Lesson 2
Planting roses
Roses are hungry. Container roses want a deep, wide pot (45 cm minimum) and a rich mix: 60% peat-free compost, 30% topsoil/loam, 10% well-rotted manure or compost — plus a handful of mycorrhizal fungi sprinkled on the roots at planting.
Bare-root planting (Nov–March): soak roots in water for 1–2 hours first. Plant so the graft union (the knobbly bit where stems meet roots) sits just below soil level — this protects it and produces sturdier shoots.
Bare-root planting in 6 steps
- 1Soak roots in a bucket of water for 1–2 hours.
- 2Dig (or fill pot to) a hole twice the width of the roots, half-depth.
- 3Add a sprinkle of mycorrhiza on the roots themselves.
- 4Set the plant so the graft union is just below ground level.
- 5Backfill, firming with knuckles (not heels), water in a full can.
- 6Mulch with 5 cm of compost or bark — but NOT touching the stems.