Here at R&R Roses we care, we want your roses to thrive. After all roses mean more than just a plant, they have meaning, memories and sentimental value. Follow the Rose care tips below and you'll have a healthy flowering rose that will last year's to come.
Before we get to Rose advice I would like to share with you two Rose products that really stand out when looking after your Roses.
1) Uncle Toms Rose tonic
The rose trade, exhibitors and gardeners all agree that there is no better product than Uncle Tom’s Rose tonic. Not only does is feed roses but encourages strong growth, bigger bloomers and helps roses fight off powdery mildew and black spot. Can be used as foliar spray or soil drench. Completely organic, no chemicals involved which makes the product completely safe around bees, butterflies and other insects.
simply add 10ml of Tonic to 1 litre of water. 1 litre bottle will treat 100 roses for a season or multiple seasons. 500ml bottle will treat 50.
To purchase the 1 litre Rose tonic on Amazon + free delivery please click on the link below.
To purchase the 500ml Rose tonic on Amazon + free delivery please click on the link below.
2) SB plant Invigorator
A must have if you want to defend your Roses and other plants from pests. Controls Whitefly, Aphids, Spider Mite, Mealybug and also protects from Scale & Mildew. No harvest interval. Non toxic,
Biodegradable and pests will not become resistant to SBPI if correctly applied. 3 in 1 action (fungicide, pesticide and foliar feed). Excellent shelf life. simply add 10ml sb invigorator to 1 litre water and spray away.
To purchase the 500ml sb invigorator on Amazon + free delivery click on the link below
Finally I feel it's crucial to have a great pair of secateurs. Afterall if you want the rose to thrive, deadheading and pruning is a must.
Please follow this link below to find out more:
Location
Choose a site that gets at least 6 hours of sun a day. If you are replacing old roses with new roses remove as much of the old soil as possible and replace with soil that hasn’t grown roses before (the old soil will grow anything else apart from roses). An alternative to this hard work is to use Rootgrow, a natural product that helps combat rose sickness.
Planting
Planting Potted Roses
Can be planted anytime of the year
Dig a hole as deep as the container and 5″ to 6″ wider than it to accommodate the roots.
Remove the plant from container and place in the hole, making sure the graft union (stumpy bit) is at, or slightly below soil level.
Planting Bare Root
Can only been planted between November to early march.
Dig a hole big enough to accommodate the roots and place a handful of bone meal at the bottom of the hole, mixing in with the soil.
Place the rose in the ground and backfill with topsoil that has been enriched with organic matter (garden compost, well rotted manure or a rose and shrub compost).
Make sure the graft union (stumpy bit) is at, or slightly below soil level. (If no graft union is visible plant at the same level as in the pot)
Water well.
Summer deadheading
After the rose flower has finished blooming and the petals start to fall away, the remaining flower head, if pollinated, will then start to form a round hip and seeds, the forming of hips on the modern roses we supply is something you don’t want to encourage as leaving them on the rose then sends a message back to the rose that its job is done for the year and there is no need for it to flower anymore that year and all the plant’s efforts will then be put into producing hips and seed.
Cut these dead flowers off as soon as possible after flowering and the rose will then re-invigorate itself and re-shoot and re-flower, repeat this through summer and autumn and you will get up to 3 or 4 heavy flushes of flower from June until hard frosts on many of the varieties we supply and depending on the length and temperature of the summer.
Deadheading is easy, simply hold the old finished flower and prune off 2 or 3 leaves down (ideally with leaves with 5 leaflets on) to just above a leaf, the more leaves you leave the quicker the rose will re-flower as it will have more immediate energy; for roses with large heavy single flower heads and trusses make sure the stem you leave is at least the thickness of a pencil at the point of cutting, this will make the new shoot strong enough to support the flower head of the next rose flower, helping to stop blooms from drooping. Put all your waste cuttings onto the bonfire or bin rather than discarding on the ground around your roses, this will help to keep them disease free.
Winter Pruning
Pruning is easy, the rule of thumb being for established bush roses prune to 1/3 original size in a frost-free period from mid-February (southern England) to mid-March. Prune out any weak, weedy growth. Roses can be trimmed back after they finish flowering in November to stop wind-rock but the main pruning is done late-winter/early-spring. (If you are worried about pruning, don’t be, it’s quite acceptable to prune with a hedge trimmer.
Feeding & mulching
To get the best from roses they need regular feeding. An old rosey saying is ‘a well-fed rose is a healthy rose’.
A clay soil will need the addition of a rose fertiliser twice a year, in March (after pruning) and after the first flush of flowers is over (usually late-June/July).
A sandy or chalky soil will need feeding monthly from March to end-July – a small handful of rose fertiliser will suffice.
A loamy soil will need a feeding regime in between the other two types.
Mulching is a good practise; garden compost, leaf mould or manure will keep the moisture in the ground, but bark chippings are best avoided.
Growing in pots
Roses grow well in containers, providing the following guidelines are followed:
Stay away from 100% multi purpose compost. Use sylvagrow, Westlands rose and shrubs or John innes no3 compost. if you cannot buy Sylvagrow then use a mixture of 50/50 John Innes 3 and multi-purpose compost.
Always add a slow release fertiliser each year, and liquid feed from mid-July until September.
Choose a pot that is at least three times the size that the rose is growing in from our nursery.
Watering
Roses can tolerate dry soils but will not perform at there best. Moist soil is ideal for a healthy growing rose if you want them to flourish. Be careful not to waterlogg the soil. Please water the soil only! Must avoid spraying leaves as that can invite scorching and diseases. Early morning and evening is best time to water roses.
All roses we send out will have been pruned appropriately. We aim to send them out in flower but of course weather or timing can't always make that possible. If so we will always prune the roses ready for the their next flush of flowers.
R&R Roses
Bovey Tracey, Devon
