Growing Healthy Roses

The world's most popular flower is the rose. And rightly so, as they come in all sizes from miniatures for container use to ramblers that can scale a 20m tree. Roses have been grown since antiquity and have produced an astonishing number of hybrids that are now grown worldwide.

What do roses need?
1. Plenty of moisture with good drainage.
2. Six hours of direct sun a day. Some shrub and antique roses require less.
3. Lots of compost, compost tea or seaweed - they are heavy feeders.
4. Routine training and pruning (grooming).

The major groups of roses are:
The shrub rose used for borders and mixed planting. There are modern forms as well as the old or antique forms that roses grow in an upright habit or spreading form (prefect for ground covers). These are the hardiest and most disease resistant roses. The hardy and healthy rugosas or hedging roses are part of this group.

Bush roses have larger flowers and reliable repeat blooming. This group includes the most popular rose, the hybrid tea and the cluster flowered floribundas. Smaller patio roses, miniatures and polyanthus roses are included in this group. These roses are dramatic mass planted in beds and require the most amount of care and pruning to keep them flowering vigorously.

Climbers and ramblers have long flexible stems and thorns that allow them to scramble up into trees or cover buildings. Ramblers (many of them species roses) are very vigorous and usually have clusters of small flower that bloom only once mid summer. Climbers are less overwhelming and produce larger, often repeat blooms. Generally they are hybrids or modern roses although the older noisettes are grouped as climbers. Pillar roses are climbers bred to retain a short stature. This group of roses can be allowed to grow freely if space is available but are mostly trained to grow on supports such as trellises, pergolas. They need training and pruning to show their best.

Rose Classification:

Modern Roses:

Hybrid Teas - The classic large high centred blooms on long stems. Many are fragrant; some are disease-resistant. Prune hard every spring.
Recommended: Electron, Fragrant Cloud, Royal William, Hosemary Harkness, Peace, Double Delight

Grandiflora roses - A combination of Floribunda and Hybrid Tea characteristics, they produce blooms singly and in clusters on upright tall bushes.
Recommended: Queen Elizabeth, Sonia

Floribundas - A tidy growing, short, bushy and reasonably hardy rose. They bloom continuously with clusters of flowers in every shape and colour. Many are fragrant. Excellent for mass plantings, beds or borders.
Recommended: Sexy Rexy, City of London, Iceberg, Gruss an Aachen

Polyanthas - Wonderful sprays of small double flowers cover these plants in season. These varieties are vigorous, well foliated, prolific bloomers, disease-resistant andwinter hardy. Most lack fragrance. One of the best, most useful roses ever created is a Polyantha called The Fairy, which is so good it belongs in every garden.
Recommended: The Fairy, Red Fairy, White Pet

Patios & Miniatures - Upright, bushy, compact plants that share many characteristics with floribundas. Continuous flowering, some fragrant, available in a wide range of colours and bloom shapes, and reasonably winter hardy. An excellent choice for mass or bed plantings and for borders.
Recommended: Green Ice, Opening Act, Loving Touch, Jeanne Lajoie

Modern climbers - Usually repeat flowering and produce fewer and sturdier canes than their old-fashioned rambler cousins. Most varieties produce clusters of double or very double blooms (a few are single petalled). Fragrance, bloom shape and frequency, vigour, disease resistance and hardiness are unique to each variety. A Pillar rose is atype of climber that is limited in height (short & dense) and suited to grow on a post or small structure.
Recommended: Dublin Bay, New Dawn, Compassion, Golden Showers, Altissimo

English Roses David Austin hybrids - a combination of Old Rose fragrance and the wide colour range and repeat flowering of Modern Roses.
The flowers are usually very double, sometimes cupped.
Recommended: Mary Rose, Abraham Darby, Heritage, Graham Thomas

Shrub Roses Roses whose growth habit is more robust than other classifications allow are categorized as shrub roses. They are generally winter hardy, disease-resistant and easy to grow. They display varying heights and habits.
Recommended: Bonica, Westerland, Sally Holmes, Morden Blush

Rugosas Reliable in every way - winter hardy, disease resistant, and easy to grow. Fragrant single to double blooms throughout the season set fat, red hips in fall. The majority are bushy, with leathery lime green foliage and prickly canes. They tolerate some shade. These large bushes require space to thrive.
Recommended: Frau Dagmar Hartopp, Hansa, Blanc Double de Courbert

Antique Roses

Albas - Large, vigorous, upright, well foliated bushes that are winter hardy and shade tolerant. Large, fragrant, double to very double blooms appear in late June in colours ranging from white to mid pink. Non-recurrent but magnificant in shape and intoxicating perfume.
Recommended: Maiden's Blush, Konigin von Danemark, Celstial

Bourbon - Reasonably vigorous shrubs of varying height, shape and habit ranging from low and bushy to climbing. Most are repeat flowering and all have excellent perfume. Colours range from white and blush pink through to vermilion red, and red and white stripes.
Recommended: Souvenir de la Malmaison, Zephrine Drouhin

Centifolia - Large upright, arching, hardy shrubs producing multitudes of richly scented very double blooms in June. Blooms range in colour from white to purple and in size from variety to variety. The exception - Pompom de Bourgone is a densely branched miniature.
Recommended: Fantin Latour, Rosa Centifolia

China Roses - Descendants of roses discovered in China and brought to Europe in the 18th century. All are repeat flowering and bushy growers of varying heights. Blooms are usually double and colours include white, shades of pink, apricot and crimson-red. Chinas are more tender than other groups.
Recommended: Old Blush, Mutabilis, Hermosa

Damask & Portland Damasks
Damasks are a lovely group of medium sized shrubs growing to about 4-5', upright and well foliated. Some have a tendency to arch gracefully. Most Damasks are non-recurrent but produce large fragrant blooms over a long period.
Portland Damasks are dense, bushy, upright and well foliated. What sets them apart from other Damasks is that they are compact and freely recurrent blooming. Blooms are carried on a short peduncle giving the appearance of being retracted into the foliage. As with most old roses their colours are limited to whites, pinks, and wine reds in varying shades.
Recommended: Ispahan, York & Lancaster, Rose de Rescht

Gallicas - While non-recurrent, their bloom quality, quantity, character and history are intriguing. They produce good-sized blooms ranging in colour from pinks to deep maroon on plants that are bushy, well foliated and mostly upright. They are derived from the species R. gallica that grows wild throughout Europe. One of the oldest cultivars, R. gallica 'Versicolor' commonly known as Rosa Mundi, was in cultivation as early as 1583. Gallicas are winter hardy to Zone 5 without protection.
Recommended: James Mason, Apothecary Rose, Belle de Crecy, Charles de Mills

Foetida and Hybrids - Few in number but important, as they are some of the first yellow roses hybridized. Mostly non-recurrent producing double blooms on tall upright growing shrubs.
Recommended: Soleil d'Or, Harrison's Yellow

Moyesii and Hybrids - Large bushy shrubs that produce mid-sized to large open, flat single petal blooms in mid spring followed by large hips in the fall. Winter hardy and reasonably vigorous.
Recommended: Geranium

Hybrid Musks - All are cluster flowered, rapid repeat bloomers and very fragrant. There is an extensive choice of colours and bloom shapes. Some produce large single petal blooms, others fully double blooms, and others trusses of small single petal blooms resembling a hydrangea. The growth habit is usually a mounding bushy form but some are upright and can be used as climbers. They're disease resistant, and will tolerate partial shade.
Recommended: Buff Beauty, Cornelia, Mozart, Penelope, Rostock

Hybrid Perpetuals - The first of the modern roses from the mid-nineteenth century preceding the introduction of Tea and Hybrid Tea roses. All are repeat flowering and well perfumed in typical double to fully double old rose form and colours (no yellows or apricots), including some striped varieties. They are, for the most part vigorous growing and upright, although some can become very lax and arching if allowed.
Recommended: American Beauty, Reines des Violettes

Hybrid Spinosissima Also known as Scotch or Burnet roses. They are dense, bushy, disease-resistant and winter hardy. They are non-recurrent, with the exception of Stanwell Perpetual.
Recommended: Stanwell Perpetual

Moss - A growth mutation originating from the Centifolias. Flower buds and stems are covered in moss-like growth. They all produce mid-sized to large double or very double flowers and are well perfumed. Some varieties are recurrent blooming. Colours are typical to Centifolias, white to deep maroon, although there is an apricot and a pale yellow variety. In most cases they are upright, bushy growers but some can become lax if allowed.
Recommended: Crested Moss, William Lobb, Nuits de Young

Noisette - Closely related to Chinas, noisettes are vigorous growers, most best used as climbers. Therepeat flowers are mid-sized, very fragrant double to very double blooms. They keep growing late in the season, which makes them more vulnerable to winter damage. Plant in a sheltered spot and protected from wind.
Recommended: Blush Noisette, Mme Alfred Carriere

Ramblers - Once flowering climbers. They have vigorous, pliable canes and abundance of flowers. Most are fragrant and blooms can be small single petalled in trusses to medium-sized double blooms in clusters.
Recommended: Albertine, Dr. W. van Fleet, Felicite et Perpetue, Seagull

Species - The original wild roses. They are non-recurrent and bear simple single petalled blooms and produce hips in fall. Growth habit, bloom shape etc. is unique to each variety. While most gardeners prefer the appearance of newer cultivars available today the simple beauty of these roses can still be appreciated in many garden settings.
Recommended: R. eglanteria, R. nutkana. R. Filipes Kiftsgate

Adapted from the information on the Pickering Nurseries web site.

Pruning Roses

A well-maintained and pruned plant is more pleasing to look at as well as less prone to disease. Pruning begins with the 3 D's routine - removal of anything that is dead, diseased or damaged.

Follow a routine of removing spent flowers on repeat bloomers as you want the plant to put its energy into producing new flowers rather than hips(seeds). Cut the stem back two or three buds to an outward facing bud, further if the stem is weak and floppy. This will stimulate new shoots that will produce another flush of flowers. In a spray of flowers the centre bud will open and fade first. Nip this out once it fades, then remove the entire spray when the remaining flowers are finished. Remove weak and crossing stems. The important thing to do is cut the stems on a 45º angle just about the outward facing bud. Angle the cut away from the top of the bud. A wrongly angled cut will allow water to collect near the bud, encouraging rot. A cut too high will leave an unsightly stub that will die back and a cut too low will damage the bud.

As stems age they become woody and produce fewer and poorer roses. Pruning encourages new growth that produces many large flowers and prevents a tangle of old wood from accumulating at the centre of the rose. Stems trained to near horizontal positions (45-60º from the vertical) produce more flowers. Upright growth only produces flower buds at the end of the stem. Proper pruning assists the training of climbers so they can cover their supports with an abundance of flowers.

Roses are pruned in the dormant season after the cold weather that can cause die back is finished. The exception is single flushed or non-recurrent roses. They should be pruned as soon as possible after flowering since they flower on old wood - early spring pruning would remove many of this year's flowers.

Hybrid teas, Grandifloras and Floribundas should be pruned back in early spring to approximately 4 to 6 inches above ground level. Leave only the three to four strongest branches to develop.

Non-recurrent varieties (Hybrid PerpetuaIs, Climbers, shrub roses, and many of the Antique roses) do not usually bloom the first season following planting and require very little or no pruning. In following years prune to keep the size of the bush under control after it has finished blooming.

Suckers (wild shoots) may occasionally develop on grafted plants from at or below the bud union. These should be removed entirely at the point of origin; as young shoots they can usually be wrenched off. Do not leave any stub on the rootstock or more suckers will sprout.

Ignore the idea that a leaf with seven leaflets is a wild shoot. Many of the old varieties and even some of the modern cultivars have seven and more leaflets per leaf.

Pruning Climbing Roses:
Old roses and ramblers (non-recurrent) flower best on previous season's growth and should be pruned in summer after flowering. Remove the older canes and tie in the new growth to develop for next year.

Modern recurrent climbers can be pruned anytime while dormant. Pruning in the fall or early winter makes it easier to get rid of the old leaves and gets the job over well before spring. Tying in the long new growth minimizes wind.
Newly planted climbers won't need much pruning the first year or two. Just tie in any canes that have developed over the summer and cut side shoots back to about 6 inches. Train new canes to grow as near to horizontal as possible.

To prune an overgrown climber remove any dead wood and remove or cut back the oldest, less productive canes. Make all cuts just above buds that are pointing in the direction you want the new growth to go in. Next, cut out thin weak growth and crossing branches. Select the new canes you want to keep and tie them onto the supports spacing them evenly to get good coverage. Then prune the side branches, or laterals, growing out of these canes down to 3 or 4 buds.
Remove any remaining leaves and rake up any fallen leaves (important for disease control.