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Caring for Roses
Roses are some of the most beautiful and beloved flowers that grace our gardens and our lives. Unfortunately roses have a reputation for being a hard plant to care for. While some rose plant owners find this to be true, others take steps to find out the proper care needed for their roses to survive and thrive. Roses do require regular attention to keep the plant looking its best but, after learning the proper rose care steps to take, helping a plant to look its best is relatively easy.
Watering
The most basic plant necessity that most people understand is that plants need water. All plants need water and roses are no different. Roses will bloom and look their best if they are well watered. Roses need to be provided with about one inch of water per week. The roots of the plant are what really need to be considered during this step. Roses have roots that go deep into the ground. Because roses have deep roots they are capable of extracting water from the sub-soil even when the surface is dry. This helps them to tolerate dry spells.
Correctly watering the roots of roses encourages them to grow deep into the soil. However, if a rose grower only offers their roses frequent, light watering, the roots of the plant will be encouraged to grow shallowly within the soil. A light watering cannot penetrate very deeply into the surface soil, this is why it is important to soak the area around the base of each rose. A rose with a shallow root system will not cope well with the drying of the upper layer of soil during drought conditions.
A useful technique which complements regular deep watering is mulching. Application of this method ensures that very little water is lost to evaporation. It also has the advantage of keeping the root system cooler.
Fertilizing
Proper rose care also means fertilizing. Most species of roses are capable of going years without feeding when they are planted in good soil. Plants feed on nutrients that are produced by organisms living in the soil. By over using man-made fertilizer you can smother those beneficial creatures. Plus, your plants can become dependant on fertilizers forcing you to constantly provide them.
An alternative approach is to apply a slow-release fertilizer to the soil just as the plant is coming out of its dormancy period in early spring. You can also apply a small bit of fertilizer after the blooms fade and the plant is storing up energy for next season. However, don’t fertilize after midsummer. Roses do well with both inorganic and organic fertilizers, although organic fertilizer materials can also be digested by the helpful bacteria and fungus within the soil, resulting in your soil permanently becoming more fertile.
Inorganic fertilizers predominantly contain the three primary ingredients of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K). Consequently, they are known as N-P-K fertilizers or compound fertilizers when elements are mixed intentionally. If you do decide to go down the inorganic route, the most effective combinations of inorganic fertilizer are 5-10-5 or 4-8-4.
Pruning
Pruning is extremely important in the care of roses. Initial pruning is usually done in the spring, after the plant has been dormant for the winter. At this stage the purpose of pruning is to remove the dead, broken, or diseased wood from the plant. This helps to provide space for the new season's growth and for air to move through the plant, both of which contribute to the overall health of the plant.
Pruning is also done to maintain the shape the rose plant. This can occur at any time to maintain the desired shape, or remove branches that are growing in undesirable directions. A rose can be encouraged to flower more profusely using a technique known as deadheading. This involves cutting off each bloom as it fades, this prevents the plant from setting seeds (rose hips) and it will produce more blooms in an attempt to complete its reproductive cycle.
If you are trying to establish a new plant, it is sometimes beneficial to remove flower buds before they bloom. This forces the rose to put its energy into growing the root and stem systems, rather than flowers.
The End Result
Caring for roses does take time and commitment. It also takes patience, skill and knowledge. However, one of life's great pleasures is seeing a beautiful display of rose blooms that exists because of your hard work. If you are growing one of the scented rose varieties, the smell is also wonderful. The rewards of being able to enjoy these gorgeous creations right in your own garden are priceless.
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