how difficult are roses?

Question

How hard are roses to grow and care for?

Answer 1

Roses come in different classes. Some like the well known Hybrid Teas can be touchy. These were developed more for flower competitions than general garden use so require more care. I hated my mothers roses because of all the dusting and pruning needed except for one old yellow climber that needed nothing. That was a great rose.
New lines of roses are very disease resistant and more fragrant. It can be very overwhelming looking at all the roses in all the different classes. So to start simply look to what you like. How many petals? 5 for a single rose 20 - 100 are double to full double.
Then the flower can open flat or stay cupped. The petals can scroll or reflex. The rose can be quartered or the quartering can be muddled. The center can be buttoned or open to display the stamens.
My favorite flower form is a small 2-3 inch, muddled rose, with a button eye, and ruffled petals of moderate substance and about 30, fragrant petals.
Thin petals often have more fragrance but do not last very long. I live in Seattle so roses with 60 petals or more mostly ball in the rain. Then they look like wads of wet tissues and turn black with rot.
If you live with Japanese beetles know they love roses. In Philadelphia I saw plants that never bloomed because they had all the buds eaten. There are organic methods that work.http://gardening.about.com/od/rose1/a/OrganicRose.htm
http://www.extremelygreen.com/roseguide.cfm
http://www.greenharvest.com.au/greennotes/Organic_Rose_Care.html

Buying roses is not hard. Look for three good canes larger than a pencil. Anything less than three is not worth buying. More is ok but not necessary.

Paul Barden has my favorite rose web site. He grows and evaluates roses, listing his rating and the ARS rating in comparison. Look at his pictures then look up the rose on the next sites.
http://www.rdrop.com/%7Epaul/index.html
Find Roses
http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/index.php
http://rosefile.com/

My favorite rose breeders are Tom Carruth, David Austin, and Ralph Moore. Look at Carruth's 'Night Owl' 'Ebb Tide' 'Raven' 'Midnight Blue'
Austin I have 'Jayne Austin' 'Anne Boleyn' & 'Pat Austin' but I want 'Molineux'
Look for Moore's Halo series of miniatures.
Consider these roses;
'Sally Holmes' or 'Iceberg' or 'Gourmet Popcorn for white disease free plants listed in order of flower size.
Rosa glauca may only bloom once but the foliage is stunning, I just planted a Clematis viticella 'Margot Koster' to climb up it for a second season of bloom.
'Red Sentsation' is a fragrant mini.
There are roses that change color as the flower ages.
'Mutabilis', 'Flutterbye and 'Joseph's Coat' are mine.
Hybrid Musk roses will even tolerate less sun than others.
Try 'Ballerina' or 'Sally Holmes'
For a very pliant rambling rose that is easy to train try 'Phillis Bide' another Mulitcolor; Yellow, Pink, Salmon, Cerise, Apricot, small, muddled &, sigh, not fragrant.

There are ground cover or carpet roses and roses that can cover a house like R. Kiftsgate. I planted that one to climb my neighbors tree. It will go to 50 feet in time. Then there is 'Si' and 'Tom Thumb' so small they are microminiatures.
I no longer hate looking after the roses.
I use foliar sprays to keep black spot at bay. Foliar Feed Recipe
2 T fish fertilizer
1 T liquid seaweed
1 T blackstrap molasses
1 gallon water
Mix all ingredients well, pour mix into spray bottle and spray on plants, be sure to get the undersides of leaves as well. Spray up to once a week. For best results, spray at least once a month.
Roses are very heavy feeders so it is best to feed your rose to encourage growth and maximum bloom. I fertilize with a root drench of Kelp/Fish on May 1, June 1 and July 1.
I use Growmore seaweed extract and Alaska® Fish Fertilizer 5-1-1 to make this. I fertilize three times a year Valentine's Day, Memorial Day & Labor Day, in zone 7, using Whitney Farms Rose & Flower 4-6-2.
Soil amendments Alfalfa tea
Alfalfa pellets or alfalfa meal 4 cups to every 5 gallons of water
Add Epsom salts half a cup to 5 gallons
Add water
Let stand for one week until it bubbles with fermentation. Your nose will tell you that it's ready.

Using it: Apply alfalfa tea once in the spring and again in summer after the first flush of flowers, to encourage repeat blooming. On roses, I found 1⁄2 to 1 cup per bush is adequate.

Basic Cornell Spray: For Control Of Blackspot & Powdery Mildew: Do not substitute vegetable oil spray for the summer weight agricultural oil, it doesn't emulsify in suspension when water is added. Another tip I have learned is to spray this in the evening, around or just after supper time. Do not spray this in the hottest part of the day.
2tbs Horticultural Oil (Sunspray or Volk Oil)
1tbs of baking soda
Add to 1 gallon of water and spray leaf surfaces LIGHTLY, not to dripping. Reapply every two weeks.
This will help to control powdery mildew and blackspot as well as other fungal diseases on roses.

Another really good method is milk spray ...... 1 part milk to 7 parts water. Dried milk works as well as fresh.

Cornmeal
Dust the ground around roses with cornmeal, and water in. This helps to eliminate black spot spores that attack roses, and also helps to eliminate the spores in the soil around roses.

Cornmeal Juice
Cornmeal Juice is a natural fungal control for use in any kind of sprayer. Make by soaking horticultural cornmeal in water at one cup per gallon of water. Put the cornmeal a nylon stocking bag to hold in the larger particles. The milky juice of the cornmeal will permeate the water and this mix should be sprayed without further diluting.
This makes it sound like I spend all my time spraying. No, I rotate through the fungal sprays using them only on the plants that show a spot or two and only every other week in rotation, milk then corn meal, then Cornell.

Answer 2

Roses are so easy to grow and to care for!! Give them good sun, watch for aphids and water them. I prune my roses in the spring, deadhead them as the blooms die and fertilize every here and there spray them as needed for aphids and water them. Easy as pie!

There are so many different varieties, but if you are unsure if they are too much to care for, I suggest that you purchase something not too expensive and try it out. I would not suggest a bare root rose for a beginner though. Be warned though, you may become addicted to them!

Answer 3

Bought 5 different variaties of roses last year. start with a bag of cow manure topsoil and potting soil. Pick a spot with all day sun. buy 2 6inch fencepickets . cut in half. you have 4 pieces about 2 1/2 feet long. wire or screw them together into a square. empty bags into square, mix well. buy 1 rose plant in center of square, water twice weekly. roses like wet feet! all mine are alive and blooming again this year already

Answer 4

I'm in California & don't think there's much that a rose bush doesn't forgive! All it needs is water & sun. Clip off the roses as they bloom or as they die off & more always seem to grow back time after time after time! Just don't overwater them or they will rot from the bottom up, especially if they are in a shady spot or partial shade. Sun is the key!

Answer 5

buy a good book on care and feeding and pruning of roses Pay close attention to them ..they get bugs and aphids easily...follow the guidelines and you will be an expert in no time

Answer 6

it is not a rose but the Indian Pipe melts when you touch it! that is the most fragile dont you think?