Roses will sparkle like beautiful gems in your garden. You can find them in a wide range of colours and shapes, and they have longer flowering periods than many other garden plants. Many roses are also delightfully fragrant and produce rosehips as a bonus.

Sold with or without soil

If you want to enjoy their beauty this summer, then planting roses in spring is a good idea. Roses are available without soil (what growers call ‘bare root’ plants) or with soil (in pots). A rose without soil can be planted from October until the end of April; roses in pots can be planted at any time of the year as long as the ground is not frozen.

Sun-worshippers

Roses love the sun. In any case, choose a planting location where they will receive at least four hours of sun a day; the more sun, the better! Practically any type of soil is suitable for roses, but they would rather have a somewhat drier soil than a wetter one. This is why the soil has to have good drainage.

Getting started

Dig a large deep planting hole. Amend the soil with garden mould if needed.
If you are planting a rose where roses have previously grown, fill the hole with fertilised soil you can purchase or soil from another area in the garden. Or add a soil improver.
Either place a bare root rose in water for a few hours before planting it or add water to the planting hole.
Roses that have been grafted have a slight bulge on the lower part of their main stem; this is where the cultivated rose variety has been grafted onto a rootstock obtained from a species rose. Plant a grafted rose so that its grafting point is three centimetres below the soil surface. Roses without this bulge were produced from cuttings. Plant these at a depth where all of its roots and a small part of its trunk are below the soil surface.
Tamp the soil gently.
Work some organic fertiliser into the upper level of the soil.
Provide the plant with sufficient water during the first weeks. Apply this water to the base of the plant; this way, the leaves will remain dry and fungi will not develop.

Planting roses in spring is enjoying them in summer