You can have your very own rose garden!

I've got a beautiful rose garden and I can promise you I'm not permanently working on it.
The most important thing to remember is that the more roses you have the more time you will need to keep them blooming.
It is therefore important to plan up front.  If you are someone with lots of time on hand, you can easily maintain a rose garden of 200 rose bushes with ease.   But if you work nine to five and weekends too, 15 can be easily maintained.  At the end it is just you that can decide how much spare time you have available to care for your roses.

Lets pretend you want to have fifteen roses in your rose garden.  This is a good beginning. (Some people get so addicted to them that they just cannot stop buying new ones)  But if you want to start with say 15  rose bushes, it won't be a hassle to look after them, even if you work long hours.
If you shop for rose shrubs, look at those that doesn't have thorns and are resistant to disease.  In South Africa, we have a rose breeder, Ludwig Thaschner, that sells the so called "Eco chic" roses. They have almost no thorns and are resistant to most of the rose diseases known on roses.   If it is possible, choose fifteen of those.
The second step is to plan your rose garden. It is good to start with an informal rose garden. This is where you plant many different roses.  In this case it can be fifteen different roses.
Choose five longer stem roses, called hybrid teas or Spires.  They carry only one or two roses on a long stem.  Ask your local nursery about the height of the roses you buy.  Most hybrid teas grow to about 1.5-2 meters high.  They are perfect to plant at the back of your new rose garden.  Colour doesn't really matter.  If you like the specimen, buy it.  (Because there is no such thing as an ugly rose, they are all beautiful.)
Next, you have to decide on the five roses you are going to plant in front of the first five.  I love floribunda roses.  They carry clusters of roses on one stem and never stop to give a splendid show.  Buy floribundas that will get 1-1.5 meters in height and plant them in front of your hybrid teas..
The next five roses can be miniature roses to plant in the front. Here color doesn't matter at all. Choose the colors you like most.
See my article on "how to plant a rose" , because it is very important to give the new roses in your rose garden a good beginning.
Roses need at least 6 hours of sunlight a day and it is important to give them at least 40 liters of water a week. Do not water them every day.  In the winter they need less water, but from spring to summer that is the minimum amount each rose bush need to flourish.
I hope you've enjoyed this article and decide to start your own rose garden immediately.