Growing Roses In The Shade

Searing Baldwin

Consulting Rosarian

Westbury, New York

One of my very best friends was visiting my garden one day and made a remark that brought about the writing of this article. "As many times as I have visited your garden I never realized that most of your roses aie grown in partial or dappled shade, surrounded by trees and shaded by your own house and even your neighbors', yet your bushes are big, healthy and full of bloom," he said.

I have bushes that receive as little as two hours of direct sun a day, some that receive only dappled sunlight, and a few that are in direct sun most of the day. Most information on roses tends to lead the reader to believe that good roses cannot be grown in the shade. In my twenty years of growing roses it has been my experience that this is wrong.

The answer to growing good roses in the shade is very simple. I mean not just good garden or decorative roses, but fine quality exhibition roses, as my record of winnings will attest.

First, you must have reasonably strong bushes.

Second, remove the existing soil in the bed and, where trees are causing the shade, you should place a root barrier between the rose bed and the tree roots. Asbestos-cement hardboard or Transite board is excellent and will last indefinitely. Twenty-four inches should be deep enough to keep out most roots. That is how deep mine are. This material cannot be cut with any ordinary saw, but can be cut by just scribing three or four times with an ordinary icepick. Lay it over a board and break along scribed mark.

Incorporate in the removed soil well-rotted compost, manure and peat moss, together with sufficient limestone (Dolomitic) as necessary to bring the pH to about 6.5. Also to this mixture-and this is extremely important-add Superphosphate as recommended on the bag, and also some rock phosphate or bone meal, as this proves both an immediately available source of phosphate as well as a more slowly available source to cover a period of years. Return this mixture to the bed. This produces more and stronger canes, more leaves, and is the secret to really beautiful blooms. Why? Because of the fibrous root system this mixture will produce and maintain. A rosebush grown in the shade needs all the help it can get.

Third, make sure you supply ample water not only to the roses but also to the trees-or they will find a way to steal it from the rose beds.

I have never been foolish enough to believe that some roots will not find a way to enter my rose beds and steal some of the nutrients meant for the roses; consequently, I liquid-feed with every spraying, which is usually about every ten days. I use Ra-Pid-Gro or Schultz Instant, according to directions and added to my spray. Also, I provide plenty of manure, compost, and a little more dry fertilizer than is normally used in a bed with full sun. Add a tablespoon more to a large handful.

In more than twenty years of growing roses in the shade I have lost six, due to various causes. Four of those bushes were newly planted in the fall and were improperly protected. I have since learned how to protect properly, since 99% of my planting is done in the fall.

My roses grow a little taller than those in full sun all day. The color of the blooms is much better and the bushes, I am sure, transpire less in hot weather.

Don't be discouraged when told you can't grow roses in the shade. Give it a try and you will find that you can grow good roses in the shade. If you are an avid exhibitor or pot hound, as I am known as in this area, you will take some Queens, Kings and a lot of hardware along the way.


From the 1976 American Rose Society Annual pgs. 23, 24



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