Planning

Here is a short course in starting a rose garden:

• Choose a location in full sun, which roses need for optimal blooming.
• Prepare the soil by mixing or tilling in lots of organic matter, such as compost.
• There are hundreds of rose varieties, so choose something you like. Factors to consider include flower color, size of the rose bush, habit (tall climbing, low-growing ground cover), and disease resistance.

Here’s how to plant:

• Water the rose thoroughly the day before (if it’s a container rose). If it’s a bare root rose, soak the roots in a bucket of water an hour before planting.
• Dig a hole that is twice as wide as the root ball and the same depth. Set the root ball in the hole and fill around it. In warm climates the graft, a slightly raised bump on the stem a couple inches above the roots, should be planted above the soil line. In cold climates, the graft should sit an inch or two below ground level.
• Water thoroughly and keep soil moist, but not wet, until root systems can establish.
• Layer several inches of mulch around the base of the plant.
• Roses are heavy feeders. After your rose has been in the ground for a month or so, you may want to start fertilizing with a rose fertilizer, following package instructions. If you added lots of organic matter at planting time, and mulched with organic mulch, you may need little or no supplemental fertilizer.

There are numerous possibilities and so much depends on what you like!

• The best plant companions are those with similar cultural needs. Look for plants that will thrive in full sunshine, in rich, moist soil
• For season-long bloom, you'll want annuals rather than perennials, but of course, they have to be replanted every year.
• Low growers such as alyssum and lobelia look great at the foot of the bushes and they have long bloom periods.
• Silvery foliage plants, such as sages and artemesias, and herbs can also look very attractive mixed with roses. Catmint (Nepeta faasenii) is a soft mounding perennial that has blue flowers in late spring/early summer. Lavender is another possibility.
• Other options that have non-invasive root include mums, thyme, rosemary, succulents, Achillea clavennae (silver yarrow), Campanula (bellflower), Iberis sempervirens (candytuft), Limonium perezii (sea lavender), Stachys (lamb's ears) and/or ground cover vinca around the bases of the shrubs.

Generally, genetics determines whether a rose bush will bloom just once or will repeat bloom in the fall. Removing hips will help encourage a repeat bloomer to put more energy into the second bloom, but it won't force a one-time bloomer to put out more flowers. Keep your bush adequately pruned and fertilized, and it will fall into its natural blooming pattern.

There are many disease resistant, hardy roses available, but none are completely "bug-proof" or "disease-proof." When shopping for roses, look for varieties described as "resistant to black spot," a notorious fungal disease of roses. Rugosa roses are a good choice. Though they can look a little more "wild" than tea roses, they tend to be more rugged and resistant to pests. Japanese beetles, rose chafers, and aphids are a few examples of rose-loving insects. Fortunately, there are organic, neem-based repellants available that have shown some success in keeping these critters at bay, so long as they are applied before the insects arrive. There are many different kinds of roses (floribundas, hybrid tea, shrub, miniature, etc.), so you'll want to do some "window shopping" to see what type fits your situation. Then search out a disease-resistant, hardy variety in that category.

Own-root roses seem to be the way of the future with shrub roses. This means that the roses grow off their own roots versus being grafted onto a different rose rootstock. They are very hardy, and they don't produce suckers. If the rose dies back to the ground in a hard winter, it will come back true-to-type when it resprouts. A rose grafted onto a rootstock will often sprout from only the rootstock if it dies back in the winter, and rootstocks are not usually desirable roses. In other words, if you can order a rose on its own roots, you'll have a better plant. Also, keep in mind that hybrid teas aren't typically available on their own roots.

Yes! There are rugosa roses growing in Siberia where temperatures fall to -50F! Check our Region’s Choice selections to get a good idea of what might work for you, and check out a local rose garden in your area.

The search for a truly blue rose continues. How serious is this search? I've heard many tales (some which may actually be true!) about efforts to create a blue rose. For example, I've heard of scientists attempting to change the DNA of roses in order to create, for lack of a better term, blueness. No true blue rose exists, but many lavender roses have been introduced (Wild Blue Yonder, for example). The reason that a 'true blue' rose may never be produced is that the blue pigment (delphinidin) is not naturally present in roses. I've had people tell me that they have seen blue (and black) roses, but alas, like Big Foot, evidence seems to be in short supply.

Roses don’t climb up bricks like ivy. They need to be trained to some type of support, such as a trellis. If you want to build a trellis, and attach it to the brickwork (leaving a few inches between the trellis and the brick), then you should be able to plant any type of climbing or pillar rose. You'll want to make sure the soil is enriched with plenty of organic matter, and be prepared to water the rose as necessary during the summer -- especially its first season, until it gets established.

If you're bordering rose beds, try to choose a plant that will do well under the same conditions - full sunshine, ample moisture in the summer. Have you considered lavender? It's not evergreen, but is well-behaved and quite fragrant. The leaves are gray-green and dull; a nice contrast to the red-green glossy rose leaves. Other suggestions include Boxwood (Buxus), Escallonia, Junipers and Heather. Both Escallonia and Heather bloom, but their flowers are quite different from roses - and we all know that roses like to be the center of attention!

Most catalog listings refer to the USDA Zone map, which was created in 1960 and updated in 1990. These zones are based on average winter minimum temperatures from 125,000 weather stations across North America. The USDA Zone rating provides general guidance, but it isn’t foolproof, because it doesn’t take into account other factors that influence plant hardiness, such as rainfall, summer high temperatures, snow cover, etc.

Also, gardens can have their own “microclimate.” For example, a sheltered spot up against the house may be warmer than a windy low area or “frost pocket.” Most plants are rated with a minimum zone of cold hardiness. These are the numbers you see in catalogs or books: "hardy to zone 3," or sometimes simply, "zone 3." A plant rated hardy to zone 3 can withstand temperatures as low as 40 below zero. In contrast, a plant rated to zone 8 will only tolerate lows of ten degrees above zero. Sometimes you will find a listing such as "zones 3 to 8."  This means the plant is cold-hardy all the way to zone 3 but does not perform well in zones warmer than zone 8.

The USDA zone map works best in the eastern half of the country. In the west, factors such as elevation and rainfall can vary dramatically within a region. Therefore, many western gardeners use the Sunset Western Garden Book's zone system because it takes a variety of factors into account, not just minimum winter temperatures.

And last but not least, for gardeners in hot regions, whose plant choices are limited by intense summer heat, the Heat Zone Map was developed.

Varieties classified as "shrub roses" roses make good hedges. If you’d like to attract birds, look for varieties described as having lots of hips. Or, consider rugosa roses, which generally have large and abundant hips.