How to grow Rose

• Ensure that your roses have good air circulation and get around 6 hours of sunlight a day. If possible, morning sun is better than afternoon sun – the colours tend to last longer if they are sheltered from the afternoon sun.
• Apply mulch to roses in the summer months as it helps to conserve moisture and keep plants cool, but avoid using bark.
• Roses need regular feeding for best results: if you have clay soil, fertilise twice a year, once after pruning and apply another feed just after the last blooms are dying down. If you have sandy or chalky soil, try to feed at least a small amount of fertiliser at least once a month.
• Never spray rugosa roses with anything.

Roses can be grown from seed, however they will not grow “true to type”. Rose seeds are produced inside the “hips” (fruit) of the rose – collect those that have ripened at the end of the season, cut them open and extract the creamy white seeds inside. These seeds will need stratification (a period of moist, cold storage) so rinse and store wrapped a paper towel in a plastic bag inside your refrigerator for 4 – 5 weeks. At this point, small little root tips should start to appear – carefully transfer these to pots of soil and cover with 1/4 inch of soil. Water them in well and keep at room temperature – they should start to appear in a couple of days.

By our calculations*, you should look at sowing Rose about 35 days before your last frost date .

To plant bare-root roses: firstly make sure the soil is relatively dry. Digging in wet soil can destroy the soil structure and make it compact. Set the plants in a bucket of water so that the roots don’t dry out during the planting process. Prune any dead or damaged roots and canes, then dig a hole large enough for the roots to spread. Make a mound at the bottom of the hole and carefully set the rose on the mound, spreading out it’s roots around it. Completely cover the roots with soil, tamp gently, and then water in well. Allow the soil to settle, and then finish filling the hole with soil.

Harvesting rose blooms
Try to harvest roses in the early morning. Cut the stem using the “5 -leaflet rule”. Look down the stem and locate the second, third or fourth leaf that has five leaflets. Cut just above this growth at a 45 degree angle and place the rose stem immediately in water.

Harvesting rose hips
Allow the roses to die off on the bush, and you will see the hips start to form. Initially, they will appear green and then ripen to a yellow, red colour. They are best picked immediately after a frost, and should be soft to the touch.

Displaying rose blooms
Stripping thorns and leaves from the stem before displaying will help the longevity of the bloom – change the water every 4 days. If you wish to postpone the blooming of a rose, refrigeration can slow down this process for a couple of days.

These estimates for how long Rose takes to sprout, grow and harvest are from real observations from real gardeners, right around the world.

Our when to plant Rose estimates are relative to your last frost date.

The name Rose is french and comes directly from the latin botanical name Rosa.

• Roses are an ancient symbol of love and beauty.
• Rose means “red or pink” in a variety of different languages.
• The rose is the emblem of Islamabad Capital Territory in Pakistan, and is also the national flower of England and the floral emblem of the US.

Rose rootstock, Rosa, Rosa lucetta, Rosa vienna charm, Flower carpet rose, Rosa miniature, Rose climbing, Rose barock, Rosehip

Rosa L., Rosa sp.

Misspellings: Rose, Roses, Garden Rose, Common Rose

¹ Oil Spray is beast bet for combating rose slug

² Pest Patrol: Rose Slugs