planting and care of miniature roses

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Planting and care of Miniature Roses ◄Back
by Corinne Brown

Miniature Roses are tough little plants that will give years of pleasure if a few simple rules are followed.

Since miniature roses are usually purchased in small 3-4 inch pots, you must insure that it does not dry out. The roots grow quickly and soon take up all the space in the pot, making it crucial that you watch and make sure it is kept well watered until it is placed into a larger container or planted into the garden.

Roses love sunshine, so choose a nice sunny location to plant your new little rose. They love water and don't like to dry out, but they don't like wet feet. The water must pass through the soil so the roots don't stand in water for any length of time.

The best soil for any rose is a good medium loam that never gets too dry and never gets water logged. If your garden falls short in this respect, you can easily create the ideal conditions for them by either digging the area to a depth of eighteen inches or so and installing some kind of drainage, and filling with a good soil mix, or raise the level of the bed up (raised bed) in order to insure the water drains away from the roots of the miniature rose.

Once you have determined you have good drainage and a sunny location in which to plant your miniature rose, treat it to an improved soil. It's best to prepare the soil to one spade depth, or at least ten inches. The soil is easily improved with the addition of peat moss, garden compost, mushroom compost (available at most garden centers) or leaf mould. Any one or a combination of any of these can be used.

When planting your rose, dig a generous hole, adding a tablespoon of bone meal or super phosphate (no other fertilizer should be used at this time) and position your miniature so that it is approximately one inch lower in the ground than it was in its original pot, then water in well to settle the soil around the root ball.

Allow your mini a couple of weeks to settle into its new home before you start to fertilize. The little and often approach to fertilizing your miniature rose will keep it happy. You could alternate fish emulsion with another soluble rose food such as 20-20-20. Apply these at 1/2 strength every two weeks up until the end of July, at which time you should allow the plant to harden off for winter by withholding fertilizer.

Cutting off (deadheading) spent blooms will encourage your miniature rose to produce an abundance of blooms throughout the summer months and into early Fall. As mentioned earlier, minis are tough and will generally come through lower mainland winters unscathed. However, the precaution of covering them with a winter mulch will insure a colourful display again the following year.

Since rose disease is much easier to prevent that to cure, it is recommended that you routinely spray your roses with a fungicide. Visit your local garden center to find out what is available in your area.

Miniature roses lend themselves to pot culture and the only cultural difference is that the soil in the container should be friable and drain fairly quickly. A good mixture for containers would be 1/3 garden soil, 1/3 horticultural peat moss and 1/3 perlite or sharp sand. A prepared mix can also be used just as successfully providing it is one that drains quickly. One of the more popular mixes is Sunshine #4, or Pro Mix which is ideal for miniature roses. So that you don't have to be quite as attentive about watering daily, 1/3 of the mixture could be Sunshine #7 (Gel Plus) which has little bits of a jelly like material that hold water and releases it gradually. The smaller volume of soil in containers will dry out quickly, so you will need to water the container often (probably on a daily basis throughout the hot summer months.)

I wish you success with your roses and hope they bring you much joy!

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