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| Photo Credit: ©2001 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard |
| Make the most of your rose garden by taking a few minutes to choose the best site and plan appropriately. | Just like gardeners, rose gardens come in all shapes and sizes. Maybe the site defines the size and layout of your project, or perhaps your garden is designed to satisfy some specific purpose: delivering amazing scents, creating a privacy barrier, lining a walkway with colorful blooms or providing cutflowers. Or maybe your garden is defined by the time and effort you’re able to put into it. Your garden goals might be so simple that they can be achieved in just a few hours on a Saturday afternoon, or so ambitious as to warrant employing a landscape contractor. Whatever the scale and scope of your wishes, the time-proven way to create the perfect rose garden for you is to plan ahead. Your preparation can be a formal process that takes several weeks, or it can be just an informal pause to help hone your shopping list before you visit the garden center.
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| Photo Credit: ©2001 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard |
| Examine the plant tag on roses before selecting them for your garden. Tags list the rose’s class and variety, its plant patent identifier, a description of its growth habit and bloom, and answers to many care questions. | Either way, scanning over the following list of questions is sure to help. A few minutes spent with this list will help ensure you perform each step in logical order, resulting in a successful rose garden – and fewer trips to the garden center.
Project Preparation – Questions about your site:- What is your budget?
- Where in your yard (and with respect to the sun) will your rose garden be located?
- What’s the climate (USDA hardiness zone) and microclimate in your region and yard?
- Does the site receive at least 5 hours of sun per day?
- What’s the condition of the soil?
(If you don’t know, conduct a soil and/or percolation (drainage) test. - What fertilizers and amendments will your site need to make it appropriate for your rose choices?
- Will your plantings be near your home, a fence or another structure?
If so, do you want to accentuate the style or color of those nearby structures, or would you rather the plantings help hide them?
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| Photo Credit: ©2001 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard |
| Useful tools to have on hand to help maintain your rose garden include stout gloves, pruning shears and saws, budding knives, weeding tools, plant tape, spray bottles, a soil-test kit, hand forks and trowels, a trug (or other carrier) and a bucket or pail for collecting cutflowers. | Determining Objectives – Questions about your goals:- What type of rose garden would you like to have, and what purpose do you want it to serve in your yard?
(For example, do you want a formal or casual garden, a display of brilliant color or a fragrant garden?) - Will your roses provide a background to other landscape plants, be a foreground planting or will they be featured as specimens?
- Will you plant shrub, climbing or groundcover roses?
- When do you want the project finished?
- How much ongoing care will the garden require?
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| Facts |
- There are many landscape situations ideal for roses besides traditional plantings, including using them as barrier hedges and fences, groundcovers, and as a screen to hide structures, fixtures and equipment.
Read More... - Roses are available in spring both as bare-root plants and as established shrubs in nursery containers. Later in the year, you may find only roses growing in containers. Both grow equally well and are genetically identical. While bare-root roses are somewhat more economical, they require more time to become established than container plants.
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| Tips |
- Choosing a rose garden site is easy in a newly constructed home. A blank canvas of space surrounds most subdivision and custom homes. For established homes, such a choice requires more thought. Often, existing landscape trees and shrubs must be replaced or removed to open space for a new rose garden.
Read More... - Make the soil at your site ideal for roses by amending it with organic compost. Working a 4-inch layer of decomposed organic matter to soil improves its texture, balances too-acid or alkaline conditions, adds beneficial bacteria and provides a small amount of nitrogen to fertilize your roses.
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| Faqs |
- Q: Is there any particular part of a plant I should examine before I buy it?
A: Examine the bud union on all grafted plants. It should be healthy and free of dead wood or evidence of corky growth due to fungal disease. Also check that bare-root plants have supple canes and roots – and that containerized roses aren’t root-bound.
Read More... - Q: Garden centers near me don’t have the roses I’m looking for? Should I try buying the ones I want through the mail?
A: You can buy all kinds of roses online or through catalogs. Roses purchased directly from growers are nearly always bare-root plants. To help ensure the best results, be sure to specify the rose delivery within days of your intended planting.
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