Garden Q&A: My rose bush is still bare in February. Is it alive?

Whether you're a gardening beginner or expert, Irish Examiner columnist Peter Dowdall has the answer to your questions

A rose garden after winter. File picture

Question

I planted a rose last year, and it still looks completely bare. How do I know if it’s alive, and when should I expect growth?

Answer

That’s OK. Roses are supposed to look bare at this time of year; that’s perfectly normal. 

Roses are deciduous shrubs and spend winter fully dormant, often looking like little more than a bundle of sticks. 

To check if it’s alive, gently scratch the surface of a stem with your fingernail. If you see green just beneath the bark, the plant is healthy.

Brown and brittle all the way through suggests trouble, but don’t rush to judgment too quickly. 

Growth usually begins in early to mid-spring, depending on weather and location, with small reddish buds swelling along the stems before they burst into leaf. 

For now, make sure it isn’t sitting in waterlogged soil and that weeds aren’t competing at its base. 

Hold off feeding until growth starts to encourage strong new shoots.

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