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Roses are notoriously beautiful and have a reputation as being challenging plants. However, with a bit of knowledge from the start, even novice gardeners can enjoy roses in their garden! Follow this essential guide to growing and caring for roses, and you’ll be well on your way to enjoying gorgeous, fragrant rose blooms for years to come.
To be successful at growing roses, you need to understand the different types of roses and how to care for them. We recommend beginners start with Knockout roses because they are the most disease-resistant to blackspot and powdery mildew. They are not quite as fragrant as other roses, but these short-stemmed shrub roses are, without a doubt, the easiest type of rose to grow. We also recommend Drift roses for beginners; they are shorter, groundcover-type roses that are very disease resistant. They continue to bloom in flushes throughout the summer and into fall.
Alternatively, you can select hybrid tea roses, which are single-bloomed, extremely fragrant, and very rewarding to grow. They are a bit harder to deal with in terms of disease, so we recommend getting onto a preventative fungicide program to keep unfortunate diseases like black spot and powdery mildew at bay.
Other varieties to choose from include climbing roses that you can train to grow up a trellis or a fence and English roses that are a little more disease-resistant with unique double blooms and strong fragrance. If your space is limited, try growing a miniature rose in a patio pot.
Roses thrive with the proper care and maintenance. When you plant your roses, be sure to select an area with well-draining soil where they will get full sun. The best way to prevent disease and pests is to grow a healthy plant, starting with planting it in its ideal growing conditions.
Rather than watering the flowers and foliage directly, it is best to water your rose bush at the soil level. Wet leaves are more susceptible to developing fungal diseases like mildew or black spot. Watering at ground level will also reduce evaporation, ensuring your rose bush has enough water. Water deeply about once a week, rather than frequent, shallow watering.
Deadheading is essential to encourage more blooms on your rose bush. You can deadhead spent blooms by pinching them off where the base of the flower joins the stem. You can also remove an entire flowering head once all of the flowers within the cluster are spent.
Fertilizing roses is essential as they are very heavy feeders. It is best to start fertilizing in early spring after the last frost, when the first leaves appear. The amount you fertilize will depend on the rose you grow; for example, tea roses are a little hungrier than other varieties.
An easy rule to remember is to fertilize after each bloom cycle but reduce the amount of fertilizer incrementally throughout the season. Then, stop fertilizing around the end of July as you do not want to encourage new growth on your rose bush late in the season; the cold weather could damage the new growth.
Pruning also helps to encourage bloom production in a rose bush, so it is another aspect of rose care that we definitely recommend! Plan to prune your rose bush in early spring (February) before the last frost of the season. Remove any leaves still hanging around from the previous season to help eliminate any pests or diseases right from the get-go. Next, remove any dead wood and cross branches that might rub against each other as this can cause damage and encourage disease.
Finally, prune back the remaining canes. To encourage outward growth rather than inward, cut the canes at a 45-degree angle above outward-facing nodes. Also, ensure you seal fresh wounds with a pruning sealer to protect them from rot and rose borers.
You will have a better chance of successfully growing your first-ever rose bush by following these guidelines! If you have any questions or are on the hunt for roses for sale in northwest Arkansas, stop by Westwood Gardens!
