Planting and Pruning Roses

Every garden owner is either proud of them or considering when to plant a bed with them. We're talking, of course, about roses. For who would want to miss out on the presence of such beauty! The "Queen of Flowers" presents herself upright and confident, yet she also has her sensitive side. Therefore, it's important to give her a pleasant arrival in the garden bed, choose the right time to prune her, and carry out this task carefully.

Generally, autumn is considered the best time to plant roses, and indeed, rose sales pick up significantly from October onwards. You can even plant roses throughout winter and into the following April. The crucial factor is that there's no ground frost, allowing the new garden resident to properly establish its roots in its new home.

However, nowadays, roses are also often purchased in containers. If the root system is sufficiently developed, you can absolutely plant these specimens in the summer. The ideal spot for any rose is always in a sunny location.

Roses need to feel at home in their soil. Loamy soil is ideal, but if you have light or heavy soil, you can improve it with compost or other materials.

Adequate watering helps these magnificent plants get a good start in life. Bare-root roses should be placed entirely in water, while those with root balls just need to be submerged several times. The new "home" soil is best mixed with compost, allowing the rose immediate access to supportive nutrients.

When pressing down the soil, a skilled rose enthusiast will create a small watering rim to ensure the water reaches the roots. Finally, mound enough excavated soil around the base for winter protection, and then growth can begin!

For the ongoing health and appearance of your "little princess," the correct pruning is crucial. Remove old wood, as well as weak and disease-prone shoots. A rose bush needs plenty of light and can therefore easily do without some older shoots.

Always cut the shoot back above an eye. If side shoots are equally developed, prune the lower one a bit more. When you prune a shoot hard, the remaining eyes will sprout more vigorously. Many a hobby gardener has been surprised by the abundance of blooms in their rose bed after a professional made what seemed like a radical cut.

The "Queen of Beauty" prefers the uppermost eyes for her new growth. With this knowledge, you can easily avoid bare spots and promote lush blooms.

So, when's the best time to wield those sharp pruners? Strictly speaking, you can use your pruning tools for thinning out roses from mid-autumn until mid-spring. This gives busy rose enthusiasts a wide window of opportunity.

However, if you want to optimize growth, it's best to wait until the latest possible time. Pruning in autumn causes the plant to lose a significant amount of foliage where it could store nutrient reserves, making it more vulnerable to winter frost. At the same time, it encourages the plant to produce fresh shoots early, which are then at risk of being lost if late frosts occur. Therefore, it's a good idea to only shorten overly long shoots in autumn. For rose varieties that bloom repeatedly, you can also easily prune them in summer by removing withered flowers.

In autumn, you never know what the coming winter will be like—mild or frosty. But in spring, you know exactly how it was, and you can calmly assess how your roses coped with the cold season. During spring awakening, it's also easier to identify the plant's "eyes" (buds), allowing for more precise cuts.

The ideal pruning time is therefore spring. Nature itself gives the rose gardener the very best hint. For plants, spring doesn't necessarily begin when the calendar says so, but it definitely does when the forsythias bloom! The clever garden owner always has the yellow early bloomer in their green paradise in addition to roses. When the forsythia shows its fantastic bloom, that's the cue to pick up the pruning shears. The regal rose will thank you for it.