Hello, friends! We've been getting lots of question over on our instagram lately, so we thought we'd start answering some here on our blog for you! Have more questions? Make sure you send us a message over on our instagram so we can answer more next week!
1. What are the best roses for beginners?
I think floribundas are the easiest roses to get started with. They don’t grow to be massive and really tall. They also produce a lot of blooms on one stem so they’re gratifying. Floribundas make great landscape roses because of their shrub like shape and will bloom consistently all season long. Some floribundas I love are Bolero, Plum Perfect, Koko Loko, Ebb Tide and French Lace.
2. How do you encourage multiple bloom cycles?
Always deadhead your roses after they bloom. Deadheading spent blooms sends a signal to the rose to produce more blooms. Give the rose a good organic feeding at the time of deadheading and you’ll have new blooms shortly!
3. What are the best pruning practices specific to growing for cut flowers?
We prune somewhat unconventionally. We keep all canes on our roses that are healthy. So if a rose has 10 good canes, we leave them all. A healthy cane is green (younger cane) or woody and disease free. Bud eyes can be seen on healthy canes and that’s where new growth will emerge in the spring. We remove any canes that are crossing or thinner than a pinky, but it’s really easy to prune roses when you basically only prune out dead, diseased and twiggy canes.
4. What are the top five roses you love to grow?
I love all the roses we grow, but my favorites are probably David Austin’s Evelyn, Jubilee Celebration and Tranquillity. I also love Star Roses’ Princess Charlene of Monaco and Francis Meilland. They’re all gorgeous, great bloomers, and very fragrant!
5. What does 2021 look like for Grace Rose Farm?
We have some really exciting things happening this spring that have been in the works for months! Of course, we’re growing thousands of new roses this year for everyone, that goes without saying. We’ve learned so much about growing roses on a large scale and running a business that we desire to scale more and more each year. We have a huge change up happening that we can’t wait to tell everyone about. It’s been quite the journey so far growing these magnificent flowers. What we have planned really takes everything to a level we never dreamed of when we were backyard gardeners just six years ago. We are so thankful to be here and have the opportunity to grow our roses for all of you to enjoy!
