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[H1233]How To Grow Roses

by Dee Power, Dee

Prepare the soil

If you're planting a rose bush dig a hole about 1 and half times as deep as the rose bush container and twice as wide. Add slow release fertilizer per package directions to the bottom of the hole, then a shovel full of compost, a shovel of the soil you removed and a bit more fertilizer. Remove the rose bush gently from the container and set in the hole. The soil line on the rose bush from the container should be the same as in your garden. If it's too high remove a bit more soil from the planting hole. If it's a bit too low add another shovel of soil. When it's just right, gently scratch the roots from the bottom of the root ball and around the sides. That will encourage the roots to start branching out into the new hole.

Fill the hole half way, alternating soil and compost with a sprinkle of fertilizer. Water thoroughly. When the water has been absorbed by the soil, fill the hole to the top and water again.

Refresh the soil

Dig a few inches deep around the base of your rose out to the edges of the bush. Remove about half of the soil and replace with compost, or bagged topsoil, mixed with slow release fertilizer ? follow package directions. Add a layer of mulch a couple of inches deep to retain the moisture in the soil. The mulch will break down over the season and add organic matter to the soil.

Catch problems before they start

If you see aphids or other buggy creatures remove them immediately. Don't wait until you get to the nursery for bug spray. Most creatures can be washed off with a strong spray of water. Aphids can be sprayed with a mixture of ? teaspoon dishwashing liquid to one quart of water. Spray on the aphids. If you don't have a sprayer handy use a sponge. It's messier but it works.

Look at your roses as they grow and treat problems right away. Look at the leaves for disease or brown spots. Don't get too worried if leaves are a bit yellowish-greenish or new growth is kind of reddish, that can be normal. If the veins of the leaves are dark green but the leaf itself is yellow it could be a sign of iron deficiency. That's easily treatable. If the entire leaf is yellow that could be a sign of nitrogen deficiency, again easily corrected.

Water but don't over water

Roses don't like getting their leaves wet and they don't like keeping their feet wet. Don't water on a preset schedule. Water when the top 3 or 4 inches of soil is dry, then soak the plants.

In very humid climates don't crowd your roses with other plants, it invites fungus diseases. In hot dry climates don't water everyday, plant the roses so they receive afternoon shade.

Remove spent blossoms

The only purpose of a flower is to produce seed, well at least to the plant that's the only purpose. Remove the spent blossoms and the rose will continue to bud and flower. The exception is if the rose is of a variety that only blooms once a year. In that case leave the blossoms and enjoy the display.

Follow these easy tips and you'll have no problem growing healthy roses.

First consider what kind of rose-garden you will plan. Roses seem to enjoy being arranged in countless ways. Will the first show of bloom to burst into view, as one approaches your home, be on your pergola, or arbor, or rose-covered summer-house? If none of these furnishes appropriate setting, probably your banks or fences will be clothed or beautified. A variety of types is available, and choosing from these will become a delight.

Perhaps your fancy may picture prosperous beds, abounding in a wealth of bloom, to be seen across a sweep of level lawn, or from your favorite room in the house, or even hidden beyond the curve in your garden-walk.

The formal rose-garden, too, is important, especially on the larger place. There are excellent reasons why the rose-garden should have a domain all its own. These fastidious creatures that so well repay your thoughtful care may well be grouped and with greater resulting effectiveness. In no other case, perhaps, does careful planning pay so well as in the formal garden.

In these brief suggestions of rose-garden possibilities let us recall vividly the value of the rose in the landscape. Here again a knowledge of varieties is important. Landscape architects are recognizing more and more the noteworthy species which are valuable in mass-plantings for showy effects, for retaining embankments, for bordering driveways, or even for certain types of hedges.

Or you may wish most for a garden of roses from which to cut bouquets, so that "the glory of the garden" may be reflected in your home. Good taste will suggest the right roses—one for this vase, a bunch for that bowl, a spray for the guest-room, still others for the hallway or the dining-room table, then surely some for boutonnieres, and at times for "state occasions." Surely anyone who has experienced the exquisite thrill welling up in the soul from the presence of choice roses well arranged will be eager to develop the skill needed to make the best use of nature's garden-gifts.

Several available spaces for the rose-bed are usually to be found on the average home-grounds. I've had the good fortune to visit a number of rose-gardens that are famous—and others that deserve to be—and this may be said of nearly all: that they lie on the genial, sunny side of a generous group of trees or copse, but are open to the gentler breezes, and are not shut in or shaded.

Choose a place, therefore, or establish one, protected either by trees, a hedge, a wall, a building, or by some other wind-break. Even a hedge of roses, or climbers, upon a substantial trellis will avail, although a denser screen is more effective. Choose, too, a place where the sun will shine for not less than one-half of the day, preferably the morning. By this you will see that a space opening away to the south or southeast is to be preferred. We have noted equally successful rose-gardens entirely surrounded by hedges.

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Both Dee Power & Mazliza Othman are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Dee Power has sinced written about articles on various topics from Credit Cards, Sales and Negotiation and Business Plan. Find more tips on growing roses, flowers, fruits, vegetables and trees at . Dee Power is the author of several nonfiction books. She and her daughter h. Dee Power's top article generates over 450000 views. to your Favourites.

Mazliza Othman has sinced written about articles on various topics from Gardening, Greenhouse Garden and Computers and The Internet. . Mazliza Othman's top article generates over 6600 views. to your Favourites.