To grow roses successfully and maintain them, you need to know the few basic rules and then combined them with “green thumb” or your natural intuition as a real gardener. These are some of the basic information on rose bush care and maintenance.

Determine your soil
Knowing what type of soil where you will plant and grow your roses is the first step. By being able to identify what type of soil you have in your garden, you will be able to modify it in such a way that it will best suit the needs of your roses for them to flourish well.

Watering the roses
First of all, you have to understand that the rose is a thirsty plant. They will perform at their vigorous best when their roots are kept moist during the growing season. You have to shower roses with lots of water to satisfy their needs. Roses need at least 1 inch of rainfall or its equivalent per week. They need water to the full depth of their roots to keep the soil moist enough but never saturated for any length of time.

Fertilizing the roses
Many species and varieties of roses will flourish without any fertilizer or supplemental nutrients added to them. However, all modern roses and most of the old garden types need fertilizers to bring out their best performance. They need to have at least these three basic nutrients for healthy growth - phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium. You have a choice of whether to use inorganic or organic fertilizers and decide whether dry or liquid.

Pest Control
The first step in controlling pests from your roses is to make sure that it is of good health. Good health means good living condition for the flower such as right soil, sufficient water and nutrients, favorable location and climate. When dealing with pests, control is always the best attack, there should be less room to get to the point of elimination. You can do this by monitoring your roses often for pests as the season progresses and deal with the problem as soon as they arise. Through this, you will limit the potential of pests and diseases to harm your roses.

Pruning the Roses
Roses are pruned to promote a symmetrical bush, to remove any damaged or dead wood and to encourage new growth. According to plant physiology, light-moderate pruning produces the best possible garden plants and plenty of good flowers. The best time to prune the rose bush is toward the end of the dormant season, when growth buds along the canes begin to swell. Generally, pruning should be done in winter or early spring. The two basic tools needed for pruning are sharp pruning shears and a pruning saw.

Source:
Sunset Roses by Elizabeth L. Hogan