12 DIY Rose Garden Plans You Can Make Today (With Pictures)
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If you’re a big fan of roses and want to make your own garden, this guide is for you. Rose gardens have been around for over a thousand years and are still incredibly popular. There are lots of beautiful variations out there, hailing from different countries across the globe. So, today, we want to introduce you to the best DIY rose garden ideas and plans.
While they might take some work, the result will be 100% worth it. We’ll cover big, small, front-yard, arched, arbor, and English gardens, to name a few. As long as you’ve got the necessary tools, materials, and the right roses, you will be able to pull off every single design from our list. Alright, let’s get right to it!
The Top 12 DIY Rose Garden Ideas & Plans
1. Small, Quick-to-Start Rose Garden by Hoosier Homemade
| Materials Needed: | Fertilizer, water, mulch |
| Tools Needed: | Shovel, rake, garden hose |
| Difficulty Level: | Easy |
Don’t know how to design your first-ever rose garden? Afraid you won’t be able to pull it off? With this small, quick-to-start rose garden, you can stop worrying about all that. It fits easily in the average backyard and takes little effort to make. To create the illusion of this being a big, full-fledged garden, make sure there’s a considerable gap between the individual plants.
And before you go ahead and plant them, enrich the soil with fertilizer. Once the roses are in place, add a healthy amount of mulch on top of the fertilizer. Water the newly made garden generously (always do this the first time around), and that’s it! If you want, you can plant some “extras”, like lavender or other flowers, but this is optional.
2. Romantic English Garden by Sanctuary Home Decor
| Materials Needed: | Fertilizer, water, gravel, sand, mulch, plants, and flowers |
| Tools Needed: | Shovel/spade, rake/hoe, protective gloves, hose |
| Difficulty Level: | Easy |
Nothing’s more romantic than an English rose garden! The best thing about it: is there are no strict rules to follow. And this time around, we do recommend mixing roses with other plants and shrubs (lavender, for example), as the garden will look so much better that way. Or, if you want to stick to roses only, use different color combinations, preferably red, purple, and white. Another big pro of this concept is that you’re not limited to a specific area in the garden.
Find little free spots around the backyard and plant the roses there. Stepping stones, pools, and benches fit this plan beautifully, by the way.
3. Front-Yard Rose Garden by Better Homes & Gardens
| Materials Needed: | Premium compost, peat moss, landscape edging, stones, garden beds |
| Tools Needed: | Sharp spade, sod cutter, power tiller (optional), garden hose |
| Difficulty Level: | Moderate |
Thinking about building a lovely front-yard rose garden? Well, we’ve got just the right idea for you! It will take some work and dedication, though—you might have to spend the whole weekend on this project. First, see that you have different rose types ready to be put into the beds—the more, the merrier. You don’t have to be very picky here. Still, it would be best to choose roses that easily handle the local climate and aren’t very invasive.
Climbing roses will look awesome on the front door, add a trendy vibe to the whole thing and make your landscape more memorable. To keep weeds and grass from growing in, add edging on both sides of the garden.
4. Symmetric Pink and White Rose Garden by South African Garden & Home
| Materials Needed: | Fertilizer, mulch, water, large urn (optional), hedges (optional), gravel (for pathways), weed barrier |
| Tools Needed: | Measuring tape, shovel, tamper, rake, wheelbarrow |
| Difficulty Level: | Easy/Moderate |
Red roses are more popular than all the other species—no doubt about that. However, once you go ahead and build this symmetric pink and white rose garden, you’ll see that these colors are just as stunning. What about the size, though? For 2–3 roses, you’ll need at least 10 square feet, so measure how much space you’ve got in the yard and go from there. To achieve the best visual effect, try to create perfect symmetry with the design.
A rectangle or a square will be just right for this. Are there any trees or bushes growing in the area? You’ll have to remove them, as their roots will feed on the nutrients that you want to grow the roses with.
5. Flexible Rose Garden by Kellogg Garden
| Materials Needed: | Soil, compost, alfalfa, and kelp meal, water, coffee grounds (optional), Epsom salts |
| Tools Needed: | Sharp shovel, shears, protection for the hands and eyes |
| Difficulty Level: | Easy |
All roses are perennials, but certain species still last longer than others. And then you’ve got different shapes, colors, heights, and, of course, fragrances. With the flexible rose garden concept, you are free to pick whatever you see fit. We’re talking about both the aesthetics (the visual aspect) and the practical side of things, like sturdiness, resistance, soil requirements, and such.
Once you’ve selected what kind of roses you want to grow, plant them in early spring in organically-rich soil (pH 6.5–7). The holes should be at least 18–20 inches deep. To avoid pests and diseases, ensure proper spacing between the bushes.
6. Classic Rose Arbor Garden by Old House on the Prairie
| Materials Needed: | Lumber (10 8-foot 2×6’s and 7 8-foot 2×4’s), wood stain, wire (20 feet), screws |
| Tools Needed: | Miter saw, electric drill, square, level, brush, work gloves |
| Difficulty Level: | Moderate |
You’ve probably already seen this classic rose arbor garden at a friend’s house or on the TV, right? Yes, these are quite the attention grabbers, but we’re happy to say that building an arbor isn’t rocket science. You can get it done in 1–2 days with a miter saw, drill, and cheap lumber. To make it look really nice (and last longer), invest in a can of wood stain as well. With the arbor standing strong, add a bed on each side, fill them with a soil/fertilizer mix, and plant the roses.
Oh, and don’t forget to attach the wire mesh for the roses to climb on. This DIY project will be perfect if you have limited space in the yard but still want a rose garden. It will also work for peas, beans, jasmine, or ivy, to name a few.
7. Beautiful Vertical Garden by Jeanne Grunert on Hometalk
| Materials Needed: | Scrap wood, heavy-duty anchor posts, screws, wire |
| Tools Needed: | Circular saw, cordless drill, safety gloves |
| Difficulty Level: | Easy/Moderate |
If an arbor is not your cup of tea, go with something smaller and easier to build. This beautiful vertical garden is centered on a trellis for climbing roses and takes less than 24 hours to make. And it has just the right vibe for a nice backyard garden. The roses will take some training, but if you’re patient and got something to tie them with, this won’t be a problem. The trellis can be built from scrap wood—the cheapest kind.
It doesn’t have to be pretty, only functional. See that the slats are 6 to 7 inches tall and that you have anchor posts to make the whole construction nice and sturdy.
8. Cheap Wooden Garden Arch by DIY Danielle
| Materials Needed: | Lumber/wood scraps, machine bolts, screws, washers |
| Tools Needed: | Miter, circular, and jigsaw, electric drill, carpenter’s square, level, measuring tape |
| Difficulty Level: | Easy |
Does an arch sound like a better deal? Then our next DIY project—the cheap wooden garden arch—should work for you. The concept is the same, only this time around, we’ll be building the trellis around the gate entrance to instantly grab the attention of anyone who walks into your property. First, use a saw to cut the individual wood blocks into the right size. But before that, measure the gate and make the arch slightly higher so that it can “sit” on top of it.
Next, choose the material for the arch. Cheap lumber or wood scraps are the way to go here. From a distance, the arch should look like a set of ladders (one on each side) with a “shelf” on top. And if you’re not surgical with a saw, you can just skip the beams and keep the project simple. This won’t affect its functionality or efficiency in any way.
9. Conduit Arch Garden by Elizabeth Sobiski
| Materials Needed: | EMT conduits, spray paint (metal-adhesive), corner brackets, nylon mesh, wire, rebar |
| Tools Needed: | Measuring tape, brush, marker, pipe bender, shovel, hammer |
| Difficulty Level: | Moderate |
Ready to take the arching idea to the next level? The conduit arch garden plan might look like a lot of work, but it’s rather simple and intuitive. Besides, you have two options here: buy EMT conduit pieces that are already bent or do that yourself using a pipe bender. Either way, the arbor must be at least 10–12-feet tall so that there’s enough headroom to walk underneath it. Also, before you start digging holes for the rebar and the conduits check whether there are any gas/electric lines down there.
Finishing up, add a nylon mesh to the arbor and secure it with wire (to make it easier for the roses to climb). If you don’t like how raw metal looks, go ahead and cover it with spray paint.
10. Rose Bush Garden in Containers by Dengarden
| Materials Needed: | Containers/pots/barrels, soil, fertilizer, water, small gravel, perlite, and fish meal (optional) |
| Tools Needed: | Work gloves, cordless drill, a small shovel, shears/scissors |
| Difficulty Level: | Easy |
Moving on from the trellis, arbors, and arches, let’s check out the rose bush garden in containers plan. As the name suggests, instead of building any wooden or metallic structures for roses to climb on, we’ll just plant them in pots. This will be cheaper. Plus, containers are easier to move around when need be. All you’ll have to do is buy high-quality soil, mix it with a fertilizer product, and find a container that fits the roses just right (it should be at least 15 inches in diameter).
In a warm climate, clay barrels are the perfect pick; up north, wood or plastic will be a better choice, as they’re more resistant to cold. Or you can just remove the shrubs/plants from the pots and put them directly into the soil.
11. Rose Garden from Cuttings by Rural Sprout
| Materials Needed: | Rose cuttings, rooting powder, potting mix, flower pots, a plastic bag, toothpick/nail |
| Tools Needed: | Work gloves, hand pruners, hose/watering can |
| Difficulty Level: | Easy |
We already learned that pruning makes roses last longer and look more beautiful. But what if we told you there’s a way to grow an entire rose garden from cuttings? Yes, it’s very much doable, even though you will have to wait for quite some time before all the cuttings turn into mature roses. If you can afford to wait, this project will cost almost nothing (no need to buy expensive flowers) and, eventually, cover the entire yard!
As long as you have one single plant/shrub, you can build your “rose empire” from it by using cuttings. Stay away from brown stems (only trim the healthiest, greenest ones) and root the cuttings (6–8 inches in height) in early spring.
12. Rose Garden In a Planter/Bed by Adam Woodhams
| Materials Needed: | Garden bed(s), compost/manure, mulch, water, controlled-release fertiziler |
| Tools Needed: | Shovel, rake, pitchfork, pruners or clippers, work gloves, garden hose |
| Difficulty Level: | Easy |
Are you a strong believer in the “the simpler, the better” concept? We bet you’ll appreciate how straightforward and hassle-free this rose garden in a planter/bed idea by Adam Woodhams is. As always, select the right roses for your area and plant them 2–3 feet apart. Along with that, make sure the compost isn’t too fresh; otherwise, it might burn the roots and ruin the whole thing. Cut off any broken roots you see with pruners/clippers.
To stimulate growth, consider trimming the stems by 40-50% and water them abundantly.
Conclusion
A rose garden doesn’t have to be expensive or hard to build. Our goal with this post was to show you that a little bit of work, patience, and dedication are all you’ll ever need to successfully grow such a garden. There are hundreds of rose species on planet Earth—pick the ones you like, get the soil ready, and start planting! Roses are stunning in more than one way.
More importantly, they’re resilient, easy to care for, and last for a really long time. Before you begin planting your heavenly garden, go through our list once again to make sure you’re 100% sure with the plan(s). Also, remember to water the Queen of Flowers adequately, feed it with fertilizer and mulch, and keep the pests away!
Featured Image Credit: punch_ra, Pixabay
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