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| Home > Types of Gardening > Rose Gardening > Selection of Site & Soil
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| | Selection of Site & Soil
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The most important first step in planting your roses is to decide where you will plant them. Roses bloom best in an area where they get at least six hours of sun every day. Morning sun is preferable, as this dries the dew quickly, making them less susceptible to fungus problems. If you are going to plant more than one rose, leave plenty of room in between each rose, as good air circulation also promotes good health. Once you have picked out your spot, you are ready to go buy your roses. Hybrid tea roses are the type that most people think of when they think of roses. They have long elegant stems with one flower on each stem. You can also choose floribunda roses which have smaller flowers, with multiple flowers per stem, and climbing roses which must have some sort of support system, such as a fence or trellis.
 The best site for a rose garden is conceded by most authorities to be an open space on a southerly slope, sheltered to the north and west by higher ground, walls or hedges. The beds should not be too close to the walls or hedge and should have some sunlight and plenty of air all around them. Confined gardens are productive of disease. We cannot always select the site, and if you must place them close to a hedge or wall, use care to see that they have direct sunlight a little better than half the day. We must see, however, that they are kept free from the roots of trees or other shrubbery. If the site must be close to these other plants, cut down into the ground near the bed, the full length of a spade, several times each year, to see that the roots do not grow into the bed itself. Poplars and willows of all kinds are extremely dangerous to rose beds. Roses should not have to compete with tree roots for food moisture. Do not make the beds too high or too wide.
If the beds are more than four feet wide, it will be necessary to walk on them in pruning, picking the flowers, etc. and thus undo the effect of cultivation.
 A medium heavy soil, well supplied with humus and well drained, is all that is necessary. Every kind of soil capably handled will support roses. The secret is deep cultivation. The top four to six inches is not so important; but the next twelve inches of soil in the bed, should contain the plant food. Generous quantities of humus, well-decayed manure if you have it, and plenty of bone meal should be added. Do not force the plants too fast with chemical fertilizer, and above all do not fertilize late in the season. Chemical fertilizer applied at this time will stimulate new growth during warm days and the plant may not winter well.
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