Rosebie Morton’s November Gardening Guide

This is the ideal month for planting bare rooted roses, the advantage being that they can be planted in the winter months (November – March) and have time to get their roots established before the spring. It is always a minefield choosing a new rose for a garden, balcony or window box. With over 30,000 varieties of rose, where on earth do you start? Rosebie Morton, founder of The Real Flower Company, is here to help with her November gardening guide.

Gardening In November: Jobs To Do This Month

I’m a strong believer in ‘bang for your buck’, so a rose which flowers throughout the season is a good starting point. Scent is a bonus, especially in a small space where you can appreciate the fragrance. Position is another factor to consider: most roses need about six hours of sunlight to produce the best blooms, although some will tolerate more shade. 

Miniature roses are ideal for a window box or balcony or for placing near a path. Sweet Haze or Pretty Polly tick all the boxes, being repeat flowering, healthy and scented with a compact growth. 

Floribundas and Hybrid tea roses can be grown either in the garden or in a large container. One of the easiest is Chandos Beauty – a stunning peach coloured large rose, perfect for cutting to appreciate in a vase. It has an exquisite scent and enviable health. Another doer is A Whiter Shade of Pale which flowers all summer long, a pale pink with a lovely scent. Rose de Rescht, a deep cerise, will fit into any planting scheme, producing a multitude of scented flowers on a tidy, bushy growth. 

White Gold is another stalwart in a garden and won’t get too big. Iceberg has to be one of the most well known prolific white roses ever bred and is often still blooming on Christmas day! Yellow roses can be a bit of a marmite but positioned in the right spot in the garden can really lighten and enhance. Mountbatten is a popular rich yellow – or try David Austin’s Golden Celebration for the wow factor, or Tottering by Gently which, if planted en masse, looks amazing. Margaret Merril is the perfect candidate to be planted in a container. She thrives on TLC so mixing lots of compost and fertiliser with the soil in the container will vastly improve her vigour. 

Several roses can be grown as small climbers ideal for round a front door or a low wall. Look at Westerland, Blush Noisette or Constance Spry. Where space is of no issue go for Compassion, Generous Gardener or Zephirin Drouhin.

Whichever rose you choose, make sure you prepare the soil well, incorporating a good mix of compost and slow release fertiliser into the hole. The rose should be planted with its union (the lumpy bit!) a good 4cm below the ground. Firm the soil around the plant and finish with a mulch. 

November Jobs:

• Carry on planting tulip and other bulbs.
• Lift Dahlia tubers and store them in dry compost in a frost proof place.
• Protect tender plants with a layer of straw or mulch.

Next Month:

Winter colour to lift the spirits.