All About Roses.

Roses were my least-favorite flower, until I started growing them several years ago.

Perhaps you too are unimpressed with the tight, scentless buds you pass by in the grocery store. Perhaps you’re equally unimpressed with the landscape variety of roses you see adorning the entrance of a local shopping mall or new-build home.

I get it. However, my hope is to reform you, as I was, and give you some really beautiful inspiration and easy tips, based on my experience, to embrace this classic and truly versatile plant.
Why Roses?

As you plan your kitchen garden for spring, you may be inspired to incorporate potager, cottage or more romantic design styles into your plans. Roses definitely provide a sense of romance. They are wonderful pollinators and are beneficial companions to many vegetables and fruits.

Lettuces planted at the base of roses are not only beautiful, but help with moisture control. Since roses love the sun, they can be a gentle shade to smaller cooler-weather vegetables.

Roses flanking berries or under a fruit tree as part of its guild attracts the pollinators to encourage more fruit production.

What about plants that benefit the rose? Garlic planted with roses can enhance the rose’s fragrance.

And finally, who doesn’t want to complete their harvest basket each morning with some beautiful, fragrant roses for an arrangement or posey bundle for a friend?

I’m Not a Rose Expert, but I’ve Made Enough Mistakes to Know a Few Things

The three most common questions I get from friends or social media messages regarding roses:

1. What kind of roses do you grow?

2. Where do you get your roses?

3. How do you take care of them?

The answer to the last question could be turned into a book! I'm going to keep it all simple as possible, but enough substance to get you confident and going on your roses, OK?

Let’s dive in!

What Kind of Roses Do I Grow
I will grow or try any rose that can grow in my zone, Zone 7b. Find roses that grow in your zone, will have proper space per the variety and get full sun—then refine from there.

The first roses I grew were David Austin roses which are the traditional, lovely, heirloom English roses. They are stunning, but in my Oklahoma climate and conditions, the plants’ survival was very hit or miss based on varieties. I adore them, but these gentle ladies did not like our extreme temperatures and strong winds.

One exception is my St. Swithun climbers that once grew up the sides of our chicken coop, and despite a poorly-timed transplant to a fence line and being nearly destroyed by our neighbor’s goats, they are doing quite well.

My favorite varieties are by Bloomables which is a division of Star Plants. Bloomables is combining the hardiness of shrub roses, think knock-outs, with the beauty of true garden roses, like David Austin. These have had the best luck for me in my environment.

I grew some stunning Sweet Mademoiselles from them, via my local nursery, that survived two poorly-done and poorly-timed transplants. Our neighbor's goats got loose and tore most of them up pretty badly, but some survived—looking albeit scraggly—just showing how hardy these roses are.

Another gorgeous variety of theirs I adore is the creamy yellow Romantica Moonlight. To me, these blooms’ scent has the perfect combination of fruity, floral and fresh. I call them my “brunch” roses because they look and smell perfectly for a spring brunch!

This year, I am expecting the following roses for our Backyard Potager and front landscape:

Chiffon

Distant Drums

Earth Angel

Francis Meilland

Honey Dijon

Iceberg Climber

Julia Child

Koko Loko

*Orange Glow Knock-Out

Princess Charlene de Monaco

White Eden Climber

*Sidenote: Star Plants is working to make the knock-outs, which I used to really dislike, into more double-cupped and full blooms. They’re getting closer and closer to that English look while being a great low-maintenance option for your landscape. Look out for new double-bloom knock-outs in your local nursery this spring and in 2024.

The Orange Glows mentioned above can only be found on QVC this year. Follow me on Instagram Stories to see how they do this spring as I’m planting eight bare roots of these!

Where Do I Get My Roses

As with anything, local is best. There are some varieties I plan to get from my local nursery in May, including the Princess Charlene de Monaco…I cannot wait for that one! But especially for potted and more mature roses, it’s good to take a look in-person.

However, for bare root orders, I like to shop from David Austin, Grace Rose Farm, Heirloom Roses and Menagerie.

If my local nursery and online growers have sold out—many varieties I’ve listed above sold out fast—I’ll look to big box stores like Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart or Amazon. Sometimes they have stock that is sent directly from the producers, so you’re still getting a good plant.

Rose Plants Make Wonderful Gifts

Whenever I can, I like to send rose plants to friends and family as gifts. And many of these companies offer a gift option. I especially like using Menagerie for this because of Felicia’s beautiful packaging.

I sent Bailey a Julia Child bare root rose back when we hosted a Facebook gardening group in 2020. The Grower’s Collaborative—does anyone remember that? Yellow roses symbolize friendship and I thought Julia Child was perfect for her!
A friend of mine who lives in a colder climate but loves gardening is expecting a baby this spring, so I’ve sent her a white and very fragrant Bolero rose. A Bloomable variety, it is very cold hardy and can be grown in a container in case she may want to bring it inside for winter.

As a former ballerina, Darcey Bussell was my inspiration growing up. This red rose was named after her that I gifted my mom last Mother’s Day.

How do I Take Care of My Roses

As I mentioned before, this section could be an entire book, but I’m going to keep things simple for you. Here are the top five points to consider if you want to grow roses:

1. Choose good roses

2. Choose the right location

3. Give it a successful start

4. Feed it

5. Prune it

Choose Good Roses

Choose a rose that suits your zone, environment, sun, etc. Your rose will need at least 6 hours of sunlight a day if you want it to grow and give you gorgeous blooms, so give it a good, sunny spot.

For bare root roses, I try to get own rootstock instead of grafted. They take longer to come into their own, but they typically are more hardy and bountiful. “The first year they sleep; the second year they creep; the third year they leap!”

Grafted roses are completely fine too. And if you purchase from a reputable grower, either is fine. Own is just my preference if I can get it. 

You want roses that are grown from their original source (breeder) or licensed grower. To ensure you are getting a healthy plant, be sure the rose is properly marked with branded tags that it is from the correct breeder or licensed grower.

Choose the Right Location

In vain, I have tried to make roses grow in shady areas, and it's possible, but they are not happy. Get creative, you can put something else pretty in your shade spots. Get your roses in the sun.

And, if you can, get them a drip line instead of a sprinkler head for watering.

Give it a Successful Start

When you get a bare root rose, soak it overnight in a bucket with mycorrhizae to get the root system to wake up before planting. Any mycorrhizae will work fine, if you can find a cheaper one, go for it!

Dig your hole 1 ½ the width and depth of the root system. Why? So you can mix ½ of the native soil with compost (I use Land & Sea Compost from Espoma Organics) and sprinkle in some Bio-Tone (also from Espoma Organics)  as well. This will ensure the best possible start for your rose. I do the same thing for potted roses as well.

Water well and cover with mulch.

Feed Your Rose

What works for me, and I do this for all of my flower shrubs to keep it simple, is to apply Plant-tone (Espoma Organics) in February to wake up the plants, then in October to “put them to bed” for winter.

For March, April, May, June, July, August and September, once a month I apply Tomato-tone (Espoma Organics) to all my flowering shrubs. Yes.

For years, I heard older gardeners swear by using tomato feeder on their roses, hydrangea and flowering shrubs, so I tested it towards the end of the 2022 growing season, and wow. It makes a huge difference.

Tomato fertilizers usually have a lot of potassium, or potash, which roses need to recover from insect damage or extreme weather conditions. And with my Oklahoma climate, they endure wildly shifting temperatures in the spring (20’s to 80's in 24 hours just last week), to tornado season with windy storms, to triple-digit summer days and potentially single-digit winter days.

Prune Your Rose

Know your zone first. For my zone 7, I usually prune the last week of February or first week of March, whenever there's a nice day to do it.

When pruning any plant, especially roses, it will really be a case-by-case situation depending on how large it is, how old it is, what variety it is, etc. So take these tips with a grain of salt, and consult your local nursery or garden club.

Start by cutting down the bush, removing dead or diseased canes, and leaving only the best looking canes. Remove any horizontal or crossing canes. You want it to look like a basket. The more vigorous a rose, the more heavy-handed your pruning should be.

Make sure your cuts are above the outward-facing bud eyes.

Also, it's going to hurt, but remove all the leaves, especially if you are pruning on the early side of your zone’s recommended pruning time.

Make sure to clean up your clippings leaving nothing behind so as not to spread any disease. Also, I like to clean by pruning shears with alcohol wipes between each plant to prevent any disease spreading as well. Then give the shears a good scrub with alcohol when I'm done.

Then, I do the first feeding of the year with Plant-tone. Followed by the Tomato-tone once a month during the growing season as previously explained.

During the growing season, I always deadhead the blooms to encourage more blooms. Again, wiping my pruning shears with alcohol in between plants.

Give the Rose a Chance

Add a bit of romance  in your kitchen garden this season. Give her a warm welcome with a good planting, and she’ll reward you with happy pollinators and fresh, beautiful arrangements in your home!

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