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12 Months of Roses

January

Zones 4-9
  • Plant bare-root roses. Ask the nursery to wrap the roots to keep them from drying out, then plant them immediately when you get home. (or, temporarily place them on their sides in a shallow trench and cover them with moist sawdust or soil to keep the roots from drying out until you can plant them). Set them in well drained soil in a spot that gets 6-8 hours of sunlight. If the soil is sandy or heavy clay, amend it with organic matter such as fir bark or compost. An equal mixture of topsoil, peat moss, and perilite or vermiculite works well also.

February

Zones 4-9
  • Finish planting bare root roses.
  • Complete pruning.
  • If you haven't already done so, apply doemant sprays to control aphids, black spot and mildew. Use horticultural oil with lime sulfur or fixed copper. In the low desert after mid-month, feed established roses with a complete fertilizer or commercial rose food, following package directions, when buds begin to swell. Water first, let drain, spread the fertilizer around each plant, then water again.

Zones 10-11
  • Plant bare root roses.

March

Zones 4-11
  • As soon as buds begin to swell, feed roses with high nitrogen fertilizer such as 20-10-10, or a commercial rose food. Continue feeding every four to six weeks until October.

April

Zones 1-3 (cold climates)
  • Plant bare root roses.
  • Prune dormant plants.
May
Zones 1-3
  • Fertilize roses with high nitrogen plant food.
  • Finish pruning roses.
Zones 4-11
  • Water when rain has been minimal. This is very important for anything you planted and for plants in pots and under house eaves.
  • Apply high nitrogen fertilizer.
  • Remove spent flowers.

June-July-August

All zones
  • Feed, water (especially on hot days), weed and mulch. Remove faded blooms.
  • To eliminate aphids and spider mites, spray plants with water, then apply insecticidal soap.
  • Clean up fallen leaves. If they are diseased, discard them (don't compost them).

September

All zones
  • Continue removing spent blooms.
  • Renew mulch if necessary.
Zones 4-11
  • Feed roses after their fall bloom. Use a complete liquid fertilizer at half dose.
  • Irrigate plants as needed.

October

All zones
  • Continue dead heading and watering.

November

All zones
  • Clean up fallen leaves and petals.
  • Knock down watering basins.
  • Continue deadheading faded flowers.
Zones 1-3
  • Protect plants from winter cold by mounding soil around them. Make sure the soil is high enough to cover the bud union. Then surround each plant with a wire cylinder weighted down at the base with rocks or bricks, and fill with straw or leaves. Keep protected through winter.

December

Zones 7-11
  • To control overwintering insects and plant diseases, spray roses, this month or next, with horticultural oil, oil and lime sulfur, or oil and fixed copper.
Zones 11
  • Plant bare root roses as soon as they appear in the nurseries.

Parts taken from "Your Guide to Growing Glorious Roses"-- Sunset Magazine