New Rose
If you asked me what my “favourite flower” is, roses would normally come pretty far down the list. The thought of a dozen red roses from the florist doesn’t do really do it for me. But if we’re talking about garden roses – the big blousy kind that you can bury your nose in and inhale that strong sweet perfume – then they are right up there! I have five roses already (you can read about me making room for them here), and I just got another one this week in the mail (plant mail is the best mail!). This new one though is different to my others. The original five have all come from a Queensland breeder who breeds roses specifically for our climate and they are much more resistant to blackspot (a fungal disease that loves our humid climate).
The tag will have to do. I’ll hopefully have photos of the real flowers come spring!
I saw a few pictures of this one though, and although it’s not super fragrant, I was drawn to the open form with a dark centre and the masses of blooms and I couldn’t resist. Yes, it’s been grown in Victoria, which is nothing like Brisbane - but what’s a home garden for if not for a little experiment?
It has been sent bare rooted – which is a common way to buy deciduous plants. Deciduous plants are those that lose their leaves in winter. Because they have no leaves at this time of year, their roots don’t have to support any foliage and they don’t need any nutrition, they just need to not dry out. Selling plants bare rooted means the roots are packed in something like moist sawdust, or coir. No pot full of potting mix makes them lighter and cheaper to ship, plus you’re not paying for said pot and potting mix. So savings all round!
Bare rooted rose all wrapped up, it was shipped like this in a box.
Unwrapped - the roots have been kept damp in coir.
When you get a bare rooted plant home, put it into a bucket of water to make sure it is well hydrated. Leave the roots soak for 12-24 hours, then plant out. If you aren’t ready to plant out straight away make sure the mix around the roots isn’t allowed to dry out. You can ‘heel’ plants in, which means mound dirt around the roots in a temporary spot (stopping them from drying out) - just make sure you plant it properly before it starts to shoot.
Soaking in the tub….
All planted out. I’ve positioned it so the buds will grow away from the path.
As for my new rose – I’ve had the spot marked out for a while, so I soaked it and planted it out straight away. I’ve got it in a full sun airy spot. Air flow is important for preventing fungal diseases like black spot and it’s super important here (even for the Queensland bred plants). I”ll keep you posted on how it goes.
The buds are starting to grow already - hopefully I’ll have flowers before I know it!