How to Plant Hybrid Tea Roses

Last Friday, I was sitting at work listening to AOL radio while finishing up some paperwork. Although I was concentrating on the task at hand, a commercial found its way into the main part of my brain. Lowes was having a sale. Rose bushes 2 for $10.00. Never, in my lifetime, have I ever wanted to grow roses, but, now, I did. I sent my wonderful husband to Lowes to check out the sale. When he left the store, he had 4 bushes and a bag of garden soil. If you live in my part of the country, you understand the need for garden soil. I have been blessed with almost a full yard of nothing but Tennessee red clay. The roses were hybrid tea roses, the most popular rose grown.

I spoke with a few of the older ladies at work attempting to get a bit of advice on how to grow roses. They informed me that roses were difficult to keep alive and required a lot of time and attention. Well, I was committed both financially and mentally. I wanted this to work, so I went to the wisest of the wise, and the dumbest of the dumb (depending on what you find); the internet. There I found all types of contradictory advice, but I was able to put an action plan together. Here are the steps I used for planting rose bushes:

1. Clear the area. My husband dug up the area around our porch where I wanted the roses planted. If it is not a last minute thing, the best thing to do is spray a weed killer. Wait a week and then spray again. Wait one more week and, then, clear the area. We had the bushes, so it was now or never for us.
2. Dig the hole. The hole should be twice as wide as the container the roses come in and almost as deep as the container. The place where the rose stems meet the roots should be right at the dirt line. We dug them a bit deeper because we were going to put the garden soil at the bottom of the hole. Many people recommend mixing the regular soil with an organic compost, but we just filled the hole in with the garden soil.
3. Plant the bush. Gently remove the rose bush from the container. Place bush in the hole, fill in the hole with the garden soil, regular soil or a mixture of both.
4. Water the bush. Rose bushes should be watered at dirt level. We soaked the roots while keeping the leaves and flowers dry. We did not water them too much, because it was fairly late in the day. Watering rose bushes at night can set the stage for a plethora of diseases and pests. I did give them a good watering the next morning.
5. Mulch. We placed a Cyprus Mulch around the bushes. It is a good two feet wide and 4 to 5 inches deep.

It has been 48 hours since we planted our bushes and they seem to be doing fine. No wilting or strange colors yet. I will keep you informed on “how my garden grows.”

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