Rose Plants

Growing hybrid tea rose plants is one of the great joys (and frustrations) in our gardens. We love this joyful blooming plant but we fret (often unnecessarily) about growing it to perfection. This is the anchor page for all the cultural tips and techniques you’ll need for growing this plant.

Did you know that there are more hybrid tea roses sold in the world than any other garden plant?

And yes, for the record, I've worked on two books about growing roses - my own "Tender Roses in Tough Climates" (about how to grow tender roses in very cold areas) which was distributed by three book clubs and sold very well (and is now available in ebook format) and rewrote "Roses for Dummies" for the the Canadian market "Roses for Dummies for Canadians"

garden design

'About Face'

Roses in Containers

Growing hybrid tea roses in containers is easy with attention to a few details

Growing Long-stem Roses

Here's the real story and it isn't easy gardening to grow this plant. But do try it. :-)

Drying Roses Flowers

We have some new ways to dry and preserve flower colors - here's what you need to know

Growing Roses from Seed

Growing roses from seed is fairly easy - here's how

Growing Roses from Cuttings

If you time taking the cutting properly, it's easy. If you miss the timing, it's tricky. Here's how to tell when.

Tree Roses

Here's how to grow tree roses successfully

Meaning of Rose Colors

The meaning of rose colors means you can send complete messages with a bouquet

Growing Sweetheart Roses

Growing these for cut flowers is much easier than it sounds.

Fragrant Roses

A listing of award winning fragrant roses

Tea Roses

Advantages and Disadvatages of growing tea roses in a northern deep-planting style

Organic Rose Growing

I've been doing it for years and it only takes a few small changes

Feeding Roses

Here's how to grow tree roses successfully

Bare Root Roses

How to handle bare root roses so you'll be successful at growing them

Planting Roses

Planting roses properly gives them a great head start on flowering heavily

Rose pruning

It's not rocket science but there are a few things to consider

Overwintering Roses

You want to keep them alive over the winter? Here's how.

Different Types of Roses

A quick picture guide to the different kinds of roses you'll see in garden centers

English Roses as Climbers

Growing these fragrant English Roses as climbing roses

Pruning David Austin Roses

Pruning David Austin roses and yes, there are small differences

Growing Climbing Roses

Here are a few tricks of the trade for growing climbing roses

Pruning Climbing Roses

If you want them to grow and flower, you get to prune them properly, here's how.

Overwinter Climbing Roses

Here are the methods you can use to overwinter climbing roses in colder areas.

Growing Mini Roses

This will tell you most of what you need to know to succeed with this plant

Pruning Miniature Roses

Now this is easy rose pruning. :-)

Propagating Mini Roses

Mini-roses propagate very easily from cuttings and here's all you really need to know

Indoor Growing of Mini

Some guidelines to help you succeed at growing mini roses indoors

Growing Hardy Roses

Basic tips for growing hardy roses beyond putting them in the ground

Explorer Roses

A hardy bred-in-Canada rose that lives almost anywhere.

John Cabot

One of the Explorer series most often used as a climbing rose

Pruning Shrub Roses

Here's how to grow tree roses successfully

Rugosa Roses

The Rugosa family of hardy rose plants is quite amazing for fragrance and long-blooming

List of Old Roses

A list of old shrub roses for getting started at your own garden

Moss Roses

Unusual but lovely roses with a fragrance to die for

Black Spot

Black spots on the leaves leading to bigger spots and leaves falling = black spot and heres' what you do about it

Powdery Mildew

Twisted, stunted new growth or white powdery look to leaves

Botrytis

Botrytis or gray mould will attack fading flowers, which is why we prune them so not to spread it around any futher in the garden

Downy Mildew

This is a problem for western gardeners sometimes

Rust on Roses

Rust - reddish pustules - can be a significant problem if not checked and controlled immediately (tough disease to fight)

Got a Question about Roses

If you have a question about roses, this is a good place to ask it.

Please understand that I get hundreds of questions every week from readers and I simply can't answer them all. I do my best and print quite a few in my free newsletter

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What Other Visitors Have Asked About Roses

Click below to see questions from other visitors to this page...

Planting Bare Root Roses Hi Doug,
I have a question about bare root roses that I recently bought. I am going to plant them this weekend. New growth has begun to grow on one ...

New dawn rose for arbor in zone 5 Hi Doug,

We live in Montreal, zone 5.

My wife had a dream of having a rose covered arbor all her life. 2 years ago on an impulse we bought a cast ...

Transplanting climbing rose in fall Hi I have a climbing rose planted in spring this year that has grown ver well. Now I want to transplant it to another part of the garden. Can I do it now ...

what does a rose hip look like Hi,
Thank you for all your great articles, what does a rose seed / hip look like? How can I find it on the rose bush?
Sorry if the question sounds trivia,...

Roses without flowers I took a few cuttings from my neighbour's red roses 2 summers ago and planted them in my garden in the sun. Only the thin cuttings made it. However, last ...

Toasted Roses I had a building fire in Oct. which was close to my rose bed. The roses were toasted a golden brown. I felt they would be all right and I am beginning ...

explorer roses, best hips, least invasive roots Hi Doug,
I'm looking for a rose with good-tasting, prolific fall hips. Also prefer a low-suckering plant, one that tolerates maple roots and dry conditions ...

Late Planting Roses in Zone 5 Is it too late in Zone 5 (Durango, CO - 6500 ft) to plant a Dr. Griffith Buck rose and had it established enough to survive winter?

Thanks, Susan

Doug ...

Rose bush blight My rose bush leaves are thin and yellowy and the buds are withered and dry looking. I can't find a description of these symptoms anywhere. Can you help?...

knock out roses my knock out are not blooming! One or two buds but not what I expected.

Doug says that he doesn't see a question here - only a complaint. :-) Let ...

Water Quality for Roses I water roses (as well as the lawn) with chlorinated water. I have recently started using compost tea, following your on-line instructions. They call ...

caring for a potted rose tree in Zone 10 What does yellowing leaves indicate?

How can I protect my rose tree from the heat in zone 10 in the summer.

Doug says that yellowing leaves indicate ...

tiny worms hello, my roses are under attack.
there are tiny futry worms about 1mm wide and 5mm long that make their way into the bud (from the bottom) then the ...

The Impressionist - May '09 Just wanted to share my beautiful single "Impressionist" rose. Hope to plant in the ground soon, it seems sturdy enough!

Climbing rose with an anomoly! I have a climber which produces beautiful orange roses -- but something is amiss! The same bush is also yielding a rogosa type miniature rose that is ...

Replanting rose trees Hi Doug,
Is it possible to replant rose trees when they are not dormant and what is the procedure please
I can get hold of a few thousand Hybrid rose ...

overwintering tree rose I have a tree rose. This is my second season and I've yet to bury it. If I succeeded in not burying it for last winter, what are my chances of it flowering ...

Problem with rose bush I can't identify what is on my Rose Bush. I had just planted it about 2 weeks ago. I was watering in every 1-2 days because we are in a drought. I saw ...

Container-grown roses in Winter My garden is in northern Virginia, 40 miles west of Washington DC. Is it possible to winter-over roses in large containers left outside? They are very ...

Miniature 'Palace' Rose Indoors i Have 5 palace rose bushes and the tag on it says that the rose can be potted for inside use or put in the flower bed outside. I wanted to know what ...

Removing hips from Rugosa planted a year ago Hi, Doug,
We planted several Rugosa roses in a community garden last summer. This summer they are doing extraodinarily well. We have been advised that ...

hardy rugosa shrubs yellowing I have two of these and they have done well until this year. One in particular has been dying back and turning yellow. This year I have had an influx ...

cutting and rooting rose bush clippings I've tried to do this several times with no success. Do you have any info and picture of where to clip the cutting, and then what to put it in to get ...

Rose Blooms Problems A page with questions and answers about problems getting roses to bloom

Insects have rose preferences I just read the article on the John Cabot rose with worms. I had been considering replacing my Baffin explorer rose with a John Cabot in the hope that ...

do roses and spider wort grow well together will these two plants grow well together, with the spider wort surrounding the base of the roses?

Doug says he wouldn't grow them together in his garden ...

John Cabot Rose with worms Hi Doug - I have a John Cabot rose and every spring I spend hours pulling green worms off of the leaves. They really devour the leaves and stress the ...

Rose Tree Hello:
I had two rose trees and lost one during the 2006-2007 winter. The 2nd one survived without being buried or having any intervention from me.

Last ...