31 Secrets on Growing Roses in 2025
31 Secrets on Growing Roses will give you tips seasoned gardeners have learned through trial and error. When I find a garden filled with rose plants, it takes my breath away. There’s something about these blooms that everyone loves.
Secrets on Growing Roses
If you’re looking for more gardening ideas, Gardening Tips for Beginners and 35 Best Cottage Flowers to Grow ideas will help you on your journey.
I couldn’t wait to move to my first house and grow my rose garden. My front yard had raised beds and meandering paths leading to the front door, and the roses were my garden’s stars.
Most of my roses were pink shades, with a few yellow ones thrown in for good measure. Some roses were picked for scent (hello David Austin!), and others I chose because of their growing season. Some bloomed in early spring, while others didn’t until early summer.
“There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose, because before he can do so, he has first to forget all the roses that were ever painted.”
Henri Matisse
My garden entrance showcased a pink climbing rose over my white wooden arbor. It was a beautiful way to make a statement.
Right before I moved from my house with the rose garden, I received a knock at my door and found three teenagers.
They wanted to tell me that they visited the island where I lived every year to see their grandparents, and they always walked to my house to look at the roses and take pictures for their social media accounts.
Yes, they were teenagers. I couldn’t have received a better compliment about my garden.
If you’re interested in growing roses in your garden, I put together some tips to help you succeed on beautiful journey into growing roses.
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1. Get Local Advice
You’ve got a world of resources at your fingertips. There are local garden clubs, rose societies, and online garden groups where you can ask what types of roses are local favorites for disease-resistant plants.
When I decided to move to another state, I joined a Facebook garden group in the city I’m moving to. This group allowed me to ask questions and determine what grows the best in the area. You can also join the American Rose Society to learn more about these beautiful flowers.
The gardens in your neighborhood will also give you ideas on the best plants to grow. Get to know your green thumb neighbors to learn some tips.
2. Buy Local
Garden catalogs are tempting to buy from, but if you’re new to gardening, it’s better to purchase from a local nursery. Buy a rose bush with blooms and buds to determine if you love the rose.
If you’ve already seen the type of rose you want in person, I read an article about a “rose whisperer” who said to buy bare-root roses because you can see if the plant has a healthy root system.
You want the roots to be approximately 14″ long and the top equal. Be sure to buy a disease-resistant rose.
3. Types of Roses
When I designed my rose garden, I wanted gorgeous old-fashioned roses that smelled amazing and bloomed from spring until late fall.
Not all roses are equally fragrant. I bought four rose bushes specifically for their fragrance. I wanted to smell them the moment I stepped out my front door.
If strong-scented roses are important, make fragrance the critical ingredient in your search.
Some varieties of roses only bloom once and put on quite a show. Then, there are repeat-blooming roses that bloom over an extended period that can last into the fall months.
Hybrid tea roses are beloved for their classic elegance and captivating fragrance. They are a cherished rose variety within the rose family. These roses result from deliberate crossbreeding between hybrid perpetual roses and tea roses, resulting in a stunning combination of beauty and grace. Hybrid teas are one of my favorite roses to grow.
I wanted a little bit of everything, so I designed my flower garden to be always in bloom. I also dedicated my entire front yard to it to have it all.
If you have a smaller space for your garden, pick the feature you prefer and design your area around it.
Design Secrets to Growing Roses
4. Rose Garden Design
Design your flower garden with colors complimenting each other for a visual feast.
You also want to consider how big all the plants you pick will get and how to layer the plants for the best results.
Rose bushes are gorgeous in the summer but bare canes in winter. If you plant your rose bush in front of an evergreen plant, you won’t notice them as much during the cold months.
Adding plants like catmint at the rose base will hide the bare roots. I had my Ballerina roses paired with catmint, and they looked beautiful together.
The only roses I had problems growing were tree roses, which resulted from pruning roses into a tree shape. I bought five because I planned to make them the focal points of my flowers. They all ended up dying, and I will never know why.
That experiment ended up costing me a lot of money. You should learn from my mistakes, plant one section at a time, and see how it does before spending a fortune on your garden design.
5. Plant Near Garlic
While researching information for this article, I stumbled upon a fun tip from the Herb Society of America. Planting roses near garlic will enhance their fragrance.
It’s not just garlic that enhances the smell of roses; all onion family members also assist with this task.
6. Plant Climbing Roses
Climbing roses draw the eye to the sky and bring a vertical dimension to your garden, helping make a small garden seem more significant.
You can plant climbing roses on your fence walls, arbors, and trellises.
7. Best Time to Plant Roses
Plant after the last frost if you’re planting roses in the spring. Late spring is the best time to plant.
For fall planting, plant your rose bush six weeks before your first frost. This allows the roots to grow enough before the dormant season starts.
8. Roses CRAVE sunshine
Ensure your roses get at least 6-8 hours of sun daily. Study your garden before planting to ensure it’s in the right spots for full sun.
Some rose plants require less sun, so check the plant’s requirements before purchasing.
A rose-growing expert suggested selecting a site with light shade in the afternoon. He said it helps the blooms stay fresher longer.
9. Test the Soil Drainage
Well-drained soil is imperative for growing roses. An easy soil drainage test will indicate whether the planting site you picked is suitable for your roses.
Dig a hole approximately 14 inches wide by 14 inches deep and fill it with water. Allow the hole to drain.
After the hole drains, fill it again with more water. If it takes a day or less to drain the second time, you’ve picked the right spot for good drainage.
10. Prepare the Soil
Preparing your soil two weeks in advance helps release the nutrients and prevent air pockets.
11. The Right Soil
If you want to do things right, test your soil to ensure it has the proper nutrients. A soil pH of 6.5 is optimal for roses. You can get a soil test kit here.
Roses grow much better in soil with a minimum of 20 percent organic matter.
You can add aged manure, compost, peat moss, kelp meal, and alfalfa meal to your soil. Clay soils will need more organic matter.
Adding organic matter will enrich the soil and improve water retention.
12. Spacing Roses
You’ll want to ensure your rose bushes aren’t too close to other plants. To prevent an error in gauging the amount of root span – assume the roots of the rose will extend as far as the leaf canopy. You also want to leave room for good air circulation.
A measuring tape comes in handy when digging your planting hole.
13. Add Phosphorus
Another tip the “rose whisperer” said was to add a tablespoon or two of phosphorus when planting your rose bush.
According to the University of Vermont, use rock phosphate, which is organic matter, whereas superphosphate is not.
14. Bury the Bud Union
You want to bury the bud union 3-4 inches below the soil level. The bud union is the knot above the rose roots where the canes grow out.
Burying the bud union below ground level helps prevent wind-rock. The bare-root roses cannot establish a sound root system if they get moved around.
15. Watering
There are varying opinions on the best way to water roses. Some believe that soaker hoses work best because you don’t want the water to splash on the foliage. Wet leaves and flowers encourage disease to happen.
A rose guru believes that a soaker hose can get clogged, and he doesn’t trust that the water will reach the roots.
He put his sprinklers on at 4 AM, giving the roses a good soak in the summer months. By watering the roses at 4 AM, the sun will rise and dry the leaves without water.
Another option is to hand-water your roses. Hand-watering was my preferred method because it allowed me to ensure the roses were getting enough water, inspect each bush, and ensure its health.
Avoid watering in the heat of the day or right before evening.
16. Sale Prices
I looked at my local rose nursery, and they put their roses on sale the last week of September at the end of the growing season. They offered a 2-for-1 deal for amazing roses.
Please note that the selection will be less than in spring. But if you’re trying to save money on landscaping your yard, waiting until fall is a perfect plan.
Rose Bush Care
17. Banana Peels
Here’s one of the secrets I used with my roses. I eat lots of organic bananas and my roses loved me for it! Bananas are a good fertilizer.
Banana peels are great for roses because they decompose rapidly, releasing beneficial potassium and phosphorous minerals into the soil. When you plant your rose bush, a good idea is to drop a banana peel in the hole before adding the rose bush.
A bonus to adding banana peels to your roses is that they contain a chemical that aphids hate. They also ward off a common fungus that roses can sometimes get.
Chop the banana peels up and bury them one inch under the soil.
18. Fertilizer Care
Coffee grounds lower the soil’s pH and attract worms that help fertilize and loosen the dirt. The coffee grounds are also rich in nutrients slowly released into the soil.
Don’t put the coffee grounds directly in the soil; mix about a cup of coffee grounds with a gallon of water and water your roses with the mixture.
Slugs and snails hate coffee grounds because it’s toxic to these pests, so they avoid it.
One thing to consider is adding organic coffee grounds. You don’t want coffee beans that were sprayed with pesticides. I was lucky to receive the organic coffee grounds from my local coffee stand. Ask your local coffee stand what they do with their daily coffee grounds.
19. Eggshells as Fertilizer
Eggshells are an excellent source of organic matter that will help your roses grow to their full potential. They are a good source of calcium, promote a robust root system, stabilize the pH level, help with healthy foliage, and are a natural deterrent against pests.
It’s best to crush the eggshells or turn them into powder instead of waiting until they break down by themselves.
Pruning Secrets
20. Don’t Prune Newly Planted Roses
Wait one year before you prune your rose bush. It might be tempting to prune branches that shoot out in places you don’t want, but try and resist that urge.
Give your rose bush time to establish itself before giving it a trim.
21. Pruning Entices Sturdy Rose Stems
When you prune your roses, you’ll want to cut back to a stem with a minimum of five leaves. The rose will create a new branch strong enough to produce fresh blooms. If you don’t prune your roses to this point, they will send out weaker shoots.
22. Deadhead Roses
New growth is sacrificed when the rose bush’s energy is spent developing seeds. Deadheading spent flowers causes the rose bush to produce more rosebuds, creating more seeds.
The best way to deadhead roses is to cut the finished flowers’ stems back to a bud with a whole leaf.
Natural Pest Control Secrets to Growing Roses
23. Plant Lavender
I love the combination of lavender and roses together. If you have a problem with rabbits in your garden, planting lavender near roses will help keep them away.
24. Clean Your Garden Tools
You want to clean your gardening tools after each use, especially if you pruned diseased parts of plants to stop the spread of the disease.
Make your cleaning solution with one part bleach and nine parts water. After you use the bleach mixture, be sure to clean it again with soapy water.
25. Natural Pest Spray
You can make a natural spray at home if you see signs of aphids, spider mites, or Japanese beetles on your rose bushes.
Mix 1/2 teaspoon of mild dish soap, one teaspoon of cooking oil, and one quart of water. Fill a spray bottle and spray liberally over the entire plant.
A common fungal disease, black spot, manifests as black or dark brown spots on the leaves of rose plants. To combat this problem, provide adequate air circulation and avoid overhead watering. Fungicidal sprays and treatments may also be used to control the spread of the disease.
Another common fungal infection that plagues roses is powdery mildew. To treat it, you can apply natural remedies like neem oil or baking soda solutions.
26. Natural Pest Control
Ladybugs love to dine on aphids. If you have a rose bush affected by aphids, you’ll want to bring in some ladybugs to get them under control because aphids reproduce rapidly.
These fabulous garden partners will stay in the area if they have the aphids to dine on and shelter.
27. Slug Solutions
If you have a problem in your area dealing with slugs, there are a few different ways to deal with these pesky snackers.
Pour an inch of beer at the bottom of a shallow dish. Snails and slugs are attracted to the yeast in the beer. They will crawl into the saucer and drown.
You can also go outside with a flashlight at night and hand-pick the slugs and snails. If you know someone with chickens, they will be a welcomed treat.
28. Deterring Deer
Fortunately, I have plenty of dog hair to mix with my soil, which helped deter the deer from eating my beautiful blooms.
Deer are sensitive to smells. You can try fabric sheets, garlic (this gives you even more incentive to plant garlic near your roses), and blood meal.
There are also deer deterrents available to buy.
Daily Care Secrets to Growing Roses
29. Nitrogen for Roses
The “rose whisperer” I talked about earlier said to use sufficient nitrogen applied frequently in small doses. He regularly fertilizes because he loves large rose bushes.
30. Rose Compost
Another tip the “rose whisperer’ gave was to keep his garden organically alive; he covers the soil with a 6-inch blanket of compost in winter. Then, he adds smaller amounts throughout the year.
He adds ground forest bark, steer manure, and horse manure to replenish his soil.
31. Trellis for Roses
Horizontally training your climbing roses encourages the most blooms. A trellis for the rose to climb is decorative and removable for wall maintenance. Use plastic-covered wire ties for best results.
I hope this article helped you understand roses better. Whether you grow miniature roses, a potted rose, or an entire rose hedge – these tips will benefit everyone.
You can start with container roses in your garden to get a feel for growing them. Pick out your favorite rose plant as a start to your cottage garden. Garden roses will give your landscape a beautiful beginning.
If you want to know what to do with roses, my friend Vladka over at Simply Beyond Herbs put together some ideas for you.
We’ve reached the end of 31 Secrets on Growing Roses. I hope you enjoyed it.
Let me know in the comments below how you liked 31 Secrets on How to Grow Roses.
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