Creating Your Own Rose Garden

Roses are the ‘Queen of Flowers’ and can add elegance and a real sense of joy to any yard. If you love roses, you will be pleased to find that growing them organically is easy and inexpensive. The real secret to all organic gardening is a basic understanding of how nature works. Once you understand the basics of nature’s garden, tending your own organic roses will be a thrilling adventure.
If you want to plant a rose garden that consists of two or three roses, or a whole bunch of roses, you need to begin planning.
The first thing to do is to think about where you want to plant your roses and what colors you might like. Be sure to consider the other colors in your yard, as well as your house, walkways, etc. Roses grow best with a minimum of six hours of full sun, although some varieties can tolerate a bit more shade. Your shade/full sun areas will affect your possible rose garden locations.
The next thing to do is to find out what roses grow well in your climate.
Look at rose gardens in your local area to see what roses seem to grow well and how much you like them. Ask nursery experts what roses grow well in your area. Another good source is your local rose club. This will give you a good idea of the colors, sizes, and other characteristics that will grow well in your area.

Choosing Your Plants
Choose hardy roses. Generally, old varieties of roses are the hardiest. Try to pick roses that haven’t been grafted onto a different root stock. Choose the colors you like. Bare-root roses are less expensive than potted roses, but potted roses are easier to plant and more likely to survive
Choose flowers from the onion family, or other companion families that will complement your roses. Once you have chosen your colors and plants, and have decided how to arrange them and what your rose garden will look like, you can dig in and begin working with your soil.
How Much To Water Roses
Roses like a lot of water during the growing and blooming season. But this doesn't mean give them a small amount every day. Like with watering other plants, it is better to water deeply rather than just a little bit at a time, so that the water can fully penetrate the roots. Just sprinkling them with the hose is not enough.
Let the hose give your roses a full, thorough soaking. A good four or five gallons worth of water per rose bush is a basic rule of thumb. Depending on how much rain your garden gets, a deep watering once a week is usually enough even in drier parts of the country. If it is extremely hot and dry, perhaps every four days or so.
Avoid watering during the heat of the day in direct sunlight. Early morning and late afternoon are the best times to water.
Planting Roses
It is best to plant your roses between spring and early summer so that they have time to develop a root system before winter sets in.
Roses don’t like to be crowded, so give them enough room. Hybrid teas, grandifloras, and floribundas should be planted 18 to 30 inches apart.
Climbers should be planted 8 to 12 feet apart. Miniatures can be planted approximately 12 to 15 inches apart.
If you have container roses, make sure they have been watered and keep them wet while working. Dig holes for your roses that are 2 ½ times the size of the root ball. It is a good idea to put some well composted organic matter in the bottom of the hole. Mix more composted matter with the soil that you removed, but are planning to put back in the hole.
If you don’t have composted matter available, you can substitute a good quality planting mix. It is best to use planting mix that doesn’t contain chemical fertilizers, although it is sometimes difficult to find.
Take the rose plant out of the container and put the rose plant in the hole.Pack the prepared dirt under and around the rose, making sure that the dirt on the top of the rose root-ball is level with the ground. It is a good idea to put a straight stick across the hole to make sure the dirt level of the rose is the same as the ground level. If your rose is planted above or below ground level, it may have a difficult time growing properly.
Planting bare-root roses is the same process, except that you must gently pack the dirt around the roots. If you have a grafted rose, you need to make sure that the graft union is a little bit below ground level.
Purchasing organic rose fertilizer will insure that you have fertilizer to add during the growing season, if you don't already have it on hand at home.