Treat roses with care to ensure more blooms

Give them the opportunity and the right care, and many roses will continue to produce flowers throughout the winter.
By The Newsroom
Published 29th Jan 2017, 13:18 BST
BLOOMING MARVELLOUS: Many roses can produce flowers even in the middle of winter.BLOOMING MARVELLOUS: Many roses can produce flowers even in the middle of winter.
BLOOMING MARVELLOUS: Many roses can produce flowers even in the middle of winter.

Treat them with consideration, keep them tidy and you’ll encourage new, clean foliage; continue to dead-head all the spent or damaged blooms by either snapping off the head about 2cm (1in) below the flower head or snipping off the complete flower truss, using secateurs, and you’ll encourage even more and later blooms.

It’s the sort of win-win situation which made roses such favourites many years ago and which is now helping them regain their some of that popularity.

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But despite all the best efforts with watering and feeding, with pruning and pampering, there are still many dangers awaiting the unwary rose grower.

Diseases such as blackspot, and perhaps rose rust, continue to show their spotty symptoms on mature leaves, leaving affected foliage yellow and weak.

To minimise the infection, pick off any affected foliage and dispose of the leaves away from your compost heap because it may not generate sufficient heat to kill off the diseases.

And to take the battle to the enemy, spray your affected roses with a proprietary fungicide as soon as new foliage starts to grow.