A rose bush is a brilliant addition to any landscape or garden. With its bright colors and simple growing structure, it’s all but guaranteed to enhance your home’s curb appeal.
Like all plants, though, rose bushes require some basic care and maintenance to promote healthy growth. If you’re thinking about growing a rose bush, follow these five tips.
#1) Roses need a pH of 5.5 to 7.0
Prior to planting a rose bush, check the soil’s pH to determine whether or not it’s suitable for roses. Depending on the specific variety, most roses prefer neutral soil with a pH level of somewhere between 5.5 and 7.
Using a testing strip, which is sold at most gardening centers and plant nurseries, you can identify the pH level of your soil.
#2) Use Trellises For Climbing Roses
If you have a climbing rose bush in your garden, use a trellis for support. Varieties such as the gertude jekyll, rosa eden, rosa banksiae and climbing iceberg are known for their ability to climb.
If they don’t have a nearby structure on which to cling, though, they’ll simply spread across the ground.
#3) Prune Roses With Clean, Sharp Shears
Don’t make the mistake of using a pair of dull, rusty shears to prune your rose bush. While this may seem harmless enough, it will stress your roses, potentially exposing them to harmful bacteria on the process.
To prevent this from happening, use a pair of clean and sharp shears to prune them. If the blade is dull, either sharpen it or buy a new pair of shears. You can run rubbing alcohol over the blade to disinfect them, ensuring that no bacteria is lingering on the surface.
#4) Cut Roses at a 45-Degree Angle
As with most plants, it’s best to prune roses by cutting the stems at a 45-degree angle. This increases the surface area of the cut branch, allowing it to absorb more water while encouraging faster healing times in the process.
#5) Space The Roses Out
A good rule of thumb to follow when planting roses is to space them out by roughly 10 inches. For every 10 inches, for instance, you should have a single rose bush in your garden or landscape.
When roses are crowded, they’ll all be competing for the same nutrients, which often leads to stunted growth and increased susceptibility to disease and illness. Therefore, it’s best to space out your roses by about 10 inches each.
The Woodsman Company offers tree planting, tree pruning and shrub trimming, tree removal and stump grinding as well as a tree wellness program.
If we can help with any of your tree care needs give us a call at 512-846-2535 or 512-940-0799 or
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