3 Rose Planting Tips

1. Locate rose beds properly: Select a site with reasonably good drainage. Dig a hole 18 inches deep and fill with water. If the water does not seep away within a couple of hours, try another location. Full sun is good, afternoon shade is not bad, and sun for only five or six hours will do, but the roses must be away from the roots of trees and shrubs.

2. Prepare the soil thoroughly: It is no longer considered necessary, or even desirable, to dig out the soil 3 or 4 feet deep and put in a drainage layer. It is necessary to loosen the soil at least 18 inches deep and to incorporate a good amount of organic matter. Dig out, onto a square of canvas, the top spade's depth of soil and break up the next, removing all stones and boulders. Fork into this second spade's depth a lot of peat moss and dehydrated manure, or real manure and sifted leaf mold, or some of everything, along with a little superphosphate.

More organic matter and superphosphate should be mixed into the topsoil as it is replaced. Ideally, a bed should be made and allowed to settle six weeks before planting, but this is not always possible. Sometimes, for just a few bushes, it is necessary to dig separate holes, and do it at planting time, rather than six weeks before. Although roses are not particularly fussy, they do best in a slightly acid soil. If the soil is alkaline (testing much above pH 7.0), work in 1 to 2 pounds of powdered sulfur per hundred square feet of bed area. If the soil is well below PH 6.0, add 3 to 5 pounds of ground limestone per hundred square feet.

3. Plant carefully at the right time for your locality: The right time to plant roses depends on where you live. In Florida, November and December are favored months. In California and other warm states, January and February are recommended. March is about right for the upper South, and in the far North, planting time is late April or early May.

In New Jersey and other temperate states, you can plant dormant roses equally well in November or early spring, late March and early April. If you have to wait until late April or May, it is better to purchase potted roses, bushes already started in containers. The roses will be shipped to you wrapped in polyethylene or sphagnum moss. If you cannot plant immediately, you can safely leave the package unopened in a cool place for a few days.

If you must wait a week or two before final planting, remove the roses and bury them in a trench in the garden. When you are ready to plant, open the package in the shade and examine each push very carefully before putting it in a pail of water. If there are rough roundish swellings near the crown (indicative of crown gall) or small swellings in the roots (these usually indicate root-knot nematodes), lay that plant aside to return to the nurseryman for replacement. Do not plant it; do not even put it in the water with the other roses.

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