- 1). Clear the right location if you must plant in part shade. Avoid areas under trees that will compete for water and root space. Part shade should have at least four hours of sunlight daily or open dappled shade all day.
- 2). Cultivate the soil deeply and add well-rotted manure and organic fertilizer, as for any rose, but provide more water for shade-tolerant roses -- shaded ground can be much drier than open area.
- 3). Plant roses that are suited to partial shade. Old garden roses, climbers, shrub, floribundas, musk, rugosa and species groups contain many shade-tolerant varieties. Look for single roses with fewer than 12 petals and that bloom once. Midwest Gardening suggests choosing English roses, rugosas, which re-bloom, and old garden roses like gallicas, damasks and albas for part shade.
- 4). Prune canes to keep roses compact -- shaded plants tend to grow "leggy" as they grow toward the sunlight. Reduce cane length by as much as two-thirds of its length in early spring while the plant is dormant and prune again after it blooms to keep it well-shaped.
- 5). Mulch shade-tolerant roses with well-rotted compost, not wood chips, which tend to draw nutrients out of the soil. Mulch to retain soil moisture for rots but keep mulch -- and the bacteria and fungus that grows in it -- away from the base of the plants.
- Advertisement -
- Advertisement -