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Roses come in so many sizes, flower shapes, and colours you need
to determine before planting, what kind of rose will serve you best,
whether it's fragrant, and how much maintenance it will require.
Miniature Roses:
These small beauties bloom all summer, need little care other than
watering and fertilizing, adapt well to containers, and overwinter
when protected, with a high success rate as they aren't grafted.
Floribunda Roses:
These roses are shorter and bushier than hybrid tea roses. Their
single or double flowers appear in clusters on a single stem.
Hybrid Tea Roses:
This type of rose produces one perfect flower at the end of a single
stem. These blooms are larger than a floribunda's but there usually
aren't as many.
Grandiflora Roses:
This rose bush produces a large flower but instead of one per single
stem like a hybrid tea they occur in clusters like a floribunda.
David Austin Roses:
This recent group, developed by the English nurseryman, David Austin,
combines the best of the old antique varieties (fragrance and many
different flower forms and sizes) with modern roses (repeat bloom).
They're also important for their shrub habit that allows them to
be gracefully planted in perennial and mixed borders.
Climbing Roses:
The fast growing canes of climbing roses need support. They will
add vertical height on a trellis or they can climb over an arbour,
pergola, or fence.
Shrub Roses:
These bushy, flowering shrubs range in height from 50 cm - 250 cm
(20" - 8'). They were developed for hardiness, dense growth,
and low maintenance.
Standard Tree & Patio Roses:
A hybrid tea or floribunda rose bush is grafted onto a tall hardy
understock to make it look like a tree. Patio roses are a shorter
form. Where they're joined, at the top of the understock, isn't
winter hardy if the tree is left standing in the ground or in a
pot. To survive winter, they need to be dug up and completely buried
lengthwise in a trench with 10 cm - 15 cm (4" - 6") of
soil covering them. Be sure to pound in stakes at the top and the
bottom of the plant so you know exactly where to dig in spring.
Or, in late November, if they're containerized, move them into the
garage, place them against the house wall that gives off some warmth,
and water thoroughly. Dig them up or remove them from the garage
in early April.
Planting Roses:
Choose a sunny location (6-8 hours of direct sunlight per day) away
from tree roots with good air circulation. Dig a hole twice as wide
and 20 cm (8") deeper than the container. Prepare a soil mixture
of 1/3 Parkwood™ Triple Blend, 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 manure, and
150 ml (10 tablespoons) of bone meal per plant. Place some of this
mixture in the bottom of the hole. If your rose comes in a plastic
pot, gently ease it out and position it in the hole so that the
graft or bud union (the swelling just above the roots) is 3 cm (1")
below the final soil level. This is very important for winter survival.
Backfill the sides with more of the prepared soil mixture and firm
into place.
Roses that come in brown fibre pots need to have the rims trimmed
down to the soil level in the pot, the bottoms cut right off, and
4 equidistant slits cut up the sides. Lower the pot into the planting
hole but don't try to remove the sides. Leave them on since they're
biodegradable. Fill the sides with the same soil mixture. Water
the area well.
Fertilizing Roses:
Spread 125 ml (1/2 cup) of granular Parkwood™ Garden-All 4-12-8
around each rose bush about mid April after you've removed it's
winter protection. Repeat this application after the first flush
of blooms early in July and a third time in early August. Don't
fertilize again after mid-August.
Watering:
Depending upon how much natural rain there is, roses
generally need to be watered deeply twice a week in summer. This
means a good 10-minute soaking of the area rather than just a light
1 or 2 minute sprinkling. Since foliage is sometimes prone to Black
Spot and/or Powdery Mildew, try to keep the leaves as dry as possible.
Water with a watering can or watering wand rather than leaving on
an overhead sprinkler. With disease in mind, which proliferates
under humid conditions, water only in the morning after August 1
since the dew level at night is so high from this point on.
Pest Control:
Roses, like all plants, can have insect problems. Watch for aphids
which are small, soft-bodied insects that can be bright green, brown,
red, or black. They usually cluster around the new growing shoots
or on young flower buds. Spider mites are tiny and suck sap from
the underside of leaves. Look for flecked foliage that turns yellow
and drops off. Insecticidal soap is the easiest, most environmentally
friendly solution to these problems.
Black Spot looks exactly like its name while Powdery Mildew is a
white, powder-like covering of the leaves and stems. Try to grow
roses that are labeled "disease-resistant" to minimize
the occurrence of these 2 conditions. If it happens, as a result
of a wet spring or summer or it just happens the first week of August
every year, it has to be treated or your rose bush will defoliate
and be weakened in the process. Funginex and the wettable powder,
Benomyl, are 2 excellent systemic fungicides. When applied as directed
they are absorbed into the system of the plant and work from the
inside out for 10 days to 2 weeks. Start using one in early July,
before you see any signs of disease, and continue every 2 weeks
until late September.
Sulphur is another remedy but it sometimes stains the foliage. A
third alternative is to apply a Rose & Flower Dust or Spray
that controls both insects and disease in early May and repeat every
2 weeks until fall.
Pruning:
For floribunda, hybrid tea, grandiflora, and David Austin roses,
in early spring (before leaves are fully expanded) prune out all
dead wood (brown twigs and end of branches). Prune healthy wood
(green in colour) back to 30 cm - 60 cm (12" - 24") above
ground, or higher if not winter killed, just above an outward facing
bud. Climbing and shrub roses should only have dead wood pruned
out. Do not cut out much healthy wood because it will interfere
with flowering. Limit climbers to 3-5 strong canes and prune out
the rest right down to ground level. When roses start their blooming
cycle, remember that removing spent flowers (called "deadheading")
promotes more flowers. Always remove injured canes or sucker growth
from the bud union as soon as you see it.
Also refer to
Gardening Tip #40 - WINTERIZING
THE GARDEN
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