Rose

A rose is a hedgerow shrub that has been bred for two hundred years to hold its flowers open, and it still wants what the hedgerow gave it: sun on its head, moisture at its roots, and wind through its middle. Bare root plants are lifted while dormant and sold from about November to March in the north and through the dry winter in South Africa, which is why July is the traditional rose planting month there. Plant so the graft union sits at soil level, firm it hard, and water it in even in the rain. The first summer decides the plant. Two long soaks a week beat a daily sprinkle, because the roots follow the water down. Prune hard in late winter, feed as the buds break, and take the fallen leaves away rather than composting them.