Mike's Backyard Nursery

The Most Fun You Can Have With Your Bibs On!

  • Home
  • Recommended Tools
  • Products
  • Categories
    • Complete Guides
    • Gardening
    • Growing
    • Landscape Design
    • Plant Care
    • Propagation
  • Contact
  • About Mike
Home » Gardening » Fall Rose Plant Care

Fall Rose Plant Care

Updated : August 19, 2015

7 Comments

Proper care of rose plants in the fall will help ensure that your plants come back strong and healthy next spring.

blackspot

Source-Wikipedia

Roses love the warm days and cool nights in the fall and often put out their best blooms for fall enjoyment. Fall weather encourages the plants to form more perfect blossoms, but the weather can also encourage blackspot, one of the most common rose problems. Blackspot can defoliate a rose plant, and a plant that loses its leaves too soon will struggle to survive through winter. Maintain a regular schedule of fungicide sprays for your roses until the plants go dormant and drop their leaves naturally.

Gardeners in cold climates should stop fertilizing their roses in early September. No matter where you live, a general rule for roses is to stop applying fertilizers one month prior to the first frost date for your area, or a month before the deciduous trees typically drop their leaves.

Pruning your roses will encourage new growth and will also cause the sap to run in the stems. Tender new growth is vulnerable to winter damage, so rose plants should not be pruned in the fall.

During the growing season, the spent blossoms should be deadheaded often, and this will also encourage new growth. But stop deadheading spent blossoms about a month before the first frost. This will allow the remaining blooms to develop into rosehips and signal the plant to prepare for winter and go dormant.

Go ahead and cut a few of the more beautiful blossoms to enjoy indoors if you want, but try to limit any pruning or cutting of the plant in the fall.

Take a gander at these posts...

  • Growing Japanese Maples
  • It’s time to Make Baby Plants! Make Baby Plants! Make Baby Plants!
  • Do You Have Shotgun Fungus?
  • Tree Stump Removal Instructions
  • Check Out My Billy Goat Outback Brush Cutter!

Comments

  1. Beverly says

    October 3, 2017 at 9:57 pm

    Hello Mike, what did you mean when you say “Spent, and or Deadhead”, I’ve never heard those phrases before,

    Reply
    • Mike says

      October 4, 2017 at 7:52 am

      Beverly,

      Spent is a flower that is no longer viable, completely used up. To deadhead is to remove that spent flower.

      Reply
  2. Gale says

    January 4, 2016 at 3:11 pm

    Can one gallon rose bushes in pots be stored outside safely during winter? I am in Virginia?

    Reply
    • Mike says

      January 5, 2016 at 11:46 am

      Gale,

      Of all things to store outside uncovered for the winter I would consider rose bushes to be the most at risk. But then again, it depends on the variety, whether or not they are grafted and what kind of winter they are about to experience. At the very least I would move them to a protected area out of the wind. Even if you just sink the pots in the ground until spring that would be best.

      Reply
      • Gale says

        January 5, 2016 at 8:20 pm

        Thank you for your quick reply. I plan to root some family rose bushes. If I end up with more rooting than expected I may have more than my rose garden will hold in the summer and would like to store outside during the winter in Va. Is there a safe way to do this? They are not grafted. Sinking the pots in the ground is no problem, should I cover with a tarp or anything? Any ideas would be wonderful.

        Reply
        • Mike says

          January 6, 2016 at 11:01 am

          Gale,

          The safest way to protect plants for the winter is covering them with white, not clear plastic, but the plastic should not lay on the plants. see this https://mikesbackyardnursery.com/2013/11/over-wintering-protecting-plants-for-the-winter/

          Reply
  3. Margaret Craig says

    October 10, 2015 at 10:34 am

    I just love roses—can I turn down (climbing rose bush) in the fall, putting it into the soil so I can clip it next spring and have multiple bushes.
    I think my mom did something like this but just cannot remember

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Rooted cuttings of variegated weigela in bunches to harden off.

Over Wintering Rooted Cuttings.

Posted On January 8, 2023 By Mike

Mike's Big Perennial Bed.

Mike’s Big Perennial Garden

Posted On January 8, 2023 By Mike

A Profound Thank You from Mike.

Posted On September 1, 2022 By Mike

Finnegan keeping the sun off his head.

An Old Guy, Two Donkeys, a Puppy and a Hammock. What could possibly go wrong?

Posted On July 17, 2022 By Mike

This upside down donkey is a hoot!

An Upside Down Donkey and Cute Puppy.

Posted On July 14, 2022 By Mike

'Rockin Raspberry' Bee Balm.

‘Rockin Raspberry’ Bee Balm.

Posted On June 26, 2022 By Mike

'Bubblegum Blast' Bee Balm.

‘Bubblegum Blast’ Bee Balm

Posted On June 26, 2022 By Mike

Blue Angel Hosta.

‘Blue Angel’ Hosta.

Posted On June 25, 2022 By Mike

Big Daddy Hosta.

‘Big Daddy’ Hosta

Posted On June 25, 2022 By Mike

'Humpback Whale' hosta.

‘Humpback Whale’ Hosta.

Posted On June 25, 2022 By Mike

Complete Guides

Growing, Rooting and Propagating Dappled Willow in Tree Form from Cuttings.

Growing Seeds, Winter Sowing, in Milk Jugs and Kitty Litter Jugs.

The Correct Way to Pot Rooted Cuttings, Nursery Stock Liners and other Plants.

Training Arborvitae and other Conical Evergreens to Grow with a Single Leader.

How to Propagate, Root Cuttings, of Dwarf Alberta Spruce.

Recent Posts

Blue Angel Hosta.

‘Blue Angel’ Hosta.

'Blue Angel'hosta is by far one of my favorite blue hostas. A big hosta like this in a perennial bed covers a lot of area and that keeps a ton of weeds at bay! These giant heart shaped leaves are very slug resistant. We have this plant in full sun. With … Read Full Article

Big Daddy Hosta.

‘Big Daddy’ Hosta

'Big Daddy' hosta is one of my favorite big hostas, mostly because it's big, it's blue and it has very interested leaves that are a bit dimpled. Big Daddy hosta gets about 24" tall and 36" wide. It's hardy in zones 3 through 9, the flowers are blends of … Read Full Article

'Humpback Whale' hosta.

‘Humpback Whale’ Hosta.

We sold out of 'Humpback Whale' hosta pretty early this year. Humpback Whale is pretty impressive hosta and this one really hasn't matured yet because they can get three feet high and 7 feet wide. I've also seen photos of them that show them to be a lot … Read Full Article

Ice Plant, delosperma

Ice Plant, delosperma

How pretty is that? And it's a ground hugging perennial that comes back year and year. These plants were new to our nursery last year so Pam and I planted three of them in our landscape at home. Not only did they do really well last year but they wintered … Read Full Article

Electric Red Dianthus

‘Electric Red’ Dianthus

I've been working on my perennial bed at the nursery and this Electric Red Dianthus caught my eye and was screaming "make my picture". So I did! Dianthus in general are great perennials for your garden. They are super winter hardy even here in cold … Read Full Article

Copyright © 2023 · Hill Country Digital Media, LLC · Privacy Policy · Earnings Disclaimer · Terms of Service