Grow low budget roses

Garden tips on grow roses

Six years ago Grant and I took Trinity Farm, a 4ha property with a heritage rose nursery and  rambling country garden. We began clearing the more overgrown areas, building new structures

and planting... roses of course! 

I'm standing in a new area that was planted about three years ago. I wanted grow a rose bed with real wow factor. The light yellow rose is the Hybrid Musk 'Danae'; the white one is Hybrid

Musk 'Moonlight', and the Rambler is 'Goldfinch', which has egg yolk yellow buds which fade to cream. So, I'd like to share you some of my garden tips on how to grow roses.

How to grow roses

People certainly do say "wow" when they see my rose garden - especially when they learn how little it cost to grow roses! The roses were grown from cuttings in our show garden and the whole bed cost me about $15. If you want to grow roses in masses then to plant roses from cuttings are a tremendously cheap way to grow roses. I think you get maximum impact if you plant and grow a specific rose in groups of three or five. However grow roses can be expensive if you buy several at

once (although Trinity Farm roses sell for a very reasonable $15 on Trade Me!).

But with cuttings, space not expense, is your only real constraint on how to grow roses. I'm lucky to have a good source of rose cuttings and can grow roses that I want- if you don't, club together with friends to buy roses then share them as cuttings. Some roses are easier to strike than others. Heritage roses grow like weeds and can be propagated fast. In our mild Otaki climate, some roses cuttings are ready to be potted up within 2-3 months and can be planted out in the garden

between 4-6 months later. Even in less perfect climates, you should easily be able to plant and grow new roses from cuttings in less than a year.

Total costs: $10.95

• Cuttings Mine were free

• A 40-litre bag of Tui All Purpose Potting Mix cost $10.95, from Mitre 10

• Pots and seed trays I had plenty already so they were free, if you don't have any, find them at garden centres or a hardware store for a couple of dollars

• Labels I recycle ice lolly sticks

• Optional: I use organic plant strengthener, Grow Smart. A $4 pack makes 5L. You can manage to grow roses without it if you prefer though.

How to grow roses from cuttings

• If you think how to grow roses from cuttings, start with Hybrid Musks. They are easy to propagate from cuttings which is why I chose 'Danae' and 'Moonlight'. I love the way 'Moonlight's' wonderful red stems stand out against its white blooms. 'Sally Holmes' would be one of the best roses to grow known roses from this family. They're also versatile roses in the garden as they come in a wide color range, with clusters of flowers, with different flower forms. This rose repeat flower for a very long time if you deadhead them and they produce colorful rose hips if you don't deadhead them in autumn.

Hybrid Musks rose

• Pick a color theme for the roses you want to grow. I was an artist but since taking on a busy rose garden and nursery, I haven't had much time for painting. Now I play with color in the rose garden instead, if you want to plant and grow a rose bed for maximum impact, think about color first. Pick a color theme for grow roses, in this bed, my color theme was yellow through to cream. Elsewhere in the rose garden I have beds themed with pink and white roses. Good pink roses choices for cuttings include 'Fantin Latour' and 'Ispahan'; white: 'Madame Plantier' and (the modern groundcover/shrub rose) 'Sparkler'. A bed of red roses always make a splash - try to grow 'Chianti' or 'Tuscany Superb' roses. And rose-purple roses are a favorite of mine in the rose garden, if you want to try them get cuttings from 'Great western' and 'Due de Cambridge'. I planted a color wheel elsewhere, grouping roses and other flowers around a gravel circle in the order of yellow, orange, red, purple, blue and green. But whatever rose color theme you choose, ramp up its impact by under-planting with something that sets off your roses.

Fantin Latour

• How to grow roses. Speed up propagation. This is optional garden tip on how to grow roses, but I use organic plant strengthener Grow Smart, it's a Biogro certified product made from natural plant material. I use it to water in the rose cuttings when I first take them, and every four to six weeks thereafter. I use this garden tip on grow roses again to reduce transplant shock when potting up rooted cuttings, and apply it to new roses every 4-6 weeks to speed up root and top growth. Once roses cuttings planted out in the garden, I use it to increase the flower formation and help maintain the health of the roses. It's my secret weapon garden tips on how to grow roses.

• Always wear gardening gloves in your roses garden when you grow roses. It's vital when handling your roses at all stages of the cutting process. This isn't just for your protection - if you touch the cut surface of the rose with your bare hands, you'll reduce your chance of success.

Madame Plantier

• Have a go when you grow roses. Hybrid Musks roses are relatively easy to grow from cuttings, but you can try to grow any rose, especially if there's one that means something to you, or one you

admire in someone else's garden. My "wow" rose bed also features a fence that Grant made from coppiced hazelwood that grows on our property. It cost next to nothing and the roses look stunning

growing up through it. Perhaps that's another topic for a $20 grow roses budget project! 

WORDS KAREN PIERCY