Gardening Tips - November
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Planting Roses by Peter Franks
 

This is the best time to plant roses, as the soil is warm enough to encourage growth.

If the roses are purchased as bare root plants, first stand the plants in water for about one hour prior to planting. Prepare a planting mixture of good quality compost with added bone meal and next prune away any damaged and twiggy side shoots.
Dig a hole wide enough to take the full spread of the roots and the place the plant in the hole and fill with the planting mixture and soil shaking the plant as the mixture is applied to ensure it settles beneath the roots. Keep filling the hole and tread the soil to firm the roots.
 
Make sure that the union of the stem where it meets the rootstock is about 1” below the soil level.
Tips
When replacing roses in beds that have grown roses for some years, use fresh soil from another part of the garden to incorporate into the planting mixture.
If plants arrive during frosty weather or land is not immediately available, separate them and heel them in by digging out a shallow trench deep enough to contain the roots and about 2” of stem, water the roots, replace the soil and gently firm it in.