Any rose gardeners out there?

[kimmikayb]

I would like to plant a rose garden this year. I have a few bushes I haven't managed to kill yet, but would love to hear hints/tips on how to have beautiful roses! I'm in the midwest, Iowa.

 

[wdwmom2]

I love roses!!!! Here in PA I fertilize often, they like to be fed. And I spray them with Orthonex to control pests and blackspot(fungus). I keep the faded blooms cut back, this promotes new growth. I love J&P roses, they do well for me. Here are a few pics from last year.

 

[shortbun]

Plenty of water from the ground. Plenty of manure(dehydrated and fortified)! No grasses or vegetation nearby, just dry mulch. Head the old blooms down to the 5 leaf growth on the stem at an angle. I agree that Orthonex(I used to struggle with doing this organically) is the best preventative for black spot and aphids.Yep-get them from Jackson and Perkins!!

 

[TheRatPack]

Read Roses for Dummies, it was the first book I picked up when I started growing them and the writers really put it in normal terms so it's easy to understand roses. J&P are good roses but I've branched out lately too, as J&P were getting to where they'd ship me smaller and smaller ones and they weren't doing as well.

I'll throw in that I also use Orthenex spray as well as Mills magic Rose Fertilizer. It's the stinkiest stuff in the world (it's dark green and looks like pond sludge, smells like dead fish water LOL), but it really makes them grow and produce beautiful blooms.

Research disease resistant varieties for your area too, as what grows in zone 7 might not do so well in another area....etc. And start small, taking care of one or two and working your way up from there will be a lot easier than starting out with trying to prune, weed, spray, fertilize and water 25 LOL

 

[GeorgeG]

Whenever I used to go fishing my father-in-law would ask me for the fish heads and he would bury then around the base of his roses. I don't know for sure if that's what made a difference, but he had beautiful roses

 

[kimmikayb]

Thank you everyone. Your roses are beautiful wdwmom2.