How To Care For Indoor Potted Roses

Roses are extremely popular as cut flowers, garden flowers and potted plants.  While cut roses only last for a few days, a potted plant can give the recipient years of joy.  That’s why they are fast becoming a favourite for occasions like birthdays, anniversaries and even Mother’s Day.  Taking care of potted roses is much like caring for roses in your garden.  However, since you have much more control over the environment and conditions in your home, they can be even more rewarding with less effort.

Sun and water

Roses enjoy warm to hot conditions and can tolerate a fair amount of direct sunlight.  In fact, they need quite a bit of sunlight in order to really flourish and produce an abundance of flowers.  Due to the warm conditions, the soil can tend to dry out fairly quickly and you will need to monitor it regularly.  Do not simply look at the surface of the soil to check if it’s dry.  Stick your finger down about an inch into the soil and, if it’s dry that far down, it’s definitely time to water.

Water fairly generously and, when the water starts to drain through the bottom of the pot, then it’s time to stop.

Pink Roses

Insects

Roses are quite delicious to a number of different bugs.  You should always monitor your potted rose plant for any indication of insect damage and deal with it immediately.  Kill the bugs by hand or ask the professionals at your local nursery for a suitable pesticide.  A great time to check for such pests is while you are carefully pruning your plant but in between checks are also a good idea.

Fertilizer

In order to produce high quality blooms, your potted rose is going to need some extra nutrients.  You can use the same kind of fertilizer as you would with garden planted roses and make sure that you follow the instructions to the letter for best results.

Pruning

Pruning your roses, like many other plants, is the best way to help them grow and produce even better blooms year after year.  Make sure that you use a sharp knife or sheers to prune your roses.  The last thing you want is to crush the stems.  When cutting the stems, do so just below each spent bloom and at a 45 degree angle.  Do the same with any dead foliage as well.  Pruning will greatly reduce the overall size of your potted roses and they will remain this size during the colder winter months.  However, when their blooming season nears, you will notice the explosion of life, growth and beauty again.

Other helpful information

Roses serve a number of different purposes.  Some roses are used to make jam, others are used to extract their essence and they make fantastic home made potpourri as well.  Home owners should not be concerned with any poisonous aspects of this plant.  The only potential issue is the thorns which, in small rose varieties, are often soft and pretty harmless if they are even a feature of the plant.