Roses are quite delicate.
The blooms, that is.
The plants themselves are robust, undemanding stars of the flower garden, and rose-growing experts vow that anyone can establish and enjoy a thriving rose garden, anywhere in the United States. There are a few caveats (more on those in a moment) but nothing cosmically difficult.
The term for a rose expert is “rosarian,” and they spend a fair amount of time debunking the old notion that roses are temperamental and unrewarding unless you lavish regal attention on them.
A South Carolina farm owner and garden educator, Mr. Zimmerman switched careers from Hollywood standup comic and scriptwriter (really) to rose expert. He draws from experience that includes a decade as the rose garden consultant to North Carolina’s Biltmore Estate.
“A rose is just a plant. It’s not some mysterious, high-maintenance creature that landed in your garden from outer space,” he said.
Diane Sommers, Wisconsin-based president of the American Rose Society, has 250 rose bushes in her personal garden. She said she originally thought that growing them would be a big challenge, too.
“But the world of roses has changed so much—in the past 20 years, breeders have been introducing far more disease-resistant, easy-to-grow varieties,” she said. ”The new kinds are terrific. I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t grow them.”
Still, that doesn’t mean you can just dig a hole, plop in a bare-root shrub you bought for $2.99 in the parking lot of a big-box store during a July closeout, stand back, and expect sensational results while you ignore it. It’s the same for all garden plants.
Rose growers should also remember the axiom that all gardening is local: The annual cycle of care in Minnesota, where autumn is September and winter can begin in late October, is quite different from southern Arizona. In Phoenix, notes rosarian Geraldine Mahoney, rose gardens experience two dormant seasons instead of the usual one. Roses are semi-dormant in high summer, from mid-June to early September, and then again from December through February.
Good Stock Makes Good Gardens
“I strongly recommend people buy potted plants, not bare-root stock,” Ms. Sommers said. “That way you can see what you’re getting.” Potted roses can also be planted at any time of the year.
Ms. Sommers also suggests broadening the scope of your rose visions.
“There’s an immense variety of types,” she pointed out. Her favorites, for instance, include Veterans’ Honor, a lightly scented rose that has an especially long bloom season and conforms to the classic red tea image; and Olivia, a prolific lavender-pink English shrub rose from famed breeder David Austin.
Ms. Mahoney, whose 120-bush Phoenix garden is in a climate about as different from Wisconsin as possible in the Lower 48, favors Moonlight Magic, a fragrant, lavender-hued variety, and Ouida, a rare blushing pink rose from San Diego.
Keep Those Feet Dry
You can’t put galoshes on rose roots, but they detest wet feet. The answer is adequate drainage prep when you set up the rose bed. If your ground is heavy (clay is usually the culprit), roses will benefit from a layer of gravel, loose soil, or sand laid in a foot or more deep, beneath the improved topsoil in which you plant the shrub.“Making sure of the drainage is crucial,” she said.
Plant roses in a hole big enough for the roots to be spread out, mixing in compost. Water well the first month.
Once established, roses like a thorough soaking on a consistent basis—but they aren’t vegetables, so most growers believe once a month is ample.
In extremely hot locales such as Ms. Mahoney’s Arizona garden, she and her husband plant roses where they'll have morning sun and afternoon shade to fend off the heat. In the summer, they put up a shade structure to help their roses survive the heat—“similar to the way northern growers mulch their roses for winter,” Ms. Mahoney added.
Feed the Soil
Application of a broad-spectrum organic fertilizer is recommended at least twice a year, spring and fall, though growers in harsh winter locations should be sparing with nitrogen in autumn so as not to promote lush but tender growth when freezing weather nears. Growers intent on high bloom production apply fertilizer more often, perhaps once a month. And in Phoenix, Ms. Mahoney cuts back on fertilizer as summer’s heat approaches, so new growth won’t just burn up.Mr. Zimmerman feeds his roses once a year with manure from horses fed alfalfa, a mulch that gently promotes overall soil fertility and has plenty of nitrogen from the alfalfa, a legume.
“Living, healthy soil is as important as any factor in rose success,” he said.
Prune Judiciously
The most important thing about the thorny subject of annual pruning? It’s an art, not a science.“Don’t worry about making mistakes. Plants grow back,” Mr. Zimmerman said.
Prune more if you want long stems and big blooms; less for more flowers and shorter stems. General maintenance pruning, Mr. Zimmerman said, consists of cutting out any dead, broken, weak, or diseased canes, as well as canes that are rubbing on other branches.
“After that, simply cut down no lower than 12 inches, no higher than 3 feet,” he advised. “In cold climates, you may cut lower to get rid of dieback—I’ve seen roses cut down to 4 inches that came back just fine.”
Most growers prune at the end of bloom season, before dormancy. But this can all be done in early spring, too.
Mr. Hanna in Oregon prunes twice a year.
“I cut my roses down to 24 to 36 inches before the first frost to keep them from being damaged by strong winter winds. Then in spring—here in Oregon, this means the end of February—it’s time for your final pruning, to shape the plant for summer.”
Help Them Hibernate
Like many temperate-climate plants, roses have a dormant period—winter in most of the United States, and both winter and high summer in the hottest summer areas. Preparing the bushes for dormancy is advised by rosarians, though some believe minimal prep is fine. In Wisconsin, Ms. Sommers does little beyond tying up the canes on her plants so they aren’t whipped and broken by the wind.In northern garden zones (USDA 6 and higher), Oregon’s Mr. Hanna strongly suggests mulching the bushes in autumn.
“It’s important to add a generous layer of mulch around the base of the plant to protect the rose from frost damage and insulate it in the cold winter months. In the spring, you can just spread out the mulch around the plant for weed suppression,” he said.
Temper Your Expectations
Also, whatever you grow, rose bouquets don’t last well past a week, no matter what type or how you handle them.
And there is one achievement no rose grower can ever enjoy, however expert. There is no blue rose, and likely never will be—all attempts to breed one have failed.
Beyond that, whether you want tall roses or short, fancy-looking or fragrant (or both), red, yellow, pink, or all of those, they’re within your grasp—in your own backyard, in your spare time. The plants may be thorny, but the growing isn’t.
