Roses are a terrific choice for long-lasting colour in the garden and I find them an easy-care plant, writes gardening columnist JACKIE WARBURTON.

MY favourite roses are hybrid teas. Because they’re a cut flower, there are many highly fragrant varieties available. 

A large bush rose that comes to mind is also a popular grower in Canberra, Cecile Brunner. It can easily grow two metres tall. It makes a wonderful cut flower with button-size flowers that are popular for, say,  bouquets. 

Climbing roses are the most time consuming to grow, but worth the wait if grown well. All climbers need a strong trellis or structure to grow and flower well. 

Thornless varieties of roses I prefer are Crepuscule with apricot flowers and, of course, another Canberra favourite, Rosa “Zephirine Drouhin” with cherry-pink flowers. 

Zephirine Drouhin can be fully grown within three years. Unfortunately, it only flowers once with abundance in spring and only sporadic flowering through the summer. Its beautiful flowers have a strong raspberry fragrance. 

Planting roses into the ground should be done in winter when they’re dormant. Planting out from a pot can be done any time provided it’s not too hot, but a little TLC will be needed to help them recover from transplant shock. 

Place a little blood and bone at the bottom of the hole and place roots gently over a mound and backfill. Water in and leave for a week or so.

Don’t plant a rose where another has grown before or died. Toxins can be left from the old rose leaving the new one stunted and displaying poor growth. Only planting a rose in new soil will give it a good start.

Once the new growth has appeared, so will the insects, aphids and fungal diseases. They will all be a problem this season as the wet weather continues. Attracting wasps such as aphid parasitoids will help. They are minute wasps that lay eggs into the bodies of live aphids, eventually killing them. This wasp is also beneficial for green peach aphids as well. 

Deadheading and tip-pruning roses will encourage them to bloom more. Dispose of the cuttings into the green bin, but not the compost.

Spraying for fungal diseases now will help before black spots appear on the leaves and it will help lessen the infestation as prevention is better than a cure when it comes to fungal diseases. Use a fertiliser suitable for roses that is high in potash for flowering.

NOW the flower garden can be prepared with summer flowers such as cosmos, zinnias, dahlias, sunflowers and bulbs such as liliums and gladioli. 

A flower garden grown by seed can be an economical way to have a lot of colour in a small space. Some can be directly sown where they are to grow by digging over the area, removing weeds and moistening the soil.

Sprinkle seed on to the soil and cover lightly with sand or light mulch. Water gently and sprinkle diatomaceous earth to keep slaters at bay. 

Seeds will need sunlight once the conditions are favourable and they have germinated. Most flower seeds are small to see and if seed is too thick from over sowing then thinning out the weak seedlings will give the bigger seeds space to grow. 

Weeds will be a problem with the wet weather and need to be pulled out before they set seed. Remember, one year of weeds is seven years of seed! 

jackwar@home.netspeed.com.au