Keep your roses blooming
Despite their cold start, the roses are looking fabulous, but keep watering during dry spells
Ipruned my roses in January again this year. Despite the late spring, with its cold, frosty weather and snow, my roses have been blooming like crazy since. The earlier pruning has certainly encouraged earlier flowering. Now they’re in full flower and I expect the second flush to start early as well.
Make sure to continually deadhead your roses and you’ll be rewarded with even more flowers. One way to deadhead is to cut blooms for the house. When putting the stems into water, take off the bottom foliage and add a preservative, such as Milton, to the water. Top up the water every few days and the roses will stay fresh for 7-10 days. Roses in pots need plenty of water in the summer, and it’s best to water in the morning before it gets hot. Be attentive to this as it’s easy to forget and suddenly the roses are stressed and not performing. Add some tomato food to the water every fortnight to maintain nutrient levels in the pot.
Star rose: ‘Sirius’
‘Sirius’ is a new rose from German rose breeders Rosen Tantau and has been making waves in trials across Europe. Rosen Tantau reckon it’s their best rose in 50 years and they know a thing or two about breeding, being the creators of ‘Fragrant Cloud’ and ‘Super Star’. It’s a floribunda with creamy-apricot buds opening to clear white blooms, which are produced over a long time in summer. It’s a bit late to bloom but makes up for this by the quantity of flowers produced. Look out for it at the big shows in the future.