Now’s the Time to Plant Roses

Saturday, April 18, 2026, is Rush for the Roses, an annual event at The Flower Bin marking the beginning of rose season. This year’s event features over 290 varieties of roses and an inventory of over 5000 rose bushes in stock. 

Follow this link for the 2026 Rose variety list: 2026-Rose-List-for-the-Webpage.xls

Once inside the Flower Bin Rose House, you’ll find hundreds of roses ready to take home and plant. 

If this is your first experience with growing roses, here are some tips to help you decide which roses are right for your garden. Hybrid tea roses are very popular with dozens of color and fragrance choices. 

Floribunda roses are generally smaller flowers than hybrid roses, but they bear many flowers each season.  

Miniature roses are naturally smaller plants. 

Thanks to The Flower Bin Perennials Manager Billie Jo’s knowledge and expertise, all our roses are well-established and following a brief acclimation period once you get them home, ready to plant.

What to do first – acclimate them to their new environment - sometimes referred to as “hardening off”.  Here’s why taking time to acclimate your roses matters. Greenhouse roses are coming from high humidity, stable temperatures, diffused light, and low wind stress. Without hardening off, the plant can’t regulate transpiration fast enough. Result: leaf scorch, cane desiccation, stalled growth, and sometimes full dieback. This is especially important for roses because their new spring growth is soft, juicy, and extremely vulnerable. Greenhouse grown tissue is far more sensitive to cold than field grown roses. Here’s a simple, reliable hardening-off schedule: 

Days 1–2 morning sun only, shade in the afternoon, keep evenly moist (not wet)

Days 3–4 extend sun exposure to early afternoon

Days 5–7 full sun

After Day 7 ready to plant

While your roses are hardening off, select the planting site and prepare the soil. Roses will not achieve their full potential if they don’t get sufficient sunlight. Select a location where each rose bush will receive at least six hours of direct sunlight a day. 

Roses do their best when planted in soil that has been well-amended with organic material.  We recommend products that are produced locally, such as Earth Essentials Sheep, Peat and Compost, or Nature’s Yield Compost. These products are formulated to work in our clay soils. A good rule of thumb is to use one-third of compost to two-thirds of existing soils.  

The size of the planting hole depends on the rooting system. Roses are available in two types: own-root and grafted.  Each type requires a slightly different planting technique. For own-root roses, prepare the planting hole just as deep as the pot and twice as wide. For grafted roses, dig a hole 2” to 3” deeper than the bud union line and twice as wide. This is to allow room to bury the bud union 2” to 3” below the soil line. Once you’ve dug the planting hole, fill it with water and observe how long it takes to drain. If it takes more than five minutes, add more organic material. 

Remove the rose from its pot and center it in the hole, then sprinkle one to two tablespoons of True Organic™ mycorrhizal inoculum directly on the roots. Mycorrhizae will penetrate the plant’s root system and help the plant take up nutrients and water. 

Adding a cup or two of Humate stimulates root elongation and fine root development and helps the rose take up nutrients and water. Humic by ferti•lome® is a good source of humate. 

Backfill with amended soil, using enough to create a shallow basin to facilitate watering. Fill the moat with water. Plan to deep water your new roses 2-3 times a week during their first year.

Fertilizing: To support strong, healthy cane growth as well as optimal flower production, plan to feed roses four times a season, using a fertilizer formulated for roses such as ferti•lome® Rose Food. The first feeding should occur after pruning in late April through May, then every 5 to 6 weeks ending no later than Labor Day weekend.   

With their beautiful color and pleasant scent, roses can transform your garden for many seasons to come.    

 

 

 

 

Wednesday's Houseplant Wisdom - Thoughts on Pots

 Thoughts on pots 

 

Pots are not just containers – they are the foundation of healthy houseplants. Choosing the right pot for your houseplant is one of the most impactful factors in your plant’s success. 

 

Key considerations include material, size, style, and especially drainage. These elements create nearly endless possibilities. 

 

The pot’s material affects how well roots receive oxygen and how water moves through the soil. Success is possible with any material, so we will avoid strict “always” or “never” rules. 

 

That said, here are some general guidelines on which pot materials most houseplants prefer. 

 

Terracotta - Terracotta breathes well and dries out quickly, reducing overwatering risk. Ideal for succulents, cacti, snake plants, ZZ plants, monstera, aralias, and schefflera. 

 

Plastic pots - Plastic pots are lightweight and retain moisture effectively. Ideal for ferns, calathea, maranta, peace lilies, anthuriums, fittonia, and many others. If you are unsure whether your plant would thrive in plastic, ask our houseplant team. 

 

Ceramic or glazed pots - Ceramic or glazed pots add style and personality to your home. They retain moisture with less aeration, similar to plastic. For best results, choose ones with drainage holes. Great for alocasia, stromanthe, philodendron, begonia, pothos, croton, dracaena, and pilea. 

 

The moisture retaining combo. One of the best tricks for high-humidity lovers is the double-pot method: place a plastic nursery pot (with drainage holes) inside a decorative ceramic pot. 

This setup helps trap extra moisture and creates the humid environment that plants like alocasia, philodendron, and stromanthe crave. 

 

Just be careful – never let the inner pot sit in standing water. If water collects at the bottom of the ceramic pot, it can deprive the roots of oxygen, quickly leading to root rot. This often shows up as yellowing leaves, wilting, and eventual plant death if not corrected. 

 

 
 
Choosing the right pot size when repotting. For most tropical houseplants, the general recommendation is to move the plant up one pot size. This usually means a pot about 2 inches larger in diameter than the current one.

 

For example, if your plant is fully rooted out in a 6-inch pot, repot it into a 7-or 8-inch pot. Jumping more than 2 inches (especially with a standard potting mix) leaves excess soil that stays wet too long, raising the risk of root rot. 

However, some fast-growing or vigorous species can handle – or even benefit from – slightly larger jumps if you use excellent drainage and water carefully, these include: monstera, large philodendrons, rubber trees, some Ficus, and palms (especially if they are already large and growing strongly). 

Even for these faster growers, many experts still recommend sticking to no more than 2 inches to stay safe. 

 

Plants that prefer to stay snug (root-bound). Some plants perform better when slightly root bound. 

For these, repot only when truly necessary and keep pot size increases minimal (1 inch or less). Jumping much larger can cause them to sulk or develop root rot easily. 

 

 

• Succulents and cacti (including aloe and jade plant) – very drought-tolerant and dislike wet soil. 

 

• Snake plants and ZZ plants – extremely tolerant of tight pots and slow-growing. 

 

• Hoya – with its shallow roots, prefers being snug; repot every 2-4 years. 

 

• Spider plants – will produce more babies when slightly root bound. 

 

• Chinese money plant (Pilea peperomioides) – prefers confinement for compact growth.  A pot larger than 2 inches is usually too much for these – the roots may not reach the edges quickly enough, leaving soggy soil that leads to rot. 

 

Quick tips 

 

• Check roots annually in spring by gently tipping the plant out of its pot. 

 

• Signs that it is time for a repot may look like roots circling the bottom or poking out of drainage holes. 

Soil dries out extremely fast, stunted growth, yellowing lower leaves, or the plant becoming top-heavy/unstable. 

 

• Even if you are not upsizing the pot, refresh the soil when it looks compacted (this gives a nutrient boost). 

 

• After repotting, place the plant in bright indirect light and hold off on fertilizer for 4-6 weeks. 

Have a question about which pot is right for your specific plant? Stop by and ask our houseplant or diagnostic team – we are happy to help you find the perfect match for your green friends!