Rose Gardening in the Fall: Getting your roses ready for dormancy

Roses having mulch applied near the base to help with winter protection against the extreme cold.

Can you believe it is fall already? Crazy how time just flies by!

Autumn is the time that our roses start slowing down on their growth, as the days get shorter and temperatures start dropping. The rose garden winds down and starts getting ready for dormancy; a well-deserved winter’s nap!

There are still plenty of gardening tasks that we should do in our rose gardens at this time! (and other tasks we should stop doing!). In this article, we will be exploring what we can do to help our roses during this fall season.

It may be time to STOP fertilizing, deadheading, and pruning your roses!

Deadheading, pruning, and fertilizing are wonderful habits that greatly improve the health of our roses, and ensuring that we continue to get lots of blooms throughout the growing season! However, when the autumn season arrives, it is at this time that we should start considering to discontinue these practices.

FERTILIZING:

We know that roses love their food, and fertilizing is necessary to keep our plant healthy and vigorous, and to ensure that we have many flowers during the year. However, about 2 months before the first frost date, fertilizer should be put back on the shelf for the remainder of the year. Fertilizers help to promote growth, which at this time is the opposite of what our roses are wanting to do: start going into dormancy.

DEADHEADING:

Deadheading is done to “trick” our roses into giving us repeating strong flower flushes throughout the growing season. Roses bloom for the sole purpose of reproducing (making rose hips and seeds). When deadheading is performed, roses know they haven’t been successful with making any seeds, so they push out more growth and flowers. About 6 weeks before the first frost date, roses should not be deadheaded, but rather be left on the rose, where rose hips can be made. This gives the rose the signal that they do not need to push out more growth and flowers.

PRUNING:

While the “main” rose pruning should be done in late winter/early spring, maintenance pruning can be performed when necessary throughout the growing season. 6 weeks before the first frost date, pruning should also be stopped. Pruning also promotes new growth in your roses. Any new growth that happens later in the year may not harden off in time before the first frost hits, and the new growth can be killed off from the freezing temperatures. Of course, if you notice any dead or damaged canes, they can be removed at any time of the year.

There is an exception with pruning in the fall, however!

If you have long canes that are over 4-5 feet, they should be cut back. Long canes can whip around in strong winter winds, and your rose can be damaged from root-rock or the rose cane can simply break. Heavy snow can also cause damage to your rose canes. Don’t prune your long canes to the length that you normally prune back to when you do your “main” rose pruning; just take enough off to give your rose more cane sturdiness that can handle stronger cold winds and heavy snowfalls.

TIME FOR GARDEN CLEAN-UP!

Fall is a wonderful time to tidy up the rose garden! If you have annuals, you can remove them by simply cutting them off right at the base. It is a good practice to leave the roots in the ground, as they will decompose and return nutrients to the soil, and help improve the soil structure within the garden. If you can handle seeing dead annuals in your garden, you can also just leave them alone in the garden! The wildlife can use these plants for food and shelter during the winter! A lot of beneficial insects and pollinators use the dead plant material as laying grounds for their eggs as well.

Weeding is also necessary (but oh so annoying!) to keep up with, especially before you apply your mulch. Keeping up with weeds in the rose garden helps with weed control; the more often you are able to weed, the less weeds you’ll have. Once frost hits, you can take a break with weeding. You’re almost there, don’t give up just yet!

Remove any dead rose leaves that have fallen onto the ground, and remove any diseased rose leaves from the plant. Fungal spores from blackspot, powdery mildew, rust, and many more can survive during winter, and if left in the rose garden, can re-infect your roses right at the beginning of the next growing season. The diseased leaves should either be thrown away, put into a commercial yardwaste bin, or burned. Refrain from adding any diseased plant material to your own compost bin, as temperatures do not get hot enough to kill off fungal spores.

FALL IS A PERFECT TIME TO PLANT ROSES AND PERENNIALS!

Roses can absolutely be planted in the fall! As long as the soil is not frozen, you can plant/transplant your roses at this time. Try to do your planting before 6 weeks until first frost, to give the roots plenty of time to adjust to their new home and get adjusted. If you plant within 6 weeks to the first frost, make sure to add extra winter protection.

MULCH, MULCH, MULCH!

It’s no secret that applying mulch to your gardens is one of the best things you can do, and the fall season is one of the best times to do so! There are so many different types of mulch that you can use; from fallen tree leaves, composts, pine needles, and bark.

Mulching your rose gardens in the fall gives a great benefit to your roses- it helps insulate the soil and keeps the rose roots from freezing. If you live in a climate where you do get cold, freezing winters, adding mulch greatly assists your roses making it through the winter, snug & comfy!

Your gardening zone greatly determines how much mulch you need to apply to your rose garden. Here in 6B/7A, adding about 2-3 inches of mulch is sufficient enough to get all my roses through the winter with no problems. In colder climates, adding a thicker layer of mulch may be needed. In extreme cold climates, mounding mulch on top of the plant may be done to protect the crown & rose graft. Just be sure to remove the mulch as soon as the extreme freezing temperatures end, as mulch touching any plant parts can cause excess moisture to rot the rose. Another tactic that can be used in very cold climates is building a cage around the rose using chicken wire, and filling it up with fallen tree leaves or straw.

Mulch is great even for rose gardens with mild winters-mulch breaks down over time, adding nutrients to the soil, and improving the soil quality over time. Organic mulches do not need to be “cleaned up” at any time as they break down into the garden.

With the first frost date getting close, preparing your roses now will help them survive the winter, and be stronger and healthier next year than ever before! HAVE FUN WITH YOUR ROSES!