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Caring for Roses: A Beginner’s Rose Growing Guide

Ten essential steps for ensuring beautiful blooms year after year By Anne Balogh; last updated 9/2/20

Oso Easy Double Red™. Photo by: Proven Winners.

Rose care is easier than you think—anyone can grow them successfully. Plant your roses in a sunny location with good drainage. Fertilize them regularly for impressive flowers. Water them evenly to keep the soil moist. Prune established rose bushes in early spring. Watch for diseases like powdery mildew or black spot.

If you’ve been afraid to start a rose garden, the truth is, roses are no more difficult to care for than other flowering shrubs. Follow these ten essential rules to learn how to grow roses:

1. Start with the roots

You can purchase roses already potted in soil or as dormant bare-root plants. Each type has its benefits:

Bare-root roses, which arrive dormant, offer the widest selection of varieties, but also require more TLC in the months after planting. Photo by: Michael Vi / Shutterstock.

2. Choose your roses wisely

There are numerous classes of roses, ranging from micro-miniatures to grandifloras, and from groundcovers to climbing roses, with some classes containing hundreds of varieties. While it may be tempting to fill your rose garden with a wide assortment, you are likely to end up with a disorderly array and too many plants for the space. A few well-chosen varieties will give you more satisfaction than dozens of mismatched plants that don’t work in harmony.

If you want lower-maintenance roses, try shrub or landscape roses, like the Oso Easy line, for a more care-free rose garden.

See The Best Types of Roses for Your Garden and get tips for choosing the perfect rose for your garden.

Limiting the number of rose varieties you grow will help you avoid creating a disorderly and mismatched array. Oso Easy Hot Paprika® landscape rose. Photo by: Proven Winners.

3. Find the right site

For the best show of flowers and the healthiest plants, rose bushes should receive six to eight hours of sunlight daily. They should also be planted in well-drained soil that is rich in organic matter. In especially hot climates, roses do best when they are protected from the hot afternoon sun. In cold climates, planting a rose bush next to a south- or west-facing fence or wall can help minimize winter freeze damage.

4. Get the timing right

Roses are best planted in the spring (after the last frost) or in fall (at least six weeks before your average first frost). Planting early enough in fall gives the roots enough time to get established before the plants go dormant over the winter.

Bare-root roses are typically available only in early spring and should be planted soon after you bring them home. Roses purchased in containers give you more flexibility in planting time.

5. Plant properly

Planting your bare-root or container roses properly will ensure they get off to a good start.

When planting roses, dig a deep, wide hole that allows for proper drainage and leaves room for root growth. Photo by: wavebreakmedia / Shutterstock.

6. Fertilize regularly

For an impressive show of flowers, a rose bush needs to be fertilized regularly. Organic methods provide a slow, steady supply of nutrients. Monthly applications of compost, composted manure, and other organic and natural fertilizers, such as this organic fish emulsion, work well. Organic amendments also help to encourage beneficial soil microbes and a well-balanced soil pH.

Slow-release fertilizers, like Jobe's Organic Fertilizer Spikes, supply the right balance of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and other minor nutrients. They also give rose bushes the nourishment they need for optimum growth.

For newly planted bare-root plants: Apply organic amendments to the soil at planting time. Wait until after the plant produces its first blooms to apply full-strength fertilizers so you don’t burn the new roots.

Learn more in our Guide to Fertilizing Roses.

7. Water wisely

Soil should be kept evenly moist throughout the growing season. The amount and frequency of watering will depend on your soil type and climate. Roses do best with the equivalent of 1” of rainfall per week during the growing season. Roses growing in sandy soils will need more watering than those in heavier clay soils. Hot, dry, and windy conditions will also parch roses quickly.

How you water is as important as the frequency. To keep roses healthy, avoid wetting the foliage. Use a soaker hose, watering can with a long spout, or a watering wand pointed directly at the soil.

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8. Prune like a pro

It’s almost impossible to kill a rose bush by overpruning. But, if you follow a few simple rules, the results will look more professional and result in a healthier plant. Many newer rose varieties don’t require much —if any—pruning. A good pair of bypass pruners (not anvil style) and rose pruning gloves can make the job even easier.

Major pruning should be done in early spring. For all roses, start by removing any dead or damaged canes (any that look brown). For specimens that require a hard pruning, cut back a third to a half of the previous year’s growth until you find healthy, white centers inside the cane.

You can lightly prune your roses all season long to keep them well-groomed.

Some varieties of reblooming roses will require deadheading to encourage reblooming throughout the season. Cut spent blooms back to the first five-leaflet stem to promote regrowth.

If your rose bushes are “self-cleaning” (which means they don’t develop rose hips), no deadheading is needed. Blooms will drop off automatically and the plants will keep on producing more flowers.

For step-by-step pruning instructions, see Pruning Roses.

9. Keep them healthy

The best way to prevent rose diseases is to choose disease-resistant varieties. These roses are bred and selected to resist the most common rose afflictions, including powdery mildew and black spot.

Powdery mildew typically appears during the summer, especially when the days are hot and dry and the nights are cool and wet. The tell-tale signs include leaves that curl and twist and the development of a white, powdery down on the leaves. To avoid powdery mildew, water plants at ground level in the morning, since wet leaves (especially overnight) provide the perfect growing environment. Pruning a rose bush to allow air to circulate through the foliage also helps prevent this powdery growth.

This rose bush has been damaged by powdery mildew. Photo by: Amelia Martin / Shutterstock.

Black spot is a waterborne fungal disease. It appears as circular black or brown spots on the top side of leaves. It starts toward the bottom of a bush and works its way up, eventually causing defoliation. Prevent this disease the same way you prevent powdery mildew: by improving air circulation around and through the plant, and watering at ground level. A simple mixture of baking soda and horticultural oil can help fight the spread of black spot. You can also use an organic 3-in-1 fungicide. (Also see: Rose Woes: Black Spot).

Pesky insects that like to feed on rose bushes include aphids, Japanese beetles, spider mites, and sawflies. Most of these pests can be controlled with neem oil or insecticidal soap. In the case of aphids, a blast of water from a hose in the morning is often the only treatment necessary. Companion planting with alliums can also help repel aphids.

Photo by: Jan J. Photography / Shutterstock.

10. Show them off

Roses have long been prized for their beautiful and fragrant cut flowers. But, no roses are lovelier than those gathered fresh from your own garden. Here are a few tips for preserving your cut roses:

RELATED READING

Pruning Roses: 8 Steps

The 12 Best Roses for Your Garden

Easy Shrub Roses You Can Grow

Getting Rid of Japanese Beetles

How to Get Rid of Black Spot on Roses

How to Get Rid of Powdery Mildew

OTHER FLOWERS YOU'LL LOVE

Peony

Hydrangea

Ranunculus

Pruning Hydrangeas: How to Prune Hydrangea Bushes

Learn when and how to prune your hydrangea plants for best bloom results.

Pictured: Let's Dance® Blue Jangles®. Photo by: Proven Winners.

The first step of pruning hydrangeas is to identify the variety, as this determines how, when, and even if it needs pruning. There are 2 main groups of hydrangeas:

Group 1: Those that bloom on last year's growth, or old wood, and should be pruned in late summer:

Group 2: Those that bloom on new growth, or new wood, and should be pruned in late winter to early spring:

There are also new varieties called "reblooming" or "remontant" that bloom on both old and new wood. These types don't require pruning at all, just maintenance for plant health such as cutting out dead, diseased, damaged or crossing branches.

HOW TO PRUNE HYDRANGEAS

The timing and degree of pruning is determined by which group the plant belongs to:

Pruning Advice for Group 1:

Pruning Advice for Group 2:

Flower head size can be related to pruning. With more aggressive pruning, shoots will be more vigorous and flower heads will be larger and fewer. Less aggressive or tip pruning can result in smaller but more numerous flower heads.

The best advice for hydrangeas is to consider their mature size. Locate them in an area they won't outgrow and require heavy pruning to keep them in bounds. Hydrangeas do not require strict reqular pruning; simply keep them healthy by removing dead wood and they will grow and flower well.

Wee Bit Grumpy® bigleaf hydrangea.
Photo: Proven Winners.

DON'T WANT TO WORRY ABOUT PRUNING YOUR HYDRANGEAS?

If the thought of trying to figure out if your hydrangea blooms on old wood or new wood (or both!) sounds daunting, try planting bigleaf hydrangeas from Proven Winners.

"We select all of our big-leaf hydrangeas for a nice, rounded, compact form, so they don’t require pruning to look handsome and tidy." All they ask is that you clean up any remaining flowers from the previous year when new growth begins in spring.

TOOLS FOR PRUNING HYDRANGEAS

You don't need anything fancy for pruning hydrangeas, just a good pair of bypass pruners. We recommend bypass pruners because the blades overlap, making a clean cut that is much healthier for live plants. (Anvil-style pruners should only be used on dead wood as they can crush and damage branches.)

Also see: 12 Essential Garden Tools

More on hydrangeas:
How to Grow Hydrangeas
Different Types of Hydrangeas
Changing Hydrangea Color
8 Reasons Why Your Hydrangeas Won't Bloom
10 Elegant White Hydrangeas

RELATED:
How to Prune Roses
How to Prune Shrubs & Perennials

Updated: 4/8/21

Pruning of spray roses in spring and autumn

Shrub roses have several inflorescences on one stem, unlike hybrid roses, in which only one flower grows on one stem. In spring and autumn, it's pruning time. Roses need to be pruned strictly before frost (and in the spring after the establishment of warm weather).

General Tips:

Pruning is the key to growing a strong and vigorous plant with good flowering. Pruning provokes the growth of new shoots, and also increases the resistance of the rose to diseases and pests. If regular pruning is not performed, then the rose will weaken, the intensity of flowering will also decrease, the growth of shoots will be reduced and the plant will be "bare".
By the way, you don't have to be a gardening guru to perform pruning, and it's almost impossible to harm a rose by pruning even if you're not skilled, despite some books that may have very complicated instructions for doing this. You can safely cut the shoots at your discretion.
It is especially important to prune more so that the plant repays with vigorous growth of new greenery, unless the rose is already old or grows in nutrient-poor soil.
If you prune very carefully and in small quantities, the rose will age faster, have fewer foliage and shoots, and become more susceptible to diseases and pests.

Please note that pruning roses (and any other plants) is only necessary with a very sharp secateurs, so as not to damage the plant, and so that the cut is the least traumatic.

So let's get started:

Before pruning, you need to remove any elements (in spring - shelter from frost, in autumn mulch or supports). How much to prune each rose depends on the growth potential of each individual plant. Roses with poor growth potential are pruned harder than strong plants. The plant becomes stronger exactly as much as it is pruned. A well-pruned rose produces only a few but strong shoots, while insufficient pruning causes many weak shoots to grow. A good pruning is when, after pruning, the height of the rose does not exceed 10 - 20 cm above ground level.

Always cut off the stem of a rose above the eyes. The eyes are the places from which shoots of new stems grow. The cut should always be made diagonally, never straight. Shoots that grow towards the stem, as well as crossing shoots, must be completely cut off. Dry and dead stems also need to be completely cut off, while the cut should fall on the "living" part of the stem. This is very important because dry wood does not sprout, but only limits the space for new ones to grow. Also, such "old" unnecessary branches include those that have already acquired a dark brown color. Wild shoots below the level of the kidneys also need to be removed.

Finished?

By pruning enough, you will achieve lush flowering, as well as excellent green growth, without exposing the main stem.
Therefore, pruning is the key to beautiful and lush roses in your garden!

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How to prune roses in the garden

Regular pruning of roses is the key to their lush flowering and good growth of new shoots. However, it is very important to do it correctly. Otherwise, you can destroy the plant. We will tell you how to prevent this.

There are several types (degrees) of pruning. They depend on the season, the group to which the rose belongs, and the height of the shoots of the plant.

Short (low) or high pruning roses

Used in spring (after winter cover has been removed) for hybrid tea, polyanthus and floribunda roses. And such pruning is carried out during the planting of new seedlings.

With heavy pruning, 1/3 of the shoots are left, while the stems are shortened at the level of 3-4 buds from the base of the bush.

Medium or moderate pruning roses

Suitable for various medium sized roses and mainly used after flowering. Shoots are shortened at the level of 5-7 buds from the base and thus form a bush.

Long (high) or low pruning roses

Recommended for vigorous climbing and tall hybrid tea roses. At the same time, the shoots are shortened slightly: at the level of 8-15 buds from the base of the bush. Long pruning is carried out during the spring planting of seedlings.

In addition, there is a combined pruning - when the shoots of one plant are shortened to varying degrees. With the help of such pruning, bushes of some varieties of floribunda roses are formed. This allows you to give the plants an elegant shape.

As well as sanitary pruning, which is carried out throughout the growing season in order to prevent diseases. At the same time, affected, dry, frozen and weak shoots are removed, the stems are shortened to a healthy (green) tissue.

Do not spare the roses! From a damaged (brown) and dry branch, nothing will grow anyway

Spring pruning of roses

Before spring pruning, winter shelter is removed from plants, garbage is removed, all old leaves are removed and mulch is raked off. Then the roses are pruned when the weather is warm, the buds swell, but the shoots have not yet started to grow. At this time, sanitary pruning is carried out.

If the bush is too dense, thin it out and leave 4-5 strong, healthy stems. At the same time, it is important that all cuts are made with a sharp pruner, which minimally injures the plant. In addition, all shoots are cut at an angle of 45 degrees, retreating upwards from the bud by about 5 mm.

It is recommended to prune roses of any kind in spring, as at this time it is important to remove all old and dry shoots so that the plant does not waste its strength on them, but tends to grow new ones.

In addition, during spring pruning, the bush is given the desired shape and shoots are cut to stimulate flowering.

In the spring the shoots are pruned to healthy tissue

Summer pruning of roses

In the summer, sanitary and formative pruning of bushes is continued: wild shoots, dried branches and wilted flowers are removed, cutting the stem to the first cinquefoil and a healthy bud. Roses older than 3 years often grow too many young shoots in August, which thicken the bush and create a shadow inside it. This can lead to the development of fungal diseases, so during the summer you need to get rid of excess shoots.

Pruning roses after flowering

This is a very important summer pruning and should be mentioned separately. Removing wilted buds allows roses to bloom longer and not waste energy on fruiting.

On roses that have several buds on one stem (floribunda, climbing climbers, scrubs), cut off the entire cluster above the upper cinquefoil.

In hybrid tea roses, which produce only one flower per stem, wilted buds are pruned differently. In the first half of summer, the shoot is cut so that only 3-4 leaves remain on it above the soil level. This will contribute to the rapid growth of new shoots coming from the roots.

In the first half of summer it is also possible to trim the inflorescences of floribunda roses.

And in the second half of summer, only faded flowers should be removed.

Climbing ramblers (which bloom on second-year shoots) have their tufts removed after flowering to the first leaf. This will contribute to the branching of the shoots, on which flowers will bloom next year.

Pruning roses in autumn

Roses grown in mild climates without winter shelter do not need pruning for the winter. And from covering roses in late autumn (approximately in October, before frost), all unripened shoots are removed and the stems are shortened to the height of the covering material.

General rules for pruning roses

At any time of the year, it is important to trim rose stems correctly. The oblique cut should be approximately 5 mm above the kidney.

Rose cutting chart

If you want a spreading rose bush, cut the branches above the bud that is on the outside. Then the new shoot will not grow in the center of the bush, but outward. And if you need to grow an upright bush with vertical shoots, pruning is done on a bud, which is located on the inside of the stem.

In addition, the age of the bushes must be taken into account. So, in annual plants, the shoot is cut about half.

In the second year, 2-3 regeneration shoots are formed on each branch, which grow from the root collar. In no case can they be cut to the ground, since it is they who provide the plants with lush flowering and longevity. So, two-year-old shoots are shortened by 2-3 eyes from the base, and one-year shoots are shortened above the upper well-formed bud, located below the faded buds.

In adult roses (from the age of three), all dead and weakened branches and short shoots that have grown after pruning the previous year are completely removed. In addition, for the formation of good flowers, all side shoots of any thickness growing towards the center of the bush should be cut.

Pruning hybrid tea roses

Pruned hybrid tea rose bushes in the shape of a ball. In these plants, buds form on the shoots of the current year, so they are greatly shortened. On young bushes, 2-4 buds are left at a distance of 15 cm from the ground level, and on adults - 4-6 buds at a distance of about 20 cm. On lateral shoots, 2-4 buds are also left.

Pruning chart for hybrid tea roses

In addition, the inner stems are removed from the center of the bush, which contribute to thickening.

Pruning hybrid tea roses every year

Pruning floribunda roses

Floribunda roses also need a strong (short) pruning, otherwise they will grow a voluminous bush with weak stems and small flowers. But so that the plant does not quickly deplete with strong pruning, a special method is used: some stems are made short to get early flowering, and annual basal shoots are cut only 1/3 of the length.

Floribunda rose pruning chart

Leave 2-3 buds on young lateral branches and 3-5 buds on old ones. At the same time, the old stems growing in the middle of the bush are completely cut out.

In floribunda roses throughout the growing season, up to shelter for the winter, shoots are cut every 10-12 days. Their stems are tied with a rope, bent to the ground and then covered. And the main pruning is carried out in the spring.

After removing the shelter, the stems are shortened so as to give the bush a beautiful shape, 2-4 buds are left on the side shoots. And in the summer of such roses, wilted flowers are cut to the first leaf.

Pruning scheme for climbing roses

Pruning polyanthus roses

Polyanthus roses are also mainly pruned in spring (usually in April), and only damaged and weak branches are removed in autumn. In early spring, strong shoots are shortened by 1/3 of the length, dead, weak and diseased branches are cut out completely. Thickening shoots are removed from the center of the bush.

Pruning scheme for polyanthus roses

Pruning ground cover roses

For ground cover roses, flowering shoots, weak branches and diseased growths are cut off in autumn, strong young basal branches that have grown this year are left, but they are slightly shortened.

Learn more