Growing Roses For Beginners
...just the basics!

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Growing roses for beginners can be a daunting task, especially after hearing how difficult rose growing can be. But you have smelled the blooms and are sure you are up to the task.

You have to start somewhere! Maybe you're an accomplished gardener that wants to expand the varieties in the garden space or perhaps someone gave you a rose bush and you're not sure what to do with it. You may even be a "Newbie" gardener, just starting out with your first gardening experience.

Whatever the reason, we are here to provide a basic overview of the rose growing art. Growing roses for beginners, at it's most basic. The basic course: growing roses for beginners 101.

I suppose the main reason is that the blooms are so fantastic and they come in a myriad of sizes, colors and smells that there is something to satisfy everyone. Rose bushes are also perennial, in that they have permanent status in your garden and will bloom each and every year.

They are also a little bit of a challenge in that they are not really 'plant and forget'. They have an interesting history, good cultivation takes a little planning and there are elements of science involved. You need to interact with them and your actions matter. Good pruning, for example produce better blooms.

There are also a number of side activities and crafts that growing roses promotes. Using the petals or hips in cooking, taking photographs, making displays, entering rose shows, or even making rosewater or rose oil. Basically, however, they put on a great show from late spring until fall and that's great value for money! Oh, growing roses for beginners can be a fun challenge.

Basic Requirements

Roses can be grown in almost anything. As long as the container has good drainage and it's big enough to hold the plant, then why not? Add some potting soil to the mix to make it light enough for the roots to find their way, water well and make sure you have enough light.

The basic requirements are at least six hours of sun during the growing season, a very well drained non-acidic soil and not having a very dry, arid, hot desert like atmosphere. Slightly damp and overcast light seems to work best. Very heavy constant rainfall will promote far too many diseases, not the least of which will be blackspot.

Wherever you live, it's always a good idea to check with the local 'Rose Society' for which varieties grow the best in your areas and checking with local gardeners about which roses they see growing locally.

Basically there are miniatures, mid-size bushes that produce quality roses called Tea Roses, Grandiflora or Floribunda (...Floribunda and Grandiflora have clusters of flowers) and vary large bushes called O.G.R's (Old Growth Roses) or sometimes Shrub Roses. Carpet roses of some sort are low growing with many smaller roses. There are many others of course, some 37 distinct varieties.

There is also a distinction between rose bushes that repeat their blooming and those that only bloom once. The older varieties (historically older!) are often single blooming. Of course there are many color shades and combinations, even stripes, but no real black, blue, gray or green blooms. There is also a wide range of smells!

What this all means is that you need to talk to the guys in the nursery where you buy your rose bush (...not the supermarket please!), make some decisions about color and size, read the labels carefully but be sure it's the bush for you and your garden space. Will it fit and will you like it. Don't buy yellow if you prefer plum: the most basic advice in growing roses for beginners!

A Basic Yearly Guide to Rose Gardening

Once your rose bush is planted, there are a few things you need to do to keep it healthy. Water a couple of times a week, without getting the leaves wet, keep the bed clear of debris and don't plant anything over the top or underneath your bush. Having a basic yearly plan would help. Just a simple, basic list of activities so you don't forget.

In spring, after the last frost, cut out any dead canes, broken canes or spindle ones and give the bush a little haircut to shape it. The put a couple of inches of well rotted manure or compost underneath for feeding and to keep the weeds away. Water very well. A handful of rose fertilizer at this time would be good.

In summer, water well and keep cutting away the dying blooms from the stems, just below the actual bloom. Watch for aphids and bugs and remove them by hand, or a soapy water solution or go to your local plant nursery for the safest bug spray. Every region is different so check with your local suppliers.

In fall, start picking off the dying leaves as they turn brown (or have black blotches on them!) and keep cutting the dead blooms. Keep the rose bed clear of debris (...or the bugs will love it and overwinter!)Don't fertilize in the fall because you want the rose to go dormant for the winter.

As winter begins cut some of the higher, more dangerous canes so they don't break in the snow or bend and break in the winter winds. If you live in an area with a very cold winter you may want to build up the soil around the base of the rose bush to keep it warm. Remember to pull this back and open it up when spring arrives.

Winter is also the time to admire the photographs you took of your wonderful blooms, look through the catalog to find more rose bushes to plant in spring, and spend some time cleaning and sharpening your gardening tools.

Growing roses for beginners can be a fun experience especially as rose bushes tend to be very forgiving, and if given the basic requirement will prove to be a productive, valuable addition to your gardening collection.

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