Question
Hello, and thanks for volunteering.  My wife and I just finished clearing a 12x12 area where we would like to plant roses.  I'm new at the concept and have questions like: How close should you plant them, what can I expect in taking care of them, what roses should I avoid buying...things like that.  You don't have to spend too much time, just some beginning basics if you will.  Thanks again.

Skip
Golf Volunteer

Answer
Hello Skip,

So you are taking very literally that old saying, "Don't forget to stop and smell the Roses."

I suppose the kinds of Roses you want really depends on you, although that sounds like a copout answer - but it is true.  

Roses are generally a high maintenance plant.  You don't want to spend a lot of time, money and perspiration on the wrong kind of Rose garden.  If you're going to put a patio adjacent to those Roses and have friends for summer afternoon lunch, you're going to want Roses that won't attract bees and wasps, or maybe no Roses at all, unless you want to spend your lunches constantly jumping all over the patio trying to get away from them.

However, if you want a cutting garden of Roses for the entire summer to bring indoors or carry as gifts to friends and neighbors, you'll want Roses just for that.  The wrong Rose will dissolve in a pile of loose petals before you've made it to your front door with the bucket.  The right Rose will last upright in a vase for 3 or 4 days.

Or maybe you want the fragrance of your Rose garden to waft around the landscape?  Believe it or not, blooms with strong Rose fragrance are not very common.  You cannot count on a typical Rose to smell anymore like a Rose.  Does this matter to you?

Will you be gazing at these Roses from the living room window?  Maybe Tea Roses are not for you then - when not in bloom, these are unattractive, fairly leafless sticks jutting out of the grown all year.  I dare say, they may simply not be your cup of tea.  Grandifloras, floribundas, some new hybrids - now they may be more your style.

Perhaps you love yellow, or white, or pink, or red Roses -- all of the above?  Then you need a few of each.

You see, it really depends on you.  And it also depends on where you live - what state are you in, what is your nearest city, so that we can pick Roses that will return next year after all you do to keep them healthy.  You don't want to grow Roses that cannot survive your winter climate.  You or I can figure out your Zone.  That will be your best guide to the strongest Roses you can grow.

One guideline I strongly recommend is that you save yourself countless Rosearian headaches by selecting Roses that are blackspot- and mildew-resistant.  To deal with the inevitable Japanese Beetle population, apply Milky Spore Disease to your grass (which I trust is chemicals-free, the better to grow your beneficial insects and attract birds and butterflies).  It will take 2 years or longer to reach effective Japanese Beetle control strength so the sooner you do this, the better.  

For next year's spring grubs, which grow in a few weeks into flower-devouring Beetles, order and disperse beneficial insects that prey on them.  I know, I know, it looks just too easy, sprinkling a few of these around the yard's pulse points like drops of Chanel, but beneficials are the most effective weapon yet against Japanese Beetles.  

You'll still have to go outside at night with a flashlight and drop a dozen into a container of soapy water for the morning trash.  But that's nothing compared to the hundreds that will take over your yard, if left untreated, faster than you can say Golfball.

I hope we can assume your 12x12 square is in full, glorious, all day sun preferably dawn to dusk.  Where Roses are concerned, you can never have too much light; the more, the merrier, and the merrier the Rose, the more Roses.

In a 12x12 plot, figure on 2-1/2 to 3 feet between Roses, depending on the Rose.  Roses grown too close together do not have the air circulation they need to avoid disease (and there is a LONG list of these, all of them lurking in the shadows, waiting for the right moment).  They compete for water, nutrients and sometimes light.  This includes Tea Roses, Floribundas, Grandifloras and polyanthas.  

What about your soil?  You can't grow great Roses without great soil.  You may not have thought about this, but what you add depends entirely on what you already have.  Get a soil test from your local Cooperative Extension -- sorry, you didn't give your location or I would tell you who that is.  

A professional analysis will supply you with lots of helpful information including things they recommend you ADD to your soil.  

Clay soil being a wonderful material to begin with, all you would need to add is humus, peat moss and compost to loosen it and provide the nutrients your Roses really need the most.  

Double-turn the soil and add bone meal and greensand.  

When done, check the area's drainage by filling it with water  -- if the water drains out in 15 minutes or less, drainage is acceptable. I recommend the webpage, "How to Prepare Your Soil Before Planting Your Roses" (www.rose-roses.com/culture/soilprep.html).

There you have it, Skip -- The Basics!

There is an EXCELLENT book I would like to recommend, and it is filled with information that would help the advanced gardener as well as the basic learner: Roses For Dummies. In the meantime, if you would like to clarify some of the issues we are raising here, just so we hit the nail on the head, just let me know -- now that my computer is back and running, I am keeping my fingers crossed there are no more blackouts and people-friendly temperatures are surely around the corner.