How to Plant Potted Roses
Plant a potted rose early in the growing season (late spring or early summer) — about the time you generally find them for sale. If your climate is cold, wait until after the last frost. But don't wait too long, simply because hot summer weather stresses a freshly transplanted rose plant.
Good soil is also very important. It should be rich in organic matter and drain well. If it isn't, import some good loam (rich, crumbly soil) and compost, or at least mix the existing soil half-and-half with premium soil.
Preparing a hole for your potted rose
When planting roses that come in containers, your first order of business is preparing the hole:
Eyeball the pot the rose came in and dig a hole a bit wider and deeper.
You can set the pot in, plant and all, to check yourself.
Loosen the soil on the sides and in the bottom of the hole, using your fingers or a trowel.
This way, the roots can head outward and downward more easily when they're ready.
Getting a potted rose ready for planting
You can't just plop your rose into a hole, add the soil, and call it a day. Prepare the plant:
Water the plant well — until liquid runs out the bottom of the pot — before planting.
Groom the top half of the plant.
Clip off damaged stems, flowers, and buds. Leave on as much good foliage as you can. You can cut down to the highest five- or seven-leaflet leaf group. Cut to an outward-facing set of leaves to encourage new growth away from the center of the plant.
Run a butter knife, ruler, or other similar flat object all the way around the inside edge of the pot to loosen the plant.
Squeezing the container sometimes helps. Gently pop it out.
Planting the potted rose, finally!
And here's how to plant:
Rake your fingers up and down along the root ball to loosen the soil and roots.
Don't fret if a few roots break off.
If the rose is really root-bound, take a moment to help it further.
Score the sides of the dense rootball with a sharp knife, up and down, in two or three places. Don't make a deep cut — just 1/2 an inch in is fine. This step stimulates new root growth.
Holding the plant by the rootball (not the top growth), set it into the prepared hole, and backfill good soil around it.
Make a basin of soil or mulch around the plant when you're done; then water.
The basin should be about 12 to 18 inches in diameter so the water that it collects soaks in directly over the root zone of the rose. This basin makes for easier watering (which you should do right now — give it a good soaking). If the plant settles too low in the hole after the watering, wiggle it back up.
For a grafted plant, mound soil over the bud union to serve as insulation to protect this vulnerable portion of the rosebush.
Gardening Glossary
annuals
Plants that complete their entire life cycle within one growing season. The plant germinates from seed, grows and blooms, and then produces seed and dies.
Gardening Glossary
biennials
A plant that take two growing seasons to complete its life cycle. It germinates and grows leaves and stems in the first year; produces flowers and fruit (seed) in the second, and then dies.
Gardening Glossary
bolt
When a plant flowers or produces seed prematurely.
Gardening Glossary
cold frame
A wooden or concrete block box in which you can grow plants or hold dormant during the cold winter months.
Gardening Glossary
cole crops
A family of vegetables, including broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, and Brussels sprouts. They thrive in cooler weather.
Gardening Glossary
complete fertilizer
Any fertilizer that contains all three of the primary nutrients, N-P-K (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium). Phrase is based on regulations governing the fertilizer industry. Does not mean that the fertilizer literally contains everything a plant needs to thrive.
Gardening Glossary
deadheading
The practice of pinching or cutting off spent flowers
Gardening Glossary
evaporative-pad humidifier
A humidifier in which fans blow across a moisture-laden pad that sits in a reservoir of water.
Gardening Glossary
harden off
The process of acclimating plants grown indoors gradually to the brighter light and cooler temperatures of the outside world.
Gardening Glossary
hardiness
The ability of a plant to survive is called its hardiness.
Gardening Glossary
humus
A stable end product of organic-matter decomposition that's believed to increase microbial activity in soil, improve soil structure, and enhance the root development of plants.
Gardening Glossary
Bacillus thuringiensis Bt
An effective bacteria that attacks only the larvae of caterpillar family insects. It is safe to other insects, animals, and humans.
Gardening Glossary
macronutrients
Mineral nutrients that plants need in the largest quantities: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and sulfur.
Gardening Glossary
mulch
Organic or inorganic material placed over the surface of soil, usually directly over the root zone of growing plants. Used to conserve moisture, kill weed seedlings, modify soil temperature, provide attractive covering to garden beds.
Gardening Glossary
organic matter
Once-living stuff like compost, sawdust, animal manure, ground bark, grass clippings, and leaf mold (composted tree leaves). Used to enrich soil and improve soil texture.
Gardening Glossary
perennials
Any plant with a life cycle of three or more years. Herbaceous (non-woody) perennials include flowering plants and herbs, mainly. Woody perennials include trees and shrubs. Longevity depends on the plant and growing conditions.
Gardening Glossary
pH
The measure of soil's acidity. Soil with low pH means it's too acidic; soil with high pH means it's alkaline. Most plants grow best in soil with a pH value between 6.5 and 7.2. Neutral soils measure 7.
Gardening Glossary
photosynthesis
The process through which plants take nutrients from the air and from the water in the soil to produce sugars that fuels the plant's growth.
Gardening Glossary
primary nutrients
Nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium are the three nutrients plants need in the largest quantities.
Gardening Glossary
root crops
Plants with edible underground roots such as onions, carrots, beets, potatoes, turnips. Most root crops are cold-weather crops.
Gardening Glossary
self-blanching
A type of cauliflower with leaves that naturally curl over the head and exclude light. Requires cool temperatures for leaves to curl effectively.
Gardening Glossary
sets
Small onion bulbs, about 1/2-inch wide, that were started from seed the previous year. Grow onion sets with the pointy end up.
Gardening Glossary
side-dressing
The act of adding a small amount of fertilizer around or "on the side" of plants after they're growing.
Gardening Glossary
succession planting
Planting small, 2-to-4-foot patches of plants every two weeks throughout the growing season so that you can harvest a crop over an extended period of time.
Gardening Glossary
thinning
The act of cutting the least robust seedlings in your garden to give the healthier plants more room to grow.
Gardening Glossary
vining crops
Crops that grow on vines, such as cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, and winter squash. They usually require support (staking, trellising, etc.) to keep them off the ground.
