Rose of the Year 2006 'Hot Chocolate'

• The roses can be kept in their pots throughout the winter provided they are kept well fed and watered, however ideally, they should be planted out as soon as possible. Because plants are dormant throughout the winter, they do not produce any new roots until spring, so don't be alarmed if the compost falls away from the roots when you take them out of their pots.
• They will already have been cut back so no further pruning will be required, apart from removing any tips that have died back.

• To prune, just remove any dead, dying, damaged and diseased stems and also deadhead regularly. Traditionally, you would cut just above a leaf joint with a sloping cut away from the bud, however, this isn't necessary, and don’t worry about pruning too much - roses are very resilient and will grow back.
• When pruning, make sure that your secateurs are clean and sharp to prevent squashing stems and introducing disease.
• Add mycorrhizal fungi to the roots when planting to help the plant establish quicker.
• Roses can be planted at any time of the year, as long as the soil is not frozen, waterlogged or drought-dry. Plant your rose where it can get plenty of sun for at least half of the day, and where it will be sheltered from the wind.
• Roses tolerate wide range of soils but thrive in deep, humus-rich, moist but well-drained soil, so add plenty of well-rotted manure into the hole if necessary and plant so that the graft union (the swollen area when the stems meet the roots) is around 3cm below soil level.
• Water well every other day - daily if the weather is hot and dry.
• Established roses can be watered around once a week through spring and summer - more if the weather is hot.
• For best results, feed roses in late-March/April and again in late July.

Our experienced team at the nursery will always carefully package and send your plants nursery fresh in the perfect condition to thrive once you receive and plant them. Although most plants are extremely tough and will not be affected by all but the most extreme of weather conditions, we always avoid dispatching the most perishable plants if extreme frosts or heat is forecast. We also avoid dispatching orders over Bank Holiday weekends.

Please allow us 3-5 working days to dispatch your order. If you have ordered a 'pre-order' item, these will be sent out as soon as possible after the quoted dispatch date and we generally ship your entire order with any pre-ordered items. Once your order has been dispatched, we will send you an email with details on how you can track it.

We send most of our orders via a fully tracked courier service with Yodel. We will send you a tracking link as soon as your order has been dispatched. To avoid perishable items being stuck at depots and deteriorating, we will not require a signature on delivery, and we ask out couriers to leave your item in a safe place ad your delivery address.

*Please note, once your item has been delivered, we cannot be held responsible for loss or theft from your delivery address. If you have delivery instruction and require our courier to leave your item in a specific place, please let us know - there is an option to leave a message for the courier at the checkout.

For smaller and single-item orders, we may send these via the post with Royal Mail - Tracking will not be available for orders sent via this method.

**Please note, we cannot guarantee delivery on a certain day or time. Delivery to outlying postcode areas may take 1-2 days longer, dependent on your location.