It would just not be right to not mention roses in October, this is their month to shine and look fabulous. Roses are one of the easiest ways to add colour to a garden and they just get better every year producing more flowers as they mature. There is a rose to suit every garden from a romantic cottage style to formal or even contemporary gardens.

Plant roses in a square hole adding bone meal and compost to the soil. Once planted mulch with a layer of compost or bagged mulch and feed with Sudden Impact before watering well to allow them to settle. Feed them regularly to keep them flowering more prolifically. By feeding them with an organic fertiliser they not only have better colour but are more fragrant and generally more disease resistant limiting the amount of spraying.

When planting roses, group three similar or of the same colour quite close together to make a striking show. When all else fails and you need to spray your roses use Rosecare which is a combination insecticide and fungicide and controls everything that can go wrong with your rose bushes. There are new varieties coming into circulation every year and the quest these days is to develop a fragrant naturally disease resistant rose that flowers on mass. For many roses are sentimental which is why even though there are new roses to choose from every year the older favourites just keep coming back.

Bush Roses:

Bush roses are by far the most popular roses. There are two distinct different kinds of bush roses namely the Hybrid Tea roses and the Floribunda roses. Both can be grown as a shrub or as a lollipop standard rose. The most well know Floribunda rose is Iceberg seen in almost every neighbourhood as they flower on mass continually through summer. Flowering in bunches on the end of their stems Floribunda roses really add colour to the garden. Hybrid Tea roses are more traditional cut flower roses with larger blooms and are more likely to be fragrant.

Climbing Roses:

Roses do not actually climb but their longer canes can be attached to supports such as a trellises or topiary frame. Many of the Hybrid Tea or Floribunda roses are available as climbers but there are some new varieties bred to flower all along the stem giving a more spectacular show. Roses need at least six hours of sun so when positioning a climbing rose, make sure it will get enough sun and is not shaded by the wall or nearby trees. Do not prune a climbing rose until it has covered the whole trellis or position you want to grow it in.

Groundcover Roses:

Ground cover roses produce low mounds of rose on long canes. Our best sellers are the Flower Carpet roses. This is a genuinely easy-care groundcover rose and they are consistently one of the most disease-resistant roses ever bred - ideal for the established or new gardener alike. Simple to grow and easy to maintain, it doesn't require spraying. Simply cut back to a third of its size in late winter. During the long flowering season, this rose will self-clean so that there's no need for fancy pruning or deadheading.

Companion tip: Plant strawberries under the rose bushes. Strawberries will bloom in the spring, before your roses will. They will thrive in the same conditions that your roses enjoy