Take everything you love about Roses and raise them to new heights! Our experts have elevated the elegant Rose by grafting them upon a strong, sturdy, and straight single-stem trunk, making these already iconic blooming shrubs into something otherworldly!
But caring for these precious works of art takes a bit more forethought and a touch of extra maintenance (but just a little - we promise!). Especially if you are growing these unique grafted plants in colder regions.
Nature Hills has you covered and takes all the guesswork out of the art of caring for Rose Trees!
About Tree Roses
Gorgeous landscape crown jewels, incredible garden specimens, and amazing gifts, Rose Trees are exemplary versions of the beloved flowering ornamental!
Experts have created Tree-Form Roses by taking the already beloved Rose bush (when grafted, this is called the scion) and grafting it atop a straight trunk, known in the industry as the standard.
This takes the anything-but-ordinary beauty of these classic garden ornamentals and elevates them closer to the eyes, nearer the nose, and head and shoulders above other mere shrubberies! Tree Roses can be grafted Hybrid Teas, Grandifloras, or Floribundas, and today, many are reblooming Shrub Roses with built-in disease resistance!
But what goes into caring for these precious tree-form flowering plants really isn’t what you’d expect! Long gone are the days of fussy Roses that need coddling and weeping over!
Basic Rose Care For Happy Blooms
Most Tree-Form Roses are grafted atop a Rose Standard, which can also be grafted onto hardy Rose root scions. Typically, standards are 2-3-foot or 3-4-foot tall trunks.
In extreme cold climate locations, even the hardiest Rose needs extra protection for their graft unions.
Roses need 8 basic rules of thumb to keep them happy and healthy -
- Full Sun - Favoring morning sun to dry their leaves of dew
- Air Circulation - Rose foliage needs ample air circulation to avoid many issues that can cause problems
- Regular Moisture - Moderate yet consistent water access all growing season
- Enriched Well-Drained Soil - Roses despise soggy stagnant conditions. Plant Roses in a location with high organic matter and good drainage
- Mulched Garden Beds - Adding 3-4 inches of arborist mulch holds moisture better, insulates the root system, and further enriches the soil
- Regular Fertility - Roses need ample fertility access to support their flowering and health
- Winter Crown Protection - Protecting their crown and roots from chill is vital in cold climates
- Spring Pruning - Pruning Roses is best performed in the early spring when you see new growth beginning to emerge
This is the basic care that many types of both new and old-fashioned Roses need to keep them looking their best for the long run! Rose trees will need just a little bit more to protect their graft union and support the very best growth.
Caring For Tree Roses
How do you maintain a Rose Tree that is different than a regular Rose bush? There’s not too much else during the growing season!
In addition to the 8 basic needs listed above, be sure to regularly water your Rose Tree deeply and use the finger-test method to know when to water. You will want to do this to ensure your Rose roots go deep to better help them tolerate heat and short bouts of drought.
Plant your Tree Rose in a protected location away from strong winds, out of exposed locations, or in low areas where cold air can settle.
Tips For Rose Trees Planted In Lawns:
- Give them their own garden bed, or a 2-3 foot wide ring of mulch to protect the trunk from mower and weed-whacker damage.
- This buffer zone also helps keep lawn chemicals and fertilizers that are high in nitrogen away from your plants.
- Avoid planting directly in the lawn with turf grass. Roses exposed to high nitrogen (lawn fertilizers) levels grow predominantly green foliage and may have reduced flowering.
Preparing Your Rose Tree For Winter
With just a bit of planning, your Roses will slumber throughout the winter like a baby, emerging in spring with an explosion of refreshing growth!
Winter protection is needed, especially if you are growing them where winter can get to zero degrees or colder.
Container Tree Form Roses can be overwintered in an unheated garage after they go dormant. If grown in the ground, they can be heavily mulched and wrapped with straw and burlap for protection.
Winterization Timing
It’s a good idea to protect the crown of the Rose and its roots from the impending winter’s chills. However, most people cover their Roses too early!
In the rush to beat the cold (to keep themselves warm more so than their plants), they accidentally trap moisture, leaves that are still green, and potential mold, fungi, and disease in their shrubs. Forcing them to struggle all winter long.
This also wreaks havoc on your plants during the fickle autumn months that waver between freezing and thawing.
- Be careful with using Rose Cones for winter protection, as the plants can rot underneath. Cut holes in the tops of the cones to allow moisture to escape, but the sides of the cones will offer protection.
Wait until your Rose plants have been exposed to several killing frosts and consistently cold temperatures to help them completely go dormant before covering, and only if winter protection is needed in your Hardiness Zone.
Depending on your climate, the right time is around Thanksgiving to think about protecting your Rose bushes in colder areas, but Ma Nature dictates exactly when with her fickle nature. One warm and extended fall, and you’ll find rotting or diseased Roses awaiting you in spring!
Know Your Climate
- In USDA growing zones 6 and below, you need to protect your Tree Rose from winter’s chill. Do everything you can to protect your investment.
- In the more Southern States (USDA growing zones 7 and up), if winter protection is needed, then you’ll want to wait until much later in the season before wintering your Roses. You may only need to provide the crown with a layer of mulch and protection from cold, drying winds.
- In the warmest parts of the country, only attention to moisture access is needed. Even though it is dormant, those roots will still need moderate moisture access.
Rose Tree Disease Prevention
Aside from much-needed morning sun and air circulation, cleaning away old/shed foliage, and proper winterizing, Rose Trees need a bit of help to keep pests away as well.
Treating Roses for insects can be done with organic options or chemical control. Or if you are in an area that has a lot of pressure from insects, you may want to consider using a systemic Rose care option.
Granular systemic Rose formulas are applied to the soil, raked/watered in, and the plant takes up the active ingredient to prevent bugs from chewing on those plants (making them taste bad from the inside out!).
If disease and fungus are issues in your area, it is a good idea to choose Roses that have natural or built-in disease resistance.
- Wait to cover until Roses are completely dormant
- Choose a dry day to winterize Roses
- Water only at the root zone
Optional sprays are available for your Rose canes, including a fungicide spray, a disease-preventing dormant oil spray solution, or 1/3 cup of baking soda to 1 gallon of water. Use these before winterizing to stop problems in their tracks.
Winter Moisture Needs
Although Roses are drought-tolerant once established, they really prefer to have good moisture to keep them stress-free. That means watering the soil as needed, while keeping the foliage dry. So check your soil moisture and water when needed right through the growing season into fall as the plants stop growing and go dormant. Read more about Winter Watering Here.
Deer Prevention
Deer will nibble on the ends of Roses where there are fewer thorns, but unfortunately, even the thorniest Roses can receive a bit of tip damage when the deer are especially hungry!
Try spraying your plants with a repellent and reapply after heavy rain or snow throughout the winter. Do this from day one of planting in high deer-pressure areas to train your local deer population that "This plant tastes awful!".
More Tips & Tricks for Deer Prevention
Mulch and Rose Trees
Freeze/thaw cycles and drying out are the two biggest issues facing Roses throughout the winter. Covering the crown loosely with arborist mulch or clean dry leaves is the best way to prevent cold damage to your Rose, especially in colder climates.
- In warm and humid climates, less is more when it pertains to preventing mold and fungus from getting to your plant.
We have found the best way to overwinter Hybrid tea, Floribunda, Grandiflora, Shrub Roses, and Climbers is to mound up several inches of mulch over the lower graft union at the base of your Rose tree.
Mulch not only looks nice but also greatly reduces the incidence of soil-borne diseases (water hitting the soil can splash the foliage and make it dirty looking while carrying with it those diseases!). As well as stopping weeds, and reducing moisture loss through evaporation. It is also a great barrier to keep the sun from baking your surface roots.
The loose, clean, and dry material can include:
- Soil
- Compost
- Mulch
- Shredded leaves
- Straw
- Peat moss
- Bark chips
“Un-wintering” Your Rose Trees
Once winter finally recedes, it is time to pull that mulch or leaf litter away from the bottoms of the Rose trunks and get them pruned! Wear some good heavy gloves to protect your hands.
Carefully remove mulch or wrappings and expose the canes. Inspect them (a leaf blower works great!), pulling the mulch back to a 3-4 inch thick layer around the root zone only, spreading out to about 2-3 feet beyond the Rose Tree’s branches (the drip line).
Pruning Rose Trees
In the early spring, just as you start to see new growth, it’s time to prune your Rose. Pruning Roses allows for better, bushier growth each year and stimulates new growth.
Know what kind of Rose you have before you prune!
- Hybrid Teas, Grandifloras, Floribundas, and many Shrub Roses make flowers on new growth/new wood. That means that these Roses need to be trimmed to remove any broken or dead branch tips. It also makes the Tree Rose canopies more uniform and allows them to make new growth from fewer healthy buds closer to the grafted top portion.
- Any of the old-fashioned Shrub Rose types, or Climbing Roses that bloom on old wood/last year's growth, should not be pruned in spring (read how to prune Climbing Roses here).
- Some older Native Roses that bloom on last year's growth will flower in June, and after they flower, you cut them down nearly to the ground, and new stems arise from the ground. Those stems make next year’s flowers.
For older Rose trees that have been in place for many years, you should take a bit of time with each plant, eliminating any dead or brown and dry canes back to the head with nice sharp, sterile pruning shears.
Winter damage may make pruning decisions for you. Remove anything suspicious and cleanly prune off the stem just above a fat, healthy-looking bud.
Any nice green stems that are not broken and look healthy should be reduced to about 6-8 inches away from the main grafted crown. For larger Rose scions, trim the head back to about a 12" sphere just as it begins to grow again in spring.
- Remember to wipe and sterilize your pruners between EACH cut!
Rose Tree Suckers & Rose Tree Stress
When stressed, sometimes a Rose Tree’s roots can send up suckers. This will look like straight canes coming up from the roots that are not branching off the main trunk. This could indicate your Tree is stressed from drought or pests, from mulch or soil that is piled too high over the roots, or the Rose Tree is not planted deep enough.
At any time of the year, you can prune away suckers and branching that forms at the base or on the trunk.
Correct what is causing your Tree Rose to be stressed, and cleanly prune off these suckers so they do not sap more energy or nutrients from your plant.
Rose Tree Fertilization
Whenever any plant is showing signs of stress - Do not reach for the fertilizer!
Treat the source of the stress and only fertilize once it has recovered. Fertilizer forces new growth at a time when your plant is already weak and struggling to support its current growth, compounding any problems it’s already experiencing!
Ways to Fertilize Rose Trees:
- Spread compost around your Rose tree each spring as you top off its mulch layer.
- You can also apply a slow-release fertilizer for Roses in the spring once you see new growth in the spring.
- You can also apply liquid Rose fertilizer in the spring and again in the summer.
- Don't fertilize after mid-July to give new growth time to 'harden off' before winter.
Containerized Tree Rose Care
Tree Roses potted up in planters and containers have a few extra needs for you to be aware of.
After all, they completely rely on you to provide their sources of water and nutrients.
For container Rose Trees that have been brought into garages or sheds for the winter, water sparingly enough to keep the roots barely damp, but do not let them dry out completely. Avoid wrapping the pot in plastic or plastic bags because mold, mildew, or other fungal issues may grow.
Proper air circulation is still important year-round. Temperatures in the storage area should be consistently in the 30s°F to the lower 40s°F to keep your Rose dormant.
Another method, especially cold climates, is to dig a trench in the garden and lay the potted, dormant Tree Rose in the trench. Then cover it with several inches of fresh soil or clean leaf litter. In the spring, simply unearth the potted Rose and stand it up again, water well, and stake it if needed until the roots re-settle.
Ensure Your Rose Tree Container of Choice Has:
- Ample drainage to prevent root rot and allow excess water to be quickly shed
- Is large enough to give the roots plenty of room to grow
- Amended with enough organic matter to hold moisture adequately
- Is heavy enough to prevent wind and storms from toppling your Rose tree
- Receives regular moisture
- Large enough not to overheat and dry up in the full sun. Choose pots that are white or a light color, as dark colors can heat up fast and cook the roots
- Large enough to hold enough soil to act as insulation for the roots to guard against the chill and freezes in the winter
- Has a mulched layer on the top to insulate the surface roots and prevent evaporation
Elevate Your Rose Enjoyment Today!
Gorgeous elevated versions of your favorite Rose bushes are elegant, high-end focal points and works of living art! Caring for them correctly will allow you years of enjoyment from these incredible ornamental flowering shrubs!
Check out the incredible array of Rose Trees for you to choose from today at Nature Hills Nursery!
Happy Planting!
