The last thing you need in your hectic day is a high-maintenance flower in your garden. Unfortunately, some people have ruled out roses for that reason. That's too bad, because roses can be easy to maintain if you follow a few simple steps.
When you remove dead blossoms after the first or second bloom, your rose bush will start to produce more flowers. So you'll have a more beautiful plant. Try to leave the foliage alone, since the leaves are the energy factories for the bush.
If you grow the Grandiflora or Grandibunda varieties, you'll notice that the buds form clusters. The center bud tends to dominate, so if you remove it, you have more blooms on the outside. Removing the center bud also helps prevent fungal diseases.
Your roses like sunlight, with generous helpings of food and water. You can use a liquid food every few weeks, such as Miracle-Gro® LiquaFeed® or sprinkle granules, such as Miracle-Gro® Shake 'n Feed® Continuous Release Rose Plant Food, around the base. When you water, try to do it in the morning at the plant's base. Roses need about one inch of water per week, so it pays to be generous.
You can keep more moisture in the ground and help block weeds with a 3 inch covering of mulch. If you use mulch with organic content, you?ll be adding nutrients to your soil
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Roses need a little time to get ready for winter. Stop feeding them a month or so before first frost. That way, they'll start shutting down for the winter. After the first frost, add a few inches of topsoil over the base. If you live where it gets really cold, keep your rose bush snug by wrapping some sackcloth around it. You can also put extruded-foam caps over your rose plants and hold them in place with rocks. This provides excellent insulation in cold snaps. You might want to paint the caps first, since you don't want to look at ugly white blobs in your garden all winter. Green looks good.
