Question
Hello Ma'am,

I work at a Summer camp called Camp Champions here in wonderful Marble Falls, TX. I was wondering if you could lay out the bare minimum in terms of what I need to do to get my rose garden underway. THANKS!

Tom

Answer
Hi Tom-
This is what I would do.  First, pick a spot to create a slightly raised bed.  If you have three roses - a spot about 5 ft. in diameter should be fine.  Or if you want you could create a pattern like this below with five roses:
            X
          X X X
            X
You could use paver bricks going around in a circle, (or square if you prefer) with some type of border brick (or curved scalloped brick pieces sold at Lowes or Home Depot).  Dig holes in the desired locations.  Buy some weed mat (black) at a Garden Center (or Lowes) and lay it on top and overlapping the dirt around the planted roses - but keep the weed mat within the border of the bricks surrounding the planted roses.  Cover the weed mat with mulch or bark.  You could also used a raised bed which is higher - perhaps 2 ft. or more.  You could use railroad ties to create a raised bed or bricks layered on top of each other.

You will need to use Rose Soil (which you can buy at most garden centers, like Lowes) or make your own rose soil by mixing: 2 bags manure, 2 bags potting soil, 2 bags humus or compost.  You will also need a large bag of cedar mulch (keeps away the bugs).  

What types of roses to buy?  Walmart sells roses cheap - the recommended roses for Texas:  Belinda's Dream, Knockout, Mr. Lincoln, Double Delight, Peace, Chicago Peace,
Gene Boerner, Miss All American Beauty, Pascali, Olympiad, Uncle Joe (Toro), St. Patrick, Sunsprite, Veteran's Honor, Sunset Celebration, Mrs. B.R. Cant, Duchesse de Brabant, Love, Chrysler Imperial, Nearly Wild, Honey bouquet, Gold Medal, Angel Face, Europeana, Iceberg, to name a few.

If you want to buy the roses online - I would recommend Chamblees Roses (www.chambleeroses.com).

You may want to wrap a soaker hose around the roses (loop it around each rose - be careful that the hose doesn't kink up or it would stop the water flow).  Soaker hoses are more economical with water and provide a deep soaking that roses love.  Otherwise - a sprinkler will do.

Have fun smelling the roses!

Carlene
aka the Flowerlady