Planting Roses in Winter to Reap the Beauty in Autumn

With their variety of striking colours and their aromatic scents, roses are the best known and most popular members of the flower family. Whether you are an avid horticulturist or someone new to the gardening experience, winter is the perfect time to plant bare rooted roses in the garden or in a pot.

Bare rooted roses intended for initial planting are leafless rose bushes packaged in small plastic bags to keep the roots moist. You can purchase the started bushes in gardening centres during the winter planting season.

When planted by the end of August, these mini bushes will strengthen, grow, and develop into colourful, fragrant blooms that will delight your senses from spring to autumn. Blooming roses add decorative touches whether they are displayed on window sills, in planter boxes, in flower pots, on trellises, as lawn borders, or when growing along fences.

Types of Roses Suitable for Winter Planting in Perth

• Miniflora
• Shrub
• Hybrid Tea
• Climbing
• Rambling
• Pillar
• Floribunda
• Old Garden
• Carpet
• Heritage
• Weeping Standards
• Standard

How to Prepare Bare Rooted Roses for Planting

1. Only purchase your rose plants when you are ready to actually plant them. This prevents the roots from drying out.
2. If you purchase the rose plants in person, check to see if the stems are smooth and wrinkle-free. The colouring of healthy stems will be reddish-brown or bright green.
3. Before planting in the ground or a pot, soak the plant roots in a container of water to keep them hydrated while removing all of the soil they were packaged with.

Planting Bare Rooted Roses in the Ground

1. Select a well-drained location that will receive at least 6 hours of daily sunlight. You can enrich the soil before planting your roses by mixing the soil with our Bibra Lake Soils C-Wise Humicarb for optimum plant growth. If you have a clay based soil foundation, blend our premium Bibra Lake Soils Potting Mix with the soil to achieve an open draining soil situation before planting.
2. Place each rose brush in a hole that is approximately 30cm wide and 30cm deep with a slight soil mound left in the center of the hole. The entire inner surface of the hole needs to be wide enough for the plant roots to spread out smoothly.
3. Clip off any damaged or broken roots from the plant before placing it, with the roots spread out, on the top of the inner mound of soil.
4. When refilling the hole be sure that the point where the stem joins the root stock is left 5cm above the top ground level of the soil. Then firmly pat down the soil around the plant.
5. Water the plant site well and add a layer of our deluxe Bibra Lake Soils Lupin Mulch around the plant base to help retain moisture in the soil. To ensure that the mulch does not interfere with the growth of the plant, keep it a few centimeters back from the stem of the plant.

Planting Bare Rooted Roses in Flower Pots

1. Select a flower pot for the initial planting that is 30cm deep and 500mm wide. You will need to transplant the rose bush into larger flower pots as its root system continues to grow. This will prevent the plant from getting root-bound.
2. Fill the flower pot with our premium Bibra Lake Soils Potting Mix to achieve an open draining soil situation before planting. Sift the soil aside to create a hole in the flower pot center for planting. Place some of the displaced soil in the middle of the hole to form a small mound. The entire inner surface of the hole needs to be wide enough for the plant roots to spread out smoothly.
3. Clip off any damaged or broken roots from the plant before placing it, with the roots spread out, on the top of the inner mound of soil.
4. When refilling the hole be sure that the point where the stem joins the root stock is left 5cm above the top level of the soil. Then firmly pat down the soil around the plant.
5. Water the plant well and place the flower pot in a location that will receive plenty of daily sunlight.
6. Check the moisture level of the potting soil frequently as potted rose plants need more watering than the roses planted in the ground. You can help your potted plants retain essential moisture by mixing a small amount of our Bibra Lake Soils Easy Wetta Wetter Granules with the soil in the flower pot.

Rose Plant Maintenance

The following tips will help you keep your rose plants healthy, strong, thriving, and blooming from the winter planting throughout the spring, summer, and autumn growing seasons.

1. To have an autumn blooming, lightly prune the rose bushes during the summer months.
2. Regularly remove the welted or dead rose flowers and the rose fruits, also known as rose hips, to maintain an attractive appearance and to encourage more rose blooms. Rose hips drain energy away from the rose plants and slow the growth of new roses.
3. A weekly treatment of our Bibra Lake Soils Sheep Manure will keep your rose plants well-fed with essential nutrients and keep them flourishing from spring through autumn.
4. Water your rose plants during the cooler morning temperatures at the base of the plants while avoiding watering the foliage. Morning watering helps to minimise the risk of plant disease.

Need Help?

Bibra Lake Soils remains open and ready to help our customers throughout the Perth area with all of their soil, mulch, and lawn and gardening treatment needs.

We have developed and closely adhere to a corporate Covid-19 operating plan for the protection of our customers and staff members. You are welcome to visit us 7 days a week at our 222 Barrington Street location in Bibra Lake WA, or you can call us with your enquiries or questions on (08) 9434 2290 to speak with one of our customer-friendly staff members.