PLANNING YOUR 2025 ROSE GARDEN
Happy New Year and welcome to the first newsletter of 2025! I'm so excited to kick off another year of growing with YOU. As we step into this fresh chapter, it's the perfect opportunity to cultivate one or two meaningful habits that will help you care for your roses. My guiding word for the year—both for Menagerie the company and myself personally—is consistency. Rather than chasing drastic changes, I'm focusing on steadily maintaining the foundational habits to help everything flourish. These small but essential actions, like daily exercise, my Sunday evening self-care facials, or simply deadheading roses in our family garden every week, are the building blocks to making successful progress.
This week, we're taking a brief break from our bare root rose planning series (don't worry—it'll be back next week!) to focus on an often-overlooked but crucial aspect of rose care: record-keeping and task management. Think of it as crafting your personalized rose care "game plan." Just like a fitness or meal plan tailored to your lifestyle, your gardening routine should fit seamlessly into your life to make it both effective and enjoyable.
As a busy wife, mom and business owner, I know how challenging it can be to carve out time for the garden, let alone stay on top of all its tasks. Honestly, I'm like the proverbial cobbler whose children have no shoes—my home garden often ends up last on the priority list. That's why this year, I'm committing to three simple tasks from the list below that I can track in my rose garden. Taking less than 15 minutes a week, it makes them manageable for my schedule.
Tracking your rose garden's progress can make all the difference between struggling and thriving. By keeping proper records, you'll begin to notice patterns as the seasons and years go by, helping you refine your care practices for better results. Whether you're tending a few roses in your backyard or managing an entire flower farm, journaling your garden's journey is one of the most impactful habits you can develop. It's a small effort that leads to big rewards—bringing organization and consistency to your gardening year.
Here's what I recommend documenting:
- Weather details, like high/low temps and rainfall - daily or weekly
- Soil test results - yearly
- Plant health (great, okay, or needs attention) - daily or weekly
- Pests or diseases observed - daily or weekly
- Pests or disease control applied - weekly
- Irrigation schedules - weekly
- Fertilizer application - quarterly
- When you prune & deadhead - daily or weekly
- Bloom production and harvested stem count - daily
My best piece of advice? “Don't bite off more than you can chew!” If you're feeling overwhelmed by this list, start small by focusing on just 2–3 key items from the list above and grow your routine over time. Short on time? Select only 1 thing that will make the BIGGEST impact with your rose care. Have more time to spend with your roses consider documenting all of the things.
I know tackling everything in my home garden wouldn't be an attainable goal for me this year so I chose three to track daily: weather details, overall plant health and irrigation schedules. Remember, rose growing is about the enjoyment of beautiful plants, not creating stress so chose what you really think is achievable for YOU to do this year!
Here are some of my favorite tools to stay organized and on top of your documentation:
- Weather app: Plan ahead for conditions like rain, extreme heat, or frost.
- Notion Digital Rose Journal: A digital tool for tracking rose care routines. Click here for my FREE template to copy to your workspace. I'm using this for my home garden this year!
- Camera: Take photos or videos to document things in the garden. Save them in separate folders like insects, blooms, disease, for easy reference on your smartphone.
- Notebook or journal: If you prefer pen and paper, a classic notebook (like this one here) works beautifully.
- Printable resources: Members of my online learning community, The Menagerie Academy, get access to printable daily planners and record-keeping charts. Learn more and become a member!
This week's action step: Develop a consistent plan to document what's happening in your garden or farm. Decide what works best for you—journaling by hand, taking photos on your phone, or using digital options. Think about what time of day you'll observe, how often you'll check your plants (daily, weekly, or monthly), and what you want to document. Consistency is key! Start now to track the amazing progress your roses make this year.
THE LIST: THINGS I'M LOVING THIS WEEK
- Yep, I am doing the yearly reset GOAL planning that everyone does for the New Year and I've tried every fancy planner out there and somehow I still come back to my tried and true plain spiral notebook paired with the bullet journal method. So simple and easy.
- Santa didn't add this to my stocking this year so I finally TREATED myself. I'm loving it! I have thick hair and it takes forever if I want to style it. This was well worth the $$$$ to make it easier for me to get a wavy style in a fraction of the time I would spend curling with a iron.
- We're still on “holiday” hours here at my house until the kids go back to school tomorrow. Ending the winter break tonight with a NICE Family Sunday Dinner - Steak Alfredo. (I use tri-tip steaks from Sam's Club in cast iron and prepare as the recipe is written.). A delicious supper to make that seems fancy but is super easy to prepare.
- Here's a little Sunday FUNNIES rose humor for ya!
HAPPY PLANNING,
JOIN THE FUN!
Want this delivered directly to your inbox each week? CLICK HERE to subscribe to my new weekly newsletter, Growing Wonder, for simple tips on thriving roses, gardens, and homes! Each week, subscribers can submit questions for me to answer, and if yours is selected for our Q&A feature, you'll win a $25 digital gift card to the Menagerie Shop!
You can also find me on Instagram for more rose garden inspiration and exclusive behind-the-scenes moments. You can check out my favorite rose varieties and browse garden supplies at the Menagerie Shop! I also have all of things I love for my home, garden and life in easy to find collections on my Amazon Storefront and my new ShopMy Page.
Photos by: Jill Carmel Photography
This post may contain affiliate links. I make a small commission if you purchase a product from the link. I only recommend products I love and use in hopes they will help you too!
