Winter Rose Care: tips + tricks for healthy roses into the winter months
DECEMBER 21, 2024
Now that Houston has finally cooled down, roses are springing back to life - pushing out buds, blooms, and even some new growth!
While we don't want to encourage new growth during the winter season with tons of fertilizer and deep cuts, we can implement the following strategies to maximize the health of any rose bushes in your garden.
01. Soil Maintenance
A tidy garden is the first step to healthy bushes!
Once a week, make sure you're scraping away any fallen leaves (hosts to disease and pests) and pulling any weeds (competes for nutrients in the soil)
02. Compost
While I wouldn't recommend a liquid fertilizer at this point in the season, you can tuck bushes in with a heavy application of compost.
Once your soil is clean (see above), apply several inches of compost over and around the base of the plant.
03. Watering
As temperatures cool, moisture remains in the soil for longer, consider watering less days or for a shorter time window.
Roses do not like wet feet so factoring in seasonal shifts in soil evaporation is important!
04. Harvest Shorter Stems
Deep cuts stimulate new growth, so if you'd like to harvest roses for bouquets - try to keep stems 12" or shorter.
Cutting deeper may stimulate the bush to grow a new stem to grow, which may die back in any freezes.
Alternatively, you can leave blooms on the bush to form hips - the seed pods that are food to birds throughout the winter months.
If you're new to Bungalow Blooms, welcome to the club!
I love growing roses and think they are one of the most attainable cut flowers - growing happily in pots and a variety of climates!
Each spring my signature offering, The Garden Rose Crash Course, launches - a deep dive into selecting, planting, and organically tending garden roses in the south.
Stay tuned as we gear up for Spring 2025!
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