Fall & Winter care:

Stop fertilizing about the middle of August.
Continue your regular spray schedule until you prepare the roses for winter.
Wait until the first hard frost* so rose can go dormant.
Tie canes together or cut back to 3 feet.
Cover bud union with 8-12 inches of soil or use rose cone or 5 gallon bottomless bucket over bush. Fill bucket or cone with shredded oak leaves.

*Hard frost is when there is a frozen crust on the soil in the morning

Spring care:

Remove winter protection when the forthysia bloom.
Prune when the forthysia bloom.
Use bypass pruners .
Remove all dead or damaged canes
Prune down to about ¼ inch above an outward facing leaf.
Prune until the cane pith is the color of the inside of an apple.
Just cut dead or damaged canes from climbers and shrub roses. Do major pruning on them after the first bloom. 
You can prune or shape shrub roses with hedge clippers.
Wait until just before the first bloom to fertilize unless you are using an organic fertilizer then you can fertilize when you prune.

Location, location, location

Pick a location away from trees and other shrubs to avoid competition for nutrients. Roses are heavy feeders and the trees and bushes will send out roots that will rob the nutrients from the roses. 

A spot that gets at least 6 hours of sun daily is ideal. They will grow with less sun but will produce spindly canes and fewer blooms.

Planting your new rose

Chose a fresh bush with at least 3 plump green canes.

Avoid those that appear dried out, black, diseased, or that have been sitting on the shelf for a long time. 

Don't expect much from a cheap rosebush. Remember, you get what you pay for. 

Soak a packaged rose overnight in a 5 gallon bucket of water in which you have added a growth stimulator.

Remove the rose from the package before soaking except for boxed roses that you plant in the box. 

Poke holes in the sides of the box after soaking and just before you plant. Do this also with potted roses planted in biodegradable fiber pots. 

Preparing the planting hole

Plant a $10 rose in a $50 hole.

If a potted rose dig the hole at least twice as wide as the pot and half again as deep. 

For a packaged rose you will need a hole at least 18 inches wide and deep. 

In the bottom half of the hole prepare a mix of soil, organic material such as horse manure, compost, leaves, organic fertilizer, etc. You can also use a slow release fertilizer such as Osmocote. Adding Perlite will help keep heavy clay soils loose. In sandy soils, water absorbing polymers will help retain moisture during dry spells 

On top of this mix set the potted rose.

If the pot is plastic, remove it by cutting off the bottom and then the sides with a razor knife. Do this while it sets in the hole. This way you don't disturb the new roots. 

If a packaged (bare root) rose form a mound on the mix in the hole. Remove the bush from the water it has been soaking in and spread the roots out over the mound making sure the bud union (swollen knob where the canes grow from) will be four inches below ground level. Pull the soil back into the hole, pressing it down firmly with your hand. When the hole is ¾ filled with soil, slowly pour the water from the soaking bucket around the bush.

As the water soaks in and the soil settles it will close any voids that may still be there. After the water soaks in pull in the remaining soil , hilling any excess over the canes sticking out of the ground. This acts to prevent them from drying out until new roots can form to pull up moisture into the plant. 

Place a hose next to the newly planted rose and let it trickle for an hour or so. 

Until the bush starts to grow well, water daily, letting the water slowly trickle at the base. 3-5 gallons per day until established and then at least 5 gallons a week. 

Insects and fungus:*

Unless you have a perfect leaf phobia don't worry about insects. Spraying with an insecticide will kill all the beneficial insects along with the damaging ones. Besides, Bugs don't eat much. To prevent cane borers put a daub of Elmer's No Run Gel Formula Carpenters Glue on the end of all cut canes when you cut a bloom or prune. 

Remember, every time you cut a rose you are pruning so cut down to an outward facing leaf.


To prevent blackspot and mildew you will need to start a regular spray program as soon as the bush leafs out. Follow the directions on the label for mixing and frequency of application. Most any fungicides labeled for roses will work but you need to spray regularly throughout the summer and fall until the first hard freeze in the fall. Fungus diseases are preventable and are hard to control once they appear. 

Purchase an inexpensive pump-up sprayer for your pesticides and never spray a pesticide from a sprayer that has held a herbicide. 
Hose-end sprayers are useless for spraying roses and waste pesticides. They will work for water soluble fertilizers though. 

Water well the night before you spray. Spray early in the morning when there is no breeze.

Leaves make the food that produces blooms . The more leaves you lose to fungus the fewer flowers you will have.

*Always read the label and follow the directions on any pesticide bottle. Pesticides can be dangerous if used improperly and precautions are not followed. 

General care of roses:

Always water early in the day so the water will dry off the leaves. Water setting on the leaves at night will promote fungus spore germination. The spores are in the air around us and need 8 hours of the proper conditions to start growing. 

Roses are heavy water users so if there is no natural moisture, you will need to water deeply when there is no rain. Overhead watering is fine if done in the morning. Do not water in the evening. Watering does not mean a 5 minute sprinkling with a hand held nozzle. It's letting a sprinkler run until tuna fish cans set around are filled.

After the bush is established you can fertilize with any fertilizer. Don't purchase fertilizer labeled for roses. Look at the NPK numbers and then buy a generic fertilizer. Roses can't read so they don't care. A balanced garden fertilizer such as 10-10-10, 15-15-15, 20-20-20 is fine. Two tablespoons of Epsom salts mixed in the soil at the base of each bush in late spring will encourage new canes too grow from the bud union. The stuff you get at Walgreens to soak your feet in will work.

The addition of fish meal, fish emulsion, or alfalfa meal applied at the same time is beneficial to the soil and the plant. 

Don't fertilize after August 15. 

Your roses will respond with blooms directly in proportion to the care you give them.
You can e-mail me with questions anytime during the year to rosenut@rosenut.com