Personally I would have patience and use a slow release organic liquid fertilizer that doesn't burn tiny rose roots for the first year. I have a clay based soil that gets top-dressed with organics and it holds nutrients longer than other soils types,so, sometimes I do not even use fertilizer the first year. Your in a totally different climate and I have no idea what soil type you have or the condition of your soil, etc. Just keep the rose watered well and avoid using full strengh chemical fertilizers that may burn your rose roots. Make sure the rose is well hydrated with water before adding fertilizer to the soil.

Oops, sorry! I forgot to answer about rose hips. Flowering is ovulation. Hips are pregnancy. Everything in Nature is programmed to reproduce to perpetuate its species before it dies. When a plant flowers, it's simply trying to perpetuate its species. We dead head, cut off the spent flowers, to encourage the plant to continue ovulating in its attempt to reproduce. Most organisms won't continue ovulating when pregnant. What you want from the rose depends upon whether you let it form hips or not. Though I have no personal experience with this, it's often written that in more extreme climates, you permit the plant to form hips to help "shut it down", become more resistant to harsher, colder weather. I've been fortunate (at least to me) to not have lived and grown roses under those harsh conditions. Some write that allowing them to form hips during extremely hot conditions should help slow them down, reducing their water needs, during that extreme heat and water stress. Maybe, but hip formation also increases their water needs to form all that "fruit". It is fruit, distantly related to apples and some other stone fruit, and the hip flesh can be processed and used as people food. Ever notice teas and vitamins which contain "rose hips"? Yup, those. If you desire them for culinary purposes, do not use any systemics on the plants. There are enough toxins out there trying to poison you without your helping! If you want your roses to continue flowering as heavily as the conditions and their genes will allow, just remove the spent flowers as soon as they form and you are able. Allowing them to remain and begin setting hips would have no "benefit" that I can think of and the only down side would possibly be a reduction in their "beauty" to some and a possible slowing of their repeat flowering. If the rose is one whose hips are particularly attractive and you desire them for floral work or landscape ornamentation, let them form. If you want them to help feed the birds or other wildlife over winter, they're great for that purpose, too. Except, hips are VERY attractive to rats, mice and squirrels. If they are an issue where you are, be forewarned. If you are interested in raising new roses from seed, of course you want the hips as they contain the rose seeds. This is one of my seedlings. I have harvested the hips containing seeds from crosses on it I have deliberately made. I want to see if it makes decorative hips to add longer seasonal interest and perhaps provide self set seed to possibly raise to explore what else it may create. Knowing that helps provide information to possibly market it if it's found worthy, as well as direct me whether it is a worthy breeder. This is Basye's Legacy, a thornless, very healthy species hybrid which I've used for breeding. It is primarily once-flowering, though in this climate, it can provide later blooms. It is deciduous, leaving its autumn colored canes with its colorful hips. They look great in Thanksgiving arrangements. Gina's Rose, a Ralph Moore hybrid from Basye's Legacy. Gina repeats but she's also so outrageously fertile, she sets hips all over the plant which require frequent attention to prevent her from fruiting...if you want to prevent them. These are on one of my R. Minutifolia hybrid seedlings. They're pretty and it's rather remarkable it even sets hips and seed. I will raise some of them to see what else is possible from the cross. This is a sister seedling of the Minutifolia hybrid above. This one flowers all spring through fall and sets copious hips, containing very fertile seed. It is the seedling which has permitted second generation Minutifolia hybrids. These are some out back right now and they can be quite pretty. And, yes, you do see spider mite issues in some of the photos because they are an issue here. My conditions will not permit the use of oils of any kind or strength without high levels of foliage and cane burn. Add there are five small dogs of varying ages whose domain is shared by my roses and you can imagine the mess of oily, dirty dogs. Not to mention they eat everything. They LOVE rose hips as to them, they are tomatoes, their FAVORITE treat! I could wash the plants more regularly, but that also makes mud for them to run through, sit in, lay in and definitely walk into the house and on the furniture. If a plant contracts something worse, such as mealy bug, it is moved to an area I can keep the critters out of to be treated by more thoroughly washing until it's clean, when it is returned to its spot. So, if you want something from the hips, let them form. If you want more continuous flowering, remove them. Neither is "wrong" nor "harmful". It just depends upon what you want from the plant. Easy, isn't it? Enjoy!

I alternate between stuff like fish fertilizer and compost teas and stuff like MG and MG bloom boosters etc. I have tons of brugmansia which are very heavy feeders and will eat up anything I can throw at them. I do not mix up separate batches so whatever I am feeding them, I just do the same for all the other stuff too. I have potted roses that get quite a bit of fertilizer and I have not had any problems. I use plastic pots not clay and they get watered several times between fertilizer applications. Also, make sure to never fertilize a dry pot. Always water about a half hour before you fertilize. I killed a rose many years ago by putting fertilizer on a very dry rose lol. Completely fried it!! Never forgot that lesson. ~sjn

High nitrogen can hurt root and flowering ability in cotoneaster plant. See excerpt from below link: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0304423881900649 " Although root growth was not increased by either Nitrogen or Phosphorus, high N levels inhibited root growth." More link to show that too much phosphorus can hurt root & flowering: https://laidbackgardener.wordpress.com/2016/05/18/the-myth-of-starter-fertilizers/ "further studies showed that large quantities of phosphorous were not necessary for rooting. Yes, the soil must contain a small amount of phosphorus in order to stimulate rooting… but that’s also true of any other nutrient. If the soil totally lacks nitrogen, zinc or iron, that too will hamper rooting. In fact, plants actually root poorly in soils excessively rich in phosphorous. You’re far more likely to kill plant roots with 10-52-10 fertilizer than to stimulate their growth. " http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/3788/ " When plants are grown in low phosphorus environments they emit organic acids from their root tips. These acids allow mycorrhizal fungi to penetrate the roots and form the networks that assist roots in absorbing water and nutrients. If the phosphorus levels are too high the roots do not emit the acid and the mycorrhizal networks do not form. This forces the plant to put more effort into root growth to compensate for the lack of mycorrhizae." U. of Colorado Extension has excellent info. on Organic fertilizers: "recent CSU research has shown that phosphorus from bone meal at NPK 3-15-0 is only available to plants in soils that have a pH below 7.0." On rock phosphate: Recent CSU research results concluded that no rock P (regardless of mesh size) is available for plant use unless the soil pH is below 7.0. http://www.ext.colostate.edu/mg/gardennotes/234.html According to CSU, Kelp powder has NPK of 1-0-4, decent potassium, plus trace elements, only need 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon per gallon, due to its high salt. **** From Straw: I tested bone-meal many times, with negative result in my soil pH near 8. 1) killed over a dozen geraniums by topping with bone-meal in hot summer .. that burnt their roots, but their colors were vivid at first. 2) put bone-meal in the planting hole of Sharifa Asma, the color DID NOT deepen, but really wimpy root, plus the soil got hardened. 3) Killed a $30 gallica rose gifted by a friend with bone-meal in the planting hole. 4) Made Crimson glory really wimpy by putting bone meal in the planting hole. 5) Made wimpy Yves-pink-seedling into a Black-spot fest by moving it, then put bone-meal in the planting hole. CONCLUSION: phosphorus is best in small amount as in 1/10 of potassium in rose-tissue analysis done by U. of CA at Davis. Phosphorus is best AS soluble, as in leaves, manure. Chicken manure at NPK 5-3-2 has plenty of phosphorus, plus trace elements zinc, copper, and boron.