When To Plant Roses: The Best Time For Your Climate And Rose Type

Plant your roses at the right time and you will be rewarded with decades of glorious summer flowers – but get it wrong and you'll be crying over dead shrubs.

Gardener plants potted rose with pink flowers into garden soil
(Image credit: Alamy)
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Roses are among the most admired garden plants – and they are also among the most expensive. So, when taking the first steps toward introducing roses to your landscape, you’ll want to give them the best start possible. Knowing when to plant roses will enable the shrubs to quickly establish, putting down roots, and producing a profusion of flowers – even in their first year.

Whether you are planting a single prized shrub or a whole rose garden, you need to know how to plant roses properly to get good results. Timing is a crucial aspect of this. In general, late autumn and spring are the best seasons for planting, but there is some variation with different types of roses, presentations, and local climates.

Roses are generally hardy, forgiving shrubs, so planting them out of season won't necessarily kill them. However, when learning how to grow roses, it's important to understand that planting them at the wrong time may affect their initial growth and flowering performance. It can even make them more vulnerable to some common rose diseases and pests.

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Best Time of Year to Plant Roses

The optimal period to plant roses depends on which rose presentation you buy. There are usually three types of rose shrub presentations:

  • Bare-root roses are dormant shrubs supplied without any soil around their roots. These should be planted between late fall and early spring, but not in particularly cold snaps.
  • Containerized roses are bare-root roses temporarily placed in pots of potting media to prevent them from drying out in transit. They were not grown in the container and should be treated the same as bare-root roses, planted between autumn and spring.
  • Container-grown roses have lived all their lives in their pots and developed roots in the potting soil. Gardeners have more flexibility when planting potted roses. While fall and spring are prime seasons, they can be planted at any time except during the hottest days of summer and when the ground is frozen in winter.

Gardener plants bare root rose in garden

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The type of rose matters too:

  • Climbing roses and rambling roses need a strong start to establish their structure, so benefit from early spring planting.
  • Shrub and landscape roses are more forgiving and can be planted from spring through early fall.
  • Hybrid teas, floribundas, and grandiflora roses prefer spring planting so they can develop before the heat of the summer.
  • Tree roses are typically best planted in early spring as bare roots, or at any time as potted trees.

Planting rose with red flowers

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Does Climate Affect Planting Time?

In most regions, the “bare root” season for rose planting starts in October or November and ends in early spring. However, in regions that experience very cold winters, spring is the better season for planting.

If winter temperatures don't drop below -10°F (-23°C), then either fall or spring planting is satisfactory. Check your USDA hardiness zone, which is based on the average coldest winter temperature. Gardeners in zones 5 and below should take particular care to avoid the coldest periods.

Meanwhile, gardeners in zones 8-10 should be particularly wary of planting roses in the hotter summer months.

Can I Plant Roses in Summer and Winter?

While bare-root roses need to get their roots in the ground between fall and early spring, potted roses can be planted in any season. Plant them fairly quickly after purchase.

The only exceptions to planting in winter or summer are when the ground is very dry or frozen. It is also not a great idea to plant in intense summer heat since you’ll have a lot of watering to do – sometimes up to two or three times a day.

Knowing how to water roses correctly will help them to establish in their new home. Both bare-root and potted roses will need plenty of water in the period after planting – though avoid overwatering. Their moisture needs will reduce over time, but even mature roses need watering regularly in the summer.

Watering newly planted rose

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Do Other Factors Affect Planting Time?

It only makes sense to note factors like soil temperature, risks of frost, and impending flooding when you are thinking about planting roses. Obviously, very hot or very cold soil is not ideal for rose planting. Nor is soil that is frozen or over-watered from excessive rainfall. Adapt a common sense approach and pick a drama-free planting time.

Risks of Planting Roses at the Wrong Time

When you are planting roses, there are many wrong times to act. It’s easier to focus on the right times: when neither frost, record high temperatures, nor torrential rain is forecast. If you plant any rose when extreme weather is forecast, the young rose might not survive it.

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Teo Spengler
Teo Spengler
Writer

Teo Spengler is a master gardener and a docent at the San Francisco Botanical Garden, where she hosts public tours. She has studied horticulture and written about nature, trees, plants, and gardening for more than two decades. Her extended family includes some 30 houseplants and hundreds of outdoor plants, including 250 trees, which are her main passion. Spengler currently splits her life between San Francisco and the French Basque Country, though she was raised in Alaska, giving her experience of gardening in a range of climates.

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