Bare-root roses: choosing and planting

Daniel Platteau

In short: from November to March, roses are sold bare-root: cheaper, in a much wider choice, and according to the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) generally better plants than container-grown roses. To succeed: choose a disease-resistant variety (the German ADR label and the Belgian trials in Kortrijk and Le Roeulx help), plant quickly, set the graft union at soil level, and don't plant a rose where another one grew without changing the soil.

A bare-root rose looks like a bundle of thorny sticks with a tuft of roots. Not very appealing on the shelf. Yet it is the best way to establish a rose that will live for decades. Our article November in the garden gave the outline; here is the complete guide, from choosing the variety to the second year.

Why buy bare-root

The RHS distinguishes three ways of buying a rose:

Bare-root roses have two other advantages: the choice of varieties is the widest of the year, and a rose without pot or compost travels light, which makes mail order easy. Their only constraint is the season: they are planted while dormant, at leaf fall or from late winter to early spring, never in frozen ground.

Choosing a healthy variety: ADR, Kortrijk and Le Roeulx

The most beautiful rose in the catalogue is no use if it loses its leaves to black spot in July. The first selection criterion should be healthy foliage. Three benchmarks exist in Belgium and neighbouring countries.

The German ADR label. The Allgemeine Deutsche Rosenneuheitenprüfung tests new varieties every year for three years, in around a dozen trial gardens across Germany, without any fungicide or insecticide. Foliage health is the priority criterion: according to the ADR rules, a variety must score an average of 75 points out of 100 overall, and 25 out of 30 for health. The label is valid for fifteen years and can be withdrawn if several trial gardens find that the variety no longer lives up to it. Look for "ADR" on labels and in catalogues.

The International Rose Garden in Kortrijk. Created in 1959 and managed by Inagro, the agricultural agency of the province of West Flanders, it judges around 200 new varieties a year over two years. The roses are grown without treatment to reveal their susceptibility to disease. The garden, with around 4,000 roses, is open to the public.

The International New Rose Competition in Le Roeulx. Held since 1962 in Hainaut, it showed more than 700 varieties in 2025. The jury judges the beauty of the flower, scent, habit and disease resistance, and gives great weight to repeat flowering. This garden can also be visited all year round, with a rose festival in September.

A visit to Kortrijk in June or Le Roeulx in summer, notebook in hand, remains the best way to choose a rose you have seen growing in our climate. And beware of cheap roses sold without a variety name: we discuss them in Cheap miniature roses: bargain or bad choice?.

Recognising a good plant

A bare-root rose is judged without flowers or leaves, by its stems and roots. The University of California Master Gardeners give simple pointers:

• at least three strong canes, plump, green, smooth-barked and heavy in the hand; light, brittle or shrivelled canes betray a dried-out plant;
• light-coloured, healthy roots, evenly spaced around the base, neither knotted nor broken;
• a firm graft union (the swelling from which the canes grow): a soft or corky swelling may signal disease;
• well-formed buds along the canes.

In the United States, bare-root roses are graded No. 1, 1½ and 2, the best, No. 1, having 3 to 5 healthy canes. The grading is American, but the principle holds here too: three strong canes are better than one.

On arrival: don't let the roots dry out

Above all, a bare-root rose fears drying out. As soon as it arrives:

1. Unpack it and check the condition of the canes and roots.
2. Plant it as soon as possible. If the ground is frozen or waterlogged, the RHS advises keeping it in slightly moist peat-free compost. For a wait of a few weeks, heeling in as described in November in the garden also works: laid in a trench, roots covered with soil.
3. Soak the roots in a bucket of water before planting. The California Master Gardeners recommend 2 to 24 hours, some growers overnight; for bare-root trees, the RHS suggests half an hour to two hours depending on the state of the roots.

Planting a rose, step by step

How? The RHS method:

1. Prepare the soil: mix in at least one bucket of well-rotted organic matter (manure, compost) per square metre, to a depth of 20 to 30 cm.
2. Dig a hole about twice the width of the roots and the depth of a spade blade.
3. Set the rose in the centre, roots well spread out.
4. Adjust the height: the graft union at soil level. Lay a tool handle across the hole to find the level.
5. Backfill with the soil mixed with organic matter, firming gently to remove air pockets.
6. Water thoroughly to settle the soil between the roots.

Graft union: buried or not? This is the great debate among rose growers. The RHS recommends keeping it at soil level, not below, because a buried graft union is reported to increase the risk of rose dieback. Some growers, including the English rose breeder David Austin, advise burying it 5 to 7 cm deep instead, to anchor the rose better and protect it from cold. If in doubt, follow the RHS: at soil level.

Replacing an old rose: replant disease

Planting a new rose exactly where an old one grew is the best way to watch it struggle. This is replant disease, or "rose sickness", well known in roses and apples.

What we know:

• according to the RHS, the young plant grows poorly, stays stunted and may even die, and the problem can persist for at least nine years after the first rose is removed;
• the cause is biological: sterilising the soil eliminates the problem. German researchers showed in 2020 that soil fungi, particularly of the Nectriaceae family, attack the fine roots of young roses within the first weeks;
• no chemical soil treatment is available to home gardeners.

What the RHS advises:

1. Replace the soil to a depth and width of 45 cm with soil taken from another part of the garden where no rose has grown.
2. Or, more simply, plant the new rose somewhere else.

Mycorrhizal fungi products, sold in sachets, are claimed by their manufacturers to be effective against replant disease. The RHS merely mentions this, without vouching for it. A rose growers' trick, described among others by the English nursery Henry Street, is to plant the new rose in a cardboard box filled with fresh compost: the box breaks down in about two years, while the rose establishes and becomes robust enough to tolerate the soil microbes.

Pruning after planting

There is no need to prune at planting time, apart from damaged roots and broken canes. Formative pruning is done at the end of the first winter, just before growth starts. According to the RHS, after removing dead, damaged or weak wood:

To propagate your favourite roses later, see our article Rose seeds or cuttings: which method to choose?.

The first two years

• Water well in dry spells for at least two summers, as the RHS advises.
• Mulch every spring with up to 8 cm of well-rotted manure or compost, leaving 10 cm clear around the stems.
• Don't add fertiliser in open ground unless growth is poor or the leaves show a deficiency: well-prepared soil is enough. To recognise a deficiency, see our guide to reading your plants' signals.

Sources

ADR-Arbeitskreis. (2023, 28 February). Allgemeine Deutsche Rosenneuheitenprüfung (ADR): Leitfaden für die Durchführung. Bund deutscher Baumschulen. https://www.adr-rose.de/fileadmin/adr-rose.de/Dokumente/ADR-Leitfaden_Stand_28.02.2023_konsolidierte_Fassung.pdf

Chainnieaux, N. (2018, 8 April). Le jardin des roses de Courtrai : une roseraie à visiter de mai à septembre. RTBF. https://www.rtbf.be/article/le-jardin-des-roses-de-courtrai-une-roseraie-a-visiter-de-mai-a-septembre-9885016

David Austin Roses. (n.d.). Planting bare root roses. https://davidaustinroses.co.uk/blogs/news/planting-bare-root-roses

Grunewaldt-Stöcker, G., Popp, C., Baumann, A., Fricke, S., et al. (2020). Observations on early fungal infections with relevance for replant disease in fine roots of the rose rootstock Rosa corymbifera 'Laxa'. Scientific Reports, 10. https://doaj.org/article/2967dcde76f6474dba3487183ea17e91

Henry Street Nursery. (n.d.). Rose replant disease. https://henrystreetnursery.co.uk/blogs/news/rose-replant-disease

RTBF. (2025, 9 October). Les rosiers bicolores du Concours International des Roses Nouvelles au Roeulx. https://www.rtbf.be/article/les-rosiers-bicolores-du-concours-international-des-roses-nouvelles-au-roeulx-11613290

Royal Horticultural Society. (n.d.-a). Replant disease. https://www.rhs.org.uk/prevention-protection/replant-disease

Royal Horticultural Society. (n.d.-b). Roses: planting. https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/roses/planting

Royal Horticultural Society. (n.d.-c). Trees: buying and planting specimens. https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/types/trees/buying-planting-specimens

University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners of Tulare-Kings Co. (n.d.). Selecting and planting bare root roses. https://ccfruitandnuts.ucanr.edu/sites/default/files/2010-07/23467.pdf