Tarrant County Master Gardener Association - Texas A&M AgriLife ...

Sharecropper Page 6Growing Roses for the Novice Gardener: A few easy tips to get startedBy Steve Chaney, Tarrant County Extension AgentOk, you just bought your first house and thebuilder left a little flower bed with a few unknownbushes in them. What do you do now; doyou trust the neighbor, the local package store orthe big landscape company that works in theneighborhood? You remember when you werelittle and your Grandmother grew all those beautifulroses all over her place in the country. Youwould love to have some but your Grandmotheris long gone and you have no one to help you.Don’t give up, it’s not that hard to grow rosesthat bloom well and take minimal care! There area few simple steps to follow to get a yard full ofbeds and beautiful roses!1) First you need to contact your local Extensionoffice in whatever county you live in, everystate has a Extension Service. Ask them how totake a soil sample and if they have a soil labthey would recommend? Take the sample andfind out a little about your particular soil andask for recommendations on growing roses.2) Spend some time and locate areas in your yardthat have full sun (a minimum of 8 hours), gooddrainage and good airflow. Make sure it’s anarea that you can see from the house or fromyour patio so you can enjoy the fragrance andbeauty of the blooms!3) Amend your soil with lots of well finished organicmaterial, you can buy it in bulk, in bagsor maybe your city gives it away like Ft. Worthdoes. If it’s heavy sticky clay then consider addingsomething like expanded shale to open thesoil up a bit to improve drainage.4) Decide how much room you have and want todevote to roses. Do you want a miniature, ashrub or a climbing rose? Miniatures do well insmall beds or pots, shrub roses do good anywhereand climbers need a trellis or a fence toclimb on.5) Decide on colors and then consult your localExtension office again to see what theysuggest for your area. Take some time andwalk your neighborhood and see what theyhave, meet your neighbors and get sometips. If your here in Texas then we suggestthe Earth-Kind Roses which have been extensivelytrialed and proven successful inall areas of the state.6) Read the sizes and when you plant allowroom for maximum height and width soyou will have good air flow.7) Mulch them in good with a minimum of 3inches of good organic mulch, being carefulto not have it against the stem of theplant.8) Water in as necessary for the first fewweeks and then gradually wean it off soyour only watering about once every 10days if you haven’t received any rainfall.Be sure and water around the base of theplant and don’t spray it all over the foliage.9) Once it starts to bloom then you can give ita lite application of organic nitrogen fertilizeronce a month during the growing seasonto help it continue to bloom.10) Last but not least, pour you a cold beverageof your choice and sit back and enjoythe beauty of all the blooms from your roses,the Queen of the Garden.See it wasn’t as hard as you thought to growroses and be successful at it as well. Overthe winter read up either online or at the library,or maybe enjoy a class on taking cuttingsand grow your own. Then when youget that new neighbor that doesn’t know anythingyou can take her a rooted rose bushthat you grew and share a little of yourknowledge with her!Happy Gardening!