Thanks to their lush flowers, delicate beauty and unmistakable scent, the royal plants, the standard roses, are a real eye-catcher in every garden. The beautifully blooming roses provide a touch of luxury and should not be missing in any garden. So that you can experience the unique effect of standard roses in your home, we have created a small guide for you on how to plant, care for, cut and overwinter standard roses.
Why plant stem roses and what characterizes these flowers?
The term standard roses, also known as rose trees, rose trunks or standard roses, is not an independent class of roses, but rather roses of suitable varieties that are grafted onto a specially grown wild rose trunk. Depending on the level of refinement, the standard roses can be divided into four categories:
Dwarf trunks – reach a maximum height of 40 cm
Half trunks – up to 60 cm
Standard trunks – reach a height of 90 cm
Cascade trunks – grow up to 140 cm high
The crowns of the roses can grow hanging, rounded or upright depending on the growth habit of the respective rose variety. Well-known varieties of standard roses are Kimono (60 cm), Leonardo da Vinci (80 cm), Nostalgie (1.20 m), Graham Thomas (1.40 m) and many more.
Other facts worth knowing
So that the beautiful standard roses thrive and beautify your garden, the selection of the location is of fundamental importance. Most varieties prefer a sunny location, while others can cope with a partially shaded spot. To ensure that the plants develop well and produce lots of flowers, it is advisable to ask specialist retailers about the location. The chosen location should also be protected from wind.
Stem roses need nutrient-rich soil that is permeable to water and oxygen. Since the roots of many varieties are very deep and should not experience any resistance when spreading, it would make sense to loosen up heavy soils. A sandy soil is best enriched with compost and the clayey soil mixed with gravel.
When and how to plant stem roses?
The rose trunk is suitable for both solitary planting and for...Planting in the flower bedwell suited. While dwarf stem roses are ideal for plant pots, half stem roses belong in larger containers or in perennial beds. The standard roses are suitable for solitary plants, rose avenues, your own rose circle or group planting. The cascade trunks, on the other hand, are perfect for solitary planting in the garden.
Fall is the perfect season for growing
Autumn is considered the optimal planting time for standard roses. In winter the plants then have the opportunity to take root properly. The freshly planted rose needs moisture, which the earth also has to offer in autumn.
Useful information and tips for breeding
Find a suitable location for the plants and dig a planting hole that should be at least 50 x 50 cm in size so that the plant has sufficient support. Loosen the soil to a depth of one meter and mix the excavated material with compost.
If the plants have suffered root damage during transport, the affected parts must be cut off, but the roots must not be shorter than 25 cm.
Insert the support stake into the hole. Now you can place the rose in the ground, whereby the cone interface (thickening at the base) should be a hand's breadth above the surface of the ground. Then fill the planting pit with the excavated material. After a few hours, refill them with soil. Don't forget to muddy the soil well. Tie the rose to the support stake, in the middle and below the crown. Use a soft binding material, such as coconut tape.
After planting, the rose must not suffer from drought and must be watered regularly.
Cultivate standard roses in pots
If you would like to cultivate standard roses in a pot, there are a few points you need to consider. It is best to use terracotta containers that are deep enough and have holes in the bottom so that excess water can drain away. Drainage made of pottery shards is a good aid against waterlogging. Water the standard roses regularly and moderately. From April to July, provide the plant with liquid fertilizer approximately once a month.
How to cut back the flowers
Like all other roses, the standard roses are also pruned in spring. In the first year after planting, the standard roses should only be pruned to a limited extent or not at all so that the plant can first grow in. When cutting stem roses, weak and diseased shoots are removed. Shoots growing inwards are also eliminated.
If you want, you can let the upper part of the plant grow naturally or cut the crown into shape. Stem roses look breathtakingly beautiful both in their natural growth form and with a spherical crown. If you want to cut the standard roses into even balls, you have to cut them again because some shoots develop more vigorously than others.
The rose group of the standard rose is crucial for the correct cut. Multi-flowered and large-flowered roses are cut to 3-5 eyes so that the plant blooms profusely and remains vital for a long time. In contrast, the actual shoots of climbing roses are left alone and only thinned out sporadically.
How do standard roses overwinter?
There are many standard rose varieties available in stores that are absolutely winter hardy. Real-root roses, for example, are frost hardy down to minus 25 degrees. However, if the standard roses are cultivated in pots or if they are still very young, they need appropriate winter protection. On the other hand, rose varieties that are not completely hardy always need to be protected from the cold. If you are not willing to do the work in the cold winter months, you should not buy grafted standard roses because they can only withstand low levels of frost hardiness.
If these are standard trunks that are still flexible and not woody, there is an effective method that may seem a bit strange to you at first. In order to help the rose trunks planted outdoors to get through the cold season in one piece, the trunks are “repositioned”. First, the rose is bent sideways onto the ground. Your crown is then fixed to the ground and covered with pine branches. In the spring, these high trunks can be raised again carefully and not with a jerk.
Older standard roses can no longer be bent to the ground, which is why this oneWintering techniquecannot be applied here. Older specimens need air-permeable protection. It is important that the air can circulate and the moisture can evaporate. To avoid frost and winter sun, the rose crown must be covered with fleece and then loosely wrapped with special frost protection films, jute bags or protective fleece and tied together below the grafting areas. Films are not suitable for overwintering standard roses because water can collect, which can then cause rot.
Stem roses in planters can also be protected with suitable materials or moved to a frost-free and cool place. The crown and planter are wrapped with foil and the plant is placed on a Styrofoam or wooden block in a frost-free place to overwinter.
Which pests and plant diseases should I consider?
Like all other roses, standard roses often suffer from diseases and are attacked by pests. Fungal diseases, for example, quickly reach neighboring specimens, which is why regular checks and, if necessary, appropriate treatment are of great importance.
Aphids, for example, like to settle on standard roses in warm and dry weather. First try to eliminate the pests with home remedies. Effective methods include spraying with a sharp jet of water or using a mixture of water, detergent and spirit. Preparations based on neem oil can be used if the usual home remedies have no effect.
The trunk roses in a dry and hot place, such as the covered terrace, are often attacked by spider mites. In this case, move the rose to a more humid location.
If the plants are attacked by rose sawflies, you must remove the affected leaves and spray the plant with approved pesticides.
If you notice mass infestations of common rose chafers, you will need to collect sluggish beetles and check the compost in the morning. The pests like to stay there.
If white-gray spots can be seen on the foliage, then the stem rose is affected by powdery mildew. Remove the affected plant parts immediately and destroy them. Apply a fungicide.
Rust fungi prefer to occur in damp and cool locations. Discard the affected leaves and spray the plant alternately with different active ingredients such as azoxystrobin and myclobutanil.
Gray-black spots on the leaves are a sign of sooty mold. Treat the plant as you would for other fungal diseases or spray the standard rose in spring with protective products on shoots that are over 5 cm long.
