Gardeners need to begin preparing the garden for cold, frosty weather in autumn, and roses are fairly easy to care for as long as they are not fertilised.

Roses should never be fertilised after September as it can encourage tender new growth that will die from frost damage and make the plant more vulnerable.

Instead, gardeners should begin mulching their roses, which is applying a layer of organic material around plants to protect them in winter.

Carolyn Parker, a gardener and founder of Rose Notes, has shared that mulching roses is really easy to do and is the best way to help roses thrive at this time of year.

She said: “Roses and most all garden plants are much happier with mulch…mulchless soil is like no blankets on a cold night, and weeds take over in no time at all without mulch”

What are the benefits of mulching roses?

In autumn, roses begin to go dormant to help prepare for winter and mulching helps the plant reserve energy so that flowers are healthier, stronger and bigger once spring arrives.

Mulching insulates the plant to protect roses from frost and like fertilisation it will add nutrients to the soil naturally which roses will have access to once they begin growing again.

It will also suffocate weeds so they have no chance to grow in the soil near roses and mulching also retains moisture in the soil so gardeners do not have to worry about weeding or watering roses once the weather begins to drop.

What can you use to mulch roses? 

Mulching is very straightforward as all you need to do is pick the right mulching material and spread a layer around the base of a rose bush.

You can use many different materials to mulch such as manure, compost, straw or bark chips but Caroln has a simple mulch recipe which she says is highly effective at protecting roses.

Carolyn said: “My mulch of choice has always been shredded redwood bark. Wood chips, leaves, grape seed, small stones, hay, pinestraw (needles), cocoa hulls are also good mulches.

“All but the stones break down into lovely humus. I’m always stunned at how quick the break-down is. The earth is like a giant mouth and the soil is so much better for it.”

Autumn leaves can is also a great mulch for roses and it is highly recommended to pick up any fallen leaves you find in your garden now and store them away to use them as mulch throughout the colder months.

According to Carolyn, autumn leaves work “very well” at blocking weeds from growing so it will be one less job to worry about once spring arrives.

She said: “Last week (February) I dumped garbage bags of silver maple leaves (from the big tree over the house) on a wide swath of dormant roses. It’s not as dense as the redwood, but how nice to cover the earth with a little nourishment.”

Make sure to avoid using leaves which have black spots or mould growing on them as they could spread fungal diseases to roses which are very common in autumn,

Using mulch will help you recycle natural materials to improve roses’ growing conditions so they will be thriving and ready to blossom once the growing season starts again in 2025.