Get your roses off to the best start by planting them in autumn
Image: Rose banksiae ‘Lutea’ (Rambling Rose) from Thompson & Morgan

Late autumn and early spring are the traditional times of year for planting roses, but to get them off to the best possible start, thorough ground preparation and careful planting are key. Available as containerised plants, container-grown plants and bare root roses, we take a look at the main differences between each type and explain how to plant them correctly. 

Keen to add more of these classic beauties to your planting scheme? Browse our full range of roses including floribunda, hybrid tea roses, climbing varieties and hedging roses.

Why should you plant roses during the autumn?

Ideal for training onto pergolas and fences, ‘Zéphirine Drouhin’ is beautifully fragrant
Image: Rose ‘Zéphirine Drouhin’ from Thompson & Morgan

Planting roses during their dormant phase (when they’re not in leaf or flower) is the best way to give the roots a chance to establish. You can also plant roses in the late winter or early spring, providing the ground isn’t frozen, but doing so in the autumn while there’s some residual warmth in the soil helps to give the roots a head start.

How are rose plants supplied?

‘Peter’s Persica’ was awarded Gardeners’ World Plant of the Year 2023
Image: Rose ‘Peter’s Persica’ (Climbing Patio) from Thompson & Morgan

• Bare root roses: The best way to buy roses is as bare root plants which are dug up during dormancy and available for order during the autumn. Having been grown in open ground, their roots tend to be evenly spread which makes them easier to plant. If you buy bare roots, make sure that you rehydrate them with a soak in a bucket of cold water and plant them as soon as possible.
• Containerised roses: These are similar to bare roots except they’ve been dug up and potted into a container, meaning they’re available for a longer period. You should treat these in the same way as bare roots, planting them as soon as you can to give them the best start.
• Container-grown roses: You can usually buy these roses all year round. Grown in pots for more than one season, these more established plants can be relocated into the ground at any time of year, although it’s best to avoid excessively hot, dry, or cold, wet and windy weather.

How to prepare the ground for roses

Rose ‘Queen Elizabeth’ is a long-stemmed, robust variety with an exquisite flower
Image: Rose ‘Queen Elizabeth’ (Floribunda Rose) from T&M

From floribunda roses like Rose ‘Queen Elizabeth’, to climbing roses and hybrid tea roses like Rose ‘Kimono’, there’s a huge variety from which to choose. Fortunately for gardeners, however, their planting requirements are broadly similar. Roses like a sunny area of the garden where it’s reasonably sheltered, and they like to go into a generous-sized hole, backfilled with soil containing plenty of organic matter.

Pick a spot where there’s little competition from other trees and shrubs, preferably where you haven’t grown roses before. Give the patch a thorough weed and remove rocks and stones before digging a generous amount of organic matter into the soil – well rotted manure or compost is ideal. Make your hole twice the diameter of the spread of the roots and about a spade’s depth. Loosen the soil at the base of the hole to help the roots to penetrate the soil.

How to plant roses

These miniature standard roses give a lovely structure to borders
Copyright: Visions BV, Netherlands

Place the plant into the centre of its hole and spread its roots evenly. If you’re planting containerised roses, you might have to carefully tease the roots apart to encourage the plant to spread out under the ground. With the plant sited, use a stick placed across the hole to check that the graft union – the place where the stem has been joined to the rootstock – is level with the soil surface, not below it. Once you’re happy, backfill the hole and firm the soil gently to remove air pockets. Top dress with a rose fertiliser and water in. Once your roses are established, a feed and mulch after pruning each spring is advisable.

If you’re planting roses to replace old plants that you’ve removed from the same area, there’s a risk your new roses could suffer so-called ‘replant disease’ which limits the new plant’s ability to thrive and can even kill it. To avoid this, dig a bigger hole and replace the soil with soil dug from elsewhere in the garden. It’s thought replant disease may arise from a concentration of rose pathogens and pests in the soil surrounding the roots of the old plant.

Planting your roses in the autumn is the best way to make sure they get off to a great start ready to thrive once spring arrives. For more information on caring for your favourite roses, head over to our roses masterclass where you’ll find a collection of the best advice on growing one of our most traditional and lovely flowers. Head over to our roses hub page for even more advice on how to keep your rose healthy throughout the year. 

Thompson & Morgan

The Thompson & Morgan horticultural team produces a wealth of content around gardening and food production. Since the first seed catalogue was published in 1855, Thompson & Morgan has grown to become one of the UK’s largest Mail Order Seed and Plant companies. Through the publication of our catalogues and the operation of our award-winning website, Thompson & Morgan is able to provide home gardeners with the very best quality products money can buy.