puppylove, we all started sometime and were new at one point! I'm pretty new also. Have you looked at the frequently asked questions (FAQ) link at the top of the rose page? That's a good place to start. Also, you might invest in a book on roses like Ortho's "All About Roses" to get some more basic information. I found a used copy for less than $4.00 on Amazon.

Another thing that helps is an online catalog of roses called Help Me Find. Good luck, and welcome to rose growing! If you have more specific questions don't hesitate to ask or use the search function to check out other postings also. Others probably will have more advice too.

Best wishes!

Here is a link that might be useful: Help me Find

Puppylove, one thing you might do is find out if there are public rose gardens in your area of TX, and see what grows well there.
The trick of growing roses is this:
1. FIND OUT WHAT ROSES GROW WITHOUT PROBLEMS IN YOUR AREA.
2. PLANT THOSE ROSES.

You might also look into local ARS Rose Societies, or the Heritage Roses Groups (many Old Roses perform very well in TX).

Jeri

I'm a rookie to and when I first came here I went to page 67 and went up to page 1 and searched for interresting topics. I looked at RHA forum, RosarianCorner, Gardenweb and searched for many information. Ater some time I had a little bit general wide range knowlage about roses. Not much but enough to know what people talking about. Their is a lot to learn on roses. So take your time to absurve information which other people shared on forums. People are 100% willing to share, it's one happy family.
Good luck with your roses!

Timo

Welcome, puppy love! Growing roses can become addictive, they are so beautiful. There are a wealth of choices. You may want to decide, first, what colors you like best (they come in a huge variety of colors). Then decide whether you want to spray for disease or not. If you don't want to spray, there are a number of disease-resistant roses out there. Also decide if you want small shrub or groundcover roses, large shrubs, climbers, etc. And think about whether you have a favorite form (high-centered hybrid tea, very full old-fashioned cup-shaped blooms, etc. Queen Elizabeth is like a hybrid tea (they call it a grandiflora) and Red Masterpiece is a hybrid tea. Give us a few ideas of the colors, types, etc, that appeal to you and we can make some suggestions. Also let us know what zone you are in in Texas. Also, let us know if your climate is very humid or not (that makes a difference on whether you'll have much problem with fungus disease on some roses). There are lots of things to learn about roses, but some simple basics are that roses need 6 hours or more of direct sun a day, they do best in a good quality soil with lots of organic matter and a pH between 6.0 and 7.0, they like to be well watered but won't tolerate standing water (you want a soil that drains well), and respond to a good fertilizer program (organic fertilizer is especially good, as it will feed your soil also. Keep posting questions, as there are many good rose friends on this site who will help you. Here's a picture of a white hybrid tea (Virginia) and a pink old-fashioned form shrub (David Austin's Heritage), to give you some idea of the difference in form and size. The hybrid tea gets about 5 feet tall in my garden - the shrub goes up to almost 9 feet.

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You will get lots of advice, such as above.

I offer one tip: Don't buy lots of roses the first year or two. Plant a few, try some different varieties. Decide what you like and what grows well in your yard. Most of us started with the most common types and later realized there were many others available from breeders. Of course, by that time, we no longer had room left.

Red Masterpiece is a very fragrant,beautiful dark red rose. If yours is a healthy clone and does not show Rose Mosaic Virus you will be happy with that plant. It grows to 5' in warmer climates and it is about 4' wide.

Queen Elizabeth is a huge rose - it grows to 8' or more by mid season, so I cut back to 4 or 5' again ad she still ended up over 8' by the end of the e and if cut back a season. It is also a wide rose. Give QE plenty of space.

Puppylove, (cute screen name), my advise would to also get in touch with a local rose society near you. Don't be afraid to ask these folks questions. They can guide you probably better than some because they are in your area and can help you get started. To find out a local society, check with the American Rose Society, www.ars.org and click on "Find a Local Society". These folks will be more than glad to help you.

i am in Houston which is zone 10 i believe. it gets pretty humid here. like 85 % humidity during summer. the winters don't really show much humidity though. how can i get a PH test? are they sold at garden centers? also how do i get organic matter into my soil? can i buy that? i was thinking of getting a bag of soil and mixing it in with my flower beds soil. is there a way to improve drainage in flower beds? i don't know whether it has good or bad drainage, but i would like to avoid finding out the hard way! thanks sooo much for all this wonderful information!

ceterum --- so these get really big? if i continue to cut them back will they still be flowering? how long does it take to re-flower after they get cut? the bed i was "planning" on putting 3 roses bushes into is about 4 foot by 2 foot. they would look great in it while they are the size they are now, but if your saying they get really big, then i should probably plant them somewhere else?? right? ooooh i really hope the red masterpiece are healthy ones, that sounds great what you were explaining! thanks!

I have Queen Elizabeth and she will get HUGE in your area, given the right spot. She's good in full sun in Texas and will fill that area if you let her. She's also very tall, really tall.

Puppy love, the best way to get a good soil test is to talk with your county's extension office (Usually through your state university). They will give you a bag with directions on how to take a series of soil samples. You mail the bag in and after a while you get the results in the mail, along with suggestions for any amendments that should be added t your soil. The best way to see if your soil drains well is to dig a hole about a foot deep and fill it with water. See how long it takes to drain. If it takes a long time to drain (several hours) you have a drainage problem, and may be better off using a raised bed. Usually it drains much faster and you're O.K. There are many things you can add to your soil to increase the organic content - peat moss (if your soil isn't too acid, which means a pH below 6.0 or so), chopped leaves, compost, aged manure, etc. You can make your own compost, or purchased bagged composted manure at a nursery. I use my own compost and then I mulch the top 2-3 inches of the bed with chopped leaves topped with shredded bark. By the end of the growing season this has broken down into crumbly humus and is incorporated into the soil. In the mean time, it has kept the garden beds from drying out and discouraged weeds. The composted manure is a better addition than regular bagged garden or potting soil, as it has more nutrients. With your heat and humidity, it may be difficult to grow hybrid teas without having to spray for fungus disease. But there are some excellent roses out there that are quite disease resistant. Julie's suggestion of contacting a local rose society is an excellent one. They can tell you exactly which roses do the best in your area, and give you extra tips. And do stick with the Rose Forum. These folks are wonderful helpers!

2 places I would go for info: the first is the Houston rose society, and the other is TX A&M University.
http://www.houstonrose.org/
http://earthkindroses.tamu.edu/ This link is for the A & M Earthkind rose program. It came up with no-spray roses that are hardy for conditions found in TX. There is nothing like local information to guide you along. Rose growing can be fairly low maintenance if you pick the right varieties. And this forum is a wealth of information as well.

http://earthkindroses.tamu.edu/

This link is for the A & M Earthkind rose program. It came up with no-spray roses that are hardy for conditions found in TX.

*** And that is really, truly, the key.
IF you choose roses suited to your location, you can be a wizard, IF you choose roses that are healthy where you are.
MY best roses may not be YOUR best roses. Earthkind is a BIG clue to success.

Jeri

Here is a link that might be useful: Earthkind Roses

If you are in Houston, your USDA zone is 9a

4' by 2' isn't going to be enough for either of the roses you mentioned. Queen Elizabeth in my garden didn't like hard pruning and didn't flower again till she reached a certain size minimum 5' tall but closer to 6'. You can cut a rose back after it bloomed but if you keep cutting before it blooms, your rose isn't going to be a happy one nor will you be.
I would try to find a smaller rose that would fit into that 4' by 2' spot but it's not going to be easy to pick a rose that is happy if confined to 2' as width goes. But if you want to put either of two roses mentioned above into that small spot, go with Red Masterpiece alone and plant QE somewhere else. I am afraid though that it wouldn't look very good.

Testing your drainage can be done such a way that you dig a hole:18" deep but 2' deep is better, if my memory doesn't fail me and fill up the hole with water and check how long it takes for the water to soak in or 'disappear'. If there is a pool of water for a long time the drainage isn't good. I try to dig up an article tomorrow that is a bit more precise than my memory - meaning how deep the hole should be and how soon the water pool should disappear to qualify the spot as having good drainage.

If your soil is sandy, drainage will not be a problem for you; if your soil is clay than you might have drainage problem and it is better to deal with it before you plant. If you have no access to composted cow manure, get some bagged manure and good quality compost; mushroom compost usually is good quality. If you can find a place where they sell cotton bur (cotton gin trash) that would be great, roses love it!

You can buy a pH meter for $20 at Lowe's, a better nursery or Farmer's market. That would hep to see what's your soil pH is. On the long run to get a soil test is a good idea because that comes with recommendations what you should add what kind of fertilizer s you should get or avoid. However, this time of the year cooperative extensions are flooded with soil test requests so you may have to wait 4-6 weeks till you get the result. However, if you already bought those roses, they must be planted ASAP - you should not fertilize them at planting time anyway, only when they finished the first cycle of blooms and by that time the recommendations accompanying the test results will be handy.

So-called soil conditioner (shredded pine bark) is good - if you soil is sandy, it will help to retain moisture while if you soil is clay, the shredded pine bark mixed with native clay will help to ease the drainage problem and it is an organic amendment.

Sorry if it was confusing, around 1.30 AM sometimes I get slow and sleepy.

Karen, your Virginia is mouth watering! Too bad that this rose isn't available any more since Carlton closed.

Beyond the variety of rose, I think cultural practices are key to rose health. Lots of sun (>6 hours), air circulation, and good soil drainage. Good drainage is not necessarily "good soil", but a gravity assisted phenomenon. Swamps can have wonderful soil, but poor drainage. Clay soil can drain great, or just the opposite. Roses do quite well in it if it drains. Organic matter is helpful, but fertile soils often contain about 5-10%, so don't overdo it. If there is any problem/question, I would mound the soil up, and leave the root ball slightly elevated from the surrounding grade. Raised beds are another option. I would especially do this if you get standing water after storms.

everyone keeps mentioning "raised beds" but i have no idea what that means! can someone explain this? thanks for all you help.... this is great info, and i am soaking it all in! i guess i'm gonna have to find another place for these roses. i guess since they look so small right now all cut back, i thought they would stay small. but wow! these girls are gonna get huge! thanks agian

Do yuorself a favor. Contact the Houston Rose Society and go to one of their meetings. Sit back and observe. Find someone who grows good roses and learn from them. Don't overwhelm yourself. Enjoy your roses!!!

By raised beds they mean to use something like wood or brick or rocks to hold the soil in and fill it with good quality soil and organic things like compost then you can have exactly what your plant needs and it will drain better than the hard compacted soil. You can put several layers of newspaper on the bottom before you fill it to keep weeds from coming up through it. Do a search on raised beds and you will see what they mean. Its just a flower bed elevated above the level of the yard.

thank you! finally i get it! your wonderful! thank you so much