Roses are among the most beautiful and fragrant of all garden flowers. To keep your roses healthy it’s important to know how to care for them. Rose bushes require different care than most other garden flowers. Choose where you plant your rose bushes carefully as they will live for years. Rose bushes are perennial flowers which means they will come back year after year if cared for properly.
Soil. Roses do best in a looser, sandy type of soil. It allows their roots to grow and expand. The ph balance of the soil should be between 6.0 and 6.5. If you’ve tested your soil and it is too acidic you can try adding some lime to bring the acid level down. If the ph level of your soil is too high you can try adding a little garden sulfur to bring it down.
Sunlight. Roses can be planted in direct sun. In fact, roses do better in direct sunlight than they do in shaded areas. Roses require at least six hours of direct sunlight per day to grow properly. If direct sunlight is not an option in your garden try choosing a variety of rose bush that can live in partial shade such as the Carefree, Ballerina, Iceberg, or Gruss an Aachen. As long as the area is not always completely shaded these roses should do just fine.
Water. Roses should be watered daily. Rose bushes will thrive from the water and will not do well if not watered regularly. Watering is especially important during the first year after planting. Water helps rose bushes to grow, to bloom, and to adjust to their new location.
Fertilizer. Use a fertilizer that is meant especially for roses. The fertilizer should be high in phosphorous. Roses also love magnesium sulfate. You can add magnesium to the soil in the form of Epsom salts a couple times monthly by lightly sprinkling a handful of the salts around the base of your rose bush before watering.
Trimming. Rose bushes benefit from regular pruning and trimming.Trim your rose bush once a month to keep it manicured and healthy. It’s also a good idea to remove dead flowers as well. Doing so encourages the rose bush to continue to bloom.
Weeds. Use landscaping fabric when you first plant your new rose bushes to help prevent weeds. Pull all weeds regularly if you are not able to use landscaping fabric. Weeds will choke out a rose bush if they are allowed to grow near the base of the bush. Applying several inches of mulch around the base of your rose bushes will help to eliminate to not only eliminate weeds but also to keep the soil moist.
Source: rose-gardening-made-easy
