Of all the flowers people grow on roofs and in yards, the rose is the favourite. A few rules make the difference between a plant that sulks and one that blooms.

Choose a year-old grafted plant rather than a fresh cutting. Set it upright in the hole with the roots fully covered, and keep the graft union above the soil. Water often at first.

Flowers come on new wood, so cut out old, damaged and diseased branches. Ashwin (September–October) is the month to prune; paint the cut ends with a thick fungicide paste.

Ten to twelve days before pruning, give each plant 2–3 kg of dry rotted cow dung with 50 g of TSP and 50 g of potash, replacing the top 10 cm of soil in the pot. Loosen the soil in a ring 20 cm from the stem when feeding.

Once the plant is established and shooting, water every ten days in the dry season, more in hot weather, never so much that the pot stays wet.

Use a locally made organic pesticide against aphids and caterpillars. Any shoot that appears below the graft union is rootstock — cut it off with a sharp knife.

Sun for six hours, a pot that drains, and a prune every autumn: the rose asks no more.

Photo: A white rose in a pot — Abhignad / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)