Caring For Your Roses In May
As the start of the rose season approaches, excitement builds for those first few buds to bloom. While you wait for your roses to come into flower, it has never been more crucial to make sure they are getting enough water, especially if you have been enjoying more sunny weather.
Keep reading to find out what our Rosarians are doing with their roses throughout the month of May.
Make Sure Your Roses Are Getting Enough Water
After the sunny spells the UK has seen recently, the most important thing to do in May is to make sure your roses are getting enough water, especially if they are in a pot. Long dry spells can cause your rose to dry out just as the flower buds are forming, especially if it is windy.
The best way to know if your rose is getting enough water is to test the soil with your finger.
For more advice on how to water your rose click here
Tie in new growth
As your roses continue to shoot new growth throughout the month, you can start tidying up your plants by tying in the new climbing stems. This will train it to grow in the direction you are hoping for. Just make sure that you treat any new stems with care so that they don’t break off.
Feed Your Roses
To get the very best out of your roses throughout the summer, our Rosarians recommend giving your roses a liquid feed every couple of weeks once you start to see flower buds on the plant. This helps to encourage more healthy, abundant blooms throughout the summer.
Our Rosarian’s top picks for rose feed are Top Rose for a granular feed and Uncle Tom’s Rose Tonic for a liquid feed.
Click here to find out more about feeding your roses
Remove Any Blind Stems
After a few weeks of growing, you should be able to see any blind stems on your roses. These are stems that have some foliage on them but aren’t producing a flower bud. If you want your rose to prioritise its blooms this year, our Rosarians would recommend cutting them back.
However, if you would rather your rose have a more bushy look, you can leave them on the plant until pruning later in the year, they won’t harm the plant.
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