Choosing a rose made easy
BLOOM: OCTOBER PROVIDES THE BEST OPPORTUNITY Browsing through a rose catalogue whets the appetite.
October is the month when we fall in love with roses all over again and suddenly notice a gap in the garden that is just perfect for a rose. Now comes the fun part; deciding what rose will fill that gap. Choosing a rose is completely subjective, rather like one’s taste in clothes and books, among other things.
Unlike other plants, rose have names and that is a huge part of their appeal. They can speak to our hearts, like “Blooms for Joy” (newly released this October), or “My Darling”. Maybe the rose has a name that is meaningful, or it evokes a memory.
Just like reading a cookery book, browsing through a rose catalogue whets the appetite.
One such catalogue is Ludwig’s Roses 50th anniversary catalogue that can be downloaded from www.ludwigsroses.co.za or collected free from any Ludwig’s Roses outlet.
Every rose is depicted in full colour, with a description and symbols that help one to choose the right rose for the right space.
1. Ge ing the height right
While colour is generally the starting point, that selection should go hand in hand with the height the rose grows. It is no good falling in love with a particular colour and find that it shoots up beyond head-height, when ac
tually you wanted a lower growing rose.
The symbol to look out for is the “mannikin” standing next to a rose that ranges from knee height (0.8m) to hip height (1.1m), to shoulder height (1.5m), to head height (1.8m – 2m) and finally “look up” height, which is 2m and higher, even up to 5m.
Happy roses may even grow taller than specified and Ludwig Taschner’s tip is to select varieties of the same height if you want the roses to flower at the same level.
Another pleasing effect is a terraced rose bed with head height roses at the back of the bed, shoulder high roses just in front of them, with hip high roses in the centre and knee high roses as a low growing border.
The result is a wall of colour.
2. Fragrance and flower form
For lovers of fragrant roses, the symbol to look out for is a perfume bottle, and the fuller the bottle, the stronger the fragrance.
More and more roses are being bred for fragrance and you’ll find that roses with the old-fashioned shapes, mainly the Antico Moderno roses, are mostly fragrant.
These are roses with full petalled blooms that have a quartered rosette shape, or open up into a deep cup, open cup or shallow cup form.
The different shapes are depicted as symbols, as well as the classically elegant hybrid tea blooms, with pointed buds and a perfectly symmetrical arrangement
of petals. They are the best picking roses, with long, straight stems and long lasting in the vase.
The symbol of secateurs next to these roses means that they are good picking roses.
3. Low-maintenance roses
A symbol that needs no explanation is the ladybird. It is a sign of garden health and the roses with the ladybird symbol are resistant to black spot fungus disease, which means that spraying is not essential. These are tough, low maintenance roses that don’t lose easily lose their leaves.
The newest symbol is a tall red mannikin holding weights, and this represents stamina. Stamina roses are a new generation of vigorous roses that produce pickable blooms, on a strong, leafy bush that has a wide and deep root sys
tem. These roses withstand all the vagaries of climate change: variable rainfall, heat and other adverse weather conditions.
4. Festival of roses
With all that information it is easy to make a shortlist and the next step is to head off to a rose nursery to see the actual roses growing and flowering.
October provides the best opportunity for that, with the Summer Rose Festival at Ludwig’s Rose farm from 1 to 10 October, with displays of roses, the showcasing of new roses, and tours through the rose fields. Entrance is free.
For more information or to download the rose catalogue