Rose True Bloom series
* Common name: Rose True Bloom series
Rose True Bloom True Passion
Credit: David Wilson/Overdevest Nurseries
* Botanical name: Rosa True Bloom
* What it is: True Bloom is a new class of rose bred by famed breeder Ping Lim – a blend of the easy-care performance of shrub roses and the classic beauty of hybrid teas.
Dubbed “hybrid tea shrub” roses, the series is debuting in six colors: True Gratitude (pink), True Integrity (a smoky salmon color), True Passion (orange/red), True Sincerity (pink/yellow bicolor), True Inspiration (lavender/pink), and True Friendship (yellow).
The large flowers peak in June but appear throughout the season. Plants are very disease-resistant (especially tough against black spot) and tolerant of heat and drought.
* Size: Plants grow 4 to 5 feet tall and wide.
* Where to use: Full sun is best, but the series blooms reasonably well in a site that gets at least 6 hours of sun a day. True Blooms are care-free enough to use as a border shrub, hedge plant, or massed on a sunny bank, and showy enough to use as stand-alone specimens along a south- or west-facing house foundation.
* Care: Cut back to knee high in March before new growth begins, and ideally snip off flowers after they brown. Fertilize with a granular fertilizer formulated for roses in early spring. For maximum flowering, scatter additional fertilizer in June and August.
No spraying needed. Water weekly during hot, dry spells, wetting the ground, not over the leaves.
* Great partner: Purple salvia or betony ‘Hummelo’ are good perennial partners. Catmint is a good underplanting for the pink and pastel varieties, creeping sedum ‘Angelina’ is a good underplanting for the red and yellow varieties. Boxwoods and hollies are good evergreen partners.