Roses Will Reward You With Big, Blousy Blooms by Late Spring if You Follow These 5 Steps in March
How to guarantee yourself an early show of beautiful, fragrant roses
Roses are a quintessential summer bloom, and every gardener dreams of bountiful flowers coming early in the season. If you follow these five expert-approved steps this month, those dreams can become a reality.
Early spring is a busy time when growing and caring for roses. A few key maintenance tasks done this month will make a big difference to your display, and the reward is a bumper collection of beautiful, fragrant rose blooms come June.
Article continues below1. Prune Your Roses
To ensure your roses showcase bumper blooms in summer, proper pruning is essential. The majority of roses are pruned during dormancy, after the last frosts and just before the new buds start to swell.
This is often between late February and early April, depending on your climate. It may mean that March is the best time in your locale to prune roses. Don’t hold off on trimming; if you wait too long to prune roses, it can delay flowering by 4-6 weeks.
Wes Harvell, rosarian and horticulturist with Jackson & Perkins, claims that ‘proper pruning is essential’ to guarantee outstanding blooms come summer. He advises: ‘Remove any dead or damaged canes and open up the center of the plant to improve airflow and sunlight penetration.’
‘A well-pruned rose directs its energy into strong new growth, and that’s where your best blooms will form,’ adds Wes.
Always use clean and sharp pruning tools to make proper cuts and avoid spreading disease. It is recommended to wipe down your pruning shears with a sanitizing solution (such as this disinfectant spray at Walmart) when moving between rose bushes.
Wes Harvell is horticulturally educated with over 30 years in the rose business as a salesman, merchandiser, marketer, and online retailer. Currently the rosarian for the collection of JPPA Inc, garden brands, Jackson & Perkins, Wayside Gardens, and Park Seed.
2. Ensure the Growing Conditions Remain Perfect
Roses like the sun and will perform their best when they get the light they want. Ideally, a rose will get at least six hours of sunlight per day. They can grow in light shade but will produce fewer blooms, though they will not thrive in full shade.
Over the years, conditions can change, and a rose may not get as much daily sun as it once did. As trees and tall shrubs grow, they can cast shade over other plants, so Lorraine Ballato, a professional horticulturist and award-winning author, recommends checking the current conditions.
‘Is there enough sun? Are the surrounding plants encroaching on the rose bush?’ says Lorraine. ‘If so, remove and/or cut them back.’
A sharp pair of pruning shears (such as these professional Felco F2 pruners available on Amazon) or loppers (like these Fiskars extendable loppers at Walmart) can be used to lightly trim trees and shrubs to ensure lots of sunlight reaches your roses.
A rose should ideally be at least three feet away from other plants, and this increases to five feet for larger shrubs. The right spacing ensures air circulation to prevent disease and stops shrubs from competing for sunlight, water, and nutrients.
These factors can all impact blooming, so when you wonder what to do with roses in March, checking and maintaining the spacing in spring can help your plants perform better.
Lorraine Ballato is a highly experienced New England horticulturist and the author of the international best-selling book, 'Success with Hydrangeas', available at Amazon. She is an in-demand speaker throughout the U.S. and has been a guest on radio shows from Alaska to Connecticut. She has been teaching classes at the New York Botanical Garden for over 10 years.
3. Give Roses a First Feed of the Year
Once your roses start growing in early spring and the first leaves appear, it is time to give them their first feed of the new season. So March often makes an ideal month to fertilize roses.
This gets them off to a great start and gives them a boost of essential nutrients for strong growth and a flourishing start to blooming. It should be followed up with additional feeding throughout the flowering period for the best display.
An ideal product for an early-spring feed includes those formulated for roses or shrubs, like this all-natural rose food from Burpee. Lorraine Ballato recommends opting for granular, slow-release products as they are ‘easy and practically foolproof’ to use, and offer the advantage of feeding for several months.
Tyler Francis, April & Ashley’s Co-CEO and Co-Founding Member, highlights organic fertilizers such as rose tone, cottonseed meal, and chicken manure pellets as great choices to spread around the base of roses. He adds: ‘We typically use a 15-15-15 ratio, but don’t overthink it. Roses aren’t picky eaters – they just want to be fed.’
You can get bags of rose tone at Garden Goods Direct for use in early spring, or bags of organic chicken manure pellets at Amazon to add around your rose shrubs.
As Co-CEO and Founding Member, Tyler Francis helps lead the family-owned business April & Ashley, which has grown from humble beginnings to become the premier provider of rose bushes across the US and Canada. As lead farmer, Tyler’s focus remains on ensuring sustainable practices and cultivating a legacy of excellence. With deep roots in Arizona, April & Ashley is proud to uphold farming practices that respect both the environment and the artistry of rose cultivation.
4. Combat Pests and Diseases Early
There are many rose diseases and rose pests that can rob you of summer blooms. Fungal and bacterial issues such as powdery mildew, black spot, rust, and more can affect any potential display, and early spring offers a window to get ahead and combat these issues.
As you shouldn’t spray roses when they are blooming, the period between pruning and new leaves and buds emerging is a chance to protect the plant from many common pests and fungal diseases.
Tyler Francis from April & Ashley claims that dormant spraying your roses in early spring creates an ‘unwelcoming environment’ that protects against pests and diseases.
‘You can use horticultural oil, lime sulphur, or copper-based sprays,’ claims the rose expert. ‘This is an important step in the springtime because of the cool, wet conditions that allow powdery mildew, rust, and black spot to thrive.’
Tyler adds: ‘Spraying just once should do the trick, but another round a couple of weeks later wouldn’t hurt.’
You can get Bonide all-season dormant spray oil at Amazon, which is approved for organic gardening, and can be applied to roses in early spring.
If you have any old leaves or canes on the ground around the rose, remove them as they can harbor bacteria or fungi that will affect new growth.
5. Mulch Them
Mulching roses with organic matter in spring is recommended if you haven’t already. It can help your roses later in the season by retaining valuable moisture in the soil, regulating soil temperatures to protect roses from heat stress, and smothering weeds that can otherwise steal water and nutrients from the plants.
Tyler Francis recommends adding a 2-3 inch layer of mulch as ‘extra protection’ after the first feed of roses in spring.
‘Mulch helps retain moisture and puts organic matter back in the ground. This will promote growth and suppress fungal development,’ he says. ‘The mulch will gradually break down, delivering key nutrients to your rose.’
When choosing the best mulch for roses, opt for organic materials, such as compost, leaf mold, or bark chippings. Where possible, use homemade compost, or get bags of quality compost, like this organic compost and manure at Lowe’s .
If you love roses, you can bring a personal touch to your garden by adding your birth month rose to your backyard rose garden. Alternatively, a birth month rose can make a great gift for a loved one. Our guide to birth month roses reveals the signature rose variety for each month of the year.
Now you know what to do with roses in March, you may be looking for more expert gardening advice.
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This book by Gracielinda Poulson, a preeminent rose grower and proprietor of Grace Rose Farm, teaches all you need for growing, cutting, and arranging roses.
This concentrated liquid fertilizer is specially formulated for roses. Mix it with water and apply to your roses weekly to extend the flowering display.
These Japanese pruning shears are made of high-grade blade steel and are perfect for pruning roses. The vinyl-coated handle ensures you remain in control when trimming.
