Growing Roses
Roses, with their beauty and fragrance are one of the the most popular choices of flowers for your garden and for gift giving. You can have the perfect rose garden by following the simple gardening tips below on how to plant roses.
If you thought roses were hard to grow, take another look! They make a great addition to any outdoor living space.
View some of the new 2012 rose varieties with beautiful, bold and colourful packed blooms. These easy-to-grow rose varieties will create a stunning visual impact in your garden design.
{ Find your perfect rose using our Plant Finder }
Rose Colour Meanings
Roses are loved and valued for their timeless beauty, colour and fragrance of their blooms. As a cut flower, no other plant compares.
Roses have a long history of symbolism. See what your favourite colour means.
Red
A symbol for love and romance. A traditional way to say "I love you".
Pink
A symbol of grace, elegance, joy and admiration. Pink can also convey a meaning of thankfulness.
Yellow
Evoke a feeling of warmth and happiness with their bright, sunny colour and are a symbol of friendship.
White
Represent innocence, purity and loyalty. White is traditionally associated with marriages and new beginnings.
Orange
The embodiment of desire and enthusiasm, given for great achievements, graduations or job promotions.
Lavender
A symbol of fantasy and enchantment and can also be used to express feelings of love at first sight.
Rose Types
There are many types of roses, from the modern Hybrid Teas, to the older species roses. What would look good in your garden?
Austin
Rose
- Vigorous, disease resistant shrubs
- Masses of fragrant old fashion blooms
- Winter protection required
- Stems grow 90 to 120 cm in height.
Climbing
Rose
- Must be supported with trellises, arbours or on fences
- Large flowered climbers bloom continuously
- Stems grow 180 to 2.5 m in height
Easy Elegance™
Shrub Rose
- A new series of roses on their own roots
- Good repeat bloom
- Hardy and disease resistant
Floribunda
Rose
- A compact shrub
- Produces profuse, clusters of flowers all summer long
- Requires winter protection depending on the location
- Stems grow 80 to 125 cm in height
Grandiflora
Rose
- Vigorous upright grower
- Produces clusters of large flowers on each stem
- Requires winter protection and regular maintenance
- Stems grow 150 cm in height
Ground Cover
Rose
- Use where low cover is needed or trail over wall and banks
- Blooms repeatedly throughout the summer
- Tolerant of extreme temperatures
Hybrid Tea
Rose
- Beautiful big blooms on single stems
- ideal for cutting
- Requires winter protection and regular maintenance
- Stems grow 90 to 150 cm in height
Hardy Morden
Rose
- Strong, robust and free flowering
- Red rose-hips are produced in the fall and persist throughout the winter
- Good resistance to powdery mildew, black spot and rust
Ottawa Explorer
Shrub Rose
- Very winter hardy
- Highly resistant to black spot and powdery mildew
- Continuous and repeat blooming all season
Shrub
Rose
- Hardy and disease resistant shrubs
- Requires little maintenance
- Blooms prolifically throughout the season
- A vigorous rose ideal for hedging
- No winter maintenance required
Planting Instructions
Simply prepare a hole twice as wide, and 20 cm deeper than the container. Partially refill the hole with 2/3 Parkwood® 3 in 1 Planting Mix and 1/3 Peat Moss with 2 ounces of Bone Meal added. Place the rose plant* in the hole so that the bud union (the swelling just above the root) is at soil level. Refill the balance of the hole with the above soil mixture. Pack the soil with your foot, leaving a slight depression.
Water the area thoroughly with Parkwood® Transplanter 5-15-5 according to the package instructions. Ensure the soil is not allowed to dry out.
*If your rose is in a:
Fibre container: These containers do not have to be removed. Tear off the collar of the pot, cut down two sides with heavy shears or a knife.
Plastic container: Once the planting hole is prepared, water the pot thoroughly, then carefully slide the plastic container off. Follow the planting instructions outlined below.
Watering Roses
Roses should be watered regularly through the summer, every few days if there is no rain. They should be watered at ground level and not by overhead sprinklers. Avoid wetting the leaves as this promotes disease. Early morning is the best time to water as late evening watering also promotes disease.
Fertilizing Roses
Work in 125 ml (1/2 cup) of Parkwood® Garden-All 4-12-8 fertilizer around each rose bush as soon as the winter protection is removed in the spring. Fertilize again after the first flush of bloom early in July, and once more in early August. Do not fertilize after mid-August.
Pruning Roses
Only roses that have grown extremely tall, (over two feet) should have their branches cut back to two feet in the fall to prevent ice damage. Hybrid Tea and Floribunda roses should be pruned in late April after the buds start to grow, pruning just above a good, strong bud that points outward from the centre of the plant. Climbers only need to have dead wood removed each spring.
Winter Protection Gardening Tip
Hybrid Tea, Floribunda, Austin and Grandiflora roses should be mounded up with soil (20-30 cm) above ground level just before freeze-up. It is important that the mounding not be done until just a few days before the ground freezes solid. The mounds must also be packed all around (the heel of your shoe works well) as loose soil offers little protection. The addition of leaves or straw and evergreen boughs on top of the soil mound after the ground is frozen is also beneficial.
Climbing roses may be taken down and covered with evergreen boughs or left on the wall and shielded with burlap.
Rose ‘standards’ must receive special winter protection. Loosen the roots from the soil and lay the entire standard down parallel with the ground, and cover with soil. If it's impossible to bury the standard where it is growing, it will be necessary to dig and move it to a more open location in the garden where the standard may be buried without interfering with other plants. In either case, great care must be taken to avoid damage to any part of the stem. Rose standards can also be grown in large planters provided they can be stored in a cool room or garage through the winter where the temperature stays just above freezing.
{ More gardening tips on winterizing your garden... }
