Garden

[juanitalinda]

After taking care of my mother's 100+ roses for the past 10 years,  I have learned I never want one!  

The critters love 'em ... and I hate the thorns! 

Does that make me an expert? 

(Just joking ... they are beautiful ... but they do have their challenges.)  

[Lilysmom1]

@juanitalinda I planted three last year.  They were dwarf knockout roses. I live on a lake.  The beavers ate one which surprised me.  So now I have two in the ground.  They were beautiful.  These two bare root bushes will be it for me.  They are small also.  I have almost two acres with gardens throughout but they are full.

[juanitalinda]

@Lilysmom1 

Mom lived on a lake too.  Surprisingly, the beaver let them alone, but maybe that was because they loved the apple trees instead.  

We struggled with the deer.  We thought we were so clever when we put up an 8 ft  fence.  However, the deer bypassed the fence, walked into the lake, and just swam over to the rose garden.  

I actually didn't mind, because I love watching the deer, but my mother was also disappointed when her roses got denuded.  

[Lilysmom1]

@juanitalinda Thankful we don't have the deer issue.  So disheartening.  The beavers are bad enough!

[eaesquire]

@gardenman  I cannot thank you enough for this tutorial. Awesome!

[Kabella]

Excellent Advice. I had a beautiful Rose Garden when I lived in Ma. I live in Fl. & with the hummid weather, smothering heat & rain, roses do not do well. 

[Skyegirl21]

I always throw a fistful of Perlite or sand into the bottom of every hole, Because 99% of plants want good drainage and don't like soggy roots- 

[Lilysmom1]

@gardenman et al, the roses are in the ground now.  I read bare root needs to be watered every day.  Is that true?  We have been having a wet Spring so I am monitoring.

[gardenman]

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@Lilysmom1 wrote:

@gardenman et al, the roses are in the ground now.  I read bare root needs to be watered every day.  Is that true?  We have been having a wet Spring so I am monitoring.

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As is often the case, it depends. If they're in very well-drained, well-aerated soil, daily watering is excellent.  If they're in heavy, clay soil with minimal drainage, daily watering will drown the roses. In average soil with a good mulch on top, you don't need to water them daily. Maybe every other day when first planted? You just need to use your best judgment. Too much water is typically worse than not enough, but you want to get the water to where the roots are.

Over the course of a week, you want each rose to get a full gallon of water for optimal growth. Of course, bigger climbing roses that cover half a house need more while miniature roses need less. 

Roses are very tough little plants. They've been around forever. Just meet them halfway and they'll be fine. You don't want them to dry out and become tinder, and you don't want to drown the plants. You want there to be some moisture in the soil for the roses but not so much they're soggy and drowning.

One of my grandparent's houses had soil that was mostly sand and roses grew fine there. My house was mostly clay and roses grew fine there. You'd water them differently in each place but the plants are tough enough to survive just about anything as long as you avoid the extremes. 

[Lilysmom1]

@gardenman This sounds like very good advice.  Mother Nature is helping me along so I will slack off on the watering.  That is my instinct.  Thanks @gardenman .