I've only got about 30ish roses.

I'm in SoCal so care might be different.

I spend about an hour a week watering them, and it takes me maybe a half an hour to prune them. Fertilising takes a half an hour as well.

In spring I remove all the mulch, lay down a layer of compost and organic fertilisers, and add fresh mulch on top.

That usually takes me about an 45 minutes.

So I would say weekly I spend about an hour to an hour and a half on them.

And a few times a year I go out for an hour or so and get all my fertilising, mulching, and pruning done.

Wow. That seems so efficient. Are they all in one place? How do you water and fertilize? You do no deadheading it seems. What kind of roses are these that require so little of you? ONLY 30?! Amazing..

I have two main rose beds. One out front and one out back. I just counted. 37 roses.

I water each bed by flooding the planters for 15 minutes twice a week. And I fertilise by sprinkling organic fertilisers below the roses as I'm watering. This summer they really put out a bunch of growth so I gave them all a dose of chemical fertiliser at half strength.

I do deadhead. But like fertilising I do it while I'm watering, so it doesn't add any time.

I have hybrid teas, floribundas, grandifloras, David Austin's, some of kordes fairy tale series, and a few from meilland's romantica series.

I'd say 2 to 3 hours a week. I have some really big roses-- Vanity, Darlow's Enigma, Lavender Dream, and Lyda Rose and dead heading them takes time. I groom the modern roses to keep blackspot from taking hold, so I'm pulling leaflets off Lavaglut, Belinda's Dream, Night Owl and Golden Celebration daily. I'm collecting Japanese beetles 3 or 4 times a day. And I water each rose manually.

I thought after I went no-spray and starting growing mostly shrubs that I would spend less time but that doesn't seem to be the case!

I get a bit of a break when the Japanese beetles go into the ground later this month, and I don't fertilize in July or August. I feed organically, Espoma Tone and Mills Magic Mix, which requires pulling back the mulch alllll the way around each bush, putting down fertilizer and scratching it in, and replacing the mulch.

I'm spending more time now than ever, partly due to my recent retirement--!! but mostly due to my growing pot ghetto. I had a lot of losses due to voles so have a lot of rescued roses and young replacements in pots. That really ups the watering and feeding time.

I volunteer at two public rose gardens (both organic) so there's never a day I'm not working with roses.

I have 50 roses and 80% of them are in pots gathered together in a "nursery" that includes shrub roses, floribundas, hybrid teas, English roses and a few "baby" climbers. During a normal week, I spend about 3-4 hours a week deadheading, fertilizing, water spraying for pests and inspecting them for disease and pests. On the other hand, I also had to prepare to be away from them for an extended vacation so they're not getting this kind of attention - the house sitter is tending to them by just minimially caring for them while I'm away. Leaps of efficiency? Well, I fell in love with my watering wand before I installed the drip system because it cut down on the time it took to water. The drip system in the nursery is great. Spring time is another story - as you mentioned: major pruning, training climbers, cutting the monsters back (Lady Banks), adding alfalfa, mulching, etc. I'm enjoying the 50 roses I have. I could maybe go another 10, but I can see how it could become too much. I also have to be mindful of how many (potted roses) I have to be installed into a new garden design that is upcoming probably next spring. Like Marlorena, I could spend more time, and I do walk thru the nursery one or two times a day for a stress break because I work from home. For me, rose gardening is more a love than a chore. I'm aware that the work, because at the end of the day it is work, may feel like too much - but, the cool thing is I can make adjustments and the roses will probably still continue to do their thing even if they aren't perfect.

Don't worry about the slippery slope because it levels off when you're ready for it to and the ride is awfully fun. :-)

I do not know for certain how many roses I have, as my last count was about 141 but my purchases have continued. A safe estimate would be between 150-175. My roses are watered via a timed irrigation system, and when it becomes hot (now), I walk the yard at least once per day, just to assess the health of each rose/ plant. I do not consider this a chore.

My roses comprise just about anything that doesn't require significant winter chill or is a once bloomer. All are fertilized at least twice per year ( February and August). If I can find time, a mini-fertilization occurs in early May. Fertilization takes about two hours. I place a container mixed with organics on my cart, then roll it around the yard using a measuring cup to dispense. I then go around and scratch the fertilizer in. This always occurs on a watering day and takes a couple of hours.

Deadheading occurs by area after a flush. This can take up to 4 hours but I do it over the course of days, section at a time. Some of my OGR's have petals that fall of cleanly so no muss, no fuss.

Winter pruning can take about 4 hours as well. Fortunately I have a lot of climbers and OGR's, and they do not need the annual pruning required by modern roses.

It is a labor of love. Many gardeners find ways to streamline chores, becoming very efficient in the care of their roses. It is definitely possible.

I've been growing over 200 roses by myself for perhaps the last six years. I spend a lot of time building up raised beds with compost in the early spring. I keep the weeding chore manageable by covering the beds with wood mulch. I spend an hour or two with the roses each day to get them up to Rose Show quality, weeding and hand picking the bugs that want to eat the big fat rose buds, but they can get by with much less if I'm not exhibiting. They did OK when I was juggling a full time job and ALS caretaker duties for an entire season. In my climate the most important task is spraying the roses with fungicide--I have many older varieties that are susceptible to disease. At this point I might as well keep them for folks who want cuttings--their patents are expiring.

A lot. Most of my free time on weekends. But I have 150+ roses and seem to constantly going through re-dos and planting new beds. Just maintenance wouldn't be that bad. Spray every few weeks, deadhead, prune fertilize, etc. Probably a few hours each week.

I have 110 bush's of all types (just counted them). The only regimented part of my rose gardening is spraying every 2 weeks and fertilizing every month. It takes me 1 1/2 hrs to spray every 2 weeks (from the time I walk outside to the time I'm finished and walk back inside to take a shower). I'm not very scientific when it comes to feeding them. I put my bag of 10-10-10 (with all the good trace elements) into my wheel barrow and go around the yard and use a large scoop and spread about a good hand full around each bush. The only time I get a little fancy is during the early spring and early fall. I give all my plants a good feeding of fish emulsion every 2 weeks for three times. I enjoy being out in the garden so you can usually find me with a garden hose in my hands watering and washing down my bush's several times a week. I try to dead head about once a week. You can usually find me outside puttering around about 10/14 hrs per week. I enjoy watching my bush's grow and thrive. This is shot of 1 of my OGR's, Compte de Chambroud.

I have 30 roses and aside from cutting them all back and shredding the canes which take a few hours, I spend very little time on maintenance. I have 10 Johann Strauss and the rest are Austins... They all do well in my climate.

Once a year, I fertilze with Osmocote for JS. The rest, I am thinking of going to Austins Fertilizer. It worked very well on my new roses this year. I have my 2 largest beds on drip irrigation. The rest are in my Retirement Garden and I water them with the vegetables. I don't spray because we don't have diseases here.

I can tell you what I wish I would have known when I was at the stage you are at... I planted a large amount of roses in one year...20 or more. Ok, don't laugh... It was a large amount for a newbe like me who didn't know what I was doing. I planted them deep (4-6 inches for my zone 4) which was good, and then I expected them to look like the pictures. Well, they didn't because big rose bushes take time... Years. So the next year, I ripped them all out and kept on until I found roses that I liked which took forever because I never really gave them a chance. My advice... Start slow, be patient, get your rose legs on and see what is right for you. Don't be afraid to rip out roses, I do it all the time, but at least give them 2-3 years to prove themselves before you pitch them in the garbage or give them to a friend.

Take a stroll through your garden everyday and get to know the roses you have. Deadhead as you go. Bend down and take in the fragrance. Make friends with them. Plant multiples of your favorites. You might find you will be enjoying life more than you have before roses. You might find you are content with 20 or you may want hundreds. But if you do it this way, I don't think you will be overwhelmed by them taking over your life. Whatever you do, enjoy them.

Rebecca

I am in my mid 50s, single & have some medical issues which slow me down considerably. So, if you consider how much time it takes me and the time reported by more efficient & healthy gardeners, you might get an idea for yourself until you develop your own efficient methods. I currently have 23 roses in 2 beds and am hoping to add another bed next year & expand a current bed. I am an organic gardener & grow only own-root roses in the ground. With my current # of roses, keeping them fed, managing blackspot, dealing with Japanese beetles, weeding, pruning and occasional supplemental watering, I probably spend 2-4 hours/week. I try to spend about 30 minutes/day, so jobs don't get too big for me. I spent a year before I ever planted in preparing the soil, so that I gave my roses a really good start, plus I only buy my roses from own-root rose nurseries ie Northland, Rogue Valley, RU. After expanding a bed this year, I think at 50 roses I will have to stop. I won't have the strength or stamina to properly care for any more.

I'm in the same boat as Holly. I have medical issues and I sometimes neglect things for too long a period of time. When things are not going so well, I struggle to keep them watered. I'm in hot, dry, drought stricken So CA. I tend to be rather sporadic in my gardening chores, (and all chores to be honest). I just do what I can when I can. My illness also is exacerbated by heat. That's pretty unfortunate for me in the summer months here. We just cooled down here after over 100F temps.

I really have no idea about how much time I spend on my roses. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I've found them to be quite forgiving. As long as they don't get dried out they seem to do ok. I don't know about your climate, but water falling from the sky, ( I think it's called "RAIN") would reduce my time drastically. I do notice that when I can spend a little more time and energy on them, they respond very well. If you don't require perfection, many roses do well without much fussing. I would strongly encourage you to do local research, and buy roses that thrive in your area. That will cut down on time dramatically. A rose that isn't suited to your specific area will require way more time, effort, and expense than one that is. Lisa

I can grow roses efficiently because I spent years figuring out what works in my climate. Which isn't the same as other gardens in the Connecticut! I can identify the major diseases and common insects in my yard. A lot of advice is well meaning, but too time consuming for even a serious exhibitor like myself to consider worthwhile.

This year I have 115 roses. It varies from year to year because of winter kill. There is NOTHING I like more than being out in my garden tending my roses. It's my haven. The place I go to forget about life's woes and worries. It's a labor of love and I spend as much time out there with them as I can. I do all my watering by hand and it takes about 3 hours to do the whole yard. I do that 2 to 3 times a week depending on the weather. I think if you don't love being out working in the garden then you should have landscaping not a garden.

I agree with seil. Gardening is my therapy.

I spend at least 30 enjoyable minutes every day( after work ) and a couple hours on my day off..dead heading fertilizing watering etc tec ..As seil stated its my Heaven or in my case my little heaven ...I enjoy every minute of it it soothes me takes away all my troubles..as soon as I stick my nose in that opening bud and take a wiff I'm a gonna..its an addiction, my passion my love, my obsession..You have to enjoy if you don't there is not point

I patrol/inspect my flower beds daily, secateurs in hand, deadhead, stopping and sniffing, removing diseased foliage if any (I just can't resist removing BS leaves when I see them - luckily it's never a big problem in my garden so they are easily controlled this way rather than, say, spray regularly with chemicals), I remove broken canes from storm/wind damage when I that happens (I live in a windy area - we are not called Cape of Storms for nothing), look out for pests (I'm not afraid of picking up or squashing bugs lol), and claim my reward by taking a few cut flowers for vases every couple of days. I spend on average 20 minutes a day patrolling 60 or so roses. During growing season, I like to feed them little and often, usually spend an hour or two every Sunday (alternating compost tea and kelp emulsion, chicken manure or whatever fertilizer I need to correct problems when they arise). I enjoy doing most of the rose gardening myself but there're some jobs that I just hate, and my husband is not that interested in gardening - he prefers grabbing a pint at the pub than helping me with heavy jobs in the garden. I have given up nagging him and now have a gardener coming twice a week helping me with general gardening chores. My gardener helps me with the more strenuous jobs such as digging holes or lay out new flower beds, weeding, pruning trees, splitting logs, turning compost heaps, lawn maintenance, carrying heavy things, shaping hedges, sweeping up leaves etc.

I could be out in the garden all day & not feel like it's a chore! Sometimes I'll go out there just to deadhead one rose & an hour later I'll realize that I've weeded & watered too! As for the amount of time I spend out there it's hard to judge. In the last 2 years (new home) I've spent hours making about 2000 sq feet of new garden beds, removing sod, planting & mulching. I've planted 14 varieties of trees, 15 shrubs, 20 roses & about 40 perennials. I'm still doing more though. I had to do my foundation & background plantings first. Now I can plant more of the pretty stuff - roses. What helps tremendously is mulch, lot's of mulch. I barely have to weed and when I do it's very easy to pull out of the mulch. Because everything is newer I spend a lot of time watering still. We have had a super dry start to the season. So the actual time I spend on rose care is maybe 30 minutes a week, again mine are newer. I do a lot of my gardening chores with my 3 year old. He plays while I putter in the yard!

I find I can significantly reduce the need for watering new roses by planting bareroots in the very early Spring, so they have plenty of time to develop a root system. Conversely, roses transplanted in mid summer need a lot of TLC.

Rose growing is a hobby for me. I could spend endless time on my garden, and do just that on weekends! There is no answer that will truly answer this question for you because it widely depends on what roses you plant, and what you will tolerate in your gardens! For example, I dead-headed by Julia Child roses yesterday, four plants and I cut 200 spent flowers. That was just 4 of my approximately 50 roses, and I dead head every weekend. Now other roses required minimal dead-heading. I give all of my rose a good deep watering once a week, this took me all afternoon Saturday. Others use a drip so that cuts out that water time that I have to spend with a hose. I spray every two weeks, this takes a couple hours, you may not need to spray in your area, I do. Do you tolerate a few weeds in your gardens? I do, you may not so that makes a big difference in time. What I'm trying to get at is I don't think you can get your answer from others. My advice is add roses slowly to your gardens each year, and determine when its enough time spent for you! I think of a day in my gardens as therapy, I am happiest spending time on my hobbies and a day in the sunshine playing in my roses is quality time for me. Last year at the end of the season my gardens were not looking anywhere near their best, so this year I only planted two new roses, and in the garden area already made. I'm fairly comfortable, and so next year I'm planning a couple new potted roses, and maybe three new planted, but again in the garden I already have prepared, I don't think I'll be expanding my gardens as the square area I have now seems to be enough for me.

I have around 35 roses, all are a mix of climbers, OGR's, floribundas and David Austin and tea roses. I spend a full weekend in the early spring pruning and adding compost, mulch and fertilizer to all the roses and weeding. After that I usually spend a few hours during the week dead heading and pulling whatever weeds happen to pop up, watering and fertilizing. Being in my garden tending to my roses is relaxing for me and I enjoy it so it's not work or a chore I dread.

I have 50 roses, and about 100 species of plants all together. I probably spend anywhere from half an hour to 90 minutes on them per day, mostly watering, weeding, and deadheading. That said, I take my time about it, because it's my happy place. Another note, most of mine are in pots, so weeding and feeding need to happen more often than if they were in the ground. I water every day the temperature goes above 80, unless it rains.

Well, I just did the official count of roses after doing the annual June death march (to make a final judgment of roses that didn't survive the winter), and the present total came out to 1140 roses. I've officially joined the premium level of rose nut, which apparently hits if you have more than 1000 roses. Now as for time spent, I'm sure you're thinking that I either: a) spend every waking minute in the garden and have no other job, or b) hire out most of the rose care to someone. I don't do any of the above, since I have a more than full-time job and family with kids at home, as well as something vaguely resembling "a life". Also, I'd never trust my roses to any outside person, particularly the usual "mow and blow" services. We do our own lawn too.

So what are the tips that keep me mostly sane? Well - as sane as anyone with over 1000 roses can be.

1. I don't spray anything. No spray is lazy gardening, and it makes the roses either shape up or ship out. I used to spray Liquid Fence once a year to discourage the bunnies, but I think they're so bewildered by the vast array of choices in my yard that no one plant suffers too much. Besides, my son complained of the Liquid Fence smell, so I don't even do that. Ditto for insecticidal soap - I've gotten a good balance between good and bad bugs and I don't see any rose slugs or aphids any more.

2. I get reasonably regular rains. As several folks mentioned, that is a key for successful gardens and a real time sink if not there. During our dry seasons in August (and this year, June) when we don't get any appreciable rain, I water all the garden beds for an hour a week each with overhead sprinklers. This involves setting the sprinkler on trips from inside A/C at 5 minutes a bed (maybe 1/2 hour total time). As I said, lazy gardening. I also plant all new roses with the Watersorb water crystals, so they have moisture reserves to protect them against dry temperatures. These crystals die down after a year or so, so they learn to survive on their own once established.

3. I don't weed, I mulch. As halloblondie said, there are few garden things that are more effective labor savers than organic mulch. For me, I can weed anything that pops up in my garden beds with two fingers, except dandelions or bindweed.

4. I make garden efforts do double (or triple) duty. For instance, I winter protect with bagged leaves rolled to the edge of the garden bed or stood around the particularly fussy tea roses in one bed. Those filled bags kill the grass at the edge of the beds, meaning I don't have to edge the beds. Then in spring, I spread the leaves around the base of the roses and other garden plants for mulch, and store extra bags for use later in the season. Leaves then break down lightening the soil and substituting for fertilizer by adding a little nitrogen.

5. Bundle gardening tasks, and make the roses mostly fend for themselves. I admire those of you who use the fish fertilizer sprays and things like that regularly, but I never seem to get around to it. I save milk jugs to fill with water when planting roses, and I have jars of fish fertilizer I always intend to use later in the season to perk up the newer planted roses, but I rarely get around to it. I sometimes add a little alfalfa, Ironite and 10-10-10 fertilizer once a year to the established roses, but I missed last year and haven't done so yet this year. If I successfully do the established fertilizer, it's usually bundled with pruning tasks in March/April so I spread the fertilizers around established roses before layering down the mulch.

6. Don't sweat the small stuff - roses are much tougher than you think. Chewed leaves, bugs, blackspot, wilting, lopsided growth - bah, you can handle it! And if not, you don't belong in my yard.

7. Monitor the important things. Canker needs to be dealt with swiftly and brutally in my yard, and Japanese beetles get no mercy and swift and (hopefully) painful death.

8. Enjoy the time you spend, and share the joy with others. Remember why you do this in the first place. You don't HAVE to work in the garden, you CHOOSE to. If it becomes drudgery, downsize and/or simplify. I agree with all of you that gardening is my #1 favorite activity in spring/summer and it's where I most want to be.

9. Take care of your body and listen to it. I have several herniated disks in my back, a hip replacement, rheumatoid and osteoarthritis, I'm in my 50's, and I'm allergic to everything that grows outside (so why am I a gardener??). I take care of my back by careful positioning and movement, stretching out frequently, and having treatments at home that compensate for full long days pushing my limits. I also make sure to stop and literally smell the roses, or hang out on the swing gazing at and appreciating a good day's work. Oh, and one of the two best activities to counteract arthritis?? You got it - GARDENING. The other is light weightlifting - both involve gentle weight bearing movement - and I get my weightlifting in my 50 pound bags of alfalfa... Movement is medicine, and I put it to its test.

So how much time to I spend in the garden to maintain 1140 roses? Depends on the time of year:

- Most of the summer into the fall, I spend maybe 3-4 hours a week on the weekend deadheading, cane monitoring/trimming, and taking pictures of roses. The latter occupies most of that time by far. I don't deadhead roses individually with so many blooms (like Darlow's Enigma), but chop off sprays when dead if and when I feel like it. Within this 3-4 hours is usually also monitoring and picking fruits and vegetables.

- Spring pruning and rose planting season is more like 20 hours a week in the garden, usually long days both Saturday and Sunday. I also prune around 75 roses for our church, which adds another 20 hours I work in somewhere. The 20 hours in March/early April are pruning, inspecting, pulling off protection/mulching, and (maybe) fertilizing. The 20 hours in late April/May are planting and watering as needed (including the vegetable garden).

- Late fall I return to 20 hours/week for a few weekends to plant the 1000's of bulbs I do each year, but the roses by then are on their own. After bulb planting is done in early November, I start collecting and placing leaf bags in my usual 3-4 hours a week max.

See, it's doable! Not that I recommend this many roses for people who aren't insane, but I still have time for my family and work and church and cooking most of the meals, though I draw the line at cleaning house (that's why God made teenagers).
Cynthia

@nippstress - That is an insane amount of roses, but I would love to come hang out in your yard, how big is your yard??? I agree with you about the not fussing too much with any item in particular & mulch is my best friend too!

I did a garden check this morning & I noticed almost every tree, flower or shrub had some sort of evidence of garden pests, little holes in leaves, nibbled edges, chewed on branches, etc. if I were to try and spray everything to keep things perfect, the EPA would come knocking on my door, lol! The funny part is I don't stress about any of my stuff, it's survival of the fittest, and things just seem to grow alright for me. But I do try and plant things in their ideal locations right from the start.

my gardens are about 18 months old everything i've planted is in raised beds, therefore more of my time is spent watering than i would like probably a couple of hours a day, i have no irrigation system right now and after that is installed i will probably spend no more than a couple of hours a week actually working on the roses and another 20 hours a week just looking at them..... the heat index has been well over a hundred degrees for a couple of weeks and will probably continue to be that and higher for the next 2.5 months so the watering won't be stopping anytime soon roses that i put in containers in early spring and planted in the ground in late fall (best gardening season in south texas) are definitely doing much better than plants put directly into the raised beds

Cynthia, I just smiled the whole time reading your garden time description.

Thank you all. So many really useful tips here, and reminders that it has to be a labor of love or don't bother. I have a question about deadheading efficiently. I like to do it with one hand with snips and let the petals fall to the ground. Assuming there are no Japanese beetles yet, is this safe to do or am i spreading diseases? I wouldn't do it with leaves, but I thought petals might be ok.

I never dead head a bloom until the petals have started to drop. I live on a busy road with a stop light in front of my house. Even an old bloom is a pretty splash of color from the street so I like to leave them on as long as possible. I usually just snap off the hips with my fingers when ever I see one dropping petals as I'm walking by and I drop the petals all the time. I've even been known to drop the hip at the base of the plant too if I don't have a container with me. I don't see a problem with it. I like to think they bio-degrade back into the soil that way.

Halloblondie - sounds like you have a great attitude about your yard that lets you enjoy the beauty and ignore the imperfections. Never gonna be perfect anyway - that's part of the challenge anyway! I'm not sure how big my yard is, but I'm sure it's less than an acre, in the suburbs - maybe 2/3 of an acre? It's a biggish back yard, but 70's suburbia, and I have a lot of other perennials, fruits, veggies, and still grass...

Zippity - I love the notion of spending 20 hours a week looking at the yard. I try to do a walkthrough each day after work to decompress, and it does wonders.

Towandaaz - glad to give you a smile of the day, thanks! Of course, you may be smiling because "at least I'm not that crazy Nebraska lady", but I'd take that as a compliment too, in the context of roses.

Kitasei, I agree with Seil that it's perfectly fine to drop the petals and other deadhead material straight back onto the mulch. The deadheads are mildly pretty on the mulch for a day or so, in addition to more organic material. I do the double handed pinch to save time, unless it's a cluster or tough cane. Even with Japanese beetles, I just add a "squish" before the snip and drop, and figure the dead guts of the little beasties might add some extra discouragement for their friends (can't hurt). The only debris I clean off are the larger canes, mostly because I'd probably step on them and regret it.

Cynthia

Very little. Any kind of plant that has to be frequently stimulated, protected or pruned and trained to amount to anything here tends to be purged eventually.

I have about 35 roses and I spend more time harvesting and arranging cut roses than caring for the bushes. I do things as required. I don't have a routine. I find that fruit trees and vines are more time consuming than the roses.