When the cutting edge of spring approaches, does your mind wander to a garden overflowing with an orchestra of roses in a variety of colours, shapes, textures, heights and scents?

Heavenly, isn't it? You really can have a magnificent rose garden, or roses spotted about your flower garden, or climbing roses spilling over your windows and doors, if you just follow these simple guidelines:

1. Prepare the plant
If the roots of the bare-root plant appear dry, soak them in a pail of water for at least an hour. I sometimes let them soak as long as overnight.

2. Mark out the site
It is most efficient to mark the sites where the roses are to be planted with a bamboo stick. You will then be able to determine whether they are spaced evenly.

3. Concoct soil mixture
You want to make sure that your sweet little roses are surrounded by rich, nutritious soil. In your wheel barrow or a deep pail, you can blend one part peat, one part top soil and one part organic matter.

4. Dig hole
Dig a hole with a spade and set aside the dug-up dirt. Make sure that hole is wide enough so that the roots of the plant can be spread comfortably and deep enough so that when the rose is planted, the bud union will be about one inch below soil level. In zones 8-10, the bud union should be just above the soil.

5. Plant rose
Position the rose in the centre of the hole so that the roots are spread out evenly. If the roots all go to one direction, place the rose close to one side of the hole and spread out the roots on the other side.

Throw some handfuls of the soil mix on top of the roots. Water the roots of the rose just a bit, and then continue to add planting mix to the hole. Fill the hole halfway and then tamp down soil with your hands.

Continue to fill hole with planting mix until it is full and then tamp down the soil with your hands or lightly with your feet. After that is done, loosen the top of the soil with a hand tool.

6. Mulch and water
Add a few inches of mulch, leaving at least three inches around the rose bush free of mulch. Build a shallow retaining wall around the outer circumference of the planting hole with mulch.

Use a drip hose to water the rose. Continue to water daily until it has become adjusted to its new home.