ROSES

Selection

All roses are deciduous shrubs and come in a variety of types, sizes and flower types. Each type has its benefits, so it’s easy to find roses to grow in different spots. Today’s gardeners are looking for compact plants, that repeat flower and have a fragrance. 

Old-fashioned garden roses are the ancestors of today's modern roses and are still grown for their delicate beauty and delicious perfume. They are a diverse group with blooms ranging from single to fully double blooms, often white through pink to deep reds and purples. They can be climbers or shrubs, sometimes only flower once and many produce colourful hips. Varieties include rugosa, china, alba, damask, gallica and musk roses.  

Modern roses include hybrid tea, floribunda, English (David Austin), climbing &rambling, ground cover, polyantha, and miniature, which are the mainstays of todays’ modern rose range. 

•   Hybrid tea roses have a bushy upright habit and large perfectly formed blooms on long stems, prized for cut flowers. They are repeat flowering and there is an extensive range of colours with many boasting a delightful fragrance

•   Floribunda roses bear large clusters of flowers on strong stems that repeat continuously from spring to autumn. A kaleidoscope of colours and often fragrant add to their appeal.

•   English (David Austin) roses combine the rosette look and perfume of old-fashioned roses with the repeat flowering habit and colours of modern roses.

•   Climbing and rambling roses cannot support themselves like vines but produce long stems that can be trained along fences and walls or over an archway. They offer a range of colours, mostly with large flowers and almost always are repeat bloomers.

•   Ground cover roses, of which the Flower Carpet series are the best known, are usually wider than they are tall in growth. The flowers tend to be more single-petalled, and they are repeat flowering and easy to manage.

•   Polyantha roses are a small group which includes ‘The Fairy’ and‘Cecile Brunner’. They bloom prolifically from spring to autumn, with clusters of small flowers. They are hardy and ideal for small gardens and containers.

•   Miniature roses have been bred to stay small. They are perfect as container plants, both indoor and out, and in small gardens as border plants.  

In addition to these rose types, there are standard, weeping standard and pillar roses that may be a hybrid tea or floribunda type, grown on tall stems to create a form that is useful as features in the garden.

‍When to plant

Winter is the main planting season when roses are dormant, however they can be planted at other times provided they are watered regularly.

Where to plant

‍Plant in a sunny, open, position. Roses like a rich well drained soil. Prepare the soil before planting by digging in plenty of compost. Raise beds in clay soil to improve drainage.

‍How to plant

Before planting, prune off damaged branches and anything too thin. Aim for 3 to 4 outward growing main leaders. Cut the main leaders to within 4 to 5 buds from the base of the plant. Plant the rose to a depth so the bud union is just above the soil. Use ican Slow Food as a base fertiliser when planting, which will feed the plants as they need it for up to two years.

‍Refer to our icanBloom ‘Your Guide to Great Roses’ brochure for more information. ‍

‍Feeding

Roses require regular feeding. Use a balanced rose fertiliser such as ican Rose Food. Feed roses in early spring when new growth appears and again in mid-summer. Water in well.

Watering

‍Roses require regular watering throughout summer. Deep watering once or twice a week is more effective than light sprinklings every day.

Mulching

Mulch roses in early spring and again in mid-summer with a compost or mulch. Mulching keeps the roots cool and moist.

Pruning

Main pruning of roses is carried out in winter. Remove diseased growth, and weak wood thinner than a pencil. Remove crossover branches that reduce ventilation, and then shorten all others back to about one third the height, to encourage new growth in spring. Always use sharp secateurs. Make the pruning cut 5mm above a bud on an angle slanting away from the bud. Remove (deadhead) spent flower heads in summer for continuous flowering.

‍Pests and diseases

For all of their beauty, most roses do require regular spraying and maintenance to keep them pest and disease free.

·     Aphids are small sucking insects that appear on new growth. Hose off, or spray with Mavrik, plus winter strength Enspray 99.

·     Rose scale are sucking insects that look like fine white flakes stuck to the stem. Control with Enspray 99.

·     Mites are minute sucking insects found on the underside of leaves causing distortion, speckling or silvering and dehydration of leaves. Spray with Mavrik + Enspray 99.

·     Black spot appears as dark brown black spots in yellow rings on the leaf, usually in summer. Avoid wetting the foliage when watering. Spray with Combat at first sign and repeat at 3 weekly intervals.

·      Powdery mildew appears as a white floury powder on the leaf surface. Treat as for black spot.

·     Downy mildew is a disease sometimes confused with black spot as the symptoms are very similar. With downy mildew, the spots are more irregular and tend to follow the leaf veins. Downy mildew tends to attack roses in early spring and autumn, while black spot attacks in late spring and summer. Spray with FreeFlo Copper at first sign.

An early and late winter spray of FreeFlo Copper plus Enspray 99 will minimise problems in spring. Combat is a bee-friendly rose and ornamental spray that is an insecticide, fungicide and fish fertiliser.

Recommended roses  

Bush roses

A Moment in Time, Champagne Breakfast, Iceberg, Loving Memory, Margaret Merrill, Mary Rose, Munstead Wood, My Grandam, My Mum, My Sweetheart, Pink Ribbon.

Climbers

Compassion, Cupcake, Dublin Bay, Graham Thomas, Iceberg, Sir Edmund Hillary.

Standards

Burgundy Iceberg, Iceberg, Margaret Merrill.

‍

For more comprehensive information on growing roses, pick up a copy of our icanBloom ‘Your Guide to Great Roses’ in store.