by Ken Lain, the mountain gardener
Just plant in a sunny spot and enjoy it! We’ve married the beauty of long stem roses with the Easy-care of shrub roses for landscape color like no other plant in the backyard. Choose fragrant reds, radiant pinks, corals, vivacious yellows, and stately whites. Extremely fragrant and only found locally at Watters.
The Collection – With 24 colors to choose from, it’s like a box of crayons for your garden. Choose from rich reds to radiant pinks and corals, to vibrant yellows and stately whites.
Just plant them in a sunny spot and forget about them. That is until you’re struck by their stunning beauty.
Blooms spring through autumn – These long-lasting roses are sure to perform beautifully in your garden all season long, from spring to frost.
Naturally disease-resistant – No complicated pruning or chemical applications required. Nothing bugs these roses. Not even bugs.
Planting & Care – Selection to overwintering, Watters Garden Center will show you how to get the most out of your Easy Elegance Roses.
Site Selection
Easy Elegance Roses do best in well-drained soil with at least five to six hours of sun every day. When planning your garden, keep in mind the full mature size of your roses and leave space for airflow in between each shrub. This helps prevent any potential disease problems and leaves room for growth.
Soil Preparation
Good soil is the best way to ensure long-term success with your new roses. Easy Elegance Roses send their roots deep and wide, so you want the best soil to ensure healthy growth. Roses prefer loamy, well-drained soil with the right amount of Watters Premium Mulch. This organic compost provides nutrients, increases nutrient holding capacity, and improves drainage and airspace, all essential elements for proper plant development.
Planting roses is quick and easy! Follow these 10 steps for smart planting:
- Dig a hole one and a half times wider than the container the roses came in.
- Add Watters Premium Mulch with 7-4-4 All Purpose Food to prepare the soil.
- Remove the plant from the container.
- Run your fingers loosely through the sides and bottom of the root ball.
- Center the plant in the hole, keeping the plant vertical.
- The top of the root ball should be level with the surrounding soil surface. This may require adding back some soil.
- Fill in around the roots with soil, and then firmly tamp down.
- Water your plant thoroughly to reduce transplant shock with Root & Grow. Refill with soil if necessary, then water again.
- Add 2-3 inches of mulch around the base of the plant, keeping away from the rose stems.
- Water as needed to maintain evenly moist soil until roses are established.
Fertilizing
Easy Elegance Roses are easy to care for shrubs, but like any plant, do better with the proper nutrition. This is especially true if you have sandy soil that doesn’t retain nutrients or soil that is low in organic matter. Apply Watters 7-4-4 All Purpose Plant Food spring, summer, and fall (March, July, October)
Watering
Roses like moist, well-drained soil, especially while started in your garden. Shrub roses, once established, are drought-tolerant plants that get enough water will produce more abundant, superior blooms and flower longer with vivid color and fragrance.
- In well-prepared, well-drained soil, it’s nearly impossible to over water roses. It is far better to soak your plants thoroughly and do it less often than to frequently water them just a little.
- It’s best to water in the morning so that the leaves have all day to dry off. Wet leaves and cool night air can cause fungal disease.
- As September approaches, you can cut back on the water as roses naturally slow growth and transition into dormancy.
- Soaker hoses are an easy, water-efficient way of delivering water directly to the roots.
Pruning
One significant advantage of Easy Elegance roses is they require very little pruning.
- In the first year, little or no pruning is required. We do recommend removing any dead or damaged stems.
- In subsequent years, pruning can be confined to removing dead or damaged wood and crossing or inward growing stems. This keeps the center of the plant open for good air circulation.
More Pruning Tips:
- Some gardeners like to cut the oldest stems back by 1/3 to encourage new growth and more blooms. This is absolutely fine, especially if you want to shape the shrub.
- If you prune your rose shrub, it should be done in March as roses begin to flush new growth.
- Deadheading, or removing the spent blooms, is well worth your time. If a plant does not have to use its energy to produce rose hips, the repeat bloom will be much healthier.
Overwintering
Easy Elegance roses are specifically bred to stand up to winter cold, so you don’t need to do any of the in-depth winter protection like you do for many other roses! Follow these easy steps for winter preparation:
- Stop fertilizing roses by the end of July, if you are fertilizing at all.
- Stop deadheading roses in September to allow the stems to harden and form hips.
- Water roses well, going into fall.
Cover the base of the shrub with Premium Mulch, or shredded Cedar Mulch to protect the crown, which is just above where the roots meet the soil. This way, even if you have an unusually cold winter that causes dieback, your roses will come back the following year. Easy Elegance roses are grown on their own root, they will grow back beautifully, even after the worst of winters.
Rose Buying Guide
Roses have long been the “gold standard” of gardening, but along with that title came the idea that they are challenging to grow. And honestly, many of the more old-fashioned hybrid tea roses require a lot of attention. That’s where easy-care Easy Elegance Roses come into play: they are true “Roses You Can Grow.” These roses are bred for cold hardiness, disease resistance, and heat tolerance. No more spraying chemicals or complicated overwintering processes!
Choosing the best rose bush
- Purchase roses that are offered in larger pots, usually a 2-gallon container or larger. Avoid smaller sizes because the root system will be smaller, and plants will take more time to establish in the garden.
- The canes (also known as stems) should be thick and healthy in appearance.
- Look for healthy, robust leaves that are free of disease and insects.
- The rose bush should have a good shape and be appropriately pruned. If the plant has weak stems or if the branches are falling over, select a different plant.
- Plants should have adequate moisture and not appear dry.
- Consider the spot you have in mind and make sure it receives at least six hours of sunlight.
Check the tag for information about the variety such as how big it will grow. The great thing about the varieties in Easy Elegance is their compact, manageable size.
Companion Plants with Easy Elegance Rose for a Stunning Backyard
The perfect mountain perennial with huge fiery flowers on a compact plant. She loves the heat and super drought hardy. You can count on this bloomer to show off all summer long in raised beds, containers, or directly in the ground. Javelina and rabbit proof, this bloomer is a ‘must-have.’ Arizona plant.
The wind is no problem for this evergreen bloomer. Rose, Pink to white flowers cover this spring bloomer that often repeat blooms in fall. The dark blue berries adorn this compact bush that takes the wind and soaks up the sun like a native. Perfect for low maintenance gardening with virtually no pruning ever. Every backyard should have at least one.
Purple Robe Locust Tree
Incredible, long clusters of purple flowers in May that look just like Wisteria flowers hanging from this local bloomer. The 8″ inch fragrant clusters cover the tree profusely! Super hardy and drought tolerant with a brisk growth rate of 2 feet in one year. It’s the perfect summer shade tree.
A super vigorous vine with dangling stalks of fragrant flowers appears in early spring. Blooms are often followed by showy, 4″ purple edible fruit . . .yum! She proliferates up arbors, pergolas, fences, and stunning as a ground cover to retain hills. One of the fastest-growing evergreen vines for mountain gardens.
Mountain famous for continual blooms spring through autumn with just a bit of care. The perfect cottage garden flower ideally grown in containers, hanging baskets, or raised beds. Sunshine Geraniums make gardening brighter! Feed twice monthly with Watters ‘Flower Power’ for a riotous bloom all season long.