Ready for Roses

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Rose lovers, take note:  It’s time to select and prep your roses for a glorious blooming season!  (What a great Mothers’ Day gift!)  Here are our expert’s tips for planting and caring for roses of all kinds, and a taste of some of the gorgeous varieties we have available!

The only hard thing about growing roses is choosing which ones to plant – especially at a place like Evergreen of Johnson City where we have hundreds of rose bushes to choose from! (see more about our selection at the end of this article)

Selecting a proper location is a must if you want your roses to perform well. Roses prefer a full-sun location with at least 4-6 hours of direct sunlight exposure – preferably more than less. You also want to choose a spot with good air flow and circulation, as well as well-drained soil.

Preparing the soil for roses is one of the most important aspects of giving your roses a proper start! Roses really do appreciate a well drained and highly organic soil environment. While you can prepare a large rose bed with a completely cultivated and blended soil environment, most folks simply prepare each location or planting pit for each individual rose bush.

For individual hole preparation, dig a hole a minimum of 2-3 times the width of the container.  Regarding depth of the hole,  dig only to the depth of the rose’s roots.   If the soil is hard to non-draining, loosen some additional depth but always place a loose blend of soil back to ensure that you are still keeping the rose depth at the level it was in it’s original container.

There are multiple soil amendments that can blended in to the existing soil to create a great blended organic mix around the root ball. Peat Moss, Garden Soils, etc. can all be used but one of our favorites is Daddy Pete’s Composted Cow Manure – it’s our most-often recommended soil amendment for a broad range of plantings. Blend about ½ of the existing soil that you removed from the hole with the Daddy Pete.  Once you have it positioned at the right depth, backfill the newly-blended soil back around the rose’s root ball. Pack it well by tamping the soil with your feet or garden tool, then follow up with a heavy watering to settle out all air pockets.

Finally add a 3-4” layer of pine bark mulch, pine bark humus, or your choice of bark mulch to help hold in moisture at the root zone area.

The day following that first heavy watering, apply Fertilome Root Stimulator to the root ball area and repeat this for the first 3-4 weeks . For even better results,  apply a granular dose of Fertilome Rose Fertilizer to the soil’s surface. You can also be blended this into the soil during the time of planting for quicker activation!

You’ll want to protect your roses with our Bayer All-In-One Rose care.  It fights off pests like aphids that love roses and it helps in the fight against Black Spot as well – the number one disease to which roses succumb.  And on top of all that, it will fertilize your roses too!

Now, just a little taste of the outstanding rose SELECTION here at the Evergreen of Johnson City Tree & Shrub Department!

*Hybrid Tea – The gold standard of the floral industry, these are long & high-centered, growing on single stems.

*Grandiflora – A cross between the hybrid tea and floribunda, place these tall, grand roses where you can enjoy their heavenly fragrance.

*Floribunda – Big generous blooms that provide big clusters of roses all season.

*Climbing Roses – Make a magnificent display sprawling through fences, trellises, pillars, or just about any garden structure you can come up with.

*Landscape / Shrub Styles – Ideal for relaxed borders, they tend to be super-rugged and more disease-resistant than many others.

*Knock Out Roses – Showy continuous blooms that are so hardy, among the most popular roses in the U.S.

*Drift Roses – A hybrid cross between a Miniature and a Groundcover rose, their low growing habit is about 24” tall by 3-4’ wide.  These repeat-blooming compact roses will make an eye-popping ground cover.

Always remember you are welcome to come in and talk any of our associates, any time for answers to your questions and advice as you strive to grow the most perfect roses in the neighborhood!

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