Tips For Designing Your Rose Garden

By Sandy Burke

I think the use of landscape roses makes the exterior of any house more graceful, fragrant and inviting. If you select the right varieties to accent and compliment the home's style and your vision, landscape roses will contribute to the success of your landscape and rose garden design.

Finding the perfect roses for your rose garden is not that hard because of the many varieties of roses. The problem lies in choosing the right rose bushes for your landscape needs and the design you are trying to archive.

Roses come in a number of different classes. Each class holds characteristics that make them a great choice for use as landscape ornamentals. As an example, suppose you'd like to have roses growing up and over an archway or trellis or archway or cascading from window boxes. Then the tall growing tea roses are a perfect choice. Tea roses are famous for their wild growing blooms. Use the tea rose and every time you or your guests walk under the archway you'll enjoy a beautiful display of roses.

If a trellis isn't available and you're looking to accent a wall, then why not try a true climbing rose. The beauty of a true climbing rose allows you train the plant into many different looks and effects. I've always loved the way it can be trained to grow so many different ways.

I also love the Floribunda rose when I'm looking for a vibrant splash of background color. When I use the Floribunda rose varieties, I know my garden will be alive with color because of their large and breathtaking sprays of blooms.

I also use the versatile rose as a ground cover or planted in front of other plants to give color and accent. I've also used them as stand alone specimens and trained them into a small tree or as hedges. I think the Rugosa roses are a good choice for this. The goal or impact of the rose is not the varieties or ways it can be grown but the colors they offer in making your garden come alive with a palette of colors.

What I and most gardeners want are healthy rose plants that deliver impact in many sizes, styles, textures, colors and shapes. When considering your design for your rose garden try to choose complimentary colors for your surrounding landscape.

Consider that a simple arrangement of pink roses can deliver the perfect compliment to a stone or marble entranceway or drive. White tea roses can offer a striking contrast against a dark red brick home. Since roses come in so many different colors it is relatively easy to find colors to compliment and enhance any decorating or landscape design you can imagine. Designing your rose garden should be exciting and challenging to say the least. So incorporate your own color favorites and mix styles and textures for an interesting appeal.

Although roses can do well in a variety of temperature zones and climates, make sure you choose the varieties suitable to the area in which you live. This translates into fewer maintenance issues, less pesticides and disease issues promoting overall a healthier rose garden.

So what are you waiting for? Why not get started planning your rose garden today?

Sandy Burke is a mother and grandmother who enjoys gardening and helping others learn about and enjoy gardening.

For more information and tips on choosing the right roses for your garden, please visit her website at http://www.rose-gardening-advisor.com/ and remember to sign up for her free weekly newsletter on rose gardening.

You Can Grow Roses Easily

By Thomas Straub


Quite a few people want to know if roses are difficult to grow. The answer is definitely not. Actually, roses are simple to grow and need only a little more care than any other perennial plant.

Here is a look at the planting, care and maintenance of roses.

Planting Roses

Preparing the soil for roses is vitally important since they use a lot of nutrients. An excellent idea would be to use 100% organic compost, not just for the nutrients provided in the compost, but also because the compost will drain well and still keep lots of moisture. Rose need plenty of water, as well as a well-drained planting bed.

Caring for Your Roses

Since Roses blossom during the entire growing season, they are big users of nutrients and will need regular fertilizing.

In the spring when the leaves begin to bud out, feed your roses, and again in late summer or early fall, depending on what area of the country you live in.

How to Deal With Diseases That Effect Roses


Roses are vulnerable to mildew, fungi and insect infestation. Most of these diseases can be prevented from happening. Even better, all of them can be controlled with regular applications of fungicides and insecticides.
Several kinds of beneficial insects can be placed into your garden to help you control insect infestations, without using chemicals.

Getting Your Roses Ready for Winter

In warm climates, not much needs to be done to prepare your roses for winter, beyond adding a good layer of mulch. In colder climates that have temperatures sink below 25 degrees F, you will want to protect your roses with additional mulch.

Building cages to surround your roses and then filling them with mulch after the initial freeze will make sure that your roses survive throughout the winter. Then, you can see your beautiful roses bloom again in the spring!
---------
Tom Straub is a successful author, and webmaster of the Best Gardening Tips web site, where you can read more on Flower Gardening and more than a dozen other gardening topics.

Climbing Roses-The Perfect Choice

If a single rose is enough to suggest romance, consider the impact of climbers.Their first shoots instinctively flirt with a picket fence or post.Gaining maturity, they'll overtake a trellis with a billowing bouquet of buds.Plant a bare-root climbing rose; and it'll start romancing your landscape this summer--and increasing its charms for years to come.

Climbers are the most vigorous forms of many kinds of roses, from polyanthas to hybrid teas. Climbers won't clutch and twine without help; they need tying when canes are long enough to move into position.Though some rampant growers develop canes as long as 60 feet, others are compact and easily trained; choose one that's right for your situation.

STRUCTERS FOR CLIMBING ROSES:

Climbers bloom off old wood and may take a few years to establish; the same is true of Lady Banks.Choose a structure that's large and sturdy enough to support the plant at maturity.Use pressure-treated wood for posts, and set the posts in concrete.If you build or buy a structure like an archway or pergola, construction must be solid and the base long enough to set 2 feet into the ground.Some prebuilt units are not hefty enough for climbing roses.You can place a trellis in front of a masonry wall and train the rose on it, or secure plant attachments directly in the wall.

TRAINING THE CANES:

All climbers bloom best when canes are trained horizontally.This causes growth buds to emerge and grow upward, producing an abundance of flowering branches.Roses that do best on pillars have flexible canes to about 10 feet.These climbers need little space, yet give a dramatic display, especially if you twist the canes around the post. Although small, stiff-caned bushes like 'Altissimo' can be trained to a post, they bloom better when canes are fanned or horizontal. In mild climates, where canes grow rapidly, you may need to start training the first year the rose is in the ground.In colder regions, growth may stay in bounds without training until the second year.To attach canes to the support, use a stretchy, strong material like plastic nursery tape or strips of old nylon stockings; avoid wire or cord that can cut into branches.

PRUNING:

For the first two or three years, just remove faded flowers to promote repeat flowering.Once some wood has matured and strong climbing canes are established, prune to stimulate growth of new canes and flowering laterals.Each winter (at the same time you prune bush roses), shorten flowering laterals to 3 to 6 inches long, or to two to four buds.Remove weak or dead wood at the base,and keep as many productive shoots as possible.

Climbers' other needs are water, fertilizer, and pest and disease control are similar to those of bush roses.Climbing roses are an important type of rose, fulfilling the need for roses which take up less space and can act as a vine.Many people also prefer the look of climbing roses, as a wall of roses can be very visually appealing. Climbing roses are a different type of rose from rose bushes and shrubs, and thus climbing rose care is different from care of shrub roses.

As with any other rose, climbing roses need flower fertilizer, plenty of sunlight, and well drained soil with lots of organic material.Some types of climbing roses do not need as much sun as other types of roses, which could be easier to fit into a typical flower garden.The lighter color climbing roses generally tolerate shade better than the darker color climbers. For more information: http://www.acauzee.com/Roses/

About the Author
Climbing Roses are preferred by more people. For more information: http://www.acauzee.com/Roses/

Pruning Your Roses Correctly

Pruning your roses is one of the most needed and the most annoyingly difficult tasks that goes with proper rose care.It takes a steady hand the proper procedure to ensure the best possible roses that you can get.if you really desire that beautiful rose garden then you should have the correct rose gardening tools. The following suggestions will help insure that your roses grow into healthy bushes, trees, etc.

USE THE RIGHT TOOLS:

Use bypass pruners,because they cut like a pair of scissors, rather than anvil-type pruners. Anvil pruners tend to crush the stems. Long-handled lopping shears and a pruning saw will handle any large, heavy, old stems.Remember to protect your hands with heavy canvas or leather gloves. The first step in pruning roses is the same for all rose types Remove all dead, damaged or weak stems leaving only the most vigorous,healthy canes. When pruning, check to make sure the stems show no sign of discoloration.If they appear diseased, you will need to cut farther down into healthy wood.Dip your pruning shears periodically in a 70 percent alcohol solution to avoid spreading diseases.Prune roses so the plant is more open in the center.

This will increase air circulation and help prevent disease. Roses send out new growth from the bud just below a pruning cut. Try to make pruning cuts above a leaf bud facing out from the center of the plant. Make pruning cuts one-quarter inch above the bud and angled at the same angle as the bud. Whenever two canes cross each other, one can be removed. All pruning cuts on canes greater than the thickness of a pencil should be sealed with nail polish or wood glue; to prevent cane borers from entering. It is important to prune roses according to their type.

One time blooming and repeat flowering roses are pruned at different times. Hybrid tea, shrub and climbing roses are all pruned differently. Weak-growing rose varieties and first-year plants should be pruned lightly.This allows the plants to put more energy into establishing a strong root system. Vigorous rose varieties are pruned more severely,for repeat blooming roses such as Hybrid Teas, Floribundas and Grandifloras, heavy annual pruning that is done in the spring, just as the leaf buds begin to swell.

Prune hard if you want large blooms suitable for cut flowers This hard pruning will produce fewer total blooms.Lighter pruning will produce more, but smaller flowers to enjoy in the garden Cut out all but three to five of the healthiest, most vigorous canes Prune these canes 15 to 18 inches from ground level. Remove any weak, small or short stems.

Generally with Hybrid Teas, any cane thinner than a pencil should be removed.Wait until after blooming is finished before pruning old-fashioned roses and climbers that bloom only once a year, such as the popular 'Lady Banks' Rose. These early one time bloomers should be pruned immediately after flowering. Cut away all weak or damaged stems and remove the oldest canes,leaving five to seven strong canes untouched.

Remember that flowers are produced on stems at least one year old on most running or climbing roses.The stems that you leave will bear next year's flowers.Climbers that bloom on the current season's growth can be pruned more severely. When pruning large and tangled climbing roses, be careful not to damage healthy stems while removing the stems to be discarded. It is easier to remove most stems in sections. Most old garden and shrub roses require little pruning, especially if you want to maintain a natural form. Hard pruning can ruin their graceful shape and severely reduce their flowering.

Consider light pruning to open up the center of the plant for better air circulation, or to remove very old unproductive stems is usually all that is needed.Most old garden and shrub roses bloom once in a season. Everblooming miniature rose varieties can be lightly trimmed or tip-pruned several times a year. For More Information In Rose Gardening Go Now To: http://www.acauzee.com/Roses/

About the Author
For More Information In Rose Gardening And Tips Go Now To: http://www.acauzee.com/Roses/ You Will Also Get Information On: Rose Meanings,Drying Roses,Rose Garden Ideas,Rose Garden Tips,Rose Garden Challenges,Pleasurable Rose Gardening,Meaning Of Valentines Roses and much more...

How to Select the Best Roses for Your Garden

By David Elefant

There's a huge choice of roses that you can cultivate in your home garden. Having such a big selection to pick out from, your choice may seem more like a complex chore than the enjoyment that it should be. We are sure you would like to make this procedure easier; to do, so you should take into consideration the following important tips that you should bear in mind before choosing your roses.

Size

The size of the roses you choose is a very significant factor. Imagine the height of your roses when full-grown. If the roses reach sixteen feet in height, will they still look beautiful in your garden? Keep in mind, the size of roses vary. Whereas some roses may develop up to nine feet, others may grow up to nineteen feet in height or more.

Determine the size of your garden before choosing the roses you want to place in the ground. Balance your width and height measurements with roses you're looking to acquire. Your roses should have the necessary amount of room to grow as well as an abundance of air space. If you only have a minimal amount of space to reserve for your roses, you may need to think about growing miniature roses. These roses do not take up much space and are trouble-free to plant and take care of.

Color

In addition to size, you will need to see how the colors of your roses affect your garden? Study several catalogs, as well as your neighbors' gardens, to get an inspiration of the colors you like the most.

Though, the colors of your roses might not seem that important, you should think about the colors of the other flowers and plants that your roses will live with in the garden. Will the mixture of colors look pleasant, or will they conflict? For some people, color-selection is a main concern; while for others, it's no big deal.

Climate

While height is an important aspect in your rose garden planning, selecting the right roses for your specific climatic area is also essential. In order for your roses to grow vigorous and mature, they have to be used to your climate. For instance, if you reside in an region where it snows 7 months out of the year, you'll want to be sure you buy roses that can hold up to cold temperatures.

Maintenance

How much of your day are you willing to use maintaining your roses? Do you want to spend most of your waking hours in the garden, or are you more of a low-maintenance type of person? There are quite a few varieties of roses which are very high-maintenance. Although, they will look great in your garden, they will also take much of your time. The classification known as "Modern Roses" are very attractive, long blooming, and exceptionally aromatic, then again they are very high maintenance and are susceptible to diseases.

The rose category recognized as "Old Garden Roses", have been bred to be very disease-free and need less maintenance. "Old Garden Roses" blooms for numerous months at a time, and have a strong and beautiful perfume. The downside is that persons with strong allergies to scents will have a hard time near them. If this seems to be a problem for a family member or a frequent visitor then you may prefer any of the variety known as "shrub roses". They are also disease-resilient and have a long blooming period, but do not give off as potent a scent.

Landscape roses may be your best choice if you are a gardening newbie and want to start your first garden by planting roses. These roses are easily cared for and disease-resistant. They'll look spectacular just about anyplace. If your garden has trellises, you can also try adding a few climbing roses. While climbing roses seem the same as landscape roses, climbing roses have been taught to grow upward like vines. They're a gorgeous addition to any home.

To find more tips on growing a rose garden visit http://www.rose.myzury.com, a site that focuses in giving rose gardening advice, tips and resources that you can use to grow a beautiful rose garden.