A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Plants and Flowers Forum The Rose Grower's Forum Wanna be rose-grower....

I have never grown roses, but I would like to start. Can anyone give me advice on a good beginner variety and how to prepare a bed for it? I have very little shade in my yard and summers here tend to be a little dry. I live in East Tennessee, so the soil here tends to have a higher prcentage of clay.

I'm not sure on your planting zone.

First of all, is there a certain size plant or colour that you are looking for? Different rose varieties vary greatly.

You can amend your soil with compost, roses love the sun.

I'm pretty sure I'm zone 7. I'm not picky at all on color or size. I think climbers are for the distant future, though, because I haven't anything for them to climb right now (except a fence, would that work?).

What type of fencing is it?? chainlink would be great! ~ eventually it would provide a wall of roses,!


Tamara is right amend your soil with compost even used coffee gounds,, epson salt is great for roses too after their established,,,, it promotes blooms,,

Actually its a wooden privacy fence. Could they climb that?

What time of year is the best to plant? I'm assuming spring or fall, right? Should I prepare a bed with compost and let it age over the summer and plant in fall or even let it age until next spring? Or would it be okay to prepare the bed and plant immediately?

Thanks! Glad to hear your roses seem to like a little clay. I will start looking for "old type" roses in bush form.

I've got a perfect spot on the east side of the house that desperately needs some color and will provide a bit of protection from direct sun after 2:00pm. There is enough room for more than one bush and it is up against the fence for climbers, so a little rose garden would have room to expand.

I will start with one this year and see what happens....

Hi Ellemae, got to tell you that red roses are more prone to leaf fungus, so if you are planting roses be aware that you will need to buy a spray for fungus for the red ones. My Dad was an avid rose grower with many years off exsperience, just a little tip that I hope you will find useful.

By the way, you can buy rose food, you just put It in your watering can.

Personally I like floribunda roses best....probably because I haven't killed one yet. I also have rugosas as well, and they get overgrown quickly. Rugosas also seem to draw in bees and such much more than the other types do.

Whatever you choose, you'll love it. Just add compost to your soil and pop it in as soon as it's time in your area. Oh and water it from the base not over the top, seems to help control the fungus that way.

I have climbers as well, I just tie them to train them to whatever I plant them against.

One of the easiest to grow roses are called knock out roses they come in many differnt colors and varitys i think their is a climbing type but i could be wrong... These they are very diesease resisint... they do not care if you do not dead head them or not even though you should.... but they are a beautiful! the only thig about them they do not have the fragrence... But if you just want to learn how to grow roses these a a very great way to start then you can move up to more challenging roses.... Me I do not have a favorite I love all roses epecially climbing roses my favorite one is the olympiad because it is perfect for being in hot and humid weather.... I use epsom salt around my roses about every 4-5 weeks jusat spread a lil bit around the bottom and bam! then also like tamara said water at the base of the plant... And when you prune always prune right abouve the 5th leaflet (the leaf set with 5 leaves) also if you get a rose say a tea rose if you have the big blooms when you got it and they seem to get smaller prune lower to get the big blooms again youll have bigger blooms but less roses prune higher if your want alot more blooms but they will be smaller roses.... You also might want to go to your local library and check out a book about roses you can find alot about them! No matter what anyone says growing roses is not hard its in fact easy as making a pie! you just got to take your time and do research and you will be rewarded!

Ok, today I ran to Walmart to pick up some more creeping flox to border a bed in front, and I found these while I was there for $4 apiece:

Queen Elizabeth
Iceberg
Climbing America

Two Floribundas as suggested and one climber, just because I was feeling lucky.
The bed is finished, I've worked some prepackaged manure/compost into it well, now I will wait until after this weekend (forecast has called for temps to drop into the 30's, eek!) to plant them. Oh, and I got them some commercial rose food as well. Ya'll cross your fingers for these little guys.

Yay, can't wait to see the finished garden Ellymae. I love roses.

I've got five little buds on the Iceberg! Honestly I didn't really think any of them would bloom this year, but the Iceberg looks extremely healthy, has lots of new growth and now buds! The other two bushes are putting out new growth and look good too, maybe later they might bloom too? I did find a couple of aphids yesterday, so today I am going to try the local co-op and see if they have some ladybugs for sale...

Off topic a little, I told my mom about the advice I found here and she has been trying it out on the roses that she inheirited with her house three years ago and now they are blooming well and looking much healthier! I think they really just needed some pruning and some food. I know the big yellow rosebush had gotten so top heavy that half of the bush (nearly 4 foot tall) had broken in a bit of wind last fall and now it is looking much better, more balanced and compact.

http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk71/pickles10az/04-28-08_1903.jpg

This is a new rose I planted last Year, dont know the name, but I think its beautyfull.

Monika

monika, that is a beautiful rose. i like it too!

Monika That is Gorgeous!!!!!

Ellymae,, If you plant marigolds or basil in front of your roses that will keep aphids away,, Last year I had basil growing AND marigolds worked like a charm.

Don't forget in humid /rainy weather,, blackspot will probably develope on the rose leaves,, be sure to cut the whole leaf off and throw them away. don't let any hang around on the ground,, it will reinfect more good leafs with fungus.
Spray with a fungicide early in the AM before the sun gets to hot,, I typically use 'rose defense'(<-home depot) once a week during the rainy spring season, and then once a month the rest of the season

And it just so happens that I love marigolds AND basil!

My former MIL sent me a cutting off of a rose bush that she has in her yard. Its an old fashioned rose, pink, very pretty. She soaked the cutting in roots on and said to plant it in wet dirt and it should root in a couple of weeks. Will it be ok in a flowerpot until it gets a little bigger? It just looks so small and helpless...