What Is Needed to Plant a Rose Garden?
There is nothing quite like cutting beautiful, fragrant roses from your own garden. Fanciful names like Hot Cocoa, Black Magic, Scentimental, Heaven on Earth, Moon Shadows, Peace and Monkey Business, as well as all the roses named after celebrities and famous people like Ingrid Bergman, Mr. Lincoln, Ronald Reagan, Amelia Earhart and Cary Grant, inspire rose growers everywhere. Rose gardeners need to follow a few cultivation rules to grow healthy flowering plants that return season after season. Does this Spark an idea?
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The Right Location
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Roses need full sun to grow well and avoid disease and insect infestation. Full sun at least six hours every day is a basic requirement for healthy foliage and good flower production. Roses grown in shade may survive, but will not do well and may not produce many flowers. A sunny location provides the warmth that roses require, and keeps leaves and stems dry, and free from fungus that accompanies wet conditions.
The Right Soil
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Roses are heavy feeders, requiring rich soil with plenty of organic matter to support healthy foliage and flower growth. Compost, aged manure and rich, black top soil in a well-drained garden bed provide the ideal growing medium for roses. Planting roses in poor soil stresses plants and weakens them, leaving them vulnerable to disease and less able to withstand insect damage. A rich, thick mulch of chopped hay, shredded newspapers or compost retains moisture to protect plants from drought, and controls weeds.
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The Right Water and Fertilization
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Roses need consistent water and feeding to grow healthy, and produce beautiful blooms. When planting rose bushes, dig a hole deep enough to accommodate the plant's root-ball. Fill it with water before placing the plant in the hole and filling it in with soil. Water twice a week and fertilize plants once a week consistently in spring and summer, when plants are actively growing. Avoid overhead watering that puts a lot of moisture on leaves, flowers and stems; apply water at the soil level instead, where it will more quickly reach the roots without harboring fungus and bacteria on plants. Feed rose plants with a high nitrogen, high phosphorous ratio to support foliage and flower growth. Manure or compost tea are ideal liquid fertilizers that avoid chemicals. Fish meal is another good natural fertilizer for roses.
The Right Tools
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Planting a rose garden is easier with the right tools. A sharp spade to edge the beds cuts quickly and easily through the soil, and through any weed or turf growth. A sturdy garden fork makes it easy to spread mulch, loosen and dig in garden soil. Clean, sharp gardener's clippers are required for cutting off dead blooms, removing damaged or diseased leaves and branches, and pruning bushy growth. A soaker hose or irrigation hose works best to get water right to the roots without spraying foliage, and creating a moist environment for fungus and bacterial growth.
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References
- Photo Credit roses rose, rose.. image by Christophe Hamerlik from Fotolia.com
