Growing Roses

[amadi]

Does anybody know anything about growing roses from bare starters? Costco is selling rose starters, which look like plain wood roots with nothing green, no blossoms, nothing, but apparently if you plant them, they take root and they grow. They're not high priced and are probably nothing special but the price is such that it's worth the risk to give it a try.

Has anyone ever done this or have basic info about what sorts of soil conditions, temperature concerns, feeding/fertilizing issues and whatnot I'd need to know before jumping into planting one of these starters and calling myself a rose grower?

Comments

[sara]

Most of the roses you're going to see at Costco and home center type places will be grafted tea roses. You may get a good one; that said, they are all going to be grafted, not own-root, which means that if you live in a colder climate, they are unlikely to make it through the winter. I have bought roses at home centers and had them do very well; they were potted and not bare-root, and they were all marketed as "shrub roses."

My experience with Costco's bareroot roses and blueberries and bulbs has been uniformly negative -- I have yet to have any of them live through a year. The prices are so low because the stock is just not cared for as it would be at a nursery. I get most of my groceries at Costco, but I won't buy plants there any longer.

[amadi]

So if I want something that will last (I'm in Pennsylvania, so definitely colder climate) better to go to a garden center and get something potted with its own roots? I'm not opposed to doing this; we're looking for something that's going to last, definitely, I just need to know the terminology so I get the right thing! :)

[feroxargentea]

There is no problem with planting bare-root roses as such - I have grown most of mine that way, as it's the cheapest easiest way to get a wide choice of roses by mail-order - but only as long as they are healthy, properly labelled grafted cultivars, recently dug, well-wrapped, never allowed to dry out and planted into suitable soil straight away (and where I live it's really too late in the year to be planting bare-root, though maybe not where you are). Cheap plants from bargain stores may not tick all these boxes.

If they're dormant plants, the soil temperature doesn't matter as long as it's not frozen or flooded. Good rich well-drained fertile soil, for preference - if you don't have that, add compost and slow-release fertiliser. Most cultivars do best with at least partial sun.

[amadi]

Recently dug is a concern. I'm pretty sure what I'd buy at Costco wouldn't meet that criterion.

I think I've got to head to a local garden center and talk to someone who knows what plants work locally and what's good to plant right now.

Plus at a garden center, maybe I could get something purple!

[teapot_rabbit]

I love roses, though I'm no expert. Roses can be kind of finicky, so I would recommend finding a book about rose culture - look for one that's targeted to your specific climate. For example, I live in California, so books written for England that tell me how to overwinter roses in the snow are pretty useless. Garden centers are also a good bet. You might also want to see if there is a nursery nearby that specializes in roses.

Seconding everything feroxargentea said about bare root roses. Usually you plant bare root in the winter, when the plants are dormant (no leaves, etc) so when they start to grow, they're already in the ground.

I don't think there is a true purple rose - lots of interesting shades of magenta and lavender, though.