Growing Roses

By Arlene Correll

Home Farm Herbery

Over the past 50 or so years I have tried to grow roses, rarely with any success at all.

When we moved to KY and when I finally had time to decide to seriously take my black thumb and green it up, roses came back into my existence. 

I wanted to grow them and I wanted them to look just like the ones someone sent me in the picture at the right!

Of course Jackson Perkins came to mind.  However, I remember seeing tons of roses on the sides of back roads in different parts of the country. Unattended beauties in places where I knew there was drought a good time of the year.  Where did this come from?  I discovered there were places one could buy antique roses such as these.  The Antique Emporium is a great place for these.  Over the past 3 seasons, I have discovered that any kind of yellow roses they sell, sell out quickly. So, order early!

I also found out that basically anyone can grow them and grow them successfully with a little forethought and a few basic rules. Always use at least 1-1.5 grade roses. Make sure the color of the stems is good and the rose is alive.

Here are mainly 10 simple rules.
  1. Select a planting site that receives a minimum of 6 hours of sunshine daily.
  2. Plant roses in a well-prepared bed of garden soil liberally mixed with organic matter (well-composted animal manure, peat moss, or decayed leaves). A soil test should be taken several weeks before planting to help you to determine fertilizer and liming needs of the rose bed.
  3. Water rose bushes frequently, with an inch of water each week from rain or irrigation applied during the early morning hours.
  4. Remove flowers from the plant without damaging the remaining parts of the plant. Make clean cuts with a sharp knife or pruners.
  5. Prune the plants every year to keep them healthy and in good form.
  6. Regularly inspect plants to prevent insect or disease damage and treat as needed.
  7. Mulch plants to conserve soil moisture and suppress weeds.
  8. Sprinklers are not good for roses.  They can cause fungus.  Soakers hoses are better, but drip irrigation is the best.  (I am still working on finding the extra dollars to replace the sprinkler system in my rose beds with drip irrigation. Until then, the sprinklers go on just as rain does.)
  9. Mulch conserves moisture and restricts weed growth. It also reduces soil temperature fluctuations and helps prevent fungal spores from spattering when the plant is watered. Mulch heavily in September for winter protection.  Remove the heavy mulch (6-8 inches) in late April.
  10. Feeding roses has more info than you can possibly handle. However I find that Feed from mid-April through August 30.  Liquid feed every 2 weeks. Granular fertilize with systemic insecticide/fungicide every month.
I discovered that there are basically two different kinds of roses, but tons of varieties of these kinds, to say nothing of all kinds of varieties!  Roses are classified by their growth habits into two main classes--bush roses and climbing roses. Climbing roses produce long canes and require some kind of support. Bush roses grow to 1 to 6 feet in height and require no support.  Here is some of the information I researched.

Bush Roses. These roses are grouped primarily according to their flowering habit. The kinds of bush roses are hybrid tea, grandiflora, floribunda, polyantha, hybrid perpetual, shrub, old fashioned, tree or standard, and miniature.

The bush rose to the right is one of Jackson Perkins called “red rascal.”

When one wants to prune a bush rose, the following is good advice:
1) Cut out all dead canes right to the ground 2) Cut out all diseased canes or ones damaged by rubbing against others, back to healthy wood. Healthy wood when cut looks like a green apple.
3) Remove any stems thinner than a pencil thickness as they will only produce poor blooms.
4) Prune back the canes left according to the type of rose. A general rule of thumb for most bush roses is cut back by one third.

Hybrid Teas--In the mid-nineteenth century, the first hybrid tea rose was developed by crossing the wispy canes of the tea rose with the full blossomed and vigorous hybrid perpetual rose. In the past 50 years this rose has become the primary rose in gardens and florist shops. Thousands of varieties are grown today, with many new ones developed each year. Usually a single bloom develops on a robust stem. Flowers of hybrid teas are most often used as cut flowers. Although the size, shape, and color of hybrid tea roses vary enormously, they all share a characteristic beauty. Hybrid teas are continuous bloomers.  The one to the right is a JP hybrid tea called, “Bella’roma”

The following I found to be good advice for pruning hybrid tea roses:

Hybrid tea roses benefit from heavy pruning in winter.  (This is something I neglected to do before we rushed off to Florida this winter, when our oldest daughter was very ill.  When I returned it was too late and now it looks like about 20 of them need to be replaced.) Shrub and ground cover roses need only shaping or light shearing. Both techniques are detailed below.

Remove all dead wood and all weak, twiggy branches (darkened in drawing). Make cuts flush with the bud union (the swelling at the base of the plant).

Cut all branches that cross through the center. This opens up the plant and gives it a vase shape. In hot climates, some rosarians just shorten center-crossing branches, so leaves will shade the bud union from the scorching summer sun. In mild climates, shorten the remaining healthy growth by about one-third. In cold-winter climates, where freeze damage occurs, remove all dead and injured stems. This may result in a shorter bush.

Winter kills more roses than anything.  They dry out from the sun and cold dry air.

Water whenever they are dry.  At least once a month when over 40 degrees.

Mulch and cover in September and October.

Rose collars, straw or cedar bark, or leaf mulch can be used.  Mulch 6-8 inches deep.

Floribundas--These roses are the result of a cross between a hybrid tea rose and a polyantha, a dwarf rose with dense bunches of tiny flowers. Floribundas flower in clusters. Floribundas tolerate more neglect than any kind of rose except shrub roses. For color throughout the summer, floribundas may be used in flower borders and mass plantings and as informal hedges.  The rose shown is the new floribunda “Disneyland Rose”

For pruning floribundas the following is good advice: 

  1. Always cut to live wood.
  2. The shorter you prune, the larger the flowers will be.
  3. Always cut to outside growing buds.
  4. Deadhead, unless you want rose hips to develop in the fall.
  5. Prune all roses, except climbers in April.  Climbers are pruned after the first blooms appear.

 Grandifloras--Grandifloras resemble hybrid teas in their hardiness and type of bloom. The grandifloras have a larger bush, but more abundant, somewhat smaller blooms than the hybrid teas.

Polyanthas--Flowers are borne in large clusters and the individual flowers are smaller than grandifloras. Polyanthas are closely related to climbing roses. They are excellent for borders with perennials or for mass plantings. Furthermore, they are of easier culture than hybrid teas.
Hybrid Perpetuals--The blooms are full and spectacularly large but generally lack the refinement of hybrid teas. The hybrid perpetual blooms more frequently than older shrub rose varieties. Sometimes this rose is known as the "June rose" of grandmother's garden. The variety was most popular prior to the development of modern hybrid teas. If given proper care, hybrid perpetuals develop into large, vigorous bushes. Hybrid perpetuals are hardy and withstand low winter temperatures without protection.

Shrub Roses. These are a miscellaneous group of hybrids, native species, and varieties that develop a large, dense growth useful in general landscaping. Usually flowers are small but showy. In the fall, many bear attractive seed pods. Their fine-textured foliage makes some of them useful for hedges or screen plantings.  This particular rose is called “Ballerina Antique Shrub Rose”.
Old-Fashioned Roses--This category includes the varieties and species that were popular in colonial gardens. Although these roses are more fragrant, the flowers are not as perfectly shaped as those of newer varieties. All of these roses are hardy, require little care, and furnish an abundance of flowers in June. Thousands of old-fashioned roses are available, but many are not suited for the Alabama climate. Teas, noisettes, Bengals, Chinas, and some species roses are extremely well adapted to our heat and humidity.

Tree or Standard Roses--The characteristic of tree or standard roses is the form of the plant rather than the type of flower. These roses are derived from grafting bush roses on upright trunks. Many of the popular bush rose varieties are available as tree roses. Tree roses may be used in formal plantings, as accent or specimen plants, or as a specimen.
When pruning Tree roses prune as you would for the type/class of rose above, but only for that portion of the rose at the top of the standard (the "trunk"). That is, if you have a Hybrid Tea standard, prune it as you would for the Hybrid Teas above. After pruning, retie the standard to its support structure if applicable.

Miniature Roses--Miniature roses are small plants with miniature leaves and flowers. Some varieties reach a maximum height of only 6 inches. These roses are used in edging beds, as borders, in containers, and for rock gardens.  (I have found that these are truly hardy and Carl brought me home about 30 of them from the Wal-mart trash basket after he made a $5.00 donation to some children’s organization.  These were really going into the dumpster and out of the 30 he rescued about 27 grew that summer and I believe almost all have come back for 3 seasons so far.  We will see about what comes up this summer.)

Climbing Roses. Rose varieties that produce long canes and require some sort of support to hold the plants off the ground are known as climbing roses. They may be trained on fences or trellises, while some varieties may be used without support to cover hillsides for erosion control. Since they are hardy, climbers are becoming more popular with the development of finer varieties.

When pruning Climbing Roses one should remember that climbing roses bloom on "last year’s wood." That is, they produce bloom stems off of the main canes produced during previous seasons. If you prune these main canes prior to bloom, you will have lost most of this year’s blooms. If, however, these main canes are very old, diseased or "in the way," go ahead and prune them out. They should be
removed all the way down to the bud union or root crown, and can be removed while the rose is in dormancy.

  Ramblers--Rapid growing and very hardy, rambler roses may develop canes as long as 20 feet in one season. They are better suited for our fences than other types of roses. The small flowers are usually less than 2 inches in diameter and are borne in dense clusters. Ramblers flower only once during a season on the previous year's growth. The glossy foliage of many varieties in this group is susceptible to mildew. Newer varieties that bear larger flowers and are less susceptible to mildew are being developed.
 (I like these as they are always fairly inexpensive and keep coming back and are great for places, like small hills etc, you can’t mow.)

  Large-Flowered Climbers--When compared to ramblers, large-flowered climbers grow very slowly. Usually they are trained on trellises, posts, or some other type of support, and they may require heavy annual pruning to keep them manageable. Under ideal growing conditions, the flowers are rather large and may be useful for cutting. Most varieties bloom best when the canes are trained horizontally.

     

 Everblooming Climbers--These roses usually produce an abundance of flowers in early summer. After heavy bloom, going into the fall, these plants will produce some scattered flowers. Some everblooming climbers are available that bloom continuously, like hybrid teas.

When pruning the everbloomers or repeat climbers, such as Hybrid Teas and large flowered climbers, you may prune the "laterals" (the secondary stems coming off the main canes) to a desired length. I prefer to prune back about two-thirds of their length. But other rosarians have more room and only prune about one-third of their length. As a minimum, leave at least two to four leaf buds remaining on each of the laterals. This may be done during the normal pruning time of late winter or very early spring.

Climbing Hybrid Teas--Climbing hybrid teas were developed from seedlings and as chance sports of bush varieties. When a cane having a climbing character is produced from a hybrid tea, the new type of plant is usually given the bush variety name. Example: Climbing Crimson Glory. In general, the climbing forms of hybrid teas do not bloom as continuously as their bush parents. The flowers and foliage are usually identical.

Climbing Polyanthas and Floribundas--These roses were developed from sports and seedlings of polyanthas and floribundas. Generally the flowers of these sports are identical with the bush forms from which they originated. They are fairly continuous bloomers.

Most of the pruning advice can apply to any of the above.  However, If you go crazy and have an “oops” don’t worry, as I find that pruning too much is rarely a problem.

Also remember, some times one has to just yank out the rose and throw it on the burn pile and replace it!

Occasionally, my black thumb returns as with my green roses I grew one year.  I never bothered to replace since I bought it as an oddity and thought it was a “must have” for my garden. But it really was hard to see the blooms for all the petals.  I’m glad I took this picture as they never returned the next year.  Another bummer I have is with the lovely Rosie O’Donnell rose.  I have lost 3 of them.  One each season. So as much as I like Rosie, she must not like me.

Well, if roses are for you, please go to my website,

http://www.learn-america.com and click on the Jackson Perkins name or picture as we are an affiliate of theirs and hopefully we will one day make a little money off that site and be able to buy some more roses for the Home Farm Herbery!

“Tread the Earth Lightly” and in the meantime… may your days be filled with…

Peace, Light and Love,

Arlene W. Correll

ã copyright 2001 – 2004  www.learn-america.com All rights reserved.