EVERYTHING’S ROSY
COMING UP ROSES. This saying originated in the United States in the 1950s and was used as the title of a popular song from the musical Gypsy. The words to that song give the meaning to this idiom. “Things look swell, things look great, Gonna have the whole world on a plate. Starting here, starting now honey, everything’s coming up roses.”
The rose flower has through the ages been given many meanings and as I walk through the rose area of our store it is hard not to stop and poke one’s nose into these most beautiful of flowers.
Every year I marvel that in winter you can buy a rose bush from the garden centre which is a few dormant sticks, and by midNovember the same plant will be 60-80cm
tall with multiple stems and blooming furiously as they are in store now.
Roses are such good plants too for picking and bringing indoors. The colour of picked rose blooms offers vibrancy and life, while the scent can bring feelings of tranquillity and long-forgotten happy memories from childhood.
Roses can be used to gain formality from a row of the ever-popular Iceberg standards, providing a grand entrance to a home, business and offer direction along a pathway. Bush roses included in a mixed garden planting can be used to bring colour in a more informal way where different plant combinations offer a springboard effect through the year to create
continuous beauty and interest.
Some top-performing bush roses to look out for
In 2014 we were part of the release of a new rose called Little Miss Perfect. It is a gorgeous compact floribunda rose with beautifully formed coral blooms that smother the plant almost consistently.
Last year we received from the same breeder another new rose. This one is called Green with Envy. Green with Envy is the culmination of 29 years of breeding to market a green rose. The unusual trait with this variety is the length of time the flower lasts, both on the bush and as a cut flower. You will also find the colour intensifies with age as opposed to fading like most roses do. It looks stunning. This is a rose for every garden. Its compact to medium form makes it ideal for pots. It looks spectacular in entranceways, or on the patio, and with its excellent display will be an eye-catching conversation piece.
This year New Release Champagne Breakfast has taken the stage. Bred in the Bay of Plenty by Rob Somerfield, Champagne Breakfast is described as very unusual and very beautiful . . . it’s an awardwinning floribunda rose with very few thorns on a compact bush that will smother itself in golden peachy blooms.
Champagne Breakfast loves a sunny position in the garden (like all roses), and will grow to around 1m in height and width. You can expect it to flower through spring, summer and autumn!
Two more of my favourites are Mum in a Million and Lasting Love. Mum in a Million offers an absolutely unbeatable scent and a deep pink old fashioned style bloom that is very much in fashion. Mum in a Million is available as both a bush and a standard rose which offers numerous ways to include this in your garden.
Lasting Love is a deep dusky red hybrid tea rose that is ideal for picking. It is strongly scented and repeats flowering for month after month. It is a strong grower and larger than some varieties, it is super healthy with low susceptibility to pests and disease.
Climbing Roses
Rose Dublin Bay was selected by well known international rose breeder Sam McGredy and named after the bays of Ireland. It is such a good performer it is rated as the number one climbing rose by the NZ Rose Society frequently with nearly double the votes of the next best rose since 1987 (nzroses.org.nz/march-dublin-bay).
Its blooms are a very brilliant semidouble with bright red blooms. It can grow up to 2-3 metres across but while it is a good grower, it is not so vigorous that it can’t be contained and kept smaller when needed. It performs well grown up a trellis, pillar, wall or pergola.
Dublin Bay looks particularly good when underplanted with lavender or catmint, where the blue flowers of these plants provide a complementary colour to both the rose blooms and the deep green leaves.
This highly rated rose, Dublin Bay is adaptable to many garden situations. It can be grown successfully in a decent sized patio planter or half wine barrel. It is a strong and healthy grower with dark green healthy foliage and generally good disease resistance.
A top-performing pink flowering climbing rose is Compassion. Part of the world-renowned Austin rose series, it aptly meets its description; a very healthy and reliable variety. Its well-shaped hybrid tea flowers are light pink, tinted with coral pink, and have a lovely strong, sweet fragrance. The growth is strong, stiff and bushy with plentiful dark green foliage. (eu. davidaustinroses.com/products/ compassion)
It will grow approximately 3m by 3m. The final climbing rose for today’s column is Uetersen (pronounced ooh-tersen).
It is a climbing rose from the Kordes family of rose breeders in Germany and is named for the Rosarium Uetersen, one of the oldest rose gardens in Northern Germany.
Throughout summer, masses of bright pink frilly blooms cover the plant. A free flowering variety, the blooms also have a good scent. It is a very healthy variety with the glossy light green foliage looking good most of the time.
A moderate grower compared to some other climbing roses, Uetersen is ideal for a smaller area or grown up a pillar. For a larger area, plant several to get a mass effect.
A winner of the Gold Star of the South Pacific at the NZRS trial grounds in Palmerston North in 1980, it has been a consistent performer throughout NZ for many years and is a worthy rose to grow in any garden. (nzroses.org.nz/ december-uetersen)
Rose Care
The scent can bring feelings of tranquillity and longforgotten happy memories from childhood.
Keep an eye on your roses for both pests and diseases. Look out for aphids, caterpillars, scale, red spider mites and thrips. Common diseases include blackspot, mildew and rose rust. The use of Yates Supershield helps to control these problems. If you notice rose buds going brown and rotting it is quite likely to be botrytis — (brown rot) a weather-related fungi. Prevent by spraying with Grosafe Freeflow Copper or any spray that controls botrytis and downy mildew. A systemic spray that is effective is Yates Rose Gun Advanced. Call in and ask at the garden centre if you want more advice.
Gareth Carter is general manager of Springvale Garden Centre.