Rose growing the organic way

I've never had many roses*, at least in part because they're reputed to be a difficult plant to grow organically, and partly because I don't feel confident enough to prune them correctly.

When our daughter was born earlier this year, we were given a patio rose called Many Happy Returns, which was a lovely gift, and prompted me to finally get around to some rose care research.

I found the Organic Rose Gardening site,  which was useful although fairly basic. But I had an idea in the back of my mind that the HDRA as was, now Garden Organic, had been looking into how to manage roses. A quick Google search brought up the Garden Organic/National Trust technical note on organic management of roses (a PDF file), which is a superb resource. Not surprisingly, the practices mentioned will be of no surprise to anyone with experience of organic gardening techniques - hygiene, rigorous soil preparation, and biological control to deal with aphids and other pests are all crucial. It's also helpful if you're prepared to dot your roses about among other plants in the garden rather than the more traditional "rose bed" approach, a monoculture that can result in lots of diseases flourishing.

Despite being left to languish on the patio largely untended as I tended my child during the summer, my rose did very well, flowered abundantly, providing blooms for the house and brightening up the garden. It will get a pruning in February or March, as per the RHS instructions here, and will, I hope, bring many happy returns.

*I have been given a few of those miniature roses you can get that are meant to be grown as houseplants, but they've always ended up outside, because unless you live in a huge, poorly-heated stately pile, they're atrocious as indoor plants - they need bright conditions but a cool room of 50-70F in the summer, which not many of us can achieve in modern homes. They also need lots of humidity, which is also not conducive to the bone-dry heat of the modern radiator. So, if you see one going cheap at the garden centre, do buy it, but think of it as a temporary visitor to your home and plan to find a place outside for it before it succumbs to mildew or wilts away in the heat.

Comments

[Corinna]

That's a beautiful rose you've got there.
For my part, I think it's an urban myth that roses are difficult to grow, as long as you choose some that are suited for your climate and plant them in the right spot. It's fairly difficult to kill one off -- mine are regularly pruned by the deer who love them as a dessert, and still thrive.