Everything’s coming up roses

My roses have never been better than this year. In fact, this May, everything’s coming up roses in my back garden and in containers throughout my entire landscape. Growing roses isn’t easy, but it’s definitely worth it.

After the wildfire, it seems as though Mother Nature is trying to be gracious and kind to me. I couldn’t be more grateful. The ‘Carefree Beauty’ rose above didn’t burn, but the one on the other side of the arbor did. It is now growing back from its own roots. I’m giving it loads of tender loving care and fertilizer.

Growing roses in containers

In the last couple of years, I discovered I love growing roses in large containers because they are so easy to care for. Shrub roses especially respond well to growing in pots.

‘Easy on the Eyes’ was a big winner in last year’s American Garden Rose Selections. I have three of these shrub roses, and they’ve performed beautifully, gracing the potager with ever-changing beauty and a light tea fragrance. The 2023 winners are a lively bunch too. I like this competition because winners are selected from gardens throughout the country in real growing conditions. I’m pretty excited about ‘Brick House Pink,’ but I haven’t been able to find it in commerce. Maybe next year?

English or David Austin roses I grow.

In the back garden, the kitchen pathway border, and on the south side of the back deck, my many David Austin roses are flowering abundantly. For once, I feel like I got the fertilization right this year. I fertilized with Mills Magic Rose Mix in March and I’ll do it again in June and August. I stop after August so the roses have time to harden off before the cold weather in October.

The long, cool spring and abundant rains also helped, probably more than I’ll ever know. I can tell by today’s weather that we’re entering summer now. We’ll have a few more rain showers, and then it will be hot and probably dry until September.

It’s now time to start deadheading the roses to help them grow and bloom later in the month. I made two videos on Instagram discussing the process. Here is where I spoke about ‘Desdemona‘ and here about ‘Carefree Beauty.’ Feeding and deadheading your roses is the surest way to get more flowers.

The English roses will likely hunker down until September too, but I had a whole month of flowers. I can’t beat that. Meanwhile, the shrub roses will continue on, and soon the daylilies will join them. Then, my Phlox paniculata and the other perennials will start along with the tropicals I grow as annuals. I think it’s going to be a great summer in spite of everything.

In this week’s podcast episode, Carol and I actually discussed irises and tomatoes, but that’s fun too.

Here’s hoping your spring was everything you wanted too. Stay cool and start deadheading. I’ll write again soon. Oh, and if you dream of having an abundant garden or even a pretty landscape but don’t know how to get there, check out my garden coaching page. I’ll be glad to help.