Caring for roses

Shrub roses, ground cover roses, ramblers, bedding roses – hardly any other plant genus offers such a variety of growth habits. There are roses for every purpose: in a rose bed, in a mixed border, on climbing frames and pavilions, or as easy-care ground cover. What they all have in common: they need to be cared for and pruned properly.

Position and soil

The right position is crucial for abundant blooms – get the conditions right and the rest of the care is easy. Most roses like a loamy, deep soil with sufficient nutrients. Sandy soils call for a careful choice of variety: wild roses and, above all, new breeds of ground cover and small shrub roses do very well here. Scented roses, incidentally, show to best effect near seating areas and well-used paths.

Pruning

Without regular pruning, shrub and bedding roses become bare, standard roses lose their shape and climbing roses look untidy. Rose pruning can be explained with a few rules of thumb:

• Do the main pruning in spring, once hard frost is no longer a threat – around mid-March to mid-April. You can then see which buds are strong.
• Remove diseased and dead wood; always cut just above a strong bud.
• For a lush second flush in summer, remove faded blooms regularly: shorten the stem to three or four pairs of leaves below the flower.
• Newly planted roses are cut back hard – don’t be afraid, it promotes growth and abundant flowering. The exception is container roses planted in bloom, which are planted without pruning.
• Barely prune climbing and shrub roses in the first two years, just remove diseased and dead wood – strong main shoots need to develop first. After flowering in autumn, they are thinned out.

Feeding

Roses need plenty of nutrients to produce new flowers all summer long. Timely feeding that meets their needs is therefore a must – and it pays off twice: well-nourished roses are far less susceptible to rose diseases.

Plant protection

After the first warm days in May, the familiar rose enemies often appear. Of the fungal diseases, black spot, rust and powdery mildew do the most harm. Black spot and rust spread especially in rainy summers, while powdery mildew needs nothing more than overnight dew.

The most important prevention: the leaves must always be able to dry off well. Ensure good air circulation, thin out beds that are too crowded and water in a way that keeps the foliage dry. Plant tonics also help prevent fungal infections. Pests such as aphids, spider mites and whitefly are tackled first with natural plant protection; only if that is not enough is chemical treatment considered, case by case.

Once-flowering and repeat-flowering varieties

Once-flowering roses generally do not produce further blooms after the main flowering; with summer pruning at the right time, they can repeat-flower, showing a weaker second flush. Repeat-flowering roses, by contrast, bloom almost continuously until the first frost. The “Anerkannte Deutsche Rose” (ADR) award goes to varieties that stay healthy without chemical plant protection products over a multi-year trial and show high ornamental value.