I always tell people that if they can grow perennials, like peonies, azaleas, hydrangeas, irises, lilacs etc., they can grow roses. They all need the same basic things, good soil, the right amount of sunlight, enough water, a good hair cut at the appropriate time and a little fertilizer now and then. After that anything extra you want to do they'll appreciate but it isn't necessary. Most people are a little taken aback by that because they've always thought of them as "specialty" plants and fussy divas but really they're just perennials. You need to know their basic requirements and supply those and they'll grow and bloom happily for you!

The best thing that happened to me was discovering the antiques. Here in Florida, most of the moderns have to be sprayed, and I'm not willing to do that.

I do have some newer polyanthas and shrub roses but only three hybrid teas. The HT's I have are very susceptible to chili thrips.

Hey Sara. Well what is the worst thing that could happen? The plant may die which is part of the gardening experience. If it does, you try again.

Honestly, roses are not some mystical plant that people make it to be. All it needs is a good "foundation" that is good drainage, about 6 hours of sun and good fertilizer. You need to deadhead between flowering and do some pruning in the spring. That is it. Oh yeah, and you enjoy its beauty during the summer months. Not a bad bargain if you ask me by just taking the first step.

...as long as they really want to grow roses, then it's always going to be trial and error and we find out what we like more as we go along..
...what displeases me a little, is meeting people who really do not like roses and have no desire to grow any... speaking of disease issues, a poor outline especially in winter...and too much maintenance... preferring instead, rows of annuals lined up like soldiers, and clipped conifers...
...I find it's mostly men who make these sort of comments..
..and obviously, referring to Hybrid Teas...although I don't think they realise that...

I agree with you Marlorena up until you said that mostly men make these sort of comments. lol. Well, I think in the end it is really about whether they like roses or not. I have not met anyone in my life, men or women who really is passionate about roses. I have met people who grow a few plants for variety, love them but not passionate enough to really specialize them.

The people you are referring who prefer rows of annuals and clipped conifers are probably people who prefer a more formal (influenced by the formal gardens of the past) or "the designer look" (with its matchy limited palette of colours). You plant it once and don't have to do anything about it. These folks, nothing to do with genders are obviously not rose enthusiasts.

The rest of us however, like all people who are passionate about anything, will brave the mountain of challenges, shed a few tears (dead plants), loose some sanity (Japanese beetles), loose a few drops of blood (pruning) and not to mention break the piggy bank to enjoy one of nature's most beautiful plant. Life is too short, enjoy while the little piece of heaven while you can.

Don't panic.
Don't over fertilize.
Don't under water.
There are other types of roses besides hybrid teas.

I don't mind starting people out with Knock Out, Pink Knock Out or Blushing Knock Out, which can usually be found locally. If they are willing to mail order, then the Kordes "Fairy Tale" roses have been easy to grow and easy care for me.

It helps to start out with a few questions before you give any suggestions. How much room do they have? How much sun does that spot get? How much rain? How cold/hot does it get? Explain the difference between grafted and own root. Like seil said, if you can grow perennials there, you can grow roses.

That said, different roses, like different perennials, have their preferences. Some don't mind heat and humidity, some require cold, some prefer a bit of shade, some are water hogs, etc. It helps to narrow the search a bit to roses that might prefer the conditions in their available location.

Next, ask them what interests them about roses. Do they want to have roses for flower arrangements? Do they mainly want landscape interest? Is fragrance important? Is color? It can be helpful to show them roses in a garden near them that would meet their needs. Then they will have some idea of how it will look in their own yard. I think that people should pick out which roses they want to try, but sometimes they don't know what their choices are.

Finally, recommend that they start small. Maybe just one or two or three roses. It allows people to decide whether or not they enjoy roses without becoming overwhelmed.

People need understand that just because it is dirt, it is not soil. Also, if you are not careful, you can create a swimming pool under your dirt, and kill everything.

If you live in an area like Oklahoma, you need to purchase soil, and dig down far enough to get good drainage.

Do not ever dig out a bed, replace the clay with compost, and plant 12 large roses. Compost on top of clay is a beginners mistake that will kill your roses --especially if you water all the time.

Sammy

Sara-Ann, I am no where near Oklahoma, I am in Australia. You have received a lot of good info for your new garden. From my perspective I would wonder the neighborhood and see what sort of roses/plants grow locally, ask the neighbors about local conditions. The first thing I would do is 'amend the soil/dirt' as it is refereed to in the US, we call it improve here. The area which you have decided to place the garden I would check the drainage at present prior to planting, the aspect of the sun hours, any shade(trees). If you are going to raise the garden above the existing level that it is now I would open the existing soil/dirt, by this I mean break it up with garden tools(fork) not a rotor tiller, they will leave a pan(glazed surface) at the bottom which then in turn will make bowl where water can lay and possibly kill your plants. I believe the best plants grow with soil preparation, they will reward you later from it. As for the style of rose you place, it is your choice, some need lots of work(sprays), others will grow pretty well on there own with minimal effort.
Happy gardening.

Regards David.

I'm thankful that Mister Lincoln just so happened to be the first rose I ever purchased. If it were to have been some others that I bought many years later like Oregold, or John F Kennedy I may have never continued buying them. While Oregold is disease resistant, it stays the same size and its canes are weak, i get a couple of blooms per year and even though I tried fertilizing it has no vigor at all. John F Kennedy has one of the most beautiful slow opening blooms, but the leaves and buds are always mildewed in Spring, and it never seems to recover for the whole season. I replanted it in a sunnier location a couple of weeks ago and hope it performs better for me. I was about to toss it, but would regret its beautiful blooms when it does have any.

Now for Mr. Lincoln.. I bought it as bare-root clearance rose for $1.50 at home depot about 10 years ago. Bought it on a whim, just because it was so cheap. It didn't do much the first season but it did survive and greeted me with the richest blooms Next spring, it shot up the strongest canes, and bloomed all season long. Years later, I stick canes in the soil in the fall, and get new bushes the following year. I have about 5 bushes of Mister Lincoln now with as many blooms I can want practically all year round, and they are very fragrant. Submitted is a picture I took just minutes ago! Even though there has been Freezes here this year, the ones in more sun are still blooming. I can plant it in any area around the house, shady, in heavy clay soil, with no spraying or fertilizer and it just seems to thrive..all it wants is water. I really can't get over Mr. Lincoln, it does nothing but reward me with long strong stemmed fragrant blooms.

I planted a bare-root Pink Peace last year, right next to Oregold and it grew vigorously with also no disease. The only downside is that all the stems seem to be too weak for the heavily petaled blooms. A couple of weeks ago I picked up a bare-root "Touch of Class" from Orchard Supply and "Pope John Paul II" from Home Depot. I'm excited to see them grow for me!

Choosing the correct cultivar seems to me to be the best bet in a successful and satisfying rose growing experience for beginners.

Mister Lincoln last October. I think anyone can grow this Rose. When my mom's friends need roses, they just come over and get the vast supply of Mister Lincolns we have.

Do not amend planting holes or small beds for long-term plants like roses. Plant in loosened, existing soil instead, using organic material on top as a mulch - instead of in the soil, as an amendment.

If the existing soil really seems unsuitable then it either needs to be dug out and replaced with better soil or better soil needs to be dumped on top of it, planted in without mixing the two together.

Amending of planting hole back-fill was being seen to actually decrease plant response in organized trials by the 1960s. Plants that appear to do well in amended planting holes are growing despite the amending of the back-fill rather than because of it. In organized trials there has been a consistently better response from control plants planted in unamended soils in the same plots. The reason for this is that changing the texture of a soil within a small area has an adverse effect on how water moves from the surrounding, unmodified soil into and out of the amended area.

It would be nice if rose vendors/nurseries had "rose" people available to assist the customer with their selections. I recommend this forum! So much wonderful info here to promote the growing of roses.

One of the large independent garden centers near me has a clerk that functions part of the time as their rose lady.

This past season one of the cashiers told me the rose lady had said black spots on roses were (part of the time?) caused by water droplets sitting on them during the day, when the sun was out.

I told her that was false and she could verify this by looking on the internet. Of course, when fact checking on the internet you have to find sources that are telling you the truth.

bboy, just out of curiosity, what causes 'black spot'

I have no advice to give as I am a novice grower; However I have a rose bush that I guarantee will NOT die. The plant is 5th generation in my family, this past spring I dug up as much of the root as possible at my parents place, separated the runs when I planted in different areas... amazingly each area had grown near 2-3 ft in 3 months after transplant, along with my parents place grew a handful of new shoots as I must have missed some root. I am unsure of the variety, but if you want a root cutting let me know, as soon as ground thaws here I will get it to ya.

There's a lot of good advice in the posts above, but rather than repeating any of it, I'd like to mention something that has been discussed in other threads on this forum.

I would advice a new rose grower to have patience. A young rose is very much like a young tree and has different needs and performs differently until it reaches maturity.

It takes 3 to 4 years for a rose to become a mature plant. Growing established, mature roses is really different than growing juvenile plants. Patience is often the magic ingredient for success.

Smiles,
Lyn

This will be my third summer growing roses, so I'm no expert but I can think of a few things I wish I'd known when I first started growing roses!

1. I wish I'd known the difference between own root, bare root, & grafted roses.
2. I wish I'd known that hardy & cane hardy are not always the same thing.
3. Don't panic when roses get black spot/powdery mildew.
4. Give them lots of room to grow.
5. Be patient - especially if you buy your roses small.

There's been some good advice, information and suggestions on here, I appreciate it. This has been interesting. Thanks!

My suggestion would be to plant roses that do well in your specific climate and have a good resource to ask questions, such as this forum :). I think Julia Child or Belindas dream would be a good starter rose too, but that's just my option.

One of the best things you can do for any plants is to start a compost bin or two in your yard. I had the worst sandy soil when we moved here. No earthworms or anything in it. I have been amending for 3 years-not the whole 4 acres, but just the flower beds and veggie garden.
We have a bunch of chickens and rabbits etc. so we get quite a bit of compost going. Now all our beds are nice rich dark soil with lots of earthworms and other organic stuff in it. The plants are much happier too.
I learned to vermicompost (worm compost) under our rabbit hutches so now I have nice worm compost to add as well. I add the worm compost to my potted plants and they really seem to respond well to it.

My other tip is if you live in a humid climate, don't water stuff after 3 pm lol. That goes for all my plants here. Less fungal issues and less slugs.

Get a good set of pruning shears which include the small hand held one and a bigger one for the big canes. A good pair of gloves is necessary as well because most roses are just prickly. You don't have to buy the most expensive ones on the shelf but at least medium price one.

The compost bin really does sound like a smart idea and good pruning shears too. Boncrow, I've thought the same thing about Belinda's Dream and Julia Child, I think they would both be great roses for beginners, lovely, but also easy to grow! They are both doing good for me.

I would keep a shovel handy. If after two years it is still moping, place the shovel by the plant. After three years use the shovel. The rose store is still open.
I agree it is best to compost from the top down. Let the earthworms do the digging for you.
I try and pick a rose with a zone or two hardiness than the zone I live in (in my case the Mudwest.)
Contact your local ARS rose club ( there are a few left) and pick their brains. Keep in mind many of them are HT nuts.
I like Standing Perpetually. You may not.
What ever sets your heart afire.

Here is a link that might be useful: Stanwell Perpetual

I wish to retract and apologize for my uncalled for crack about the ARS. I can think of no other organization in the last few years who have tried so hard to broaden their coverage of roses of all sorts.
Give them a try. Their Magazine has lots of good info and advice.
If you are lucky you could join a local organization and get a few ideas, all sorts of stuff.
On second thought, the best advice IMHO that I could give a newcomer to roses would be to join the ARS.

Here is a link that might be useful: four-month trial membership for only $10