Folks are always asking me about rose culture, and I love sharing information with everyone. Invariably, most of the questions I get are which fertilizers to use, or what spray material should be used for fungus or insects, or which roses to plant where. There are a plethora of products on the market, but in order for any of them to work, one key simple thing is necessary.

In order for a rose to be happy and healthy, the same simple thing is key. And, that simple thing is…

WATER!

I just came in, actually, from watering my Sunrise Garden. This garden runs the entire length of the eastern exposure of my house and is covered over up at the top with a very wide soffit; our house is a fully dormered saltbox.

Unless we get a nor’easter, very little or no rain falls into this garden. I am thankful that we do not have drought conditions happening here in Connecticut this year and for most of the gardens on our property, I’ve had to do very little watering recently because we’ve had some good rainfall. But, the Sunrise Garden needs hand watering, and I am pleased to give it a drink at least once a week.

Water Roses Deeply

It is better to water deeply once or twice a week because the roots of our plants will then dive deeper into the soil. Then, if you’re away on vacation for a couple of weeks and the top of the soil dries out, the roots will be fine and won’t dehydrate.

I like to make sure my roses get five gallons each week. You can find out how much water your hose delivers by counting out how many seconds it takes to fill a five gallon bucket. In my case, that takes 50 seconds.

I always water with a long-handled watering wand and I mulch my beds. Mulch breaks up the shower and ensures the water will go right to the roots of the plant. As I water each rose bush, I count to 50. This gives me the opportunity to really check out how my rose is doing. Just this morning, I spotted a gall on the stem of one of my roses. I’ll go out later and pull it off if I can and treat the cane with some neosporin cream to kill any bacteria left behind. If I had an automatic watering system, I might have missed that gall until it was too late to save the bush.

Roses in Hot Weather

Soon we will be at the mid-summer point of the year. You can be sure that if you are hot, your roses are, too!

Watering is a good way to cool them off, just as a cool shower helps us. Most of the year I just water the soil under the roses, but this time of year, I’ll give them a shower when I’m watering. You can just feel the heat drop like a stone as the cool water hits the leaves. I can almost hear my bushes saying, “Ahhhhhhh!!” I just make sure that the foliage will be dry before dark so fungus is not encouraged.

Water. It is such a simple thing, but it brings life to everything, including our roses.

Water is a precious commodity, so try to conserve when you can. I have a rain gauge in one of my gardens so I know how much water falls from the heavens and I can adjust my garden watering accordingly.

If you do nothing else for your roses, just remember that water is the most important thing we can do for them. They’ll live through a fungal attack, Japanese beetles, Katydids…you name it! As long as they have enough, they’ll have the ability to regrow and bloom again.

While you’re watering, be sure to lean over and breathe in your roses’ perfume! They show their gratitude by releasing more fragrance just after a good soaking…enjoy!