How to choose a rose tree

The choice of a rose tree should not be made solely on the appearance of its flower or its fragrance, even if this remains the major criteria for most buyers. Many other parameters must be taken into account to avoid disappointment and growing mistakes.

Climatic conditions

Not all roses can withstand the same climatic conditions, so it is important to know this before buying one. Roses are thought to be very hardy, but some are not and prefer to be planted in warm areas of the country. This is the case of the 'Noisette' roses and the 'Thé-noisette' hybrids which are known to be cold, as well as the varieties obtained in the past by Nabonnand such as 'Sénateur Amic' or 'Archiduc Joseph'. The famous Rosa 'Cooperi' should also be planted on a wall facing south, as well as Rosa chinensis and its hybrids.

In the mountainous areas, you will have to rely on safe values such as botanical roses like Rosa alba or Rosa rugosa. Avoid modern climbing roses or use creeping varieties like 'Seagull' or 'Apple Blossom'.

Adapting the rootstock to the soil

It is best to know the nature of the soil before buying a rose tree in order to plant it on a suitable rootstock. Thus, in a calcareous soil, Rosa canina will be preferred, it tolerates the cold very well but remains somewhat sensitive to drought.

In a non calcareous soil, the most used rootstock is Rosa multiflora, it adapts well to light and sandy soils.

Disease resistance

Nothing is more unpleasant than spending time caring for sick roses. To avoid this, choose resistant roses with the 'ADR' label, which have been tested under extreme conditions for many years to obtain the famous German label.

The use

There is a wide range of roses. To choose yours, think about its future location and function. To border a flowerbed, a path or cover an embankment, choose ground cover roses not exceeding 70 cm in height such as 'The fairy', 'Bassino' or 'Marie Pavie'.

To flower a bed, choose polyanthus or English roses. One rule: be careful with the colors to avoid taste mistakes.

On a pergola, a large tree or an arbour, climb rambling roses like 'Ghislaine de Ferigonde', 'Treasure Love', 'Apple blossom' or 'New dawn'.

As single specimens, stem roses or weeping roses have no equal, but you can also consider landscape roses or bushes for this purpose.

Miniature roses will be reserved for terraces and balconies to decorate a table or even a windowsill.

Choosing a fragrant rosebush

Sweet, heady, fruity or musky fragrances, roses distill their scent throughout the day. To take full advantage of this, you need to know how to capture the best moment, when the scents reveal themselves in an ever-changing olfactory symphony. To help you make your choice, here is a small guide...

Roses with the scent of the May rose

The characteristic scent of the rose of our childhood can be found in 'Rosa gallica' considered as the quintessence of this very particular fragrance. It can be found in 'Rosa x centifolia' used in Grasse for perfumery or in modern varieties such as 'Prince Jardinier' with very pale cream flowers with a pink heart and in the award winning 'The McCartney Rose' with its fuchsia colored flowers. This exceptional rose has won over 20 awards worldwide.

Roses with fruity scents

Very present in hybrids and especially among the novelties of rose designers, fruity notes can be found in 'Bourbon' roses and modern English roses. Amandine Chanel' is an example with cherry and peach notes, as is 'Jude The Obscure' with guava and white grape fragrance, or 'Pierre Arditi' a pure white rose with exotic fruit, not to mention 'Château de Rivau' with green apple notes.

Roses with musky scents

It is the stamens and not the petals that give these roses their musky notes. The eugenol that gives off this characteristic scent attracts pollinators but also has a protective function against pollen-destroying micro-fungi. This heady scent can be found on Rosa multiflora, a very vigorous botanical species, but also on Rosa arvensis, an old rose with simple white flowers, or on Rosa mulliganii, a rambler rose ideal for adorning a pergola or climbing a tall tree.

Tea-scented roses

This delicate fragrance is reminiscent of tea, but also of damp humus, whiskey malt or iris root.

The rose 'Pegasus' with its apricot camellia flowers is a good example, as is 'Graham Thomas', a classic with yellow flowers, or 'Gloire de Dijon', one of the most beautiful climbing varieties with very double, flat-cupped flowers in a cameo of cream, yellow, apricot and pale pink, not forgetting the famous yellow rose 'The Pilgrim', which combines notes of tea and myrrh.

How to cut a rosebush in early summer?

Cutting roses is possible in July: rose stems or branches taken from a bush, these cuttings are still tender and allow rapid rooting, then transplanting in the fall.

Although rose cuttings are most often recommended in September, it is also possible to take cuttings in early summer, in July and even in June. This is the time of the first roses, of the abundant and more punctual blooming of old roses, and it is not rare that you are offered a bouquet of roses from the garden, some of which, if not all, make you want to grow them. When the roses in your bouquet start to wilt, you can try cutting them!

How to prepare the cutting to optimize the recovery?

The June/July cutting is made from the stem under the flowers:

• a cutting length of about 20 centimeters is suitable.
• the bouquet or the terminal rose, deflowered, is cut.
• the leaves are almost all removed, cut cleanly, except for 2 or 3 very green leaflets which are left. Indeed, reducing the leaf surface will limit the transpiration and thus the water loss of the cutting. The plant transpires through its stomata, the organs responsible for gas exchange.
• With a sharp instrument, the bottom of the cutting is cut cleanly in bevels. Likewise, 2 or 3 longitudinal scarifications of 2 cm are incised. We can also remove sparingly without breaking a little of the soft and green bark. This scarification is not essential, but it increases the scar surface, where a callus is created, and a concentration of auxin, the natural rooting hormone of the plant.

Pots with cuttings

The cuttings will be gathered in the same pot, in a light mixture which does not compact to facilitate the transplanting without damaging the fragile roots: such as a mixture of potting soil (without adding fertilizer) and fine gravel or coarse sand.

Apart from the practical side, gathering several cuttings close together can help the most recalcitrant ones to root by a hormone game. If some cuttings produce a lot of rooting hormone, it can diffuse to a nearby cutting that makes little and allow it to root.

Mixing several varieties of cuttings can be interesting as long as you label them well.

Use a small stick to drill a hole in the pot before pushing in the cutting. Do not twist the end.

The soil is packed lightly, the pot is watered deeply.

Putting the cutting in the pot

To prevent rose cuttings from drying out with drafts or sweating more than their supply would bear, the cuttings are enclosed in a closed space. The 'smothering' can be done by enclosing the whole thing in a plastic bag, but if you're on the hunt for plastic, a jar does the trick and looks much better.

These cuttings must remain in a humid atmosphere until they start to root, between 6 and 8 weeks. They will show their good will by starting to grow.

The cuttings are maintained in the light shade and with a substrate which never dries out.

Is it necessary to put hormone of cutting or not?

The answer is never clear, after all. The cutting hormone can help, but has an unfavorable effect when it is too concentrated. Moreover, these hormones are quickly expired and without effect. It will be up to you to decide, knowing that for many varieties of roses, it is possible to do without it, which makes life easier! These wood cuttings, which are still quite green, need them less than the November cuttings.

Successful cuttings or not 

The success rate of rose cuttings is related to the technique, but not only, because depending on the variety of roses, some root easily and others not. In any case, trying several cuttings of the same variety will multiply the chances.

Transplanting rose cuttings

At the end of September, the cuttings that want to start again are generally rooted. The lighter substrate makes it easy to separate them from each other. They will be able to have their individual pot of free soil for 2 months before being transplanted in place, or offered to friends.

How to plant a bare root rose?

Fall is the ideal time to plant bare root roses. Whether you buy them from a grower, nursery or mail order, don't delay planting them to ensure their recovery.

What is a bare root rose?

As the name suggests, a bare-root rose is not packed in a pot. It is sold without a root ball, roots in the air, which implies constraints in terms of uprooting, transport and sale, steps that must be carried out as soon as possible.

Advantages of planting a bare root rosebush

A bare-root rosebush has a better chance of recovery because it has grown and fortified in the ground. It is only available at the right time for planting and will therefore be installed at the best time.

In pots, the root system is often constrained, the roots sometimes form a bun, a sign of suffering of the plant contained in a pot too small to ensure its development. Such a plant will have very little chance of recovery, and if it starts again, it will take a long time to develop properly.

How to choose a bare root rose?

Choose a healthy plant with well-developed branches. There should be no signs of rot or suspicious spots on the stems. The roots should be fleshy, strong and not dried out.

How to prepare for planting a bare-root rose?

• Soak the roots in room temperature water while you prepare the soil.
• Choose a sunny location and then manually weed the area before aerating and applying an organic manure such as compost or well-decomposed manure.
• Dress the roots, i.e., prune those that are damaged, and reduce by half those that are too long.
• Prepare a praline based on clay, garden soil, water and cow dung. Praline is also available at garden centers if you don't have all the 'ingredients'.
• Take your rose bush out of the water and dip the roots in the praline, making sure they are all well soaked. This mixture will greatly help the rosebush's recovery.

How to plant a bare root rose?

1. Dig a 40 cm hole in all directions.
2. Make a small mound at the bottom of the hole, ideally with garden soil, compost and a handful of crushed horn.
3. Place the roots flat on this mound, adjusting its height so that the grafting point is just above ground level.
4. Fill in the hole by packing the soil well around the foot of the rose.
5. Do not bury the grafting point!
6. Make a basin around the foot of the rose and water thoroughly.

How to prune roses?

Pruning roses is essential to maintain an aesthetic appearance but also to encourage opulent flowering and its eventual return. Gestures must be precise, but there is nothing very complicated about the program!

Pruning roses in a nutshell

1. Prune roses from February to April, except during the frost period. Non-remontant climbing roses are pruned after flowering in spring.
2. Always use disinfected secateurs between each bush.
3. Prune bush roses to 3 or 5 eyes from the grafting point.
4. Keep 6 branches on climbing roses and prune the other branches to 2 or 6 eyes depending on the vigor and variety.
5. Remove wilted flowers.

How to prune roses on a case-by-case basis?

There are several types of roses. Bush roses are the most common and are often grown in beds. Climbing roses offer opulent blooms, but in order to bloom well, they need precise pruning techniques which are not the same for remontant roses (which bloom a second time) as for non-remontant ones.

The case of ground cover roses is a bit special because they will only be pruned every 3 or 4 years, mainly to remove the dead wood. This is also the case for many old roses, which only need to be pruned to clean up from time to time.

Pruning on miniature roses and stem roses, will be the same as that applied to bush roses.

Equipment needed:

Pruning shears or loppers depending on the size of the branches ;

Thick gloves;

How to prune bush, miniature or stem roses?

1. Disinfect the blades of the pruning shears with methylated spirits before using them for pruning.
2. Wear heavy gloves to protect yourself from thorns.
3. Start by removing all dead branches at their base and those that cross in the center of the plant to allow maximum air and light to enter.
4. Keep 4 to 7 main branches that you will prune above the 3rd or 5th bud (eye) starting from the grafting point (swollen part at the base of the plant). Prune to 3 eyes for roses that are not very vigorous and to 5 for those that are in good shape.
5. The pruning should be done at an angle above an eye so that the water runs off the part of the stem opposite the bud.

How to prune climbing roses?

Follow the same procedure as above from step 1 to 3.

Keep 6 main branches as a framework.

Prune the side branches to 6 eyes.

After the first flowering remove the spent flowers by cutting off the petiole under the first leaf.

How to prune non-remontant climbing roses?

These roses are pruned in the spring after flowering.

Remove the dead wood.

Keep 6 to 7 carpenter branches.

Prune all lateral stems to two eyes.

Create a new variety of rose

If you have the soul of a sorcerer's apprentice and you like surprises, don't hesitate to try to create a new variety of rose. The technique requires a little know-how and a lot of patience, but the results can be as good as you expect and even better!

Choosing the "parents

The mother plant is generally chosen to carry the seeds of the new rose variety. It is selected according to its vigor, its resistance to diseases and to bad weather. The other rose or "father" plant will determine the color, fragrance and shape of the future rose.

The hybridization technique

• Materials needed:
• Small scissors;
• paper cone ;
• ramekin ;
• colored wool thread;
• fine paintbrush.

The ideal time to hybridize is in the spring.

The choice of the mother plant will be made on a vigorous and disease resistant subject. The plant must be in flower.

• Choose a well opened rose and remove all the petals to free the heart. Cut the stamens with small scissors to prevent the rose from self-pollinating.
• On the father plant, select a beautiful rose and cut the stamens before complete maturity.
• Place them in a flared ramekin.
• Wait a few days for the pollen to be released on the walls of the ramekin.
• Collect the pollen with a fine brush that you will put in direct contact with the stigmas of the rose prepared beforehand on the mother plant.
• Cover with a paper cone.

Waiting for the result

It only remains to wait a few months for the rose hip to ripen and go to seed. It will then be time to extract them to sow them in small pots well drained in their bottoms and filled with a light substrate composed of two parts of potting soil for one part of river sand.

Place the pots outside but away from strong frosts.

By April, the seedlings should have produced small seedlings that should then be transplanted into individual pots or even in the ground. Sometimes in the first year, the roses created in this way will have one or more flowers. If this is not the case: be patient, you will have to wait until the following year to discover the result!