Roses grow on you
This month I've
decided to write about a stalwart that slugs don’t eat (although deer and
rabbits love them): the garden rose.
Closely related to the common
bramble, roses are quite tough, and some are bred even tougher than others. I
certainly don’t have anything to add to the plethora
of books and websites dedicated to roses, but some of the tips below have made
a world of difference between my earlier disastrous efforts (the first lot were
eaten to the ground by muntjac deer) and the delightful sight and fragrance of
a now-reliable, low maintenance, rose-filled garden. So, at the risk of boring
the experts to help the less experienced members enjoy more success with their
roses, here are my top tips along the lines of "right location, right
care, right plant" – to which I will add "right level of experience".
1 Choose your rose wisely
The
range is enormous, but so is the scope for error. The basic categories are:
a)
Wild and species roses: the
rose (Rosa canina) is native to the U.K. and happily self-seeds. It has
delightful blooms but can become invasive and is painfully thorny and
outcompete other plants. Best reserved for large, wilder areas. Species roses
are similarly “true” in they are not hybridised (bred) and are the baseline
parents of other hybridised roses.
b) Rugosa: these are very tough shrubs, ideal
for waist-high hedging; they only flower once, but produce massive colourful
hips (perfect for jelly, jams or winter bird food).
Like all roses, however, they are deciduous (lose their leaves in winter) which
may not suit your hedging needs. Good in coastal areas where other plants
dislike the salt air.
c)
Rambling: these grow very
untidily, flower once and can be beautifully fragranced. The flowers tend to be
small and prolific, and the plants can grow to substantial heights. The show
will be spectacular for about three weeks a year. Perfect for disguising
eyesores, growing through an old tree, or an arbour (pruned right back in
winter) but not as a sole summer-long central feature. Clematis can be trained
through the foliage to add colour after the rose has flowered.
d) Climber: these can be trained up
walls, obelisks, pergolas etc because their strong branches offer more
structure. The flowers tend to be larger than ramblers and many are highly
fragrant and/or repeat-flowering. Be careful to check the eventual size of a climbing
rose so that you avoid disappointment - or a lot of unwanted pruning!
e)
Shrub roses: these are
intended for garden beds/borders, and the smaller varieties can be grown in
containers. There are thousands of hybrids, and they can vary enormously - single
and double, repeat flowering, striped, different shaped blooms... floribundas
have small multiple flowers on each stem, tea roses have tall strong stems with
bigger flowers, perfect for vase display. English Roses (climbers and shrub
roses bred by David Austin) often have enormous blooms and fantastic fragrance,
although the heaviest blooms can droop on lax stems. Older roses are overall
more prone to disease, but their fragrance and sheer pedigree appeal to
enthusiasts.
2 Experience
It is best
to match your plants to your level of experience. Your 'experiment' is a matter
of life or death to the plant – and mistakes can be expensive once you add in
the cost of time, feed, soil etc. If you have ambitions to specialise in the
fussier grandes dames of the rose
world, start with modern hybrids. Learn how to train and prune a short climbing
rose before contemplating a 30-foot specimen on your best wall. And choose
roses that are more disease resistant to begin with; breeders and suppliers
provide plenty of helpful information about specific named roses.
3 Soil
Roses do
not need special soil, but their roots need space, depth
and substance because they are deep rooted and greedy feeders. Good nutrition
is fundamental to the health of all plants- disease always preys on weakness-
and feeding is essential if you want a rose to flower throughout many months.
If you want to hide bare rose stems by underplanting, consider lavender, stachys, sage, salvia, perovskia,
catmint or hardy geranium; these allow good airflow and have lighter
nutritional needs while setting off your roses beautifully. If permanently
planting a rose in a container, it should measure at least a couple of feet in
depth and breadth. Make sure to use a soil based growing medium, because
potting compost will break down too quickly and it won’t
retain the nutrients and moisture needed to keep your rose alive for very long.
You will also need to periodically top up the soil in the container.
4 Sun and aspect
Not all
roses need to bask all day in the sun. “Full sun” generally translates into “at
least 5 hours” which is quite achievable in most gardens between late Spring
and early Autumn. However, some roses will grow happily on east or north facing
walls, in partial shade or in cooler locations. Similarly, there are completely
thornless roses (mainly climbers and shrub roses) if safety is a concern.
5 Feeding
When you
plant a rose, mix in some feed into the hole and planting soil (I use blood, fish and bone- it’s balanced, cheap, animals don’t dig it up,
and it lasts for several months). I fork in two or three generous handfuls of
feed around the base after pruning in March, and again in July. Tomato feed
also works well in summer. Make sure you water the feed in properly.
6 Watering
Roses
can cope well enough with tap water, although rainwater is preferable because tap
water can contain fluoride. Important: always water your rose at the base.
Don’t routinely spray water over the leaves and
flowers. Many people complain about mildew and black spot, where fungal
infection thrives in damp conditions and turns the leaves yellow and black;
this can weaken the plant to the point of death. Of course, rainfall might
temporarily cause a problem – and there are chemical sprays to counter mildew –
but subjecting your rose foliage to daily dousings
with hosepipes or watering cans is far more damaging than a few days of rain.
Roses planted in the ground need a deep watering (a whole watering can each!)
at the base at least once a week in dry weather. Container planted roses might
need watering every other day in hot weather. Very frequent watering risks
draining the soil of nutrients; mulching suppresses weeds and retains moisture.
And finally, don’t allow waterlogging in pots;
adequate drainage is vital regardless of the season. An unhappy plant drowning
in winter water or ice will die.
7 Planting
Almost
all roses are hybridised; to combine consistent characteristics with good
growth, a bred rose is grafted onto strong root stock. This is how a labelled
rose is guaranteed to grow true to the description. Look at the base of a rose,
and you will see a bump where your named rose was grafted onto an anonymous
root stock. When you plant a rose, that bump needs to sit above the soil level-
otherwise the root stock will send up “suckers” - its own stems – which can overwhelm
the named rose. Whenever planting, topping up the soil or mulching, keep the
area around the bump clear. And if you see suckers appearing, cut them off and check
that the graft is above ground.
Roses are traditionally planted in
November to allow plenty of time to settle in before the growing season but do avoid
frozen soil or very frosty conditions. I have transplanted roses as late as
June - this did stress the plants, but they were pruned back and kept well-watered
so have since flourished well. Roses are sold bare root during the cooler
months- soak the roots in a bucket of cold water for a few hours before
planting. A smaller selection are also sold
container-grown all year round. Do give your rose a permanent home as soon as
possible. Advice on planting roses is otherwise straightforward. Dig a hole
deeper and a good foot across wider than the roots and sprinkle either the hole
or the roots with a little microrhizzal fungus; this
is excellent for establishing the fine roots that absorb water and nutrients. Position
the rose with the graft above soil level (check by laying a flat piece of wood
across the planting hole), and mix a little compost
and a good helping of feed into the soil used to backfill the hole. Firm the
soil around the base, mulch and water well - and don’t
forget to label your rose. If planting against a wall, leave at least a 2ft gap
between the wall and the planting hole to ensure that enough rainfall reaches
the roots.
8 Pests and diseases
I have already mentioned the biggest problem associated with mildew, and that
watering the base of the rose minimises this risk. I have not needed to use
mildew spray since making this simple change. Aphids and blackfly are common
rose pests; the eggs of small flies are laid on the sappy growth at the top of
budding stems to provide food when the eggs hatch. This can weaken your rose, ruin
the flower buds - and it looks horrible. Ants also beat a path up and down the
stems to “milk” the aphids. The best natural predators of aphids are ladybirds.
Chemical deterrents are available, but one successful homemade recipe involves
saving the pan water from boiled potatoes (which is toxic), adding to or three
crushed cloves of garlic (many predators avoid garlic), and a drop or two of
washing up liquid (to help it stick). Spray the buds and foliage liberally. Or
try underplanting with garlic or ornamental alliums. But sometimes, drastic
action is best. One of my roses this year, treated no differently to the rest,
sent up stems in spring which turned brown and died. I cut it all back to
within an inch of the graft bud, kept it fed and watered, and it has already caught
up with the others. If the roots are healthy, a rose will survive cutting back
hard.
9 Pruning
This is
done for several reasons and at specific times, but the rules are simple. For
all roses, prune back to three strong branches, 18-24 inches, after planting.
During early spring, do the same to create an open, airy structure. During the
summer, removing the dead flowers (deadheading) encourages further blooms
instead of hips containing seeds. After the first flush of blooms (usually
July), lightly prune the rose to reshape and remove spent, dead or diseased
branches and then feed it. Each year, repeat this pattern for shrub roses. Ramblers
can be pruned back once in spring and left to ramble… Climbing roses should
only need spring pruning back to a pared down framework, with flowering
branches nipped back close to the wall or supporting structure. The branches of
climbing roses against walls will need tying onto strong wires (not poked
behind them) which have been fixed firmly into the brickwork. Check and adjust
the wires and ties when pruning. Always use clean, sharp pruning secateurs, cut
at an angle to the stem, and always back to just above a branch, leaf node or
bud. Remove all dead or diseased leaves, blooms and prunings
to minimise disease.
10 Final tip: Enjoy!
Do take
time to appreciate your roses. Notice how the fragrance intensifies after
rainfall, and how the shape and colour of the blooms change with age. A single perfumed
rose can fill a room with natural fragrance. Photos of roses make beautiful
birthday cards. Capture the essence and goodness of rose petals and hips in
rose water, cakes and cookies. Roses 'give back' a lot
more than many plants, and they continue to do so for many years. Let them
reward you for taking care of them.
Below there’s
a photo of my 'surprise' rose- bought as a rescue effort from Homebase, this
was labelled as a generic red climbing rose with no noticeable fragrance. It
cost £5 and came in a broken pot containing a little dried compost. A couple of
years on, it has revealed itself to be a Kordes Westerland rose - a tall shrub rose (or short
climber!) with a spicy nutmeg fragrance, repeat flowering until the first
frost, and a fabulous soft orange-apricot bloom. Likewise, a bargain “lost
label” rose can give just as much pleasure as a more expensive named variety
from a specialist breeder.
Time to start planning and
researching your roses now, ahead of placing bare root orders in early Autumn.
Here are some online suppliers that I regularly use. Some
are general discount suppliers. Others are specialist rose breeders that tend only
to offer discounts towards the end of the planting season (ie April/ May); many of their roses are distributed
through popular retail outlets worldwide, and they provide a wealth of
information about siting, planting and growing each of their roses.
* these links will support LostCousins – they're not rose specialists, but both sites have
frequent special offers, and I pick up all sorts of bargains
