Roses Made Easy
Don't be afraid to grow roses. New varieties are so easy, you can just plant them and enjoy the boost of color they give your garden from late spring through fall.
Caring for your shrub roses
Fertilize early. Although shrub roses aren't as fertilizer-needy as their traditional cousins, they still benefit from an application each spring. When a rose begins actively growing, scratch a balanced time-release fertilizer into the soil, or use a water-soluble fertilizer once or twice a week during the growing season. You don't need a rose-specific fertilizer; any general-purpose garden fertilizer is fine. Stop all fertilizing by mid- to late summer to prevent tender new growth from forming and getting killed by frost.
Prune in spring. At the start of each growing season, remove any dead wood and trim your plant back to 10 inches to prevent them from getting overgrown. Overgrown plants bloom less and are more apt to show disease symptoms, such as black-spotted leaves, wilt, distorted growth or rust-color spots.
Pictured: Little Mischief
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