[Mama_Bear]

I have no idea about rose bed soil. I just plant my roses with some peat moss mixed into the planting hole, and they seem to do great. I think the land our house is on used to be a dairy however, so it could be the soil is rich in nutriants already.

My roses are all budded out and I am anxiously awaiting the first flush of blossoms. I have:

Miss All American Beauty
Tropicana (one of my favorites - thank you GodBlessUSA for helping me identify it.)
Helena Renaissance
Bridal Pink
American Dream (my favorite red rose.)
Whiskey Mac
Chicago Peace (a bare root I planted last month.)
Midas Touch (a pretty yellow climber)
Sunbright
Century Two

I also have a variety of miniature roses and carpet roses.

Good luck with your rose garden, Knitting A Conundrum. I hope it is a thriving success. :-)

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Thank you!

We’re still turning the bed. Our soil is pretty alkali, like desert soils normally are, so I have been double digging it,bit by bit, and adding gypsum, sulfur, compost and a little sand. We’ve also just planted a crabapple in the front yard (a Sugar Tyme) and an Italian plum in the backyard. The backyard’s in bad shape, and will need some serious TLC, but the front yard had been neglected, too.

I will test the soil one more time before I plant. If it’s still a bit on the alkali side, then I will just use a good tree and shrub potting soil to amend the hole I plant them in and mulch heavily. I’m also starting to wonder what companion plants I ought to plant in this bed. There will be room for some of them, for sure.