A bed of roses: Beauty and fragrance make them Britain's favourite bloom

Roses remain our favourite flower - a fact that is proven year after year when surveys are conducted into our gardening tastes. The bright blooms, the fact that they appear again and again over the summer and their wonderful fragrance combine to make them real winners.

THANKS to container growing, you can plant roses at any time of year, even in full bloom, but those which are sold between now and the end of March as 'bare root' plants, freshly dug up from nursery rows with no soil clinging to the roots, are not only very easily established, but may also be more attractively priced.

They are also more likely to form a better root system than container-grown roses, which can sometimes be reluctant to push out roots from a congested root ball. A bare root plant must root outwards to anchor and feed itself and so has a real incentive to form a substantial root system, rather than relying on the roots that are already established within the root ball.

Added to this, you'll find a far greater choice of varieties if you buy bare-root plants by mail order from a specialist grower, and poring over the catalogues on an autumn evening is one of life's greatest pleasures.

Order quickly, and as soon as you receive the plants, bury their roots in a spare patch of ground until you are ready to plant. When you do plant them, choose a sunny spot in earth that has been enriched with plenty of well-rotted garden compost or manure.

When it comes to planting depth, the knobbly union between the stems of the variety and the rootstock of briar should be at or fractionally below the surface of the soil to make for stability. Plant it too high and there is a danger of wind rock, causing the bush to become unstable.

Hybrid teas and foribundas can be pruned quite hard after planting - back to between four and six inches above ground. With shrub roses, don't be so drastic. Make your cuts about a foot above soil level - always pruning to an outward-facing bud (if you can see one) so that when the shoots grow they stand a chance of producing a shapely goblet-shaped bush.

You'll seldom need to water in a rosebush planted at this time of year, but sprinkling a root growth stimulant in the bottom of the hole is always a good idea, as is mulching the surface of the soil after planting with a 2-inch layer of chipped bark, well-rotted garden compost or manure. THis will seal in moisture and reduce weed growth.

So, why not treat yourself to a few of the nation's favourite flowers over the next few months? Don't miss Alan's gardening column today and every day in the Daily Express. For more information on his range of gardening products, visit alantitchmarsh.com.

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