Roses: Basic Care Tips for Growing Potted Roses

Our Favorite Rose

          Roses.  One of the favorite flowers in the world.  These plants are very famous in Europe particularly in France, but the love and care for roses was already known during the time of ancient Greece and the Roman Empire.  Roses were already depicted in ancient artifacts during those period. But, it was the French who revolutionized and developed the species of roses to horticultural types such as Floribundas and Hybrid Teas.  On the other hand, a noted species of Rose is Rosa Chinensis, which is a native species of China.  This species was brought to Europe via historical trade activities. And from R.Chinensis, beautiful and exciting Rose Hybrids and cultivars were developed. I will talk about the types and classes of Roses in another blog post. 

           This write-up will focus more on the basic care and tips in growing Roses. Please do take note that I live in the Philippines, therefore, my ideas and experiences are limited to the region and climate of my country.  The Philippines is in the Tropical region and has three(3) particular climates namely: 1)Summer or the Hot/Humid Season, 2)Rainy or Wet Season and the 3)Cold and Dry Season.  

        

Factors that affect Growth and Care of Roses

SOIL or POTTING MEDIUM.  In the Philippines, there are two main types of SOIL or Potting Medium that sellers and/or growers use in their Roses.  First is the Clayish type.  This soil type is muddy and heavy in nature. Given that it is clayish, it has a very high water retention quality, but not soggy.  Second is the Grainish type.  The Grainish type soil is light in weight and has small grains of soil and/or rice hulls.  This soil type does not retain as much water, but retains moisture to be exact. 

          Usually, growers and sellers from colder climates such as those in Baguio and Batangas make use of the Clayish soil type. On the other hand, the Grainish type is used by growers in low-land and has warmer climate such as in Pampanga and Bulacan areas.  In my experience, since I live in the low lands, when I acquire roses with the clayish soil medium, I quickly change it to a grainish type. This is the reason why I always have a sack of rice hull and another sack of garden soil in my garden.  I do this because, I found out that the clayish type soild hardens when it loses moisture, especially here in our warm climate. And most of the time, this leads to death of the plant.

The grainish type while it loses moisture, it doesn't harden, and remain loose and doesn't hurt the roots of the roses.  I am not a hundred percent sure about the idea, that clayish type soil doesn't harden in colder areas because it still is able to retain some moisture from the atmosphere compared in warmer climates where water evaporates in a very fast rate.  Therefore, I strongly suggest, that to care for Roses, you have to make sure that the right soil medium is used according to the climate of your area.

SUNLIGHT.  Roses are sun-lovers.  They grow and bloom well in high, full sun areas in the garden.  Although some hybrids prefer partial sun, majority of roses prefer full sun exposure.  Full sun refers to being exposed to sunlight from morning until the afternoon.  Partial sun, on the other hand, is exposing roses either in the morning or in the afternoon.  Thus, we refer to these as morning sun and afternoon sun.  However, you must take note that SUNLIGHT factor highly affects the WATER factor in the next discussion. 

WATER.  Watering our plants is a very important responsibility if we really want to take care of them.  This is because water, is a primary need of the plant to stay upright and healthy.  Besides, water is one of the three basic requirements of a plant to Photosynthesize, to create its food and energy. 
     For Roses that are planted in grainish soil type and exposed in either full sun or partial sun position, it is highly suggested that you water them at least once during the wet or cold season, and twice during the summer season.  If it rained, then consider it as a frequency, thus deducting one watering requirement.  
      For clayish soil type in cold climate, one time watering is enough for the day in fullsun and once in two days for partial sun position.  Remember to always transfer and change the clayish type soil if your roses are to be grown in the low lands or warmer climate areas.

FERTILIZER or PLANT FOOD.  For Roses to have repeat blooms and bigger flowers, you have to feed them with fertilizers or plant food.  There are a lot of fertilizers sold in the market.  These usually come in four major types namely the Balanced, Bloom booster, Growth booster and the Disease resistant.  The differences are based on the three components namely, Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium...thus the N-P-K ratio stated in fertilizer labels.  Higher Nitrogen promotes growth. Higher Phosphorus promotes blooms and fruits. Higher Potassium make plants more disease resistant.  I usually use the Balanced Fertilizer with a ratio of 14-14-14.  In the Philippines, for mass produced, generic fertilizer, this come in the form of pellets usually brownish in color. 

       Our local gardening shop sell them by the Kilo, around 35 pesos or roughly 75cents in USD.   My roses are fed around a tablespoon of this pellet type fertilizer per pot that is not less than 8 inches in diameter. Make sure that you don't  place the pellets near the roots as it may "burn" them and may kill the plant.  For a more natural type of fertilizer, you may use coffee grounds or those excess granules that you can get from coffee shops for free.  Just put a tablespoon of coffee grounds and spread it around the pot.  Roses love acidic soils, thus coffee grounds is a great way of maintaining an acidic soil for your plants.  This promotes repeat and beautiful flowers from you roses.

          
        This ends my basic tips in growing potted Roses.  Remember to consider the four important factors in growing roses namely, SOIL type, SUNLIGHT, WATER and FERTILIZER.  To promote the concept of Learning by Doing, you may try and experiment in playing with the frequencies and application of these factors.  But be careful to get back to the best combination because you might kill those pretty roses!  Goodluck on your care of roses.  Next time, I'll talk about the different classes of Roses, their characteristics and bloom types.  In the next, next time...I'll try to discuss propation of roses.  Until...next time!  Happy Gardening from Jamos the Explorer!