Rose Planting Guide

Roses can be a beautiful addition to your garden that provide not only vibrant color but also delightful fragrance for many years. For the best possible results, we recommend the following steps be taken before planting to prepare your site for your new addition.

Getting Ready to Plant

Our roses have been selected to be easy to grow, hardy and disease resistant - we've taken the utmost care to ensure that the plants you buy are of the very best quality. Now it's up to you! With the proper planting and care, you will easily be able to maintain the health of your new rose. Healthy plants will reward you with more flowers and be better able to fight off pests and diseases.

Selecting a Site

Roses need lots of sun, especially in cooler climates, so choose a site with 5 or 6 hours of direct sunlight per day. Air circulation is also very important. Make sure not to plant your roses right up next to a building - two feet away from the foundation is generally a good rule of thumb. You should also never crowd your roses when planting. This way your roses will get plenty of air and light. Plus, don't forget that although good air circulation is important, protection from strong winds is also desirable.

Soil

You can think of your soil as you would the foundation of your home - you may not really see it, but everything depends on it. The soil you plant in will be your plant's home and food. Since roses send roots that are deep and wide, if your soil is so hard that you have trouble getting a spade in it, the roots will also have a hard time trying to penetrate the soil. Alternatively, if your soil is very sandy and loose, it will have a hard time holding onto food and water. You want something in between - rich dark brown in color, with an earthy smell. The best way to achieve this is by adding lots and lots of organic matter like leaf mold, peat moss, manure or compost to properly amend your soil.

Planting

Once the site has been selected and the soil has been prepared, it's time to plant! The first step is to dig a hole at least twice as big as the pot. To help nuture the roots, an amendment such as Bone Meal or Rock Phosphate can then be added to the bottom of the hole and mixed with roughly an inch of the original soil. Carefully remove the plant from its pot and set it in the hole, making sure that the top of the soil is at the same level as the surrounding soil. Backfill your hole with potting soil and add a treatment of organic fertilizer before soaking the plant thoroughly.

Proper watering and continued fertilization should be adhered to, especially during the infancy of your new rose, but by following these steps you'll be well on your way to a lush rose bush that can be enjoyed for a long time.