Uncomplicated Tips For Successful Rose Gardening

By Twyla Ness

If you're thinking of starting your own rose garden, then you'll need to start checking some rose gardening tips to be sure you learn what to do and how to do it properly. There are websites and books all over the place to help you learn what you need to do. You'll start with good soil, and learn how to water properly. And each new tip will teach you things like proper pruning and fertilizing, how to deal with rose diseases, and how to protect your garden during the winter months.

In addition to regular watering and good soil, you'll also need proper fertilizer for whatever types of roses you've got. Start in March or early April, after which you can do one more feeding in May, and one more in June or the beginning of July.

The ratio of nitrogen-phosphorous-potassium will vary. For floribundas, hybrid tea roses, climbers, polyanthas and grandifloras, every bush needs one half cup of nutrient mix using a 10-20-20 ratio for every application. Miniature rose bushes, conversely, call for a somewhat different blend of 1 tablespoon of 10-20-20 scattered the initial time, followed by one cup of a 20-20-20 ratio of soluble fertilizer for the second and third applications. Shrub and old garden roses only require the 20-20-20 mixture in the spring, and perhaps again after the initial blooming. Following this advice can help the bushes to thrive.

Pruning roses is done when the plants are dormant, such as in the spring just before they start to grow again. To encourage lush growth, cut all but the healthiest stalks, leaving no more than five, and cut those remaining stalks to between 12 and 24 inches. One exception is when you first plant a rose bush, as you are encouraged to remove all new flower buds for the first two months, so the energy goes into making the plant strong. For other rose gardening tips, you need to research the different rose types you have in your garden, to find out their particular needs.

You might value a couple of rose gardening tips as well, when it comes to preparing roses for winter. For most, in all but the coldest zones, it's likely enough just to strip all foliage off, tie the canes together, and pile mulch and extra soil around the base. But in colder zones, for container and climbing roses especially, you can dig a trench and lay them on their sides, covering them with soil and a deep blanket of leaves. These methods will keep your roses safe until early spring, when it's time to start the process all over again. - 32376

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