How to Grow Roses? Detailed Illustrated Tutorial

Have you ever thought about becoming a good rose gardener? As a symbol of love and beauty, roses have been cultivated for thousands of years and can grow in the wild or in gardens. To grow good roses, you must choose a variety suited to your environment and care for them carefully so they improve year after year. Below, you will learn how to grow good roses.

Illustrated rose growing tutorial. This handmade DIY tutorial covers: preparation before planting, planting roses, daily care, and protecting roses from damage. If you want to learn how to grow roses, check out this illustrated rose growing tutorial on Juqiao.com!

Preparation Before Planting

Choosing a Rose Variety

Did you know there are more than 13,000 kinds of roses? Different types of roses have different suitable growing environments. When choosing a variety, you first need to know the characteristics of the place where you plan to grow roses. Based on the soil characteristics, you can select the rose variety most suitable for planting. When choosing, also consider the flower's shape, size, and color. Rose varieties are mainly divided into the following categories:

Hybrid tea roses have very attractive appearance and color, so they often appear in flower shops or decorative bouquets at banquets.

Floribunda roses are the variety with the richest colors. Each bush produces many flowers, rather than just one bud per plant.

Grandiflora roses are a cross between hybrid tea roses and floribunda roses. The flower clusters are usually tall, and each plant produces several buds.

Climbing roses can wrap around fences and walls like vines.

Miniature roses are small and compact, making them very suitable for growing in containers.

Shrub and landscape roses are relatively easy to grow and are more resistant to pests and diseases. They also come in a rich variety of shapes, sizes, and colors.

Tree roses are a variety grafted onto long stems, so they look like trees. Compared with other varieties, tree roses require more careful care.

Buying Bare-Root or Potted Roses

After deciding which rose variety you want to plant, you also need to decide how to plant it. You can choose bare-root rose seedlings to plant directly in the soil, or choose rose seedlings already planted in small pots and then transplant them into a garden or another pot. You can find what you want at any nursery, and if you plan to buy very rare rose varieties, you can also find them online.

Bare-root roses should be planted in early spring, so that after the weather begins to warm up, the planted roses can grow new roots.

Potted roses should be kept indoors throughout the winter and taken outside when spring arrives.

Buying Some Rose Gardening Supplies

In addition to rose seedlings, you also need some other gardening tools. You can buy the following tools at a community nursery or online store:

Pruning shears. Pruning can keep roses in good condition, promote bud formation, and help the bouquet maintain a good shape. Pruning is very important in the process of growing roses. You need a small curved pair of scissors and a large pair of pruning shears.

Gardening gloves. To prevent thorn injuries, you need to prepare a pair of thick gardening gloves.

Fertilizer. Roses need to be fertilized several times each season. You can choose fertilizer specially designed for roses, or other types of flower fertilizer will also work.

Mulch. Covering the rose bed with mulch can prevent pests and provide more nutrients to the roses. You can choose wood chips, pine needles, peat, or any other form of mulch.

Mix rose soil mix into the soil; this mix can help roses grow better.

Shovel and spade. These are used for digging soil during transplanting.

Planting Roses

Choosing a Planting Location

This location must ensure at least 6 hours of sunlight every day. There should not be too many other flowers, grasses, or trees nearby. The soil should be loose and drain well. If there is too much clay, you must loosen the soil before planting and add some gypsum granules.

The most suitable soil pH for rose growth is between 6.3-6.8.

You can choose to check the soil drainage after heavy rain. If the soil is moist but there is no standing water, then this place is a good choice. If you see a lot of standing water and mud pits, you may need to find another place, or repair this area well to make the soil more suitable for rose growth.

Hydrating Rose Seedlings Before Transplanting

If you want to plant bare-root seedlings, you can soak the seedlings in water for a few hours before transplanting. If you bought potted seedlings, water the seedlings thoroughly once before moving them to the flower bed.

Digging a Large Planting Hole

Each seedling needs a large planting hole. Use a shovel and spade to dig a hole 50 cm square and 50 cm deep. The size does not have to be very exact; a hole roughly this size is suitable for transplanting roses. Mix the dug-out soil with fertilizer, then put this soil back into the hole as a base. Add some bone meal or rose fertilizer as well.

If you plan to plant more than one rose, be careful to leave a spacing of half a meter between two bushes, so as to leave enough room for the roots to spread.

Transplanting the Seedlings

Place the seedling on top of the base, and use a shovel to fill soil back into the hole. The buds on the seedling should be about 5 cm below the ground. If the temperature where you live is relatively low, you can plant the seedling somewhat deeper to ensure the seedling will not be damaged by low temperatures.

If you are transplanting potted seedlings, remove the soil clinging to the roots before transplanting.

Make sure the soil around the roots is firm; you can press it with your hands to remove air gaps.

Watering

Water the area where you transplanted the seedlings thoroughly; this helps the soil and roots fit together more closely, and the seedlings become more stable in the soil. Note that the soil must have good permeability.

Covering the Flower Bed with Mulch

Cover the entire area where the seedlings were transplanted with mulch. If you grow roses in pots, spread mulch near the stems. This can help the seedlings maintain temperature (the suitable growing temperature is 15-25°C) and helps growth in the early stages after transplanting.

Daily Care

Watering Roses Regularly in Summer

Roses that grow well need a lot of water. Do not let the soil dry out completely. If you see dust appearing on the ground, that means there is already a serious lack of water. For flowers that have already been transplanted, choose the watering frequency according to the conditions in your area; usually a thorough watering once a week is needed.

Fertilizing

Roses usually need to be fertilized several times each growing season. In early spring, when you see new buds emerging, you can fertilize, using either liquid fertilizer or granular fertilizer. Fertilize again when they bloom for the first time, and if there is a second blooming period, fertilize once more. After summer ends, that is, around Labor Day, you can stop fertilizing.

Some fertilizers have a slow-release effect; if you use this kind of fertilizer, you do not need to fertilize too frequently.

Do not over-fertilize, otherwise it may also damage the flowers.

Pruning Branches and Leaves

Pruning branches and leaves can keep the bush beautiful and healthy. Places where the branches and leaves are too dense need some pruning, which can prevent rot or disease in the bush. The pruning method varies by season, but the position for pruning branches and leaves is fixed: prune from where the buds emerge, that is, where the branches and leaves extend out. That place is usually a small round bump located above a large cluster of leaves; prune diagonally downward.

Roses are not easily damaged by pruning, because new shoots will definitely grow from the newest flower buds. You only need to choose the right place to prune; otherwise the newly grown leaves will affect the shape of the whole bush. Remember that the key to pruning is to cut off new branches growing outward and ensure air circulation inside the bush.

In late winter and early spring, remove withered branches and leaves. If there are new stems and roots extending from the main trunk, clean up these derived branches and leaves to prevent the main trunk's nutrients from being taken away. Keep about 8 bushes, cut branches and leaves to 1/3 of their height, and this can help the bouquet grow better after the weather warms up.

In summer, be careful to remove faded flowers; this allows the newly grown flowers to bloom better.

Protecting Roses from Damage

Throughout winter, pay attention to adding necessary protective measures for the bushes.

Bushes that are too tall may be damaged in winter by strong winds or frost. Keep the bush height no more than 1.2 m. Tie them with string and prepare for possible severe weather. At the base of the bush, use mixed fertilizer as a protective base, and cover it with a layer of straw. Once the temperature rises above 14°C, you can remove the protective base.

Washing Aphids and Spiders Out of the Bushes with Water

These pests appear in most rose varieties, and washing with water is the most effective way to eliminate them. In addition, ensuring the bushes are watered enough can also effectively reduce pest damage.

Use less insecticide. Insecticide may very likely damage your roses and other plants in the garden, and it will also kill some other insects that are beneficial to plant growth.

Clean up withered leaves in time.

If the pest problem still has not been completely eliminated, you can try making a mixed solution of dish soap and water and spray it on the leaves once a week.

You can also buy some natural rose essential oil insecticide and spray it on the leaves; this method can suppress pests without harming beneficial insects.

Be Careful Not to Let Your Roses Get Black Spot or Powdery Mildew

Choose rose varieties that can resist these diseases, such as "Charming Rose." You can also spray fungicide at the beginning of each season, which can also effectively suppress disease. You can also consult your regional nursery to learn what is most effective for eliminating disease in your area.

Tips

A good irrigation system is very important, because roses are very sensitive to the amount of watering.

Good pruning can give your garden a fresh new look, and your house will also get the best decoration from it.

If you like, on sunny days when watering roses, you can add a little lemon juice to the water.