Planting Roses
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This rose plant will likely outlive the structure. It is growing nicely and the blooms are abundant. A good planting job requires forward thinking. While the plant looks great now, it will make repairs to the structure a little prickly.
Site Selection
Roses need 6 or more hours of sunlight. If you cheat them out of sunlight, you cheat yourself out of the joy that their flowers bring. Find an area that gets the correct amount of sunlight for planting your roses in.Roses will not do well in areas that stay moist.
They will drown in moist soil. I had some friends who were struggling with their rose plants even though the area was sunny. When I first stepped into their backyard, I noticed the ground was spongy everywhere I walked. I asked if they had recently watered the lawn. They hadn't, it was like that all the time.
A sunny and dry spot is where your roses will do best.
Planting Tips
Container roses can be planted whenever they are available for purchase. If you buy them during the heat of the summer, plan on planting them late in the evening or on a cloudy day.Bare root roses are best planted in spring before they start growing.
Soak bare root roses in luke warm water for a few hours before planting.
Comb the roots with your fingers to untangle them and spread them out. On some plants the roots will aim towards one side of the plant. On other plants the roots will fan out nicely all the way around the plant. Do not try to force a one sided root growing rose to be a well rounded root grower. You'll end up doing more damage than good.
Dig the hole to accommodate the roots in their natural style. If they grow all the way around the plant, a circular hole will suffice. If they grow towards one direction, a rectangular hole will be needed.
Most hybrid roses are grafted. Some rose plants are great producers of top growth, but their root systems were inferior. So hybridizers came up with grafting as a means of using superior root systems with superior plants. It means an overall better quality plant for us. The root stalk of your hybridized rose is not likely the same plant per se as the top of the plant.
There are still some roses that are "own root" meaning they are not grafted, but they're getting harder to find.
When a plant is grafted there is typically a knot where the graft occurs. Locating this graft on your rose will allow for planting roses at the correct depth.
In the picture below the graft is called a bud union.
If you look at the picture you will see the sucker is a different looking cane than the rest of the plant.This is because the root stock is made from a different plant.
Ok, I drew it to look different, but I didn't have a picture that would show it so dramatically that it would make the point well enough!
When planting roses the graft should be placed one inch above ground level.
There used to be a rule to put the graft in the ground in cold climates and above the ground in warm climates. Whenever I planted roses with the graft in the ground, my plants died.
Planting Against Structures
When planting roses to climb up a trellis that is attached to your house, make the trellis detachable. Secure eyebolts to the house and some hooks onto the trellis. If you need to do painting work on the house, you just unhook the trellis and lay it down out of your way.When planting roses in areas where the plant can't be moved make sure to provide a sturdy support. An arbor needs to be strong and made of material that will not deteriorate easily.
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