Rosa Sifu - Si Pencinta Bunga Mawar

FLORIA 2011 - It's today!

2011-07-08T12:07:00.000-07:00

Hi guys, I have to say that I have been taking a lot of time away from my blog. Thousands of apologies.

Well, the truth is I was busy with few things. 1st my car porch renovation, 2nd my book writing, 3rd the setting up of Malaysian Rose Society (MRS) since I am the founder and also was elected as the President, and 4th planning the first MRS event, that is bringing all members to FLORIA 2011.

So, I would like to share some info about FLORIA and our MRS event with you.

The FLORIA is commencing today on 9 July and continues until 15 July 2011.

If you are interested to join the MRS event (and of course meet other rose lovers), please feel free to crash the party. We will having VIPs from Perbadanan Putrajaya with us at the event, so join along! The more the merrier.

Saturday, 9 July 2011 at FLORIA:

3:00 pm

Free and Easy (plants & rose shopping, etc)

4:00 pm

Members meet near the Multipurpose tent for an Introduction Session

4:30 pm

Arrivals of Perbadanan Putrajaya VIPS, Gift presentation ceremony & Group photos

5:00 pm

Care and Maintenance of Roses Workshop by Honey Bee World Trade, a local famous rose grower (Location: Multipurpose Tent)

6:00 pm

Workshop ends.

If you are there and wanna join in, just give me a call at 012-607 2757. We are all glad to have you join in.

If you can't make it today; please make yourself free and grab the opportunity to head out to other workshops held by the Organiser. We do know that rose culture and rose education in Malaysia is still in infancy stage. So grab this opportunity to educate yourself. This kind of workshops are rare and admission is FREE.

FLORIA 2011 DAILY ACTIVITIES

9 & 15 July 2011
Care & Maintenance of Roses Workshop
5 - 6 pm
Oleh Honey Bee World Trade trade
(Multipurpose tent)

9 July 2011

Propagation & Maintenance of Roses

10 am - 12 pm

A demonstration by Perbadanan Putrajaya Officer, En. Rahim Ibrahim

10 July 2011
The Everlasting Beauty of Roses Workshop
6 - 7 pm
By Tang Ai-Ya – Taiwan
(Multipurpose tent)

11 July 2011
A life in a Garden Design Workshop
2 - 3 pm
By Robin Williams - UK
(Multipurpose tent)

13 July 2011
Roses in Floral Arrangement Workshop
6.30 - 7.30 pm
(Multipurpose tent)

I list only ones on roses but you should check out the FLORIA official web site for full activities. You can't miss the many other interesting workshops too - like orchids workshop for example.

In addition to workshops, they have activities for kids, local artists performing, wayang kulit show, fire eaters show, dances, floral boat parade and many other wonderful things. It is an event for the whole family basically.

Known as "Sakura 1" locally.
It has that same look like Peach Blossom rose.
Whatever the name is, this rose is sought after by many for its many wonderful traits.
Only one nursery carries it at FLORIA.
This rose comes in two colors - pink and yellow. Both are gorgeous!

I don't have a better picture so this doesn't do justice to the rose.
What so special about this rose is it buds from leaf-nodes and
not just at the very end of the branch, much like a sakura.
The entire branch can be covered with flowers.

The festival map of FLORIA is below:

Just be careful and plan your journey to avoid traffic jam and check out the list of roads closed if you are heading to FLORIA today. The list can be found here: http://www.hotfm.com.my/musicnews/

Be there in FLORIA and witness roses displayed in floral carpet, flower beds and in booths. There are more than 100 kinds of roses displayed from floribunda, hybrid tea, climbing and many more. Altogether there are around 400 kinds of flowers including roses displayed. Now is the chance to browse through the largest collection of roses in the country and get the right rose for you.

Lastly, do find us "Malaysian Rose Society" on Facebook and be part of nicest people on earth.

Rough Rosa

Fourth of July: An Early Celebration in Malaysia

2011-05-30T22:02:00.000-07:00

Though it would be nice to introduce this rose in July, I can't seem to wait that long. Fourth of July (FOJ) is finally in my collection and I must share this jubilation with the world.

FOJ is a well-known rose, a climber (mawar memanjat) with blooms stripy white and red.

Classed as large-flowered rose, it is named after America's Independence Day. The bloom is 3 to 3.5 inches in diameter. Like many striped roses, no two blooms are the same.

5 March 2011
First bloom. Diameter 2 inches.
Still a baby plant but bloomed readily.

I had this rose since February this year.

What's so exciting, it bloomed again this week on its 4th cycle. For the first time it showcased its true beauty and habit I longed to see. Whatever good reviews I've read about this rose, I finally have proofs to say that most claims are true.

6 April 2011
Bloomed on 2nd cycle.
Though slightly chlorotic I am quite happy with the progress in leaf size.
At this point this rose has 3 arching 1.5 feet long canes.

In temperate climate, FOJ is said to take rather long to establish that is around 3 - 5 years. I am witnessing it's first year and my take on this it would grow faster here than in temperate countries, so I would expect a fair growth from this rose.

One minus point - it does take a while to repeat flowering. On average a cycle per month is slower than a snail in a race. I hope the period will get shorter as the plant matures.

On the plus side, it seems to start flowering quite early and throw up new stems with even more flowers topping them. A trait of a true climber. The flowering energy must had been used for greater good building the needed stems, after all. Hence, the sluggish bloom cycle (kitar pembungaan) for the last few months.

Here's to show you...

27 April 2011
In no time, one of the long arching branches produced the much awaited laterals.
This is already considered as fast growing compared to some of the rose varieties available here.
Being me, I am always forgiving when it comes to rose's first year.

FOJ blooms semi-double, opens fully showing its disk of golden stamens and a center of bright cheerful yellow. Any bees would surely not to miss such an inviting stop.

Single bloom. Stripes were completely omitted from this bloom.
Solid red with only 5 petals was visited by a 'Kelulut' (Trigona Bee)

Bee's work. Hip formed fast. Probably just in a week's time.
A note to always deadhead this rose right after it finishes flowering.

FOJ is a climber that performs well in warm climate - hence why I wanted this rose badly and finally was able to obtain it; as all my faith goes into it performing well in my hot and humid tropical garden.

10 May 2011
Almost perfect bloom was finally here.
The petals were not as ruffled as I would expect,
but reflexed petals are common to roses adapted to here.

Stripes were back though the bloom was still heavy on the red.
Petals were of layers this time.

FOJ is said to have a stunning fragrant, the kind of fragrance uncommon to roses. I missed taking note on this trait so it will be one of the few things I am looking forward to next time around.

19 May 2011
It was late afternoon when I captured this image.
It was one of those days when the sun is like an orange pinned on grey sky,
and red ray seemed generously splashed everywhere.
This was not kind to my point and shoot camera.

This time there were more buds to enjoy.
Less singles but sprays of blooms would soon be here.

This rose is bred by Caruth (1999) and characterized as having bright green foliage.

21 May 2011
Yes, the tree in full view.
The laterals you've seen earlier were now with blooms (canes on the left).
Each ended with a spray.
The canes on the right produced single blooms and shorter.

Side view.
If you can see, more basal breaks arrived at the base at the same time.

The first bloom in a spray somehow always a 3 inches.
Above, aged while the companions were still in close buds.

Just bloomed. Simply gorgeous.

FOJ is top in my list of most-wanted roses as it is claimed to be floriferous climber and resistant to blackspot. These two traits are very important when growing roses in the tropics since you can't have a climber that looks more like a tropical foliage plant stingy in blooms or one that is leggy and bare for losing foliages due to blackspot.

Blackspot is one of the worst nightmares to rose gardeners in the tropics besides thrips, spidermites and scales.

Fade to magenta/purplish as the bloom aged.

A fair 4-5 blooms in a single spray.

24 May 2011

24 May 2011
If cut, it would be a nice bouquet as half opened blooms were nice too.

25 May 2011
Displayed a great spray of gorgeous ruffled blooms when all fully opened.

The colors were so vibrant!

Golden stamens make wonderful contrast to white and red.

I must say FOJ here is unwilling with white.
I hope to see more of stripes in future,
though I have a feeling that this
wonderful trait wouldn't be FOJ strongest here.

Thorny - not dense but very thorny.
Very-very long and sharp hook, pricked me couple of times.

FOJ can grow to 10-15 feet tall in temperate climate.

It can be grown stunningly on pergola or trellis. When trained on fences or against high walls, it too would show a spectacular effect.

Once mine grows stronger and dense, I'll have this rose move to ground and attached to an arbor painted white to match the white stripes. It's going to be quite a garden project and a new rose-adventure for me.

Garden arbor in the making.
It took me a considerable amount of time to design and draw this 2-post arbor to ensure
measurements are right before we purchase the lumber.
I think it's gonna be great.

For now, it sits on my fence (the main gate) in a container with a task of greeting me daily.

Placed next to my pink moss rose (Portulaca Grandiflora 'Sundial Fuchsia').

I think one FOJ is not enough in my garden that I must have at least two. I simply just love it. Especially when I need 2 plants for the arbor. An excuse to add more of this lovely rose... aight?

FLORIA 2011: Putrajaya Flower & Garden Festival 2011

2011-05-08T14:12:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it's May already? What's good in May besides celebrating Mother's Day? Well, we got to see more roses blooming since rain is less and sun is more.

Roses may bloom aplenty in May but roses are for forever, aren't they?

Floria 2011

I would like to share with you the upcoming event, a flower and garden festival to be held in July in Putrajaya, Malaysia.

Themed “Roses Are Forever”, FLORIA 2011 will be showcasing the biggest collection of Roses in full bloom in an outdoor and indoor theme garden display.

Sneak peeks to what's in store

Apart from displays of thousands of flowers, visitors will get to see decorative boats of fresh flowers set sail along the Putrajaya Lake in Night Floral Parade.

This night parade is conducted by Tourism Malaysia, inspired by Malaysia's successes winning 5 prestigious awards in Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade in USA. In 1993, the nation’s entry won the most coveted prize, the Sweepstake Trophy at the 104th tournament. (Source: Tourism Ramblings)

Of course, there will be many different kinds of roses available for sale from the participating nurseries.

What's not to be missed, I heard there will be plenty of new varieties coming down all the way from Thailand!

This the time to feast your eyes, check out on new varieties and see what's new with roses. Hope you've marked the date and join in the excitement.

Click on image to visit the official website.

'Roses are for forever' is 'bunga mawar untuk selamanya' in Bahasa Malaysia.
'Flo' is short for flora and 'ria' is a Bahasa Malaysia word meaning joyful.

How to find your way to this event : How to go to Floria 2011

Author and copyright of Rough Rosa

Note: Images of event are properties of FLORIA 2011 : Festival Bunga Dan Taman

La Vie En Rose

2011-02-27T19:00:00.000-08:00

Life in pink, in rosy pink hues...

Pink and heavily scented blooms are in the garden and they never fail to evoke a romantic feeling in me. What a delight to see petals unfurl to gorgeous blooms! Enough to make me float on air and sing in French!

“La Vie En Rose” is a really beautiful French love song, which means something like “Life in Rosy Hues”. The music was written in or before 1946 by Louis Gugliemi. The lyrics were composed by Édith Piaf herself, the French songstress who made the song famous.

The blooms and the song makes me feel blissful. Thankful for being in love and be loved in return and for the life as I see no regrets in it.

Pink blooms in the garden:

Blue Moon

Carefree Beauty

Carefree Beauty in the garden.

Kg Pink Classic

Queen Zubaida

Queen Zubaida in the garden

Queen Zubaida with one Carefree Beauty bloom on foreground.

Sempurna

Sempurna means 'perfect'.

Sempurna close up.

Wild Fairy

The song in different makes. Enjoy!

LA VIE EN ROSE (English translation By Thomas Keyes)

Eyes that gaze into mine,
A smile that is lost on his lips—
That is the unretouched portrait
Of the man to whom I belong.

When he takes me in his arms
And speaks softly to me,
I see life in rosy hues.
He tells me words of love,
Words of every day,
And in them I become something.
He has entered my heart,
A part of happiness
Whereof I understand the reason.

It’s he for me and I for him, throughout life,
He has told me, he has sworn to me, for life.
And from the things that I sense,
Now I can feel within me
My heart that beats.

In endless nights of love,
A great delight that comes about,
The pains and bothers are banished,
Happy, happy to die of love.

When he takes me in his arms
And speaks softly to me,
I see life in rosy hues.
He tells me words of love,
Words of every day,
And in them I become something.
He has entered my heart,
A part of happiness
Whereof I understand the reason.

It’s he for me and I for him, throughout life,
He has told me, he has sworn to me, for life.
And from the things that I sense,
Now I can feel within me
My heart that beats.

Merci beaucoup!

Rough Rosa

How to pack and send rose cuttings through mail

2011-02-15T08:14:00.000-08:00

Let me show you how you can share your roses with others.

The joy of having roses in the garden doesn't stop when the blooms age and petals fall on the ground. It is beyond these events. When blooms are spent and dead-heading begins, this is a good opportunity to save some cuttings for friends and neighbors.

Dead-heading rejuvenates my roses to produce more growth and flowers. Sharing rose cuttings builds and strengthens friendships. I could not ask for more from my roses.

This time I am sending some cuttings to my fellow rose lovers from different parts of Malaysia. I usually send rose cuttings via normal/standard mail.

My Kg Pink Classic now has its turn to donate some stems. I noticed the stems were long and arching and just finished flowering, perfect for cutting and enough for give-away.

How to pack rose cuttings for sending via normal/standard mail:

Step 1:
Of course, get some cuttings first.(How to take good cuttings will be explained in another post)

Step 2:
Wash the cuttings. This will free them from dirts, pests and foreign substance. Don't forget to wash the underside of leaves too.

This always is the best time to re-evaluate the cuttings, see if they are really good ones. Too spindly or young may not root well, so does too woody.

Step 3:

Soak them in water for few hours to ensure they have adsorbed enough fluid. It's going to be a long journey ahead for these cuttings. Dry cuttings will never get to root.

When soaking, the bottom ends of the stems should be in water. That is the thorns should be pointing down. The leaves should be free from being under water as this will damage them and encourage bacteria/fungus to grow.

Step 4:
Hold stems together and wrap the bottom ends with cotton balls.

When I am out of cotton balls, I steal some of my facial cotton pads, they work just fine. You may also opt for florist sponges.

Two or three piece of balls or pads usually are sufficient, depending on the number of cuttings you are sending. Tied these to the bottom ends of the stems with a rubber band. The band should hold the stems together. Be careful when doing this as not to prick your fingers.

I don't snap off the thorns and I don't think you should. Good cuttings are cuttings without any injuries as open wounds are like doors for bacterias to enter and damage the cuttings.

Step 5:
Wet the cottons. It should be wet thoroughly but not dripping wet. Wet cottons works to supply water to the stems.

Wrap the cottons with an aluminium foil and loosely wrap the stems with a piece of wet kitchen/paper towel. This will protect the cottons and stems from drying too quickly.

The paper towel acts as a blanket covering and protecting the stems and keeping them cool and moist. It helps in absorbing excess water from evaporation and preventing the thorns from sticking out and pricking the envelope.

Step 6:
Place the stems in an A4-size plastic bag. You can have this in any size you like but for the quantity of 4-5 cuttings, the A4-sized plastic bag seems working well for me. Bag too small will cramp the cuttings and damage the leaves.

Step 7:
Fold the top of the plastic bag and seal it keeping in mind to leave some air in. Be mindful that the cuttings need to breathe too. You gave them water, you also need to give them air!

The inflated bag too will assist in preventing the cuttings from being flatten or folded during posting. It also helps in keeping the thorns away from the envelope/plastic bag.

You may get a thicker plastic bag that is not easily pierced. However, I work with just the normal ones you can easily purchase from grocery or stationary store.

I forgot to put in the paper towel. But sealing should be somewhat like that.

Sealing can be done by running the folded edge along on candle fire.

Step 8:
You can wrap the plastic bag with a bubble wrapper for a layer of extra cushion. You may also opt for an envelope that is already bubble-wrap ready (but this can be a bit costly).

Most of the time I skip this. Thus far, my cuttings are all safely received with or without the bubble wraps.

Step 9:
Put the bag in an A4-sized envelope, seal it and don't forget to tape it as well.

You may want to write the address on first.

I usually write 3 things; the recipient address, the 'Do Not Fold" and my name as sender on the back. I don't usually write my/return address as getting it back after 7-10 days undelivered doesn't serve me any good. The cuttings are a goner by then.

Step 10:
Stick a stamp and post it.

For 4-6 cuttings, I would put a RM1 stamp. Please be advised to get the mail weighed at the post office. The cost could be lesser or more than what you thought it would be. Since I do this a lot, the RM1 stamp is usually suffice for that amount of cuttings.

The cuttings will reach the recipient in approximately 3-4 days.

Exchanging and sharing rose cuttings is what rose hobbyists are practicing. It is the easiest and cheapest way of adding new roses into one's collection. It also adds joy and fun in growing roses and sharing always is fun.

Kg Pink Classic:

Kg Pink Classic and Green Apple.

About to unfurl.

Hope these instructions are helpful and hope you find joy in roses and in sharing!

Copyright of Rough Rosa

Rose Valley at Cameron Highlands

2011-02-07T09:42:00.000-08:00

This Chinese New Year I had the opportunity to bring my family to Cameron Highlands. While my family had their time enjoying the cool weather, hot steamboat and chocolate-dipped strawberries, I took the trip to another level by visiting various rose places such as Rose Valley, Rose Centre, YG Nursery and MARDI Agrotechnology Park. I learnt a massive deal
about roses there and brought home lots of pictures. Best of all, I befriended with a local rose grower and had an opportunity to chat with a rose expert.

For this post, I will try to cover the Rose Valley, a place that I would recommend any rose lovers to visit.

Situated at Tringkap, Cameron Highland, Rose Valley boasts an amazing 450 varieties of roses in all shapes and sizes. It showcases from the "black" rose to "thornless" rose to "green" rose and makes available over 20 fragrant varieties to cup and sniff.

The rose classes found planted here are Hybrid Teas, Grandifloras, Ramblers, Floribundas, Miniatures and a Wild/Species rose.

It is a landscaped rose garden, done modestly with roses are planted intermittently with other companion flowers that could be found in Cameron Highlands such as Lily, Gerbera, Diamond, Lady Shoe, Honeysuckle, Camellia and Gipsy Flower. So, it is a wonderful garden to be in and take beautiful pictures. For me, it was the place to see and learn how roses are incorporated in the gardens and planted with the underplants.

Good things about this garden are that it's moderately sized, it has benches to ease tired feet, souvenir shops and of course rows and rows of beautiful roses to cup and smell, planted in groups and singly, as borders and hedges. The endless blooms and nice fragrant in the cool climate was really therapeutic especially to city folks and rose lovers like me.

While many would be blinded by the numerous blooms at waist high, my eyes were taken up higher to explore the roses that formed tall bushes and cascading effects, and with every bit of knowledge I have on roses I tried to discern the classes, habits and bloom sizes and shapes. My son pointed to me a rose tree he called 'the giant rose'. I was oblivious with so many roses that I almost missed this giant tree altogether if it weren't for my son.

The "Giant Rose Tree" which soars up to probably more than 10 ft high.

One of it's arching branches.

It's trunk - huge!

What it did to my fingers...

Another tree that caught my attention is a rambler rose, the branches were uniquely intertwined and aged beautifully. A rose which I found out earlier that very morning to be a common rose to the locals, popularly grown by the locals nearly everywhere; in their gardens and public sidewalks. A rose which later I received as cuttings from a friendly local I met!

I wish I knew how old this tree is...

These are trusses produced by that beautiful tree.. amazing!

The blooms are generous and beautiful too!

I am grateful to the owner of this place as the garden and roses are maintained well for people like me to enjoy. The toilet is clean too.

However, there are few things that I wish that they would improve. The show materials in the exhibition hut (Museum House) I think were a bit outdated, dusty and lack of information. While the roses were pretty and maintained well, some of them were entirely covered with powdery mildew making sniffing or touching the blooms not entirely possible. (The air was extra damp in Cameron Highlands as it is still raining daily, promoting rapid growth of powdery mildew).

I was too a bit upset for not knowing the name of each varieties as there were no labels to refer to at the bushes feet and the were no garden guides on service. I think I would appreciate the blooms better if I knew what they were and be able to look up on their history and garden performance later on.

Overall, it was a nice visit, a very pleasant one! There are many roses that I have never seen before and there are many too that I wish are growing in my tiny garden.

Let's feast our eyes on these roses, shall we? (and forgive me on the photo quality);

The side view.

The front view; sprouting like mushrooms looking for sunlight.

The group of yellow and pink roses.

This is the one that I wish I could buy.
I believe it's neither the famous "Rosa Mundi" nor "Ferdinand Pichard"
but it's striped alright.
This has deeper pink tone and reflexed petals even before full maturity.

This is another striped rose grown there.
A color-and-striping resemblance to "Harry Wheatcroft" rose.

Color so sweet and blooms so wonderful to have in any gardens.

Beautifully toned. But it was in fact a solid color rose.

Another bloom of the same rose above.

Beautifully planted ivy cascading on the hill slope.
Foreground, a beautiful floribunda also popularly grown by the locals.

The here famous as "Black rose".
It has the deep burgundy coloring but is however not as velvety as I thought it would be.

What I also have at home - Rough's Jewel.

Beautiful transformation.
A delightful shade of orange rose with bronzy tone at petal edges,
quick to transform into creamy yellow with pinky tints.

A delight as cut flowers indoors.

The white floribunda I wish I grow.

And lastly, a rose in its own class.
Extraordinary rose with high centered form, tan-colored bronzy orange petals and great substance.
It has this wonderfully deep yellowish center adding to great contrast.
Magnifique!

A bit of info to those interested to visit:

Entrance Tickets:
RM 5 for adults
RM 2 for kids
Opening Hours:
8.00a.m. - 6.00p.m

Address:

148 Tringkap, Cameron Highlands, 39000 Pahang, Malaysia
Contacts:
Phone : 605-4961620 /4961491
Fax : 605-4961049

Copyright of RoughRosa

Green apple in the garden?

2011-01-26T08:54:00.000-08:00

A white rose (bunga ros putih) like no other! This is a white rose I personally recommend for any gardens.

I wish I had grown an apple tree in my garden for its delicious fruits. But for flowers, all my nickels and dimes go to Green Apple! Know more about the habits of this remarkable rose.

I bought this on 15 March 2010. A good plant to begin with. Height is around 1.5 ft.

This is the tree now.
I lost 3 months of growth due to thrips infestation in August last year.
This rose is remarkable resistant as it took 2-3 months before it too catch on thrips.

Unlike some roses, the flower size does not reduce.
It is the same size as when it was purchased.

The bloom production is prolific once the plant established itself.

This tree has never ceased blooming since it got better from thrips.
Not once I've seen no blooms on it. It holds the repeat-flowering quality to its best.

It has short pointed bud that opens to pure white with very light fragrant.
The flowers are usually borne one to a stem.

Queen Zubaida, pink old-fashioned blooms with Green Apple in the foreground.

I have 4 white roses in my garden. Green Apple performs the best.
Lemon Sonata is in the foreground.

The form holds so well over days that this rose is ideal for cut flowers indoors.

It grows about 3-3.5 ft tall with upright habit.

Great as hedges or borders.
I am planning to add more of this rose and plant them as borders.
It will be a great project and definitely a great outcome.

It has the classic large-flowered form and the outer petals curl back when fully open.

Ruffled edges add to the signature.

Its beauty lies in its wonderfully constructed flowers,
with a hint of apple-green on the edges.

Stands wet weather pretty well. Can lasts days in the garden with minor damage.

Flat on the side.

The plant is furnished with extremely healthy semi-glossy, dark green foliage.

I believe this rose is imported from China.

Easy to care and flowers profusely.

A beauty not to be missed in any gardens.

Author and copyright of Rough Rosa.

If roses can speak the words of my heart...They'd tell you...

2011-01-14T07:42:00.000-08:00

When I was a little girl, I saw a rose being drawn starting with a heart/love symbol as the center of the flower. Then more petals were added around it one by one forming a complete rose.

Roses are always associated with love. That drawing was with no exception.

Beautifully drawn by Casper2598.

What was once a childish drawing is understood now. Only a perfect flower such as a rose fits to carry such strong meaning on its petals, that a heart shape drawn as the heart of a rose is no stroke or joke of an artist but is in fact innate to rose's natural form and beauty.

This is what I mean;

I found 'love' drawn on my SN Apricot Madness.

The side view.

Madly, deeply in love with apricot bloom.

The tree that is may be 8-9 feet high.

This rose stands wet weather well.

Opens into beautiful dense double petals.

There is a light scent.

Makes beautiful cut flower. The next round it flowers, I have a vase ready.

Dark green, slightly rugosed medium green leaves. Subject to seasonal blackspot.

Though can stand being wet, it needs securing during heavy storm for being too tall.

The tree that radiates a lot of love lately.

Bushy habit and suckering well. Good plant.

At times, to high to smell the roses.

A mixture of apricot, pink, peachy and yellow.

The balance of colors altering as the petals age.
It ages into pale apricot, cream and and pink on hardened petals.

On the inside the petals are yellow.

Showing off stamens.

Top view from a window.

If roses could speak the words of my heart...

They'd tell you...

How much I love you.

Author and copyright of Rough Rosa

The 'V'...

2011-01-11T08:05:00.000-08:00

There's only 2 type of Vs (visitors) in any gardens. The good ones and the bad ones.

Cuckoo Spit

Yesterday I discovered what I think a cuckoo spit on one of my roses (pls let me know if it's not it).

Some gardeners consider it as a garden pest, but I think it's a wondrous formation. Although the froghopper nymphs and adults suck sap from stems/leaves in that cocoon of spit, but in such small quantities they rarely cause damage.

I decided to not mind the unsightly spit.

The bad guys

The ones I less delighted seeing in my garden are thrips, spidermites, scales and stray cats!

Yes, cats! These fury little beasts often do their 'business' on the grass and in the rose pots. Besides having to clean the poops daily and flush my roses from excessive urine, there are times when smelling roses is a bad idea.

The good guys

Cuckoo spit is not the only visitors my little rose garden receives; snails, slugs, grasshoppers, birds, bees, bumblebees, leafcutter bees, flies, butterflies and moths make plenty of frequents.

I am not too fond of leaf-cutter bees but the damages are within what I can tolerate.

Garden visitors. Grow 'em and they will come.

An art by a 'leaf cutter bee'. And I thought it only went for the leaves...

A honey bee or a leaf-cutter bee? Whatever it was, it helped with pollination.

A bloom among the many. One lost against plenty of gains.

A different bee from the top photo. This has pointed bottom.

A fly. Helps to rid of unwanted pests.

Not a bee and not a beetle.

Buzz..buzz..

Sitting still waiting for a prey.

A bouquet for a day - 2

2010-12-30T11:12:00.000-08:00

Bunga mawarku basah lagi! We had a thunderstorm yesterday. 5 minutes before the pour, I took the pruner and headed out to cut whatever blooms I have in the garden, especially the ones blooming full. TIP 1: These aged blooms won't last. Bring them indoors can extend their lives.

TIP 2: I too made sure my roses were secured from heavy wind. I had pots and branches broken before. Normally, tying the canes to a support or fence helps to avoid these devastating incidents.

Saving the blooms

What were saved - my SN Almost Lover and the SN Jingga Irisa blooms. Some blooms were already in full blown (kembang masak) and rain can destroy the petals in seconds.

SN Jingga Irisa

SN Almost Lover

So, again, what a nice bouquet for a day...

A bouquet of roses, in Bahasa Malaysia is "Jambangan bunga ros / jambangan bunga mawar"

Hybrid tea is always considered for cut roses. I shouldn't overlook floribunda and other spray roses the next time I do a bouquet and get creative with colors, foliages and vases.

Warm water half in vase.
I failed to get rid of leaves that shouldn't be underwater and remove the thorns.
Simple arrangement like this need not me spending 30 minutes to snap off the thorns.
Anyhow, the thorns stabilize the stems in the vase and reduce stem injury where bacteria can enter/multiply.

Once in a while, it's refreshing to enjoy roses indoor.

By adding the pill or the cut flower/foral preservative (Penahan Keratan Bunga),
the blooms although aged; can last up to 3 days before petals begin to drop.
For me, professional preservative always gives the best result compared to home-made.

Last but not least - Happy New Year! to all my readers out there. May you have lots of blooms in your garden too.

Author and copyright of Rough Rosa

Red roses... red roses...

2010-12-27T11:19:00.000-08:00

Ros merah mekar lagi! I am like 10 times a day frequenting the blooms, to sniff, cup and take lots of pictures. With a camera in one hand and a step-stool in the other, I frequent the best spot - outside the gate. The blooms are high, I can't sniff or take closer shots without me standing on a stool. I look like an idiot but the blooms - worth every bit of the effort!

There are currently 4-5 blooms of SN Almost Lover rose but more is coming! Enjoy the pics!

The ABC black thingy is my front-gate's remote. Just ignore it!

The blooms together.

These are now in full bloom. Got to hold them together to fit the frame, as I could't back further.

Full bloom is about 4-inch in diameter.

More coming...

The tree in full view.

The red rose SN Perfecto Thornless at the front.

And the bee is there too!

Author and copyright of Rough Rosa

I'm walkin' on sunshine, woh-oh... and don't it feel good?

2010-12-21T07:51:00.000-08:00

View 3 new roses from the yellow range and of different classes - a shrub, a miniflora and a hybrid tea. The color varies with first being lemon yellow, second golden yellow and third yellow blend.

Finally, sunshine in the garden!

Happy - that's all I can say when my husband brought home three new rose plants as a surprise present.

SN Lemon Sonata

Soft yellow but lemon at center and rims.

The bloom doesn't open fast but it's worth the wait.

It is rather nice to have the bloom half-opened (above) but already a new shoot emerges from a bud eye just below the flower neck.

This could mean the bloom is long lasting and the flowering cycle is short - good traits!

It has been 5 days since my husband bought this rose. Above is the picture of the bloom at the time of purchase.

Below is the picture of the bloom today. It doesn't age much and seems to linger longer, indicating good long-lasting quality. The bloom seems weatherproof and believe me, we receive no ordinary rain showers these few days but massive raindrop attacks!

The bloom finishes in light yellow. The gradual fade in color adds another layer of interest to this neat yellow rose.

It's magnificent bright lemon color, long lasting quality and quick to sprout make this rose a good pick for me. Well done hubby!

SN Sunny Minuette

It's finally sunny this rainy season with the arrival of these brilliant golden yellow blossoms. Especially when this yellow is non-fading.

Though minis are not my cup of tea as I prefer large-flower roses; this rose is a gift, so I am keeping it. Apart from looking healthy with lushes of dark green foliage, I have not much say about this miniflora. I hope it proves to be a deserving mini.

SN December Sun

This rose will surely be a standout in the garden. The yellow is looking sweet with tinged of pink on petal edges. I think a little heat will intensify the color so I can't wait for the crying clouds that have been here long to pass.

The color is soft yellow but slowly fades to cream as the bloom opens. The cherry pink on edges is spreading wildly and deepen with age and sunshine. The plant is nice and vigorous looking with healthy medium green foliage.

Currently, the bloom is only 2.5 inches in diameter. I wonder if this improves as the tree matures...

The old, one, and only yellow rose...

There has been only one yellow rose in my garden, faithfully blooming for more than 3 years now. It's my shining prize-rose, the Gold Medal.

Though its blooms fade as they age, the tinged gold petals on Gold Medal are this rose best attribute.

Now I'm walking on sunshine.. woh-oh, and don't it feel GOOD?

Note: SN stands for 'study name'. All the names above are given for study purposes.

Author and copyright of Rough Rosa.

Trading off the long peduncle!

2010-12-17T10:31:00.000-08:00

I look at the long peduncle of this one rose of mine. It’s long and sturdy for that single blooming rose, indicating all the care (fertilizers, watering, etc) had been right.

Instead of feeling happy about this little achievement, I kind of feel sad.

Glossary: Peduncle--"The stalk of an inflorescence (a cluster of flowers) or of a solitary flower." The word comes from pedunculus, a diminutive of the Latin pes, ped-,meaning foot. In other words, peduncle simply means the 'flower neck'. In Bahasa Malaysia, we call it as 'tangkai bunga' or 'leher bunga'.

Roses have been known in the last century by growers worldwide to have bad reputation. Roses are said to be hard to grow, require regimental spraying, picky about their soils conditions, and etc.

The long majestic peduncle with small bud on top.

I take a long look at my garden and know that the above is true to some extent. I do the occasional spraying and I hate it.

The flower blooms to 3 inches in diameter.

Roses’ bad reputation is the by-product of man’s desire to create the perfect bloom, thus sacrificing the plant’s genetic propensity for fragrance, disease and insect resistance in favor of bigger blooms, bolder colors and long stems.

The peduncle is almost at 5 inches mark.

The result - home gardeners like you and I must adapt our maintenance programme to compensate for the absence of qualities that make roses care free.

We spend dimes on fertilizers, pesticides and bloom enhancers and spend time to maintain our roses but pollute the environment and our bodies with wastes and endure the side-effects of these products in the process.

The funny thing is, the insects are winning. They naturally develop resistant to pesticides. They are now harder to control compared to in the last few decades.

Would I want roses that bloom a lot? Yes. Bigger blooms? Yes. Bold colors, long peduncles and stems? Yes, yes and yes.

But would I trade off any of these traits for roses that are disease resistant and care free?

The answer is absolutely YES!

Dear hybridizers, ...

Hybridizers of the last century had to be applauded for making roses so ever popular and cool with so many forms, colors and sizes to choose from. I am indeed grateful.

But I wish to thank and show support for the hybridizers of this century who've heard this loud cry and are doing something about it.

Today's rose hybridizers are engineering the long lost trait (disease resistance) back into roses and making this their ultimate goal; in addition to try to keep all other best traits that we love in roses so much intact.

As home gardener, I will do my part in choosing carefully what roses that go into my garden and opt to use safer and less products.

Basal breaks and new shoots - definitions and care tips

2010-12-13T11:19:00.000-08:00

The year end is here and new year is just around the corner. Roses in my garden are producing lots of new shoots - a mark to a brand new start and whole lot more blooms. I always feel happy at this time of year - for an obvious reason!

Learn what basal breaks and new shoots are and how to take care of them.

What is a basal break?

A basal break is the emerging of new cane from the base of the plant or from the ground. It is very desirable and much awaited by rose growers as it yields the biggest flowers, presents lots of new bud eyes for later growth, and will replace older, worn out canes. For this reason, some rose growers provide their roses with the best nutrients to force them into basal breaking.

Basal break - the ticket for more blooms!

As my roses are not grafted, the basal breaks on my roses emerge from the base of the plant (bud union). For roses that are grafted, the basal break comes from the grafted union (union is the swollen area at the top of the shank).

Basal breaks may also arise within five inches or so of the bud union / grafted union.

Some basal breaks do sprout from the ground. For own root roses, these basal breaks are the most desirable as they produce much stronger and bigger canes.

Some rose hobbyists follow what a commercial rose grower, Rayford Reddell (Source: his book title Growing Good Roses), recommends in his book, that is pruning basal breaks at a bud eye when the cane is twelve to fifteen inches tall to encourage a sturdy branched cane that will produce more and better blooms (why? more energy is focused on much shorter cane!).

For grafted roses, any basal breaks that sprout from the ground are called suckers and should be removed. Suckers are not the original roses as they come from the understocks / rootstocks.

What is a new shoot?

New shoots are simply new stems sprouting along the existing canes or branches. Roses grow by producing many new shoots, it is the quickest way of producing volume; that is leaves and flowers.

They also act as replacements when old canes or some part of the plants die off or turn woody. When the upper part of a stem dies or being cut away, the lower part produces new shoots immediately.

Do you know that 90% of basal breaks or new shoots are made from water? Lots of rain interspersed with nice sunny days during this monsoon season has given my roses lots of happy new shoots.

Two equally strong new shoots emerge from the same cane.

They seem to grow the same cane diameter as the old cane where they emerge from.
I called these shoots as 'extensions' as they will produce equally large quality flowers and not reduced ones.

The stem above produces not 1 new shoot but 2 new shoots at once, which is very desirable.
Depending on weather, nutrients and available bud-eyes,
a stem can grow plenty of new shoots / laterals at once.

How to care?

Care should always be taken not to disturb new growths. These shoots will grow very rapidly and are easily broken off by the wind. Protect them with a small stake if necessary and avoid touching them. Also, cut away any branches or canes that are in their way as the thorns could hurt the fragile growth.

The loss of a basal break is an unhappy event for any rosarian.

And as usual, provide the plants with sufficient nutrients and water at this time of rapid growth.

Happy rose growing!

Copyright of Rough Rosa

To Ranau with love: Making ‘Bunga Rampai’ from home grown roses

2010-12-08T09:17:00.000-08:00

From a humble garden to glorious ‘hantaran’ platter, my roses boarded the plane and travelled far to Ranau, Sabah; a town famous for its majestic Mount Kinabalu, for my brother’s in law wedding. The roses were made as bunga rampai or Malay fresh potpourri (assortment of fresh flowers).

If you wonder what hantaran is, it is the dowry and/or the gifts exchanged between the bride and groom. Bunga rampai is made usually part of the hantaran to perfume the occasion.

Ranau is not with absence of fresh roses. In fact, Ranau being at the foot of Mount Kinabalu; the South East Asia's tallest mountain, is with plenty of sunshine and has the perfect temperature for cut roses industry. Roses grown here are sold to the rest of Sabah and sometimes across border to Brunei Darussalam.

I decided it was simply most exciting and a proud moment to use my own roses for the wedding.

How to make bunga rampai:

Bunga rampai is used in many important occasions of the Malay: circumcision, graduation of Quran study, shaving a baby's hair, funeral, wedding etc.

I think of bunga rampai as an assortment of flowers and leaves. Bunga means flower, rampai means assortment. So, as to what flowers and leaves to use, simply select ones with lots of fragrance. Any combinations of flowers and leaves are fine.

The basic ingredient always is the fresh pandan leaves (screw pine leaves). Some would add fresh kaduk leaves (wild betel leaves) to enhance the fragrance.

The pandan leaves were taken too from my backyard. I finely sliced them into thin strips. Other leaves if added should be treated the same way. (See the photo of pandan tree in Stephanie's blog)

Then I added fresh flower petals to the strips. They may not be sliced as they can get sticky and staining the blade or cloth that comes in contact. The petals can dry up pretty quickly too. Tearing the petals helps if they turn out looking too big.

Many fragrant flowers can be used to create a different version of bunga rampai.

Jasmine, frangipani, kesidang (bread flower, also known as Tikar Seladang or Kerak Nasi), chempaka flowers (white and yellow versions of the local magnolia flowers) and roses are among the favourite flowers for bunga rampai. (Read more about kesidang in Autumn Belle’s blog)

Kenanga or ylang ylang flowers are traditionally be added as they possess strong and lasting fragrance, even after they have completely dried. (View ylang ylang in James's blog)

For my bunga rampai, the choice of flowers was completely roses as I only had roses flowering in the garden. I selected the most fragrant varieties and that included my ros kampong.

Unfortunately, my Indian rose was just budding, so it didn’t get into the mix.

Indian rose is a red rose famous for its fragrance and is used widely by Indians for wedding décor, as potpourri, ceremonial tent décor, braided into the hair of the bride, etc.

Whatever flowers used, bunga rampai has to be joyful to look at as well. This means, flowers have to be of variety of colours.

To give that perfect blend of aroma, shredded skin or the zest of limau purut (kaffir lime or the rough skinned lime) is too added to the mix. This would add to the richness of the smell.

Lastly, add in fragrant water/oil for bunga rampai's lasting fragrance. If sweeter fragrant is preferred, then rose oil/water or rose hip oil is the perfect choice.

Safflower oil is another good substitute. Lavender and geranium oil is great for musky smell. Some people would add sandalwood powder for perfume that is out of this world.

Mixed them all up and that's it - bunga rampai!

Bunga rampai has many uses. Put bunga rampai in a linen cloth or potpourri bag or leave them to dry in a bowl or a platter. The smell can be enjoyed for days.

Bunga rampai can also be used for a relaxing aromatherapy bath.

Due to heavy travelling, it was decided that the hantaran was made simple. The bunga rampai was tied in ribboned linen and placed in silver cups as seen in the picture (on the right). The fruit basket contains grapes, strawberries, apples and the local jambu air madu or water cherry or watery rose apple (scientific name is Syzygium aqueum). The leaves decorating were a steal too from my garden.

Fish massage at Ranau.
The huge fishes or the mahseer fish (called as Pelian fish by the locals or known to many as ikan kelah)
were massaging (and occasionally biting my feet), in the local river.

What can be seen is the peak of Mount Kinabalu, a view from the village.
Though I've made it to the peak once, the beauty has made me wish for another round.

The roses grown and sold by the locals.

Lastly, a rose - captured at Rose Cabin, Ranau.

Rose changing color? Garden fairy has come to visit.

2010-12-01T01:29:00.000-08:00

Color speaks to us like no other reflection can. It has a way of changing how we perceive and feel about things around us. When colors change, we change.

Some of us know this better. When the golden shade of fall outside the window is here, we feel we change a little too. It's time to thank for what the year has brought and begin looking forward to new beginnings.

Change of color in my garden has a different turn. What has always been a shade of ultra pink to almost Persian pink, the same rose bush presents me with a new shade of color to look forward to.

The most creative garden fairy has come to visit.

What has been the familiar color, the roses blooming in the shade of ultra-pink.

Looking majestic, a bloom oddly singles itself out from the rest, finding itself with a splash of ruby red.

The norm and the odd. Both in full bloom, side by side in comparison.

The garden fairy decided to do a paint job for a good surprise. Precisely half pink and half red.
Some may say it's a job halfway unfinished, but I say it's a work of nature that merit praises.

I complain not for the joy of discovering something as little as change of color on a negligible petal.
Like everything else in life, beauty may not exist without first a separation then 2 sides join in harmony. One who does not see this quick to draw a thin line in between and see only and only, the thin line.

I complain not but take present as a gift and smell the rose the same.

Why roses change color?

When a rose bush suddenly has blooms of a different color than it originally has, it can mean a few things, among others:

The rose is grafted on a rootstock, means it is not grown on its own root. The different color blooms come from the rootstock/understock instead, which always is a totally different rose.
The rose is a sport (a version of) an older variety or/and is unstable, where the color of the parent rose/older version of the rose come to pop up once in a while, creating bi-color blooms or totally different color blooms altogether.
The rose is affected by weather/season. The color of blooms turns lighter during cooler months and darker and intense in the hotter months..

Author and copyright of Rough Rosa.

Cameron roses: Differentiating minis from non-minis

2010-11-29T09:00:00.000-08:00

To a novice eyes, it’s very hard to determine which rose is a mini and which isn’t. Buyers of Cameron roses always are misled by the look of the plants at the time of purchase.

The same roses that once looked bushy and tall with flowers are in moderate size blooming pretty turned out to be mini roses after all; shrink in size and blooms are now open to no larger than a 20 or 50 cents coin.

Note 1:

We all got to be reminded once again when buying roses from Cameron that change in flower size is inevitable. Temperature change of hilly Cameron to your flat land garden can affect the performance and growth of roses. Due to higher temperature in the flat lands, roses aclimatize to be smaller in leaf size, growth, as well as bloom size.

Don’t strike off Cameron roses just yet though. The trick is to be able to differentiate varieties that can withstand temperature change better or choose roses with reduction/changes to a level you can tolerate.

Note 2:

Do you know that there are two types of minis? They are the miniatures and minifloras. When we talked about minis, I know most of us would often think of the ‘miniatures’.

So what’s the difference?

Miniatures: Roses that can grow up to 1 – 1.5 ft tall with bloom size is 1 - 1.5 inch wide.

Minifloras: Roses that can grow up to 1 – 1.5 ft tall with bloom size is 2 – 2.5 inch wide.

It means minifloras have larger flower size but are looking dwarf in height.

Roses sold from Cameron which are available at nurseries nationwide (planted and sold in 6 inches plastic pots) are mostly minifloras.

That is why when you buy these roses you tend to think that they are not minis, as they possess moderately large flowers.

Note 3:

So, how to differentiate the minis from non-minis?

Simple! You only need to look at 3 things at the time of purchase:

A. Flower size

Flower size below 2 inches or 2.5 inches wide when flower is fully open usually is of minis.

If you want roses that are not minis, go for flower size that is above 3 inches wide. These are usually of normal upright hybrid teas.

The bigger the better as any reduction will still leave you marginally with pretty big flower.

If the flowers are half open, petal length that is roughly above 2 inches indicates a non-mini.

B. Leaf size

The leaf size is relative to flower size. Big flowers mean big leaves. Go for leaf size which length (not width) is no less than 3 inches for non-minis.

C. Height of tree

Non minis usually sold as a tall tree with tree height is around 1.5 – 2ft. The tree has only 1-2 main canes and often is supported with a bamboo stick.

I personally prefer large flower roses and recommend buying non-minis instead of minis as the flower size reduction is tolerable, that is from i.e. 4 inches when purchase reducing to 2.5 inches in the garden (depending on garden treatment and factors of nutrients and age of tree).

So, now you know how to differentiate the minis and non-minis and understand a bit more about Cameron roses. You now can have a clear expectation when buying these roses and with the tips above, assured you are buying exactly the roses you have in mind.

Author and copyright of : Rough Rosa.

Roses for kids?

2010-11-10T00:35:00.000-08:00

Roses can be for curious little mind. I finally found a kids-friendly rose and a garden-worthy at the same time. This rose is thorn-less but not in anyway less in other attributes. In fact, it surpasses many of my expectations in terms of growth/vigor, number of blooms, beauty, fragrant and bloom durability. I have grown many roses but this came to me, as almost perfect so far.

If you have kids at home but fancy growing roses, here is the rose I recommend. This rose deserves a place in my garden and I think deserves to be in yours too.

Thorn-less?

Yes, thorn-less. In Malaysia, there are not many roses that are thorn-less. You can probably count them with one hand. But what we have here is worth to talk about.

This rose however, is not completely thorn-free. The stems are smooth and free from thorns but small pricks do appear on the underside of its leaf margins. No worry though! They are not something that would hurt small fingers as the pricks are quite small and soft.

What I like about this rose

This rose as mature tree will grow to 3-4 ft tall which makes it perfect for simple borders and hedges.

I have grown this rose from a little seedling for about 3 months now. At this moment it has grown to be about 1 ft tall and started flowering profusely. Previously, it had given me 3-4 blooms per cycle but in the last cycle, it has more than 10 blooms.

This rose, in my opinion, is an easy growing variety and a fast grower. You'll have an easy time growing it as it grows very fast becoming a strong tree pretty quickly.

I could not reiterate more on what a strong tree can do for you. It means more flowers, more resistant to diseases and better withstanding any unfavorable garden conditions. So, if a rose can grow fast, less work it is for you.

What I like about the blooms

The blooms are about 2.5 - 3 inches across, a reasonably good size. The blooms came in clusters of 4-5 blooms, a trait of a floribunda.

Nice to see, nice to touch and nice to smell

When this rose was flowering, I was lured by its fragrance to be out in the garden to sniff closer.

Never I thought that any of my roses would smell that strong and from only a 3 months-old rose.

Having many blooms per tree brought the best in this rose as it overpowered the smell of some of my other roses (given the right temperature of the day).

The blooms release sweet citrus fragrant to the air.

What's more, it's sun-friendly

The blooms are sun-friendly too. I found no burn marks on petals on very hot sunny days. A characteristic much needed when growing roses in the tropic.

The only small set back is the blooms get little heavy with water after rain (given small stems and soft flower necks) but they only suffer little damage.

Without any rain protection, the blooms seemed to last for a week + in my garden .

Blooms after heavy rain

New growth

I wanted to see the rose's new growths and how they behave so I let the flowers over spent. New shoots grew from the first leave nodes just below the flower necks. The grew vigorously in only a matter of days.

Here is a picture of a mature tree. The pictures are courtesy of my friend, Fadzlin Hayati and the rose is her neighbour's, Kak Ita. The rose has been with her for more than 3 years now.

Last month, it grew lots of buds. It was said there were about 30 buds per stem and this tree has plentiful of stems on it!

I have not gotten the picture of it blooming full, so that would have to be in another post.

So how is it for a kids-friendly rose? Not bad huh?

Copyright of Rough Rosa

Texas vs Cameron roses? The answer to 'bare-root' roses riddle!

2010-11-02T10:48:00.000-07:00

Q: I am reading the articles about hardening roses, if bought from cameron highlands... 5 of my roses were purchased bareroot from Texas spring this year. All are doing well. I did not go through a "hardening process". Are cameronian roses different? - Peter Goh, Subang Jaya.

A: Hi Peter! First of all million of apologies for not replying to your question/comment sooner. I was laptop-less (coupled with busy) for quite sometime. Excuses are lame, I know *sigh*. But, I'm finally back on track with brand new laptop and a brand new spirit!

First and foremost, it's very refreshing to finally meet another rose hobbyist! This one is a passionate one I can tell!

I have not come across anyone who plant bare-root roses purchased from US. Indeed you are a brave one among us.

And thank you for bringing back these roses and introducing us to 5 exciting new roses. Kudos on having them loving Malaysian soil and kudos too for having done a great job of planting them right!

If I understand your question correctly, I believe you meant this:

These 2 roses (Texas & Cameron), although dissimilar in origins, they seem to share your one common concern; they both come from a temperate climate, which you kind of wondered if hardening process was necessary too for your Texas bare-root roses. Hmmm...

The answer to bare-root roses riddle

I think you know the answer too well already, since your 5 roses are thriving beautifully. :)

The reason you don't have to harden is because your roses are purchased bare-root. This means they are dormant when purchased. They don't have leaves on and not in active state of growing whatsoever. This condition is perfect for transporting, mass storing, custom & immigration processes, and etc.

In US, bare root roses are kept cool in storage and only available in spring and summer time when soil temperature is ideal for planting.

That is why your roses thrive, they start fresh from dormancy. Like seeds to seedlings. Grow only when they are ready and when environment is ready for them.

Cameron roses however are full grown roses, approximately 3-6 months of age when they are transported down for sale. Sold as plants in containers. They are not in any way dormant. They are very much alive and in active growing stage.

Any drastic change in temperature/climate can cause great deal of stress to them.
Given only few months of age with their roots just established, even the slightest humidity and heat change can make them wither and droop easily. A hardening process is required for continous survival.

So anyone would question, would Cameron roses be better done bare-root, then? Why can't our roses be sold bare-rooted in Malaysia?

Answer is very simple. Our roses grow and in active mode all year long because of our endless 'summer' climate. There's no winter for them to grow dormant.

Hope that answers! Enjoy your roses!

Friday in Frames: Today's harvest

2010-08-27T01:23:00.000-07:00

Garden harvests. Inedible but enough to make me sing a happy tune this week.

A happy melody is fitting to accompany this week's pictures. I am much more happy now knowing that most of my roses are in their recovery stage after last few months of neglect due an illness of one of my family members.

SN Coral Coraline
The flower shows a recovery in size after its soil was amended last 2 weeks.
The leaves are greener, darker, thicker and bigger than usual.
I think rain has helped too with the turgidity.
The sun seems doesn't mind the bloom as well.
The bloom blushes without any hint of sun burnt.

Grandiflora, pink, 38-40 petals. Average diameter 4".
The bloom has lived up to its reputation in my garden.
So, I am very happy with this.
I think this should be in anyone's garden.

The bloom is still however borne solitary. I have not yet seen it in clusters.
This shall be the next thing I want to see.

SN Rough Jewel. My mini in hanging pot.

The flower is tiny but plenty to have.
The good thing about this rose is no deadheading is required.
It knows how to clean after itself.

SN Queen Zubaida
The current favorite since it smells so fragrant.
Much more fragrant than the well-known damask-like ros kampong.
This one is like smelling rose oil or rose water from the bottle.

Current bloom, side view. About 3 inch open flat.

This picture was taken sometime ago.
But to just show you how this flower looks from the front.
This has yet bloom in full.

Bloom in full.
The petals arranged in distinct portions, the shape is known as quartered rosette.

Hope you enjoy.

Author and copyright of Rough Rosa

The science behind pruning - Part 1

2010-08-25T11:41:00.000-07:00

Gardening is both art and science combined but I always try to approach gardening as science first. It gives me comfort that I would be able to understand a great deal about plants to respect their habits, growth and needs. Arts I believe will come in knocking, invited, naturally.

In the same way, I like to understand pruning scientifically since this helps me with my judgement - know what to cut and when to stop whenever I hold the pruner and go cut cut cut..

Science no. 1: Roses are plants that bloom constantly on any NEW vegetative growth

Pruning forces or fools roses to produce new growths.

When roses lose their parts to pruning, they quickly replace what's lost by producing many new growths for survival reason.

Since for roses, flowers always come at the end of any new growths, many new growths equate to many flowers. This is what rose growers always want at the end of the day – more flowers.

For this reason alone, rose growers believe in pruning and exercise it religiously.

Science No. 2: New growths always come from a mature branch or stem

New growths often come from matured canes or already spent flowering stems. New growth emerges from a tiny little node or a swollen area (termed as a bud eye) you can find near the base of a leaflet.

New growths tend to be a lot smaller or shorter compared to branches/stems where they grow from. This is because the more extensions (growths) a rose has, the thinner its energy is spread across.

Spindly growths or smaller stems produce smaller flowers. By cutting back stems (aka pruning) to where they are bigger, new growths will be much stronger resulting in larger blooms.

Personally, I don't find this concept entirely true for certain rose cultivars. I have seen countless times in my garden that new growths from much smaller stems can produce equally big flowers. At times, the new stems produced are equally as big and long as the stems where they grow from. Kind of telling me that they are not 'a new growth' after all but an extension to what was cut off.

I believe that when optimum care such as enough water, light and nutrients are provided, energy is what the tree generously give itself and make plenty of it to spread across.

Not all growths come from mature woods, some can come from the base of the plants or from the ground. These growths are termed as 'basal breaks'. These are the best growths any growers could ever wished for as they promise for an entirely new plant body (not just some arms and fingers as in branches and stems). You can guess what a new body can do, can't you?

Science No. 3: The key to healthy roses are enough light and good air circulation

Pruning is to open up the center of the plants for better light penetration. When a rose loses some of its top leaves, there is enough light shines through for the lower leaves. Rose gets optimum photosynthesis this way.

The bush is also drier on wet days as pruning can open up the bush to aid with air circulation, which in turn preventing diseases such as black spot.

I could not stress enough on how light plays a major role in ensuring a healthy bush. But I cannot help but stand contradicting on this particular practice.

I see that opening the center of the plant for light to shine through seems a bit redundant when we actually growing roses... well, in the equator!

Here, light comes from all angles - left, right and straight from the top. The light is at least of the same quality and quantity throughout the year. Photosynthesis, if not 6/7 is 12/7 all year long depending on the location where you put your roses. With warm air starts breezing from 11am till sundown, the bush can get dry on its own pretty quickly.

And you know what? Less leaves less photosynthesis.

When it comes to better air circulation, there's also a question of how big or wide our rose bush really is?

It is understandable that monster bushes like what we see mostly in western countries of temperate climate do require some pruning to control the gigantic growth, but our rose bushes ever hardly reach 3-4 ft wide in containers and probably spread less than 4-5 ft across for roses on the ground. Having this hot weather, we are slightly unfortunate as our roses do take time to grow and get bushier.

Blackspot in my garden is quite seasonal. As the monsoons come, the blackspot arrives. I keep my roses as they are but work on preventing blackspot through a better garden care. To me blackspot comes and goes easily as the season changes that I should not be put off or worry too much about it, as it does tolerable damage.

Snipping of the top growth lightly may do just fine but I am more at this point on the belief that my roses are better off wearing every single leaves they have, to make food and to survive. I also believe that leaves keep them cool. So, I am keeping most of their foliages on no matter rain or shine!

Join me soon for Part 2.

Author and copyright of Rough Rosa

Pruning 101: A look at Malaysia rose pruning

2010-08-22T10:38:00.000-07:00

You can find hundreds of pruning articles on the net. What I could offer here that is unique is my Malaysian pruning experience, which I am delightful to share. It is not cool to repeat what rosarians have already said brilliantly about pruning. What I am hopeful is my writing to at least bring you some added values.

From my experience talking to people who grow roses in Malaysia, I can conclude 2 things about pruning roses here:

There are people who prune their roses; some for the right reasons and some for the wrong reasons.
There are people who don’t prune their roses at all; some don’t even know a thing call ‘deadheading’, let alone pruning.

Right reasons

People who prune their roses for the right reasons have educated themselves about pruning and know very clear the advantages of pruning, briefly:

To promote healthy, vigorous stem growth
To remove dead and diseased wood
To open the center of the plant and promote good air circulation
To help maintain an attractive and well-balanced shape plant

While some know how to prune, majority are in the grey area when it comes to how much to prune, when to prune, which roses to prune, and what to accomplish from pruning (besides the 4 good reasons listed above).

Some others are totally unaware that certain roses require no pruning at all when one considers certain time of the year and certain plant age.

Wrong reasons

People who prune their roses for the wrong reasons have these in mind:

Pruning is a cultural practice. They follow blindly because their nurseryman or some internet articles told them so (which writer grows 500 bush of roses in California but have no clue whatsoever about growing roses in Malaysia)
Some equate pruning to deadheading, some equate it to ‘togel’ling (defoliating) the plant
Some do not know the differences between light pruning and heavy pruning and the use of each
Some prune when their roses are in trouble in hope to rejuvenate them, or to get rid of pests

Some of the issues above I will address in due time but let’s go slow and start at ground zero since most of us, including myself, are fairly new at growing roses - and pruning.

Since this topic is fairly long, I am splitting the post so you'll have easy time reading, so catch me again this week on this series - The science behind pruning.

Thanks for reading.

Author and copyright of Rough Rosa

Top heavy? The answer to prune hard or prune light.

2010-08-17T09:27:00.000-07:00

I promise to let my decision be known on whether to prune my SN Almost Lover rose hard or prune it light. A week after my earlier post on this, I decided to just leave the tree alone.

I know for a fact that hybrid tea such as this ought to be pruned hard. But I decided to let nature takes its course. After all, those roses left in the wild (mostly wild roses) never receive pruning but remain vigorous and flowering as ever. But of course, hybrid tea is a different class of roses altogether.

Pruning this tree was a dilemma because it has only one main cane. I fear pruning it heavily may result it unable to sustain itself during last few months of nasty weather. I was hoping it would grow more new bottom branches for extra foliage, before any hard pruning is done.

My decision was right. A week later, the tree gave new shoots at the lower part of the main cane. And in weeks followed, more new branches grew.

However, no basal breaks were produced which I was hoping a hard pruning to deliver.

Heavy flowering on top on one cane wonder.

Finally, the moment much awaited for. 1 ft growth in less than a week!

After the week ended, a bud formed.

The total look.

And this is last week's photo of blooms, they all came from the lower part of the tree, which now has turned bushy.
Top portion was only lightly pruned and currently as densely growing new shoots.

Author and copyright of Rough Rosa

How it all began...

2010-08-15T09:20:00.000-07:00

I was asked by a forumer on how I became interested in growing roses. I thought I share my answer here.

I love roses and fancy English garden. To realize a garden as such, I knew I had to at least successfully grown some roses first.

Many had said that roses couldn't be grown well enough in tropical gardens but I had bought a house that came with a front yard I own to the core, so I thought 'Hey, I got to try this (and accept the challenge)!'.

Down the memory lane

Picture tells a far better story.

Miniatures of highland roses were the first. None had survived.

More roses added. Some lived. Some died.
Huh? Some lived?

Those days... The full collection of my pioneer roses.

When my roses survived their first 3 months in the garden, I knew they would be with me forever.

I knew nuts about growing roses

A growing love for roses made me thirsty for rose knowledge. Roses brought me into a world of learning and discovery. The challenge was not on growing but finding local resources on rose growing. The nurseryman here weren't really rose experts.

I purchased books on roses from local bookstores and many from UK, apart from reading countless articles and experimenting what I have learnt. Even so, there are still so much to learn and do.

For the love of roses

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

I went through a great deal of challenges - spider mites, black spots, scales, thrips, anthracnose, etc, and plenty of others mishaps and misjudgments. There were times I almost gave up.

But roses, though defoliated and sickly, seemed to never give up hope on me. There were buds on them always and flowers, rain or shine.

More to know... A lot to share...

Some of my first roses are still with me till this day, though my collection has grown in folds.

They make my garden as it is now; I humbly call a rose garden.

I treasure my roses not for their blooms but for the invaluable lessons, experience and rose education that they have bestowed upon me. Challenges made me stronger and less green and I am happy I went through them all so I can teach others.

Now I take special delight in sharing information about roses in hopes that you might be inspired to grow them too. I also dream that nursery people and vendors will make roses which natural to our climate more available for easy growing and will make available the cultivar names for value/appreciation reasons by all rose hobbyists.

Author and copyright of Rough Rosa

Ku tanam pokok bunga, bunga mawar namanya...

2010-08-13T08:32:00.000-07:00

It's a kindergarten song but I remember learning it in primary school. I can't recall what year or Standard (Grade) it was. My 5 years-old daughter took fond of Ku Tanam Pokok Bunga when she heard me sang.

Ku tanam pokok bunga,

Bunga mawar namanya,

Ku siram dan ku baja,

Lama-lama besar jadinya,

Ku petik bunga mawar,

Ku letak di kepala,

Ku jalan sini sana,

Harum wangi baunya.

A song for my roses, a poetry for my soul:

I made a little song about the rose

And sang it for the rose to hear,

Nor ever marked until the music's close

A lily that was listening near.

The red red rose flushed redder with delight,

And like a queen her head she raised.

The white white lily blanched a paler white,

For anger that she was not praised.

Turning I left the rose unto her pride,

The lily to her enviousness,

And soon upon the grassy ground espied

A daisy all companion-less.

Doubtless no flattered flower is this, I deemed;

And not so graciously it grew

As rose or lily: but me thought it seemed

More thankful for the sun and dew.

William Watson, 1858-1935. An English poet (Yorkshire)

The red red rose, my SN Almost Lover:

Others showcasing their blooms after a long pause:

SN Ms. Eye Candy. Picture taken at 12 pm.
At 5pm, the ruby red took over entire bloom.

SN Sweet Serenade.
Smell as strong and sweet as ros kampong but citrus.
A trait I forgot, until today.

Greeted again by this tomato-red rose, SN Jingga Irisa.
Petal is hard and bloom is lasting.
Will be greeted by this few more days to come.

SN Ms. Eye Candy on side view. Flushed redder under the heat.

SN Lady Liberty
Sweet blend of soft pink with pale orange center.
Yet in its perfect form. The tree could use a lot of love (and fertilizers).

SN Rough Jewel
Last, red miniature in hanging pot, mainly still setting buds. Ready when they are ready.