It was a beautiful autumn evening. The trees standing still were awaiting the pageant that is the falling leaves. As I walked and admired the beautiful gardens in Sandymount and its surrounding areas, one plant stood out for me. Despite the late season, it seemed our uncertain climate was welcomed by the queen of all flowers– the rose.

The rose is Great Britain’s favourite flower and is loved all over the world for its beauty; it is hard to think of any plant as colourful and versatile as the rose. The Chinese have been growing roses for thousands of years and the history of rose-breeding means that today we can enjoy a huge variety of these beautiful plants.

Roses are tough and will grow for many years. They are a longterm investment and require a little attention. You can buy container or bare-rooted plants. Container roses can be planted all year round, bare-rooted from October to March.

So how should you care for this investment?

Give them a good start– they like rich ground, dig in plenty of well-rooted manure and it is a good idea to apply a general fertiliser when planting.

Feed with tomato food during June and August at ten-day intervals. Roses like plenty of water, so water the beds thoroughly during the summer, especially if the weather is very dry. It is a good idea when you buy your roses bare-rooted to put the roots into a bucket of water. Do not allow them to dry and plant bare-rooted roses until the end of March.
Container plants can be planted all-year round.

It is best to grow roses in dedicated beds. They can be planted in flower beds, shrubberies, herbaceous borders and even containers. Make sure to dead-head at all times. Keep your rose plants strong by pruning and keep them disease-free. Use fungicides early as a preventative measure. You can also use cold water and soap to help. Pruning is essential and can be carried out between November and March.

Remove dead and diseased wood, keep centre open, cut back hard– eight inches from the ground is ideal. And for standard roses, cut back tight to a nice, round head in late Autumn.

The greatest rose of all time is in my opinion the Peace Rose– enormous blooms, big and bushy, and it grows anywhere. It was introduced in 1945 and is still growing strong– a must for your gardens.

There are many types of roses, so let me choose some popular ones and suggest you select from this list for planting.

Floribunda (cluster roses):
Anna Livia– The Dublin Roses; Iceberg; Masquerade; Queen Elizabeth

Rambling and Climbing Roses:
Albertine; Dublin Bay

Shrub Roses– (great individual plants– robust growth so be careful)
Ballerina; Graham Thomas; Nevada; Cardinal Hume

Ground Cover Roses:
Red Max Graf; Nozomi; Flower Carpet

Patio planters and for edging beds:
Anna Ford; Top Marks; Pandora

Standard Roses:
Silver anniversary; Ice berg

Why not try a weeping standard or a half standard in a container?

There is, as you can see, lots to choose from and there are roses for special occasions. A flavour of these includes; Wedding Day; Remembrance; Many Happy Returns; Remember Me; Irish Eyes.

The 2009 rose is one to watch out for– Lucky– a lilac pink floribunda with the scented rose Absolutely Fabulous following in 2010.

You can always visit the Rose Gardens in St. Anne’s Park here in Dublin. It opened to the public in 1975 and is now a centre for international rose trials. It is well worth a visit.

It took me many years to convince the then Dublin Corporation to commission a rose to honour the memory of the victims of the Stardust tragedy (two of whom were parishioners). Today, it blooms in the Stardust Memorial Park, a lasting reminder of young lives lost. In 1988 during Dublin’s millennium celebrations an official rose was commissioned– the Anna Livia. It was proposed to plant this in every park in the then Dublin Corporation area, but alas this did not happen.

I have a dream that magnificent beds of this rose will one day bloom in Ringsend Park, Sandymount Green and all other parks in our city. It would be a wonderful way of making Dublin proud.

And let me end on a whimsical note– when Dublin win the All Ireland and receive a civic reception in The Mansion House, the players would wear the official Dublin rose in their lapels. Did I say Dublin to win the All Ireland– surely that’s not a dream, it’s a nightmare!