome alternative as it comes already mixed perfectly. You can add bonemeal or a similar fertilizer with a higher middle number (phosphorus) which helps promote root growth and gets plants established quicker. Alternatively you can sprinkle Myke in the bottom of the hole and rub it all around on the root ball before planting.
3. Place Rose in hole and fill in with the remaining soil mixture and add plenty of water with Transplant Fertilizer mixed in. (not required if you chose Myke in step 2)
4. After thoroughly soaking the root area, mound soil 6” – 8” up around the rose stems. This cover will help the rose to root quickly and can be removed by mid-June.

Rose Care
Roses like regular feedings. Using Transplant Fertilizer, with the first 2-3 waterings helps establish rooting. Use Rose Food every 3-4 weeks during the growing season, but not after August. (This is not required for the first year if you used Myke when planting them)

Spray Roses with a complete insecticide-fungicide every 2-3 weeks to prevent insect and disease damage.

Prepare your roses before winter by mounding soil, mulch or compost. Hardy Shrub Roses & Explorer Roses no not need winter protection, but all others do. After freeze-up, place leaves or straw over the mound and cover with evergreen boughs or burlap to hold in place. Leave under cover until early May, or after last frost.

**For the easiest care roses choose one of the shrub type varieties as they are more disease resistant, require next to no pruning, and overwinter much better than the classic styles such as hybrid tea roses**

Rose Pruning

Shrub Roses: These roses only require you to trim off their spend flower heads and to trim out any damaged or dead wood after winter. They are very low maintenance when it comes to pruning.

Hybrid Tea, David Austin, Floribunda, and Grandiflora Roses: Prune down to  12-14” in height in the late fall. In the spring first remove any dead wood from the winter. Then remove canes (stalks) until you have about 5 left. Having less stalks allows your rose to put more energy into less flowers causing the flowers that you get to be healthier and larger. It also promotes better airflow which reduces diseases. The 5 canes which you keep should be cut back to about 10" or if you had bad winter dieback they can be cut back to the nearest living bud/node on the cane. For best results try and cut the canes back to a bud which is pointing away from the center of the plant. This will ensure it produces a nice vase form which has better airflow and will also allow the plant to get its biggest. 

Climbing Roses: NO NOT prune Climbing Roses – Lay vines down on ground and cover with soil.

Tree (Standard) Roses: We carry only shrub rose varieties of tree roses. For this reason the ones we bring in only need to have their dead or damaged wood cut out in the spring. For extra protection in the winter you can cover the head of your rose tree with burlap or something similar if you are finding you are getting a fair amount of winter kill each year.