Watch Debi Holland as she shares five essential tips for rose care, ensuring your plants stay healthy and bloom beautifully throughout the summer.
Five tips for ravishing roses
Read the transcript
One of the joys of summer is having a garden full of colourful petals and scent. How do you keep those blooms healthy? Here are my five tips for keeping your roses looking good all summer.
- Deadhead spent flowers.
Once flowers fade, use sharp snips or secateurs to remove the old flowers just above a pair of healthy leaves. This encourages fresh buds and keeps growth compact. Dead petals can also turn to mush in humid weather, creating conditions that favour fungal disease.
Leaving old flowers on the stem lets the rose put its energy into hips. As autumn draws in, leave some in place so the hips can develop and provide food for birds.
- Remove leaves with black spots.
Black spot is caused by the fungus Diplocarpon rosae. It spreads in warm, wet conditions and covers leaves in black or purple spots. The leaves can turn yellow, particularly around the edges, and drop early. This weakens the rose and reduces its ability to photosynthesise. Snip off infected leaves.
- Pick up fallen rose leaves.
Pick up infected leaves from around the base of the rose and dispose of them. Keep them out of the compost heap. The fungus can overwinter on fallen leaves, and its spores spread in water to infect new foliage. See the RHS guide to rose black spot.
- Water deeply at the base.
Give the rose a long, deep watering at the base to encourage roots to search downwards for moisture. Frequent, quick watering encourages shallow roots near the surface, where water evaporates more quickly.
- Feed your roses.
Plants need nutrients to grow, so give them a feed. In summer, use a high-potassium feed around the base for a targeted boost. Read the instructions on the product for how often to apply it and how much to dilute it. Applying feed at too high a concentration can scorch roots.
And that’s my five tips for ravishing roses this summer.
