This is the month when repeat flowering roses come into their own, particularly if you remembered to deadhead.
I know it takes a long time, but think of it as being out among the flowers you love – and there are worse garden jobs.
Your garden should suit your lifestyle. Roses themselves are not particularly labour intensive – but large herbaceous borders full of roses and companion plants certainly are. Create them at your peril.
If you don't have much time to garden, don't despair. There are lots of different ways to use roses, and a huge number of roses to choose from. You could use them as specimen shrubs, to cover arches across entrances and paths, draping a simple arbour against a fence, twining around pillars, as a hedge to screen the vegetable garden, or in pots on the patio – but you will need different types of roses.
Roses can be used in many ways, but choose a type that is fit for purpose.
To use your rose as a specimen shrub, choose a Floribunda or a Tea rose. There is nothing nicer than a big shrub rose growing in grass, flaunting its beauty unaccompanied and unadorned, but whether they are grown in solitary splendour or in a bed, big roses usually need support of some kind.
As I write this, I think of the roses I've planted, unthinkingly, in windy places. Often it is not something we think about when we carefully select the perfect place for our new rose, but we should.
Roses need support of some kind and I have found the simplest method, if the rose is not too big, is to make a tripod with supporting bars between each leg. They can be simply made from rustic branches, a few nails, and something strong to tie the top, or they can be more formal and made of painted wood or metal.
For larger roses, a rectangle of rail fencing enclosing the rose – with a post in each corner and horizontal rails – makes excellent support. For a big rose, the top rail would need to be a metre or more from the ground. It will soon be covered by foliage and will not look unsightly.
Pillar rose (left) and standard rose.
I have never quite worked out how to make a pillar rose but they do look effective. The pillar can be marble and modelled on pillars in Greek temples if you are sufficiently affluent – but all you really need is a post. But it is a good idea to echo the architectural style of your house and use pillars made of brick for brick houses and more rustic wooden posts in cottage gardens. If you happen to have a dead tree, you are in luck, but whatever you use will eventually be covered by the rose for most of the year. The trick is to bend the stems of the rose and twist them as tightly as possible around the pillar. This restricts the sap flow and puts the plant under pressure to produce seed to ensure the next generation. To do this, it must produce flowers all the way from the bottom to the top. That's the theory anyway and a rose flowering all the way up a pillar is a lovely sight, but I have never had any inclination to try it.
Rose in terracotta pot and standard rose.
Many of the smaller roses grow very happily in containers. Wood, concrete or earthenware are the best materials. If you use wood – a half barrel – it can be lined with polythene to prevent it rotting as long as you leave openings for the drainage holes. Terracotta dries out quickly but it can be painted with a sealer on the inside to minimise this.
It is vital that your container has drainage holes – and how well your rose grows will depend to a large extent on how well you prepare your container. Place a shallow layer of coarse gravel, terracotta or broken bricks on the bottom and cover this with a layer of damp peat to stop soil blocking the drainage holes, then fill your container with good quality potting mix to within about 10cm of the top.
Roses constrained in pots need constant feeding if they are to continue flowering. Feed regularly from early spring through autumn. Make sure you water them thoroughly too. The surface may appear damp but the bottom of the pot where the roots are may be bone dry. So give them a good soaking, not just a sprinkle with the hose. Check that the drainage holes don't become blocked, and remember to replace the top layer of soil every year.
Do all that and roses will not only live happily in large containers but also flower profusely for you.
NZ Gardener