Bob Bauer commented:

Cass showed:

Or another time-release product, Apex:
http://www.apexfertilizer.com/produc...ree_shrub.html

Hey Cass, the fertilizers you point to here are WAY too nitrogen heavy
for roses.

The best rose fertilizers have an NPK ration of 1:2:1 Those above
fertilizers have ratios of about 4:1:2, the exact opposite of what
roses need for maximum rose production.

Yes, possibly. The flower and foliage would probably be better, at
17-5-11. Certainly it depends on your growing season and soils, so it's
a good point. Nitrogen is leached out here with heavy winter rains, 22
inches in December. We usually have adequate phosphorus, and we have a
10 month growing season. We get tons of fall growth here, at a time it
is very difficult to fertilize. I've had no problems at all with
excessive top growth. None. Never once. But then I also have cool soil
temperatures year round, so the release rate is slow. And I almost
never apply granular ferts to the soil surface.