Planting Care
Organic tips | Exceptionally Disease Resistant | Companion Planting | Pot up with Patios | Vase Life | Pruning | Pruning Essentials | Planting Tips

All roses respond to good feeding, pruning, spraying and watering. Roses are gutsy enough to be either left to their own devices with seasonal care, or pampered and manicured for that perfect exhibition bloom. There is a wide range of product available including; Shield, Bravo, Copper Oxycloride, Winter and Summer oils. Apply copper first then 3 or more days after apply oil. Click here for some handy seasonal hints! We also recommend the following ideas: Organic tips: If roses are kept healthy by way of plenty of feeding from early Spring till late Summer they are less likely to get run down and pick up diseases and pests. Good air circulation between plants helps too and liquid fertilisers such as maxicrop, nitrosol, fish fertilisers support the plant as well. Copper can be sprayed from Winter on, and can be mixed with liquid fertilisers. There are organic sprays you can make up too. A dash of lime in the Winter will keep the soil balanced. A healthy soil grows healthy plants. Good mulching will conserve water and soak hoses are better than water systems that spray water everywhere. Clean up leaves and prunings. Exceptionally Disease Resistant: Cecile Brunner, Banksia, Iceberg, Seafoam, The Fairy, Strawberry Ice, Graham Thomas, Mutabilis, Ballerina, to name a few. Companion Planting: To assist the roses against bugs here are a few (too many to list) companion plants: Pansy, pyrethrum, Chamomile, Garlic, Alyssum, Catmint, Freesia, Dwarf Bearded Iris, Violet. Pot up with Patios: Roses will last years in pots with good patio and tub mixes now available which have long life slow release fertilizers, moisture crystals and potting is a breeze. Saucers help save watering. As well as bush roses, mini standard and weeping roses look great in pots. Vase Life: It is best to pick early morning or late evening when sap flow is lower. Place blooms in bucket up to their necks in water to give them a drink before arranging. You may cut the stems again as you arrange. Some people swear by a capful of Janola in the water, or plunging the blooms in hot water then cold. Pruning Established roses -Roses will live without pruning but as they are deciduous they respond well to a good prune in winter which give you new shoots to replace the old ones to keep the plant young, more flowers per season, shapely bushy plants. Roses are very forgiving if you get it a bit wrong. Just remember a few specific rules. Keep the bush looking young by always removing old spent or dead wood. Keep the crown clear of debris soil or scaly growth. Prune at least 1/3 off or up to 50% back in June/July as your main annual prune, dead head and tidy up over summer. Pruning Essentials: Leather gloves, pruning saw, secateurs, loppers, hedge shears. Newly purchased plants Roses purchased in winter can be pruned again to about 12- 15 cm before you plant them in the garden to really get them going, and establish well. Planting Dig a large enough hole so the roots are not squashed and go straight down. Place a handful of Tui Garden Galore and/or slow release fertilizer, compost and mix into the soil at base of hole so the roots do not burn. Place plant in so the crown or bud union sits on the ground (this is where the new shoots come from so don't bury, also don't sit it above the ground otherwise it blows around in the wind) and fill and firm with soil. Water in and water again the following week (10 litre bucket full or so). At Matthews Roses we use and recommend Scotts Osmocote products - Roses LOVE Osmocote!