The Best Place To
Learn Rose Gardening....

To learn rose gardening, you must be patient in developing your skills.

While gardening roses is a little more demanding than many other shrubs you could choose to grow, the beauty and the fragrance roses produce from summer to fall is well worth the extra care they require.

Johnson Brothers Greenhouses produced this guide to help you learn rose gardening techniques to successfully grow, prune and care for your roses properly.

Take your time, follow the instructions and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Planting

Roses do best if given at least of 6 hours of direct sunlight per day and prefer rich, well drained soil.

If you happen to have heavy clay soil then you'll want to enrich it with something along the lines of Gardener & Bloome® Soil Building Compost or Rose Planting Mix.

You can plant roses any time of year that the soil can be worked.

When planting, dig a hole which is twice as wide as the container and mix bone meal and lime into the soil to ensure plenty of nutrients for your new roses.

Fertilize Regularly

Begin fertilizing monthly from March to September.

A fertilizer made specifically for roses will work best – our recommendations include Fertilome® Rose Food (14-12-11) with Systemic Insecticide (prevents Aphids) or Garden Valley Organics® Rose & Flower Food (4-8-4).

Fertilize the soil at the surface; but take care not to burn your canes or bud union with the fertilizer. Make sure the plant is well watered prior to fertilizing.

Mulch Generously

Mulching will help maintain needed moisture for the plant. We suggest using garden compost, cocoa hulls or hemlock bark.

You can also mulch throughout the year – weed and lightly work the soil beforehand. You’ll want to use 2-3 inches of mulch spread evenly over the rose bed, making sure to leave a little space around the trunk of the plant.

Watering

Roses require a good deal of water; it is rare that rain alone will be enough.

How often you need to water depends on the weather conditions and the drainage of your soil.

You should water infrequently, but making sure to give your roses ample water when you do.

A soaker hose works well to water your roses. Roses have fewer fungus problems by keeping water off of the foliage.

A drip irrigation system also works well for roses.

Prevent Pests

Keeping your roses pruned goes a long way towards keeping them pest free. Anyone starting to learn rose gardening should understand the need these plants have for fertilization and overall good grooming.

Another essential is to be sure to keep debris away from your roses, including petals and leaves which have dropped from the plants.

Before the season begins, brush up on rose pest control strategies before they invade!

To learn rose gardening techniques, you do want to start out with a basic understanding of the most common types of roses.

Below is a list of the types Johnson Brothers tends and sells.

Types of Roses

• Climbers
  These varieties produce long canes which will need to be trained onto a support. Varieties include Hybrid Tea, Floribunda & Grandiflora varieties budded onto climber rootstock.
• English: AKA “David Austin rose” These varieties are characterized by peony-style double blooms. They are very fragrant and may grow as tall as 8 feet.
• Floribunda Better for enjoying in the garden then for cutting, these roses have short stems and tend to bloom in bunches of 5-7. Floribunda typically grow to be about 3-4 feet tall.
• Grandiflora
  These work wonderfully in the back of your garden due to height and can make an instant bouquet for a vase. Long stems carry 5-6 large blooms similar to Hybrid Tea and grows 6-8 feet tall.
• Hybrid Tea
  The classic bouquet or vase rose, with long stems typically having a single bloom, usually growing 4-5 feet tall.
• Miniature
  These are smaller plants with smaller blooms. Ideal for container growing or planting in front of other flowers, these roses will grow to heights of 18 to 30 inches and will have 3/4 to 1 inch blooms covering the plant.

Roses should be available by Valentines Day. We are now open, so if you have any questions, our professional nursery staff is happy to assist you.

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