To help you understand how roses are sold, here’s some information.

Roses are grown as crops in the field and become ready for sale in November. The roses we sell are grown by The Cornish Rose Company, in fields near Mitchell.

During the winter, roses are mostly sold in the traditional ‘bare rooted‘ or ‘field grown’ way. This is a good way of buying and planting roses when they are dormant, allowing them to grow strongly in the spring, after settling in over winter. Bare root roses are dug straight out the field and have no soil round their roots or pots, so they are cheaper to buy. The plants will always be packed in a way that keeps their roots moist, which is very important. They should be planted within a week of receiving them for best results.

We pot a large proportion of our crop too which then allows us to sell roses when they are actively growing – digging rose plants out the ground at any other time than during their winter dormancy will be certain death for them!

Generally, there are five main categories of roses which we stock at Lanjeth. They are Bush Roses (*which can be sub-divided into Floribunda and Hybrid Tea), Patio & Miniature Roses, Ground Cover Roses, Shrub or Historic Roses, and finally, Climbers & Ramblers.

1. Bush roses are all your normal types of roses that would be used for planting in beds and borders and mixing in with herbaceous plants and shrubs.
2. Patio and Miniature roses with neat, bushy growth and smaller flowers are ideal for growing in containers or at the front of the border. Height varies from 12cm to 30cm.
3. Ground Cover Roses are, generally, wider than they are tall and characterised by having smaller blooms which repeat freely. Height can vary between 30cm to 80cm.
4. Shrub/Historic Roses encompass all the old and historic garden roses which grow into large shrubs and add some stunning colour and form to the mixed shrub border. Many were bred more than 100 years ago by royal gardeners and passionate rose growers.
5. Climbing Roses usually have large blooms, the ability to repeat flower and are of stout growth. Nearly all require support and training. Rambling Roses are more pliable in growth than climbers, have a lax habit and generally only flower once.

Roses are easy to grow. We always say ‘treat them as you would human beings and you won’t go far wrong’, i.e. lots to eat and drink, a bit of love and appreciation and you’ve cracked it!

Any soil will grow roses, but ideally try and choose a site that gets at least 50% of the day in the sun.

If you are replacing old roses with new roses remove as much of the old soil as possible and replace with soil that hasn’t grown roses before (the old soil will grow anything else apart from roses).

Here are some steps to planting roses in the garden:

1. In the area where the rose or roses are to be planted, mix in at least one bucket of well-rotted organic matter per square metre, forking it into the top 20-30cm (8in-1ft) of soil. Farmyard manure is ideal for this. 
2. Apply general fertiliser, at 100g per sq m over the surface of the planting area and fork it in to the same depth as the organic matter.  Note:if you are using a mycorrhizal fungi (e.g. Rootgrow) then it is best not to apply a fertiliser at all as phosphorus (found in general fertilisers and superphosphate) can suppress the fungus. 
3. For each rose dig a hole roughly twice the width of the plant’s roots and the depth of the container it came in.
4. Carefully tease out the roots of container plants because, if this is not done, the roots may be very slow to extend outwards, leaving the young plant more susceptible to drought in summer. 
5. Place the rose in the centre of the hole and, using a small cane to identify the top of the planting hole, ensure the graft union (i.e. where the cultivar joins the rootstock and the point from which the branches originate) is at soil level.
6. Back-fill gently with the excavated soil and organic matter mixture. 
7. Water well.

If you are replacing old roses with new roses, ensure that you dig out the soil to a depth and width of 45cm (18in) and exchange it with soil from a different part of the garden, as roses are at risk from replant disease, also known as soil sickness.

To get the best from roses they need regular feeding.

A clay soil will need the addition of a rose fertiliser twice a year, in March (after pruning) and after the first flush of flowers is over (usually late-June/July).

A sandy or chalky soil will need feeding monthly from March to end-July – a small handful of rose fertiliser will suffice.

Remember to also feed your roses twice a year in spring and mid-summer with a granular rose feed such as Empathy After Plant Rose Food ( roses in containers 3 times a year) which should also contain trace elements including Iron, Manganese and Boron. We also recommend ‘Toprose’.

Loamy soil will need a feeding regime in between the other two types.

Mulching is a good practise; garden compost, leaf mould or manure will keep the moisture in the ground, but bark chippings are best avoided. Keep the mulch clear of the rose stems by about 4”

If the ground is dry, water well occasionally.

Little and often watering is best avoided. Rose growers find watering in the morning or keeping the leaves dry reduces incidence of disease.

When you first receive our roses they will arrive already hand pruned when appropriate, so all you will need to do at the start is plant and watch them grow and come into flower, New growth on Climbing and Rambling Roses will need supporting, training and tying in to trellis or wires (see below)

Pruning is easy, the rule of thumb being for established bush roses prune to 1/3 original size in a frost-free period from late winter to early spring.

Prune out any dead, damaged or weak, growth. Roses can be trimmed back after they finish flowering in November to stop wind-rock but the main pruning is done late-winter/early-spring. (If you are worried about pruning, don’t be, it’s quite acceptable to prune with a hedge trimmer!)