Caring for roses

If you have to treat your roses, remember to choose a day when the weather is calm and not rainy or windy. This ensures treatments are applied exactly where they are needed and not blown onto nearby plants or washed off the plant and down into the soil. It is best to apply any garden treatment during the early morning or evening, out of the heat of strong sun.

 

Rosebushes are surprisingly drought-tolerant plants and they will thrive during dry conditions. To prevent flowers burning in the sun or plants wilting due to lack of rain, water roses deeply once or twice a week, avoiding watering over the leaves as this can promote disease.

● If you have a drip irrigation system, you will need two or more drippers for each rosebush; this will ensure the plants get even watering. Also, it doesn’t take long to check how deeply the moisture has penetrated the soil – remember it should be watering the roots, not just the surface.

 

Roses benefit from a spray with lime sulphur immediately after pruning in winter. This removes any persistent scale and destroys overwintering eggs and fungal spores. To treat effectively, saturate the stems and the soil around each rose. Don’t spray if there are new shoots present as lime sulphur can burn tender growth.

 

Roses grow better when their roots are covered with organic mulch. Use 5–7 cm of lucerne, composted pine bark, sugar cane or compost. As the mulch breaks down it continually feeds the soil and promotes strong growth on the rose. To add extra nutrients mix well-rotted cow manure or pelletised chicken manure into the mulch. Mulch also keeps moisture in the soil and reduces soil temperatures in summer.

● Lucerne has been shown to reduce the incidence of black spot on roses and is recommended as the best mulch for roses.

 

Aphids are attracted to soft new growth on roses. As soon as the roses begin to send out new shoots, remember to check for aphids and either remove them by squashing them gently with a gloved hand, knock them off with a few strong squirts from the hose or spray them with a spray oil or other chemical that’s registered for aphids.

● Plant nasturtiums around a rose bed. They will attract colonies of aphids to their stems and leaves, which can then be cut off and

destroyed. The hardy nasturtium plants will quickly recover, and your roses will have been spared an aphid infestation.