Keep your rose plant well watered during the hottest months of the year but be sure to avoid the foliage. While most plants are perfectly happy to be sprinkled with water from above, roses are prone to moisture loving fungus.

After feeding, top with sugar cane or bark mulch to assist in retaining moisture and suppressing weeds.

Roses flower best on new growth so hard prune each winter to clear away the old and make way for the new. Cut above an outward-pointing bud and always cut the stem on an angle. These dormant buds look like little reddish lumps on the stem, at leaf junctions. By cutting just above one of these buds the new growth will grow in the direction the bud is pointing. The new stem will take around six weeks to re-bloom. When you’ve finished pruning, your rose plant should be about knee-high and consist of three or four evenly-spaced stems growing outwards. No inward-pointing stems. No short, stubby branches. No thick, old, grey wood.

Make sure your secateurs are clean and sharp when pruning and be sure to wear protective clothing and gloves. If cutting blades are dirty from old pruning work, clean with eucalyptus oil and a light-grade sandpaper. A spray of WD40 before use prevents sap from sticking. If the blades are blunt, sharpen them with a sharpening stone or fit replacement blades if available bef