Choosing Roses-You Can Do It!
Bare-root roses may look like a bundle of brown sticks, but slumbering within is a glorious bloom waiting to happen.
 Choosing Roses
 Planting Guide for Bare-Root Roses
  
 
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Planting Guide for Bare-Root Roses
Follow Allen's no-fail bare-root rose planting tips and even in their first year, your new roses will throw off bounteous blooms.
By P. Allen Smith

photography: Jane Colclasure
Cut a banana peel into the bottom of the planting hole to add organic potassium to the soil.

Allen's soil recipe & planting tips
You can purchase any of these supplies at a garden center, nursery, farmers co-op, or mail-order garden supply company.

2 banana peels (for added potassium)

1 bucket of compost

1/2 bucket of organic manure

1 tablespoon Epsom salts (for added magnesium)

1/2 cup greensand (optional)

2 buckets of existing garden soil (from the hole you're digging)

Fish emulsion, mixed into a water solution

1. Soak bare-root rose plants overnight in a bucket of tepid water before planting (to rehydrate them).

2. Dig a hole for plant, at least 14 to 18 inches deep. Cut up the banana peels, and throw them into the hole.

3. Blend compost, manure, Epsom salts, and, if desired, greensand in a wheelbarrow. Amend your soil with several shovelfuls of this mixture (or any other commercial rose soil mix).

Planting Bare-root roses
photography: Jane Colclasure
4. Make a cone in the center of the hole, patting soil firmly into shape (but don't compact). Spread out the roots of the rose over this cone, checking to make sure the bud union (between the roots and limbs) is at the correct level. The placement of the bud union either above or below the soil line is important: It's the most susceptible part of the plant. If you live in areas with extremely cold winters, bury it about 1 to 2 inches below the surface of the ground for protection. But in milder parts of the country, you can actually plant the rose with the bud union about 1 to 1 1/2 inches above ground level. Adjust the height of the cone if needed. Begin back-filling the hole with additional soil mixture, gently tamping the soil around roots; water the rose well to help settle the soil. Give the plant a little extra boost with a solution of fish emulsion, following the directions on the bottle.