How to look after roses in pots

Summer

Thoroughly soak the compost each time it goes pale and dry. Feed with a high-potassium fertiliser such as Tomorite or Flower Power plant food added to your watering can each time buds start to form. Don’t overfeed or the rose will put on too much soft growth, which can result in stems falling over and making a scruffy plant.

Winter

Lift the pot onto pot feet to prevent the plant from being waterlogged. Remove fallen leaves from the base of the plant before they start to decompose into the compost, to prevent fungal diseases affecting new growth in spring and summer. For old roses with many thick stems, completely cut out a quarter of the oldest stems, cutting them off at the base.

Autumn

Keep watering in dry periods and cutting off old flowers once they’ve faded. Once the plant stops producing new buds, cut back old flowered stems by up to a half to tidy up the plant. Pick off any leaves showing signs of blackspot to prevent them infecting other leaves.

Spring

Scrape off the top 5cm (2in) of compost and replace with a fresh mix of equal parts compost and topsoil. Prune back each stem up to 10cm (4in) from the base of the plant, depending on how big you want the plant to be. For a bigger plant, don’t prune as hard. For climbers, just trim off any wayward or diseased stems.

Pick off blackspotinfected leaves Continual deadheading is beneficial Cut down old flowered stems once no buds are coming through

Trim down your rose in winter, cu ing out some of the oldest stems to the base

Give roses a li le spring prune and refresh surface compost

Use Tomorite, Uncle Tom’s Rose Tonic or similar to water over the plant