The versatility of roses

Roses have long been a favorite among all types of gardeners, and roses continue to enjoy great popularity today. In addition to their beauty as cut flowers and in bouquets, roses are among the most useful and attractive flowers to grace the landscape of any home.

As a matter of fact, the exterior of any home can be made more graceful and more inviting through the use of wonderful landscape roses. Choosing the right ones, and ensuring that they compliment the overall style of the home, is very important to the overall success of the landscape.

Fortunately, the number of ornamental landscape roses make finding them an easy task. The difficulty consists of choosing the right ones from this variety. There are a number of classes of roses whose characteristics make them great for use as landscape ornamentals. For instance, the gardener who wants to grow roses up and over an archway or a trellis may want to use tall growing tea roses. Tea roses are renowned for their nodding blooms, therefore all who pass under the arch would be treated to the beautiful sight of roses in full bloom.

To accent a wall or other permanent structure, a true climbing rose is often the best choice. True climbing roses can be trained to many different effects, including climbing up the length of the structure, or accenting the tops and sides of a wall or building.

The Polyantha or modern day Floribunda rose is a great choice for gardeners looking for a vibrant splash of color for the background. These popular varieties of roses have large sprays of blooms, and they are popular choices for providing color in the landscape.

If roses are to be planted in front of other plants in the landscape, miniature or low growing China roses are a perfect choice. Roses can even be used as hedges, with modern Shrub roses and Rugosa roses being excellent choices.

Of course, as with any aspect of gardening, color is an important consideration. After all, every gardener’s goal is a garden full of colorful, vibrant and healthy plants. Fortunately,  there so many rose types in so many shapes, sizes, textures and colors that there truly is a rose for every gardener.

The goal of choosing the best color roses for the landscape should be to compliment the color of the surrounding landscape. For instance, a spray of plain white tea roses can be striking against a dark red brick home, or an arrangement of pink roses can be the perfect compliment to a stone or marble entranceway. With so many colors of roses to choose from, it should be easy to find colors that compliment and enhance any decorating scheme.

One popular trend in the world of landscaping is to use a variety of different plants and flowers in the landscape. Whereas single species landscaping was in vogue a few years ago, most of today’s gardeners like to use a mix of different colors, species and styles of plants. Doing so not only makes for a vibrant garden, but it is thought to enhance the health of the soil as well.

Fortunately, roses lend themselves well to this mixture, and roses can be a beautiful part of an overall landscape of plants and flowers. In addition, there are roses suitable for a variety of climates. Choosing the best rose types for your specific climate should mean fewer pesticides, few disease issues and an overall healthier garden.

Hybrid Tea Rose – For Classic Elegance

A modern rose type, the Hybrid Tea Rose is the result of two old timers getting together: the Hybrid Perpetual and the Tea Rose. These gorgeous modern flowers grow on large stems and bloom throughout the year. Although this rose only gives off a faint scent, it makes up for this shortcoming with its many petals and tall stature. The Hybrid Tea Rose is commonly referred to as “your basic rose on a stick.” These roses are the most popular roses to give or receive on special occasions.

A Hybrid Tea will look fabulous in any garden. gardeners should plant them in rows by themselves. It’s much easier to tend to them this way. Be sure to keep this area weed-free. These roses, like most flowers, do not take well to weeds. You should space your flowers approximately twenty-four inches apart from one another. This will ensure a good growth habit. If you’re up for the challenge of growing hybrid tea roses, plant them this spring and start a tradition.

Many gardeners steer clear of the Hybrid Tea Rose because they’re turned off by the idea of thorns. Well, the wonderful thing about this flower is that there are actually several thornless varieties! When you’re shopping for these flowers, look for tags that read ’smooth’ on the label. This, of course, implies that the rose is thorn-free. You can find these flowers in every color, with the exception of blue.

These types of roses require plenty of water during hot weather, especially if the hot weather is accompanied by dryness. Although most gardens require a good soaking every two weeks, other gardens require a weekly soaking. Regardless of the schedule, if the ground looks very dry and cracked, you should water your flowers. Placing mulch around your roses is a very good idea. The mulch will help prevent weeds and conserve moisture.

The Hybrid Tea Rose will most likely reach its full height after approximately three years. Even after pruning, the flower will grow back to this height annually. Most modern roses, such as the hybrid tea, live a span of six or seven years, and longer if the flower has been given exceptional care. It’s important that your roses are given sun. Roses require a minimum of six hours of sun a day. Morning sun is essential to a rose’s proper growth. The morning sun will dry up excess moisture and dew, which will help prevent diseases from developing.

In February, when your flowers are dormant, you’ll want to prune your roses. Your first step will be to remove dead branches and damaged canes. In colder climates, you’ll most likely have to cut all the old damaged wood. Look for lively green canes. Those are the canes that will produce buds in the spring. In warmer areas, remove any existing leaves from the plant, as this will promote new growth. Lastly, remove any debris from your garden. Now you’re ready for spring. As spring approaches and your roses begin to grow, you should fertilize your home garden with a high-nitrogen fertilizer.

Types of roses suitable for potting.

It wasn’t too long ago that no serious rosarian would even consider having a potted rose on their property except for, maybe, last minute emergencies where they had run out of space but couldn’t resist buying just one more plant.

Times have changed and potted roses have a place in the lives of condo and apartment dwellers, city slickers who live in areas where there isn’t a tree in sight, and anyone who has a spot on their lawn or garden in need of the beauty that only a rose can deliver.

Not all rose types are good candidates for growing in pots. The following varieties have been found to do best. Feel free to try any variety that you want, even climbers, and see how they make out.

All that Jazz

Ballerina

Blush Noisette

Bonica

Cecile Brunner

Clotilde Soupert

Green Rose

Gruss an Aachen

Hannah Gordon

Hermosa

Katharina Zeimet

Mrs. Oakley Fisher

Peace

Perfume Delight

Precious Platinum

Sea Foam

Sexy Rexy

Souvenir de la Malmaison

Stanwell Perpetual

The Fairy

Valentine

Whiskey Mac

Planting potted roses is a relatively easy task as long as you do your planting in the spring after any chance of a frost is long past. If you live in a warm climate zone, then hold off planting until autumn when the ravages of July and August are far behind.

When you’re ready to plant, choose an appropriate sized container with drainage holes. Make sure that the container has enough room for your plant to grow without having to transplant frequently.

Fill the container with garden soil that has some compost or organic fertilizer mixed in.

Dig a hole that’s a bit bigger than the root ball, knock the rose loose from its shipping container, and plant it.

Dig a shallow trench or moat around the base of the plant to hold water, and water well.

Potted roses are susceptible to the same diseases as garden roses are, and they require feeding, pruning and all of the other rose care basics. Potted roses aren’t less work or responsibility; they are simply more space-saving than a regular rose garden. Don’t treat your roses as if they were ordinary potted plants or you will lose them.

People are constantly asking if they can grow potted plants indoors. The answer is: “Maybe, but it’s a risky proposition.” That’s because roses need high humidity and a lot of direct sunlight. High humidity conditions do not usually exist inside of most air-conditioned homes. However, if you live in a hot, steamy area, and you don’t have air conditioning, then you can probably get away with it as long as you pick a sunny spot.

Of all the rose varieties that are likely to survive indoors, miniature roses are your best bet. Miniature roses are actual roses that have been bred to grow into small and compact plants with equally small flowers. They do very well in pots and are quite beautiful.

If you’re willing, go ahead and experiment. You’ve really got nothing to lose and you just might discover a whole new aspect of rose gardening!