Q&A for How to Propagate Roses

Dip the end of the cutting in rooting hormone to help encourage root growth, then plant it in a pot with some good soil.

Rose seeds need to go through stratification (an artificial cold spell) for 10 to 12 weeks before they will sprout. This, combined with a germination success rate of 20-30% makes propagation by seed an unattractive prospect. on by seed an unattractive prospect. If you still want to try it, find a good source of information that will guide you through the process.

I planted mine in to the ground just like a normal rose bush, amending the soil with rose fertilizer and alfalfa meal. It is gorgeous, but because it's low to the ground, you should make sure to use drip irrigation or a soaker hose to water it so it doesn’t get black spots from the water splashing on the leaves. If yours is in a pot, let it go dormant in the garage or close to your home to keep the pot from freezing. Keep it watered and in the spring it should come back with more fertilizer to keep it happy.

You'll want to leave the rose in the pot long enough to allow the roots to grow and establish. But as the plant grows, you'll need to transplant it to a larger pot to accommodate the growing size. To transplant the growing plant, prepare a larger pot with potting soil and transfer the rose to the larger pot.

I have done this and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, possibly because of the variety of rose it is. I usually prune a spent blossom, put a bit of rooting compound on the cut end and make a hole in the soil under the mother plant and put it in, firming the soil around it. This way, they both get watered at the same time. Then when I'm putting my garden to bed in the fall, I usually cover the young plants with a glass jar to protect them during the winter. I usually leave them in place (taking off the glass jar in the spring) for about 2 years just to be safe or if they put on new growth the next summer you'll know that they've rooted and you can carefully move them.