Five Rose Garden Ideas
If you’ve always shied away from growing roses because you believed their press, it’s time to put away your misconceptions. Far from being the finicky, pest-ridden creatures that they’re made out to be, roses are surprisingly easy to grow and maintain. Roses have five basic needs:
* Plenty of sun! With very few exceptions, roses love the sun. Choose a spot for them that gets at least six full hours of sun per day, and they’ll reward you with beautiful, showy blooms.
* Lots of Water! Roses are thirsty little critters, too. Plan on giving your rose garden a good daily drenching to supplement rain – and add a second if rain is scarce.
* Control Pest-y Critters! Roses ARE prone to attract pesky bugs like Japanese beetles and aphids. There are all sorts of natural treatments if you object to a weekly-or-so spraying with a pesticide designed for roses. On the flip side – the only time that I saw major problems with infestations were my grandmother’s prize blue-blood strains. Hybrids and ramblers seem not to be bothered much at all.
* Feed them! You’ll get more, fuller and more colorful blooms if you feed your roses once a month with a good, balanced fertilizer.
* Pick your roses! Seriously – roses love to be pruned and groomed. The more you pick your roses, the more you’ll get.
So you’ve got a spot in your yard that gets at least six hours of sun a day, is close enough to the garden hose that watering is easy, and is easily accessible by paths and walkways? You’re in luck – you have a great spot for a rose garden.
A few ideas for rose garden designs you might not have considered are:
A Rose Fence Garden
Climbing and rambling roses are ambitious climbers. You can completely cover a chain link fence with a plant every 2-3 feet. Start with bare-stemmed root stock, and train new growth along the chain links and support frames. Within 3-4 years, you’ll have a full wall of blossoming roses.
A Corner Rose Garden
Got a bare, sunny corner in your yard? It’s the perfect spot for a climbing rose garden. Start with a few large boulders or rocks, plant 3-5 ground-cover or rambling roses, and stay out of the way. Within a few years, you’ll find you’re spending more time containing them than trying to make them grow.
A Centerpiece Rose Garden for Your Front Entrance
My mother gets credit for this one. She simply planted a rose bush at the base of her driveway lamp, and trained a few stalks to grow up along the lamp post. The result – stunning! Red roses twine around the pole, and over the top of the lamp and spill around the ground at its base.
A Patio Rose Garden
Miniature hybrids and tea roses are quite happy growing in terracotta pots and other containers. If you have a sunny patio, try filling a large strawberry jar with a couple of tea rose bushes, and plant the pockets with trailing alyssum and purple lobelia.
A Mixed-Up Rose Garden
Roses love to share – especially with garlic and onion plants. The tall, spiky foliage of onion, garlic and chive sets camouflage leggy rose stalks. Add a border of low-growing ground cover, and let the roses provide shade for shrinking violets and impatiens. Added bonus: garlic and onions keep away many rose pests.
|
