Spring Rose Care

One sign that really pushes home the fact that spring is on its way is the waking rose. To make the most of your roses, these tweaks, in three easy steps, are designed to bring on a glorious summer-long display.

Step One

Pick the right rose in the first place. It’s easy to fall in love with a rose at face value (by its flower), but check how it grows below the neck. Look to fill your garden with bushes that are lush and softly mounded, because you want the plant to look good in the landscape. Also, pick a rose that’s super easy to grow so that you don’t have to fuss with complex pruning or spraying for aphids and black spot.

Step Two

Set your rose bush up for a season of flowers. This is easy and achievable if you have something like the extended flowering of the Flower Carpet roses already growing in your garden. With hedge clippers, give each bush a uniform cutback by two-thirds. Rough and ready does the job.  

Step Three

A little bit of weeding and feeding doesn’t hurt. But if the thought of doing either is too much for you, don’t bother. Roses tend to hold their own fairly well against weeds. And they seem to cope without regular feeding. But if you don’t mind pulling the weeds out from around the base of each bush and tossing around your preferred form of fertilizer, you’ll be rewarded with even more flowers. Mulching is the icing on the cake.

One more tip: If you don’t already have bulletproof roses in your garden, plant some. You’ll be forever happy that you did.

Anthony Tesselaar
Anthony Tesselaar Plants
310-349-0714
Tesselaar.com