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Roses for every Canadian Garden

Miniature Roses

Old favourites and new releases.  Perfect for squeezing into a sunny corner of the garden or into a pot or hanging basket!

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Canadian Heritage Shrub Roses

The rare but beautiful shrubs bred by amateur rosarians to withstand Canadian Prairie winters.

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Ag-Can Roses

Hardy roses developed through Agriculture Canada's research stations (the Explorer, Prairie and Morden series).

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Growing Roses

Roses are not hugely difficult plants to grow, but they will grow best, with more flowers and healthier foliage, under certain conditions. 

Choosing a location to plant your roses

If you don't currently have a rose bed or roses, you need to first find a good spot for them in your garden.

Miniatures, shrubs, climbers, no matter the type, roses thrive when you plant them in a location that:

  • has full sun (6-8 hours) with southern or eastern exposures;
  • has good air circulation but is not completely exposed to cold winter winds;
  • is far from trees and buildings that create shade and/or consume nutrients; and
  • has good, nutrient-rich loamy soil that is slightly acidic.

Taking care of your roses

If there isn't an ideal site in your garden, you can take steps to create one.

Most of the requirements for healthy roses can be easily created in any garden. 

 Sunlight: The most difficult aspect to change is the amount of sunlight.  If you have a northern exposure with, at most, 4 hours of sunlight, then roses might not be the plant for you.  However, at least one rosarian has removed large spruce trees and a shed to make room for more roses!  And don't forget that roses can be grown in pots, which can be placed where there is enough sun without huge landscaping costs.

Wind Exposure: If your favoured site is too exposed, then wind breaks can be created with fences and shrubs or even screens, as long as the shelter is not blocking the sun for too long. 

Soil: Roses prefer a loamy, well-drained, slightly acidic, nutrient-rich soil.  Loamy soils with good drainage can be created by adding more sand if your soil is clay-rich, adding more silt/clay if your soil is too sandy.  Adding sphagnum peat moss to the mix not only adds organic matter, but increases the acidity as it decays.  And adding any other type of organic material such as compost will increase the nutrients available to the plants.  Don't forget that soil is not an amend-once-and-forget item!  Add more organics every year to replace what nutrients have been consumed.

Planting Roses

Once you have the ideal site and soil created, it's time to plant your new roses.

All roses shipped and sold by HeartStone roses are grown on their own roots.  This means all you have to do is dig a hole in your rose bed or pot a little bigger than the size of the soil ball and place your rose in it, replace the soil and you are done!

Planting roses is also a great time to improve the soil you have removed from the hole before you replace it. Add peat moss and other organics as well as sand or clay/silt to recreate that ideal loam.

When planting, do a little landscape planning. Make sure that you leave enough space between plants to accommodate their full grown (in Canada) size. Minis can be planted 30 cm apart. Shrubs should generally be planted 1 m or more apart, again with larger plants at the back of the bed. Make sure that smaller roses are at the front of bed and climbers or larger plants are at the back.  Shrubs should generally be planted 1 m or more apart, again with larger plants at the back of the bed.