Creating A Rose Garden
I have always dreamed of having a rose garden. It’s my all time favorite flower. So much so that my daughter’s middle name is Rose. Unfortunately for me I married someone who doesn’t like buying flowers. Fortunately for me, he will buy me rose bushes, a fair compromise. At least he sees it that way. I find it funny when a bouquet of roses appears on the table and he always asks “where did those come from?” With a look of exasperation and my response of “the garden”, I just walk away shaking my head. The struggle is real with that husband of mine!
Each year I go with friends and family to the Biltmore in Asheville, NC when the roses are in full bloom and leisurely walk around the different varieties and image what it would be like to have a place like this. Of course the one thing I don’t have that the Biltmore does is a gardener. I’m the gardener and if you have ever grown roses, especially here in the South, you know they can be very hard to care for and keep free of disease. Our hot humid summers invite black spot, pests and very few blooms, especially in August. It almost feels like it’s not worth the time and effort to put into the care of these flowers. But I am not deterred.
With so many colors and types of roses, it’s hard to choose exactly the right ones. If you’re anything like me, you want all the roses. But space is limited so I must be precise in the ones I choose including colors, especially if I add them to our cut flower bouquets. I always gravitate toward David Austin roses and have two in my collection. The Olivia Rose, a soft pink with 90+ petals per bloom and the Charles Darwin, a bright yellow with some of the largest blooms to be found in an English Rose. My favorite white rose is John F Kennedy. It is a pure white hybrid tea rose with up to 50 petals and an intoxicating licorice aroma and stands up to our summer heat. I am a sucker for coral colored anything and that includes roses. In my collection is Tropicana, another hybrid tea with bright orange-red blooms and Marmalade Skies, a floribunda that produces clusters of 5-8 blooms. I will include a full list of my roses at the bottom.
When we first bought the property we are at, I knew exactly where my rose garden would go. A tear drop shaped section of our front garden that has been housing overgrown and dying Azaleas has finally been cleared, tilled, amended and ready for the planting of some new and current roses. All tied together beautifully with a new fountain in the center.
I have been waiting patiently to prune my current roses back and get them ready to transplant to the new space. So how do you know when is the best time to prune and transplant? Whether you cut them back before winter sets in or after your last frost, make sure the threat of frost is weeks away or has passed. The worst thing you could do is hard cut your roses back and disturb the root system, only to get a hard freeze and kill a well established rose. Second, cut the canes back to 10-12”and remove all foliage and dead canes. Third, dig a new hole and make sure it drains well. Here in South Carolina, our red clay makes really good underground clay pots that hold water really well. . One of the things I have learned is to score the sides of my holes, making sure they are not completely smooth. This gives the roots a place to go. Next plant your rose in its new spot with a mix of peat free compost, grit and mulch and some bone meal. Then water in well. As Monty on “Gardeners World” would say, “give it a good drink.“
Roses are potassium hogs. A good trick is to add a banana peel or crushed egg shells into the planting hole. During the growing season, fertilize every 4-6 weeks with fish emulsion liquid fertilizer, especially during the first growing season. Granular fertilizers during the first growing season are too hot and will burn the fine baby roots and potentially kill your plant.
All of these steps are to ensure your roses will find happiness in their new spot and you find joy in the many blooms.
My List of Roses (most purchased at heirloom roses.com)
Charles Darwin
Marmalade Skies
America (climbing rose)
Artic Blue
Paris e Yvette St. Laurent
Sunbelt Plum Perfect
Hot Cocoa
Margaret Merril
John F Kennedy
Tropicana
