Planting Roses

I used to watch my father plant roses when I was still very young; after watching him, I used to plant my own flowers. Now that I am older and on my own, I have been thinking about planting roses again sometime in the near future.

I have always loved roses; they are my favorite type of flower. I know how to make garlands out of flowers; I've been doing this since I was 13. I have never made them out of roses yet. I still have a petal from the red rose my boyfriend gave me before he left me for Denver.

Does anyone know how to grow roses and care for them? I would appriciate it if anyone could give me advice on this here. All responses will be greatly appriciated!

[cape chef]

Nice story Afra.

With roses so much depends on zone and which type you are looking to grow.Are you looking to plant rambling roses or climbling roses? Even mini roses in a bed make a beautiful statment.With climbers you have small,medium and large climbers,So your planting space is important as well as good sunlight. Roses enjoy bonemeal when being planted and need to be feed in early spring ,mid summer and before the first fall frost and before you prune them back.Two cultivars that I love are Climbing iceberg and Desprez a fleurs jaunes,Both medium climbers and love to mingle with clamatis. Perhaps you can mentian what you would like to accomplish with your roses...and I could then try to pin point cultivars for you.
cc

Hehe, thanks for your response, Cape Chef! What I want to do with roses is to make garlands like I used to when I was younger; I would prefer the roses that grow on bushes (is this what you mean by "rambling roses"?) so I can do not only that, but decorate my home and parish church with them. There are quite a few women in my parish that bring flowers for the Altar and I would like to do the same some day. Sometimes I like to dress up; that's when I wear garlands. I used to make garlands for my friends when I was younger and I've been wanting to do this again. If you could help me here, I would greatly appriciate it!

[CompassRose]

I highly recommend Austin roses. These have the shape (and, even more important, the scent) of old roses, with modern hardiness and disease resistance.

You should be able to find them at a good nursery in your area. They've been bred in all sorts of plant shapes, flower colours and sizes, from wee bushes to climbers. Many of them also have really nice names... Othello, Fair Bianca, Tamora, Winchester Cathedral...

I've got... lemme see, four of them, and I love them to pieces. They're all covered with plethorae of buds, too, looking like they'll pop any day. I can't wait!

Check out http://www.davidaustinroses.com

Thanks for your response, CompassRose and your suggestions! I also greatly appriciate the website that you listed in your post! I'm also wondering what kind of rose would really work best for making garlands? I don't really know a whole lot about roses so I am just curious. Would the climbing roses work better for this than the roses that grow on bushes? When I make garlands, I like to use flowers whose stems don't break and which will make a steady garland. I like those that can fit on your head perfectly when you put the garland on without breaking either in the stem or in the flower. In a word, I like a perfect garland. I remember that when I was younger, I used to use flowers that would break either in the stem or in the bud. All suggestions will be greatly appriciated!

[ June 14, 2001: Message edited by: Afra ]