Portland isn’t known as the "City of Roses" for nothing! Our longstanding tradition of rose culture dates back to the late 1880s when Georgiana Burton Pittock, community leader and wife to Oregonian publisher Henry Pittock, began inviting her friends and neighbors to exhibit roses in her garden for a fundraiser. In the process, she established the group that would eventually be formalized as the Portland Rose Society — the oldest society of its kind in the United States. The group’s annual festivities and pageantry paved the way for the establishment of the Portland Rose Festival in 1907, which the city has continued to celebrate in the more than 100 years since.

Here at the Nursery, we’re fortunate to be located not only a short drive from the Pittock Mansion and gardens where those early exhibitions took place, but also from the Washington Park complex, which is home to the city’s famous International Rose Test Garden. More than 10,000 roses spanning roughly 650 varieties grow there today. And while we couldn’t carry all of these varieties here at the Nursery, you’ll still find more than 100 of our favorites out on the floor each spring.

Our mild climate and fertile soils make Portland an ideal place for growing roses, and armed with just a few simple tips, you’ll be well on your way to a gorgeous, fragrant display for years to come. The Portland Rose Society has some wonderful, in-depth resources on rose care and recommendations for tried-and-true varieties for our climate, and they’re also a great group to get connected with if you’re looking to start or expand your own rose garden. That said, the following is a great quick-reference guide to help you out on your rose growing journey.

Modern roses come in a wide range of hues ranging from white and yellow to red and lavender. Pictured here is the colorful 'Sunblaze Rainbow.'

Siting & Caring for Roses

In general, roses thrive in a site with rich, well-draining soil that receives six or more hours of sunlight per day. (Certain varieties, including many of the ramblers, can be pushed towards shadier end of the spectrum, but just know that they won’t flower as well in these conditions.) Depending on your unique garden style and the exact “look” you are going for, the spacing of your roses will vary. In informal, mixed plantings they can look beautiful as either single specimens or massed in sweeping swaths. And in more formal settings, a pair of rose patio trees flanking a gate or a hedge of roses backing a border could be lovely. That said, good airflow is key to minimizing the impact of the handful of foliar diseases to which all roses are susceptible to some degree. Greater spacing and proper pruning practices (more on that later) are both helpful in this regard. And when combined with correct siting and soil nutrition, you’re well on your way to enjoying healthy, beautiful plants.

Fertilizer & Water

Because they are heavy feeders, roses tend to benefit from regular fertilization. We recommend using a balanced fertilizer specifically formulated for roses, such as E.B. Stone Organics Rose & Flower Food, being sure to follow the package instructions. You will also want to water roses regularly during the growing season, but keep in mind that they don’t like to sit in water. Additionally, overhead watering can encourage the spread of fungal diseases that aren’t particularly attractive, so it’s best to avoid wetting the leaves as much as possible.

To Spray or Not to Spray?

Common rose diseases include powdery mildew, black spot, and rust. While the measures outlined above, the removal of old leaves, and good garden cleanup in winter will help you manage these conditions, it never hurts to start with a disease-resistant variety. Many of the roses on the market were bred for the cut flower industry, where routine applications of synthetic pesticides, fungicides, and fertilizers are the norm; however, in recent years, more and more disease-resistant cultivars have been selected and introduced for home gardeners. While no rose is disease-proof, many modern roses will continue to bloom through some of the more common rose afflictions. Many species roses, as well as so-called “landscape roses” like those in the KnockOut, Drift, Grace n’ Grit, or Carpet Rose series are wonderful options for the low-maintenance gardener. It’s good to note, however, that no rose is disease-proof. And that’s okay! They are still well worth growing.

At Cornell Farm, we always recommend organic, low-chemical gardening practices wherever possible. Longtime rose growers often recommend early applications of an organic-approved sulfur fungicidal spray after late winter pruning and at regular intervals throughout the growing season to keep your rose foliage looking healthy. These are effective, but not without their drawbacks. For a lower-impact alternative, we often reach for neem oil products like Captain Jack’s Rose Rx 4-in-1. We’ve also heard of at least one garden on the East Coast experimenting with using fish hydrolysate as a foliar fertilizer spray and antifungal all in one. How much — and by what means — you want to intervene with these diseases in your own rose garden is up to you!

Pruning

Pruning is an important part of maintaining healthy, beautiful roses. And while there are different techniques for different kinds of roses, the most important thing you need to prune a rose of any classification — beyond a sharp set of pruners — is confidence! As long as you are making cuts above the ground, your efforts are almost certain to yield a better result than if you had forgone them.

The best time to prune most roses is in late winter or early spring before new growth begins. That said, late is better than never. In general, you will want to prune a rose to remove dead or diseased wood, old and non-productive canes with evidence of less-than vigorous secondary growth from the previous season, and any crossing pr crowded branches that could create congestion and inhibit air circulation.

Additionally, when pruning roses, you want to cut just above a bud — preferably one facing in the direction you’d like a stem to grow. Do so at an angle, with the higher side of the cut facing the direction of the bud.

The grandiflora rose above, 'Love,' demonstrates the high-centered blooms it inherits from the hybrid tea side of its genetics.

Modern Classes of Roses

With a history of cultivation stretching back thousands of years, it’s safe to say that roses are some of the most hybridized plants on the planet. While many older varieties found in European gardens only bloomed once, virtually all modern roses have been bred to rebloom — some to the point of near-constant flowering during the growing season. Since then, different rose classifications have emerged based on different combinations of genetics, as well as breeding goals and ideals. The following are a few categories you will commonly encounter in descriptions, along with pertinent class-specific maintenance and pruning tips.

Classification	Maintenance & Pruning Requirements
Hybrid Tea Roses: This modern class of roses is distinguished by its large, pointed flower buds that open to double flowers, which are most often borne singly on long stems that are good for cutting. These are the roses most of us picture when thinking of a bouquet of a dozen roses. They are generally upright, vase-shaped plants that repeat bloom. (The variety ‘Peace’ is a classic example.)	You want to prune hybrid teas in late winter or early spring to create a good framework for this year's growth. This generally means pruning down to a few major canes so that there is no twiggy growth left on the plant. Leaving 18 inches of growth on five or so major canes, with some larger secondary canes is generally a good rule of thumb, but harder and lighter pruning can be done. The harder the prune, the larger the resulting flowers that season, and the more vigorous the canes. Less pruning will result in larger shrubs with more — but smaller — flowers.
Floribunda Roses: These modern roses are known for their abundant clusters of double blooms on shorter stems, in contrast to hybrid teas which tend to bear only one flower per stem on longer stems. They are also valued for blooming nearly continuously through the growing season.	See above. Pruning guidelines are the same for floribunda, hybrid tea, and grandiflora roses. That said, grandifloras and floribundas can be left a little larger with longer stems and more buds to promote the formation of their characteristic clusters of blooms.
Grandiflora Roses: These "large-flowered" roses are the result of backcrossing hybrid tea and floribunda roses. These shrubs are often larger than either parent class, with blooms that resemble those of hybrid teas, but in small clusters closer to floribundas.	See above. Pruning guidelines are the same for floribunda, hybrid tea, and grandiflora roses. That said, grandifloras and floribundas can be left a little larger with longer stems and more buds to promote the formation of their characteristic clusters of blooms.
Polyantha Roses: In Greek, this class of rose literally means “many-flowered” for the profusion of flowers on each plant. They are short plants, either compact or spreading, with smaller blooms. They are generally considered low-maintenance.	These roses can be pruned in much the same way as floribundas, but scaled-down in size. You will want to remove the twiggy growth, then reduce the main stems by a third of their length, leaving a healthy bud. Any unruly, out-of-proportion growth can simply be cut out.
Shrub Roses: As opposed to roses bred specifically for long-stem cut flower production, roses designated as “shrub roses” tend to have a more open, spreading shape that is useful in more informal garden settings. Their blooms are often old-fashioned in character, even if they are of modern origin.	Old fashioned roses (there are many sub-classifications) blooming on old wood should only be winter pruned to remove old, damaged growth and crossing limbs. Other pruning should be reserved for the period immediately after flowering so that you aren't cutting off blooms for the following season. Modern, reblooming shrub roses can be pruned back to give them a good framework for this year's growth, much as you would hybrid teas. Once the shrubs are more mature, you can perform more renewal pruning to promote strong growth from the base by cutting a few of the older canes back to the base in late winter/early spring.
English Roses: While not an official classification, in its typical usage, this term is synonymous with roses from famed rose hybridizer David Austin’s breeding project, which has brought increased disease resistance, repeat bloom, and greater color range to the old-fashioned fragrant garden roses familiar to English gardeners.	These roses can be either shrubs or climbers, and should be pruned accordingly. If they grow like hybrid teas and floribundas, prune them as such; otherwise, prune them like you would a climber. That said, you can prune with a lighter hand, leaving more height than for the main modern classes. A good rule of thumb is to cut back 30-50% of the length of the previous season's growth.
Climbing Roses: As their name suggests, climbers produce long, flexible canes that allow them to be easily trained so that they “climb” a pergola, arbor, obelisk, wall, or other structure. They feature large, often repeat blooming flowers.	Because they don't have a means of attaching themselves to a structure in the same way that twining or tendril-producing vines do, climbers generally require "tying in" new canes to their desired support structure using twine or similar. To encourage climbers to bloom more heavily, you can train their canes horizontally, which will encourage the formation of more flower-bearing branches. When pruning climbers, we often leave more canes on the shrub than with other roses, although old, unproductive canes should always be removed. You mostly want to keep it in bounds based on your support structure. In early spring, you can prune the short, upright shoots coming any main, horizontal canes. These laterals can be cut back to the point where two or three bud eyes remain or simply removed altogether.
Rambling Roses: Similar to climbing roses, ramblers can be trained on a support structure, however, they are generally more vigorous. (Some, such as the Lady Banks rose, will even climb a mature tree!) They tend to feature sprays of smaller blooms that are borne in profusion in early summer.	The care of ramblers is roughly the same as that of climbers, although they may require more frequent pruning to keep them in bounds.
Landscape or Groundcover Roses: This term is a loose classification consisting of roses from various lineages, but they are all united by one thing: They are pretty easy to grow! These roses are free-flowering, disease-resistant, and all-around low-maintenance, making them attractive options for home gardeners. They also tend to be lower-growing, making them useful for massing in landscapes as a groundcover.	Because they are bred for landscape use, these tend to be fairly forgiving plants in most regards, including pruning. To give them a better structure, they can be pruned like hybrid teas down to a few primary canes. Lower-growing miniature roses can even be sheared back. They will form new basal breaks.

Glossary of Rose Terminology

Roses, like many plants, come with their own set of vocab words. Here are a few that you may encounter in this guide or when researching rose culture.

• Basal Break: When a new cane sprouts from the base of a rose, this is called a basal break. This is an exciting moment for many rose enthusiasts, but should not be confused with suckering, where canes sprout from the rootstock of a grafted rose.
• Bud: Undeveloped shoots that can form new stems, leaves, and/or flowers are called buds. In roses, these can be found in the leaf axils, or above the leaf scar where leaves were once attached. In their dormant state, they may be called “bud eyes” or simply “eyes.” When pruning roses, you want to cut just above a bud — preferably one facing in the direction you’d like a stem to grow.
• Bud or Graft Union: The area between the roots and stems of a grafted rose is known as the bud union. It marks the location where the bud of the desired variety was attached to the rootstock and grew together. It is often quite obvious thanks to a change in size, texture, or color.
• Cane: The stems of roses are called canes. In some roses, such as climbers, the canes may be quite flexible, especially when young.
• Hip: The fruits of a rose, hips are generally red or orange in color when mature and can provide ornamental and wildlife value in the fall and into the winter. Not all roses produce hips, although single-flowered varieties and species roses like Rosa rugosa tend to do so more reliably. Because rose hips develop from the ovary of the flowers, late season pruning and deadheading will prevent their formation.
• Leaf Scar: After a rose sheds a leaf, there is a horizontal line visible on its stem marking the location where the petiole was once attached. Dormant buds can be found just above these marks, making them useful guides when pruning.
• Own Root Rose: A rose of a certain variety that has been propagated from a rooted cutting rather than being grafted onto the rootstock of another variety may be described as an “own root rose.” Own root roses will always come true when re-sprouting from the ground.
• Patio Tree/Standard: When a rose — or any other woody plant — is grafted onto a tall stem such that it resembles a lollipop, this may be referred to as either a “standard” or a “patio tree.” These can be used to great effect in formal gardens and containers.
• Pegging: Roses exhibit apical dominance, which means their stems want to grow upright and favor the formation of terminal flower buds in this position. The process of tying down the canes of a rose so that they arch downwards is called pegging and is done to promote the formation of flower buds along the entire length of the canes for a more floriferous show. Roses with flexible canes are the best candidates for pegging.
• Prickle: This is technically the correct botanical term for what we call “thorns” on a rose, but as the word is fairly ingrained in our collective lexicon, we’ll probably continue to call them thorns regardless.
• Rootstock: In grafted roses, this is the portion of the plant below the bud union, which is genetically distinct from the desired variety “up top.” Most often, this rootstock is an easy-to-produce species such as Rosa multiflora or Rosa canina. To maintain the integrity of your plant, you don’t want to allow new canes to sprout or “sucker” from the rootstock.
• Tying-In: Climbing and rambling roses generally require a little help to “climb” the likes of arbors, walls, and obelisks. The process of using twine to secure long canes to a structure is what gardeners call “tying-in."

At Cornell Farm, we carry a wide selection of roses to add beauty and fragrance to your garden. Our best selection can generally be found in February with the arrival of our large annual shipments of bare-root roses that our team pots up each spring; however, we have a wonderful array of options year-round.