Growing Roses

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How to Plant, Grow, and Care for Roses

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How do you plant a rose bush? How do you grow roses? Our Rose Plant Guide will get your started—with advice on how to take care of roses and prune roses. We also share our recommendations on the best types of roses to grow, specifically easy-to-grow roses for beginners.

Rose bushes come in a variety of forms, from climbing roses to miniature rose plants, blooming mainly in early summer and fall. One way to group roses into classes is according to their date of introduction:

  • Old roses—also called “old-fashioned roses” and “heirloom roses”—are those introduced prior to 1867. These are the lush, invariably fragrant roses found in old masters’ paintings. There are hundreds of old rose varieties—whose hardiness varies—providing choices for both warm and mild climates.
  • Modern hybrid roses are sturdy, long-blooming, extremely hardy and disease-resistant, and bred for color, shape, size, and fragrance.
  • Species, or wild roses, are those that have been growing wild for many thousands of years. These wild roses have been adapted to modern gardens and usually bloom in the spring.

Choosing from all the possibilities can be a daunting task. Take your time and wander through nurseries and page through mail-order catalogs and websites.

Planting

Preparing the Soil

  • Roses prefer a near-neutral pH range of 5.5–7.0. A pH of 6.5 is just about right for most home gardens (slightly acidic to neutral).
  • An accurate soil test will tell you where your pH currently stands. Acidic (sour) soil is counteracted by applying finely ground limestone, and alkaline (sweet) soil is treated with ground sulfur. Learn more about soil amendments.
  • Before you plant, be sure that you choose varieties proven in your climate. When in doubt, All-America Rose Selections winners are good bets. Or check with a local nursery or Cooperative Extension Service.

White roses

Ordering Plants

  • If you order roses from a mail-order company, order early, in January or February (March at the latest). They are usually shipped in the spring as bare roots when plants are fully dormant, well before they have leafed out. They’ll look like a bundle of sticks on arrival. Note that they are not dead—simply dormant.
  • If you are buying container-grown roses (vs. bare-root roses), plant them by May or early June for best results.

Planting Tips

  • Plant roses where they will receive a minimum of 5 to 6 hours of full sun per day. Roses grown in weak sun may not die at once, but they weaken gradually. Give them plenty of organic matter when planting and don’t crowd them.
  • Wear sturdy gloves to protect your hands from prickly thorns. Have a hose or bucket of water and all your planting tools nearby. Keep your bare-root rose in water until you are ready to place it in the ground.
  • Roses can be cut back and moved in either spring or fall, but not in midsummer, as they might suffer and die in the heat. Large rose canes can be cut back by as much as two thirds, and smaller ones to within 6 to 12 inches of the ground.
  • When you transplant your roses, be sure to dig a much bigger hole than you think you need (for most types, the planting hole should be about 15 to 18 inches wide) and add plenty of organic matter such as compost or aged manure.
  • Some old-timers recommend placing a 4-inch square of gypsum wallboard and a 16-penny nail in the hole to provide calcium and iron, both appreciated by roses.

Care

Watering Roses

  • Diligently water your roses. Soak the entire root zone at least twice a week in dry summer weather. Avoid frequent shallow sprinklings, which won’t reach the deeper roots and may encourage fungus. Roses do best with 90 inches of rain per year, so unless you live in a rain forest, water regularly.
  • Roses love water—but don’t drown them. That is, they don’t like to sit in water, and they’ll die if the soil is too wet in winter. The ideal soil is rich and loose, with good drainage. One of the worst mistakes you can make is to not provide adequate drainage.
  • Use mulch. To help conserve water, reduce stress, and encourage healthy growth, apply a 2- to 4-inch layer of chopped and shredded leaves, grass clippings, or shredded bark around the base of your roses. Allow about an inch of space between the mulch and the base stem of the plant. See our Mulching Guide for more information.

pink roses

Feeding Roses

  • Feed roses on a regular basis before and throughout the blooming cycle (avoid chemical fertilizers and pesticides if you’re harvesting for the kitchen).
  • Once a month between April and July, apply a balanced granular fertilizer (5-10-5 or 5-10-10). Allow ¾ to 1 cup for each bush, and sprinkle it around the drip line, not against the stem. See our fertilizer guide for more information.
  • In May and June, scratch in an additional tablespoon of Epsom salts along with your fertilizer; the magnesium sulfate will encourage new growth from the bottom of the bush.

Pruning Roses

  • Prune roses every spring and destroy all old or diseased plant material. Wear elbow-length gloves that are thick enough to protect your hands from thorns or a clumsy slip, but flexible enough to allow you to hold your tools. Always wear safety goggles; branches can whip back when released.
  • Start with pruning shears for smaller growth. Use loppers, which look like giant, long-handle shears, for growth that is more than half an inch thick. A small pruning saw is handy, as it cuts on both the push and the pull.
  • Deadhead religiously and keep beds clean. Every leaf has a growth bud, so removing old flower blossoms encourages the plant to make more flowers instead of using the energy to make seeds. Clean away from around the base of the rosebushes any trimmed debris that can harbor disease and insects.
  • Late in the season, stop deadheading rugosas so that hips will form on the plants; these can be harvested and dried on screens, away from sunlight, then stored in an airtight container. Stop deadheading all your rose plants 3 to 4 weeks before the first hard frost so as not to encourage new growth at a time when new shoots may be damaged by the cold.

Winterizing Roses

  • Do not prune roses in the fall. Simply cut off any dead or diseased canes.
  • Stop fertilizing 6 weeks before the first frost but continue watering during dry autumn weather to help keep plants fortified during the dry winter.
  • Mound, mulch, or add compost after a few frosts but before the ground freezes. Where temperatures stay below freezing during winter, enclose the plant with a sturdy mesh cylinder, filling the enclosure with compost, mulch, dry wood chips, pine needles, or chopped leaves.
  • Don’t use heavy, wet, maple leaves for mulch, as they can promote mold growth. Mulch instead with oak leaves, pine needles, compost, or straw.
  • Clean up the rose beds to prevent overwintering of diseases. One last spray for fungus with a dormant spray is a good idea.

Pests/Diseases

Good gardening practices, such as removing dead leaves and canes, will help reduce pests. Find out which pests are most prevalent in your area by checking with your local nursery or Cooperative Extension Service. Here are some of the more common problems:

  • Japanese Beetles
  • Aphids: To keep aphids away from roses, plant garlic and mint around the roses.
  • Black Spot: Rose plant leaves with black spots that eventually turn yellow have black spot, often caused by water splashing on leaves, especially in rainy weather. Leaves may require a protective fungicide coating, which would start in the summer before leaf spots started until first frost. Thoroughly clean up debris in the fall, and prune out all diseased canes.
  • Powdery Mildew: If leaves, buds, and stems are covered with a white powdery coating, this is a mildew disease; mildew develops rapidly during warm, humid weather. During new growth, prevent mildew by spraying or dusting canes and leaf surfaces with fungicide. Prevent mildew by pruning out all dead or diseased canes in the spring. Destroy all diseased parts during the growing season.
  • Botrytis Blight: If the rose’s flower buds droop, stay closed, or turn brown, it has this grey fungus. Prune off all infected blossoms and remove any dead material. Fungicide application may be necessary. 
  • Spider Mites
  • Thrips
  • Rust
  • Stem Borers
  • Deer: Roses are a delectable tidbit, so try planting lavender near your roses. Not only will you have the makings of a nice potpourri, but the scent of lavender will discourage browsers. You can also spread human or dog hair around the garden area or check our list of deer-resistant plants to protect your roses.

In general, avoid rose issues by buying disease-resistant varieties and cleaning up debris, weeds, fallen leaves and any diseased plant material as soon as possible. 

Also, speak to your local Cooperative Extension or trusted nursery about a spray program with products approved in your state.

Recommended Varieties

Traditionally, roses were notoriously challenging to grow. However, roses have changed. There are modern easy-to-grow types of roses such as the following:

  • Rugosas, with their showy, bright-pink, five-petal blooms, are good for hedges and wherever a barrier is needed in an exposed or difficult site. They are disease-resistant and cold hardy to Zone 3. ‘Jens Munk’ is a good rose that blooms through most of the summer.
  • Pink roses such as ‘Carefree Wonder’ are well-rounded shrub roses. They are 3 feet tall with a quiet character. They require only a little shaping in early spring and are hardy to Zone 5.
  • Yellow roses such as ‘Harrison’s Yellow’ (Zones 4 to 9), also called ‘Pioneer Rose’, blooms early, brightly, and sweetly, and will survive Zone 4 winters.
  • Flower Carpet roses are excellent for ground cover. Once established, they can provide up to 2,000 flowers from spring till fall. They’re extremely low maintenance, drought-tolerant, and have exceptional disease resistance.

Flower Carpet roses
Flower Carpet Roses

See also our list of disease-resistant rose varieties.

Learn more about easy roses to grow, especially for beginners.

Wit & Wisdom

  • Rose hips are mildly laxative and diuretic.
  • Rose petals are brewed for tea blends and sometimes used in gargles and tonics to treat congestion, sore throats, and stomach disorders.
  • Rose water is a refreshing skin splash. Try a flower facial! Gentle, aromatic steam cleanses your pores. For oily skin, add a few rose petals to boiling water in a heatproof bowl. Make a bath towel tent and lean your face about 10 inches above the water. It should feel warm, not hot. After 10 minutes, rinse your face with cool water, then blot dry.
  • Roses have a long and symbolic history.
  • Roses are also one of the beautiful June birth flowers.

And I will make thee beds of roses,
And a thousand fragrant posies.
–Christopher Marlowe (1564-93)

Recipes

Cooking Notes

The tart, reddish-orange hips of rugosa roses are loaded with vitamins and used for jams, jellies, syrups, pies, teas, and wine. The petals can be tossed into salads for color, candied to decorate cakes, or distilled to make rose water.

Planting Times

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Stray Cats!

Submitted by Tonna on

I have four beautiful rose bushes that are my pride & joy! I spend every day tending them & just enjoying them in general. My issue, however, is that there are ALOT of cats in my neighborhood that find my flower beds a perfect litter box! I have tried everything, that I know of, to keep those pests out! I've gotten to the point that I'm about to bury razor wire under the mulch! Nothing that I try deterrs them & their owners won't keep them inside! PLEASE HELP!! ANY ideas are appreciated!

Cat repellant

Submitted by Laura on

Cats hate vinegar. Try shallow saucers of vinegar, & slugs hate it too.

Cat and roses

Submitted by Lisa on

Cat don't like black pepper I had a cat and a plant in the house he was using it for litter box to I put pepper around the base of the plant

Is it worth buying roses at the end of summer?

Submitted by Maria on

I've never grown roses but they're currently on sale at our local Lowes at an incredible discount. I want to give it a try. But are they worth buying now? Do I wait to plant them until next spring; May/June? What do I do with them until then? Do I keep them in my garage? Wrap them up? Should I water them? -until when? Please help!

Sickly rose bush

Submitted by Heather on

Hi this is my first year growing roses and I have 2. One is a knockout yellow rose bush and it is doing great and is absolutely beautiful. My other rose bush is a Chicago hope hybrid tea rose and just keeps getting worse and worse. I believe it has blackspot, leaves get dark spots that get bigger until they cover whole leaf and gets on the leaves all around it if I don't clip them off as soon as I start seeing the spots. I am using a sulfur based spray on both plants every 7 days and feed it MG for roses (1gallon each plant) every 7 days. It starts to look better then bad again, it's done this all spring/summer. I've had a few blooms which are beautiful but it keeps getting to be less blooms and a lot smaller than when I first purchased it. It'll be winter soon and I'm wondering if there's a way to fix it that I'm not doing? Would it be better to leave the sickly rose in the ground and mulch or dig it up/pot it and bring inside for the winter? I'd appreciate any help I'd really like it to make it but there's only couple stems left alive on it and they are pretty short.

Sorry it's a Chicago peace

Submitted by Heather on

Sorry it's a Chicago peace hybrid tea rose, not Chicago hope

Chicago Peace Rose has hope...

Submitted by Almanac Staff on

Hi, Heather, The name of this rose is as the reader notes below: Chicago Peace, not hope, Rose. Blackspot is the scourge of roses. It is a fungus, and care is a fairly regimented process. This publication suggests the steps in the procedure, as well as specific fungicides: http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-0505/index2.tmpl  You’ll notice that is from the Alabama cooperative extension service. While it should be helpful anywhere, you can consult a local service by clicking on your state here: https://www.almanac.com/content/cooperative-extension-services

You should decide how much time and effort you want to put into this plant, and if you decide not to go further, consider that it is always best to select rose varieties that are blackspot resistant. We hope this helps!

roses & deer

Submitted by g on

I don't have room to plant lavender by my roses to deter the deer but can place cut lavender branches all around the base of each. Will that be enough to deter the deer?

Lavender Deer Deterrent

Submitted by Almanac Staff on

The scent of cut lavender will have the same effect as that of the living plant. However, the scent will fade as the branches dry up, so you will have to replace them with fresh lavender regularly.

Hi i have never kept a flower

Submitted by Ailyn on

Hi i have never kept a flower like rose before this is my first time.and i know nothing how to take care of this in a right way.and im more worried on the place where i lived because it has no space where i can put the rose directly to the sun.and the rose is place in a small pot only when i bought this.please give me some advice thank you

light for roses

Submitted by Almanac Staff on

Roses can be grown in partial shade, about 3 or 4 hours of sunlight instead of 6 or more hours. Some types do better than others, though. In any case, if you have a spot that provides enough space for the type of rose that you have (did it come with a plant label? Often the label will tell you how high and wide it will grow, and if it is a shrub rose, trailing, or other), and at least some sunlight, then it is worth a try to grow roses there, if there is no other option. The plant may not bloom as much, and the blossoms may not be as large, but you might still be able to enjoy having your very own rose plant. Again, it will depend on the type of rose, and whether it is happy there in other respects, such as soil nutrients etc. I actually have a rose that gets very few hours of direct sunlight, and a yew bush always tries to grow over it; still, I usually get one or two flowers each year from the rose plant, even under such non-ideal conditions. For general rose care, please see the article above. Hope this helps!

 

Rose Clipping Doing well Please Advise

Submitted by Tamara Marchel on

Hi, I have never kept roses before but recently (May) I was able to get a clipping from my grandparent's old house from a 30-year-old pink rose bush. I am not sure what variety the bus was usually about 4ft tall. Out of the clippings, I was able to get one to root and it is now doing quite well. I have it in a very large pot I think 40" because I live in an apartment in Boston and I want to be able to bring it in and keep it growing/blooming year round. What I am wondering is if anyone has any advice for boosting its growth while it is able to be on the porch with ample summer sun, and advice for once I move it in. I know that I won't get 5-6 hrs of sunlight during the NE winter, but I do have grow lights that I use for other plants during the off season. Any thoughts? And do you think I will see a bloom this year? It just really started growing fast with the heatwave it is currently about 13" tall.

Rose Clipping

Submitted by Almanac Staff on

Hi Tamara,

Rose bushes require about 1 inch of water per week during their growing period, while during the winter you should allow the soil to dry out to a depth of 1 inch between waterings. If you see a lack of blooms when the bush has grown more and begun to crowd the pot, it’s time to replant in a bigger pot. Roses can get by on 3 to 4 hours of sunlight a day, so don’t worry too much about providing extra light with a grow lamp. If you do decide to use one, make sure you’re consistent and don’t surprise the rose bush with light in the middle of the night. Keep the temperature below 75 degrees F during the day and above 40 degrees F at night.

Help with a rose bush that has gone uncared for for 20 years!

Submitted by Natalie Joy on

So, I recently moved back to my parents house in Maryland, just outside of D.C. and have been working on improving their back yard which at first had nothing but a tangled old rose bush and overgrown mulberry tree. I'm not an experienced gardener however,and pruning the rose bush has been the most daunting task. It has not been pruned, watered, fertilized or anything that I see you suggest here in at least 20 years possibly more. It does bloom early spring, but the majority of the blooms are tangled in the branches on the mulberry tree! How do I go about untangling this bush? It is now almost July is it ok to start pruning now? I also noticed some ivy growing around the base of the bush, is this killing it?

pruning a rose bush

Submitted by Almanac Staff on

No, do not prune now. Wait to prune in the spring. It’s not only the right time to prune a rose bush, but it will be a lot easier to prune when it’s not in growth mode! You want to prune after all flowering is done.

You’ll start with removing all dead and dying canes–entirely. These are the canes that look shriveled, dark brown, or black. And you’ll also remove all thin, weak canes that are smaller than a pencil in diameter. Start there!

If it’s been growing for this many years, don’t bother it now. In the spring, you’ll also want to clear away all suckers and any other plants at its base.

Why do roses go wild producing small dark red blooms?

Submitted by Linda riker on

How do I prevent roses from reverting to a wild rose with small dark red bloom

roses changing

Submitted by Almanac Staff on

We’re not sure what you mean by wild. What you may be seeing is that many roses are grafted, so the branches are one variety and the lower root system is a hardier rose. If those lower roots sprout branches, they may look like a different rose than the top branches. The variety that is very common is “Dr. Huey,” which is used for the lower rootstock and produces small, two-inch, dark red flowers as you describe! Those roses all probably started out with branches and blossoms of a different variety such as a less hardy tea rose. It’s just what happens with this variety. You may wish to try other varieties of roses if this bothers you. Also, avoid planting too shallowly.

roses

Submitted by David Tjepkema on

I lived in Wis. and had good luck with roses. (64 at one time) I now live on coast of the Gulf of Mexico in Tx. and don't know when to prune or how to take care of them? HELP

Cutting roses for continuous blooms

Submitted by Ellie on

Hi I live in Washington state west side & have 2 beautiful tong stemmed roses. They receive the good care you recommend & lots of sun in summer. Last year I picked the flowers to bring inside & they didn't bloom again all summer . I kept them fertilized & watered as usual, never had this problem before. Advice please . This year they have lots of buds & I would like to enjoy them all summer.

Roses bush problems

Submitted by Wanda ellis on

I have some of my bushes that are very skinny stalks and then there are some have very thick shoots what am I doing wrong

Please HELP keep a rose from spreading!

Submitted by Jen on

I have an heirloom rose bush from my great-grandmother that I can't keep contained. It shoots out from the roots and starts a new sprouts everywhere, up to six feet away from the main bush. How can I keep this rose from taking over my garden?

Spreading roots

Submitted by Jazz on

In order to stop shrub to capture your whole garden...it is to be advised you should cut roots of ur shrub.be careful not to harm whole plant...only cut extra roots..

Help with Roses

Submitted by Patricia A on

My roses seem to look dead before they fully bloom. Any ideas?

Is my rosebush dead?

Submitted by Almanac Staff on

If you scratch a branch (cane) with your nail, is there green beneath the surface? If not, the rush bush may be dead. One way to find out is to cut the bush down to the ground and see what happens next season. If the rose bush is alive, it will grow back.

Tall skinny stalks...no new branches or buds.

Submitted by Andria bogan on

We had a nasty dorm come through about 7-8 no the ago, stripped all the leaves and smaller branches off my bushes. :( now I got one bloom in the too and leaves on the new growth on the top of the plants....but no new growth there the plants were stripped no leaves or buds or anything. They were beautiful full bushes before, now they look so pitiful! I'm keeping them trimmed to the max height they can be, but the new growth is only happening above where the plants had been stripped in the storm. Is there anything I can do to fix this? I really don't want to have to rip them out and plant new ones!

Storm not dorm; 7-8 mo not 7

Submitted by andria bogan on

Storm not dorm; 7-8 mo not 7-8 no.

care for storm-damaged roses

Submitted by Almanac Staff on

Without more information (type of roses), it’s hard to know exactly what to advise here. But we have a recommendation: the American Rose Society has members/clubs in just about every state. Find those nearest you here: http://www.rose.org/resources/societies/. They not only will have knowledge of the plants but being in your area, may very well have expereinced the weather effects. We hope this helps!

Rose bushes that do not produce flowers

Submitted by Jerry Cummins on

We built a new house and planted roses surrounding the house two years ago. We had a fairly severe winter and lost 6 plants and 3 survived. The three that survived are not producing any flowers but are green and growing. Do I need to replace these 3 non flowering rose bushes? I did replace the 6 dead plants which are doing well.

Weeds and grass growing in the base of the rose bushes

Submitted by Linda on

How can I get rid of grass and weeds growing in the base of the rose bushes. I can't get in there to pull them out so what can I do to get rid of them and not harm the rose bushed

Pages

Growing Roses

Botanical Name

Rosa
Plant Type Flower
Sun Exposure Full Sun
Soil Type Loamy
Soil pH Slightly Acidic to Neutral
Bloom Time Spring, Summer, Fall
Flower Color Varies
Hardiness Zones Varies
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