How to Maintain a Healthy Rose Garden All Season Long

Roses are generally easy to care for and provide us all with great joy here at April & Ashley. Perform these few simple maintenance tasks in your garden throughout the season to ensure your roses thrive to their fullest – just like ours do. 

Pruning 

Every once in a while, your roses will need a proper trimming. This is an essential part of promoting new, healthy growth. Don’t worry – pruning your roses will not harm them. Quite the opposite – you’ll end up with better roses than you started with!

Pruning Guidelines:

1. Prune your roses in early spring when they are coming out of dormancy. 

2. Remove any dead, diseased, damaged, and crossing canes. Green, red, or orange-colored canes should stay, and any gray, black, or dark brown ones should go. Crossing canes may rub against each other in the wind and cause damage – putting your roses at risk for disease. 

3. Prune to an outward-facing bud to encourage growth away from the center of the rose. This will avoid overcrowding and encourage good air circulation – allowing your rose to breathe. 

4. Use clean, sharp tools, such as Felco pruners. This will prevent the spread of any possible disease from plant to plant and avoid damaging the canes. 

Watering

Roses are thirsty plants. Maintaining an adequate supply of soil moisture will keep their blooms prolific throughout the season.

Watering Guidelines: 

1. Give each of your roses 3-5 gallons of water per week. If you live in a rainy climate, the amount required will be less. If you have clay soil, you’ll need less water. For sandy soil, you’ll need 2 to 3 times as much. 

2. Use organic mulch – such as wood chips – to allow the soil to retain more moisture. 

3. Always water at the base of your roses. Overhead watering and wet leaves can lead to disease and rot. Consider using a dripline to deliver the water directly into the soil and minimize water contact with the foliage.

Fertilizing

Feeding your roses and providing them with the right nutrients is essential to their well-being.

How Often to Fertilize Your Roses

For potted roses, fertilize every 4-6 weeks during the growing season.
For newly planted roses, fertilize 6 weeks after planting to allow the roots to establish.
For established roses, fertilize in early spring and early summer.

Always give your roses a good drink of water after applying fertilizer so that it reaches the roots. 

Nutritional Needs for Roses 

If you’re planting roses in the ground, you may not need to fertilize since there are likely already nutrients in the soil. Consider conducting a soil test to see which nutrients are missing. If you’re not able to do this, add organic soil amendments – such as manure, alfalfa, or compost – which are higher in nitrogen. Nitrogen is the most necessary nutrient to promote good growth and flowering – and it’s most likely to be missing from the soil.

In a potting soil, it’s your responsibility to provide all the nutrients the rose needs. The major nutrients in most fertilizers are NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium). We typically use a 15-15-15 ratio, but no need to fixate on this. As long as your roses get fed, they’ll be happy!

Mulching

Adding a 3-4 inch layer of mulch is one of the most important things you can do to create a healthy environment for your roses. This will keep moisture in the soil throughout the season, feed microorganisms in the soil, and stop weeds from getting out of control.

Mulch can be applied to your roses at any time of year, but it’s best to do it in early spring and early fall.

Best Mulching Materials

• Cardboard can be used as a weed barrier that will decompose and blend into the soil. It also keeps moisture in the ground. Cut a small area out to leave some space around the plant. Slip the cardboard underneath the rose and cover all the weeds. This will smother them and stop them from hindering the growth of your rose. 

• Mint compost – This type of compost is high in nitrogen and acts as a natural pest repellent. 

• Garden mulch can be bought from your local garden supplier.

• Well-aged manure with no seeds. 
  

Pest & Disease Management

There are 2 threats we must watch out for every year when caring for our roses – pests and diseases.

Most Common Rose Pests and How to Treat Them

• Aphids - Light green, pear-shaped insects that appear in clusters on the buds of your roses.

Treatment: Natural predatory insects usually take care of aphids in a couple weeks. If you can’t stand the sight of them, knock them right off by spraying them directly with a hose.

• Japanese beetles - Metallic, shiny, green & copper-colored insects about ½ inch long. They eat away at both the foliage and blooms of your roses.

Treatment: Japanese beetles are unaffected by pesticides and can only be removed by hand. 

• Sawfly larvae (rose slugs) - Green, caterpillar-like insects about ½ inch long. Their heads are an orange-brown color. 

Treatment: Sawfly larvae can be easily picked off the leaves by hand or sprayed off with a hose.

• Thrips - Dark-winged, pale-bodied insects that live inside the buds of your roses. They are tiny – measuring less than 1mm. 

Treatment: Cut off and throw away any damaged buds or leaves.  

Most Common Diseases in Roses 

No matter how much you love and care for your roses, you’re bound to see one of these rose plant diseases crop up in your garden:

• Black spot

• Powdery mildew

• Rust

• Botrytis blight

• Rose mosaic virus (RMV)

Roses aren’t high-maintenance plants, but they do need a little TLC. With the right amount of pruning, watering, fertilizing, mulching – plus keeping an eye out for those unwanted pests and diseases – you’ll create an environment that’ll allow your roses to thrive all season long. 

 

Visit April & Ashley to browse our selection of premium rose bushes – delivered straight from our farm to your doorstep. Whether you’re searching for your first rose or want to add one to your collection, we’ve got the perfect one for you. 

Happy gardening!

April & Ashley