Sustainable Rose Care
By Lynsey Ruml
Roses have an unearned reputation as fussy, disease-ridden and cumbersome, but when a climate-appropriate cultivar is planted in the right location and given proper nutrition, roses are a beautiful and sustainable addition to your garden!
Planting your rose
Planting your rose in the right place is crucial for maximum blooms and healthy foliage. In most climates, roses look best when they receive at least eight hours of direct sunlight a day. In desert areas like Phoenix, AZ, or Barstow, CA, they might appreciate a spot in filtered sunlight or some afternoon shade. Humid areas should leave extra space between specimens to reduce fungal and foliar disease. More arid regions can plant roses close together, using mass plantings to form hedges, colorful intertwined beds and other closely planted focal points in the landscape.
Contrary to popular belief most roses aren’t particular about soil PH or type, and planting them is easy. Prepare your bed or dig a hole for your rose according to the planting instructions that accompany most commercial roses. If you’re transplanting an established rose, make sure the hole is deep enough to accommodate any attached tap-root. Pile a mound of soil in the planting hole and drape the rose’s roots around. This step encourages them to expand into native soil. For potted roses, dig a hole one and a half times taller and wider than the container.
Amend the soil you dug and backfill the hole with it, ensuring the soil line is at or slightly below the rose’s crown (where the roots meet the stems, or where your rose was grafted). Research proves roses are healthier, more productive and put on larger growth when fed organic nutrients and amended with organic matter. We amend our soil with compost and ClimateGard.
In addition to complete plant nutrition, ClimateGard offers silica, healthy bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi that are scientifically proven to strengthen plant cell walls and create beautiful flowers and foliage. Slow release phosphorus in the form of fossilized seabird guano provides roses with sustained nutrition for prolonged blooming.
Compost enriches humus into soil that modulates moisture around the root zone, and along with ClimateGard, provides microbes to increase both rose bush health and bloom size. We amend three inches of compost and one-quarter cup of ClimateGard into the planting hole. If you have heavy clay soil, amending with an inch or two of expanded shale will help aerate your soil and allow for healthier and deeper root growth.
Companion planting with roses
Companion planting increases the health of your rose and modulates water needs. Lavender and sage are popular companion plants. Heirloom vegetables also make great rose companions and have similar nutritional needs. I enjoy growing Rosa Bianca eggplant, decorative striped corn and purple pepper varieties between my roses. Wild Thyme makes a pretty and practical groundcover and living mulch for roses and their companions.
Mulching your roses
After backfilling your hole, cover the exposed soil under and around your roses with four inches of shredded hardwood mulch. Shredded hardwood mulch locks together, retaining moisture and nutrients in the soil by reducing run-off and evaporation.
Irrigating your roses
Water using your drip line or with a soaker hose. Watering needs vary greatly by climate. Contrary to popular advice and the recommendations of peer-reviewed research, I have great success hand-watering my roses and find the process calming. I water twice a week over the winter and daily during our hot, arid summers. Hand watering also forces me to view my roses up close daily, allowing me to control pests by spraying them off with pressurized water flow and deadhead daily to increase bloom production. I use my spent blooms as brown mulch, tossing them around the roots and in between companion plants. This mulching practice is only advisable if your roses show no symptoms of disease.
Feeding your roses
Start fertilizing roses in spring when plants show six inches of new foliage/stem growth. Feed a quarter of a cup ClimateGard every six weeks to established, in-ground roses. Add an eighth of a cup every six weeks, per every 20 gallons of soil to container roses. Stop fertilizing six weeks before your climate zone’s first frost date.
Pruning and trellising your roses
Roses are typically pruned January-February before plants break dormancy, but gardeners often have different pruning time frames that work well for them and their climate zone. Roses are resilient and can handle heavy pruning. Cut all dead canes, as well as those that obtrusively cross one another. Wait to trellis climbing roses until they’re a year or two old. With proper trellising, climbing roses can transform an eyesore into an architectural benefit by covering a chain-link fence or support beam.
We find the jute ties in our ClimateGard bags are the perfect weight and length to trellis our climbers. Secure a main branch (one you can trace back to the crown or base) to the trellis or fence (horizontally if possible to encourage new growth) and tie in a double-knot — ensuring not to tie too tight. Our ties are also compostable and can be thrown in your pile along with pruned brown or green matter. Just cut the ties when you prune your trellised plant!
Conclusion
With proper planting and care practices, roses can be a sustainable addition to your landscape while filling your home with lush bouquets. We hope you found this post helpful and feel inspired to grow roses in your garden!
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Superior plant nutrition derived from the most ethical, sustainable sources available.
Produces the same results as conventional fertilizers without the negative environmental impacts.
Each ClimateGard pellet is infused with micronutrients, silicon, humic acid and a high-performance blend of living bacteria and fungi.
Delivered in an environmentally friendly organic cotton bag with a compostable inner liner.
Will continue to enrich your soil long after application.
$39.95 for 7.5 pound bag | $69.95 for 15 pound bag.