The rules for posting are simple!

1. Every Friday post a photo that includes one or more flowers.
2. Please only post photos you have authority to use.
3. Include a link to this blog in your post - http://floralfridayfoto.blogspot.com/
4. Leave the link to your FloralFridayFoto post below on inlinkz.
5. Visit other blogs listed ... comment & enjoy!

When to Post:
inlinkz will be available every Thursday and will remain open until the next Wednesday.

Thursday 9 November 2017

FFF311 - RHAPSODY IN BLUE

Rosa 'Rhapsody in Blue' is a bushy shrub rose with light green leaves and very fragrant, cupped, semi-double purplish-blue flowers fading to slate-blue, with a paler reverse, flowering in summer and autumn. It is currently blooming in our garden and looks wonderful in the Spring sunshine. One can smell these roses from a distance and the bees like their cup shape that allow them to harvest pollen and nectar.

This shrub rose will grow in a wide range of situations but best in an open site with full sun and moderately fertile, humus-rich, moist but well-drained soil. For best flowering apply a balanced fertiliser and mulch in late winter or early spring and a balanced fertiliser again in early summer. Propagate by hardwood cuttings in autumn or by chip budding in summer.


Roses can be pruned during late winter when growth is just resuming. Deadheading is carried out in summer after flowering. Unlike modern bush roses, shrub roses generally flower on older wood and should be allowed to develop naturally, maintained by light but regular pruning and with a balance of older wood and young, vigorous growth. Bear in mind that a large number of old garden roses have an arching habit and need adequate space; shortening stems simply to restrict spread spoils their graceful shape.


The main maintenance requirement is to keep the plants free of dead, diseased and damaged wood, crossing or rubbing branches, or spindly growth. Avoid excessive build-up of older, unproductive wood that is causing the centre to become crowded, removing one or two older branches from the centre if necessary. If they become leggy and bare at the base, remove one or two stems back to near ground level, which will usually encourage new growth from the base.


Join me for Floral Friday Fotos by linking your flower photos below, and please leave a comment once you have done so! 
****If you take part in the meme, please show an active link back to this site on your own blog post!****
Add your own link to the Linky list below and say hello in a comment. Please visit other participants in the meme. I am swamped with work at the moment, so even though I appreciate your participation, I cannot visit all of your blogs...

6 comments:

  1. Wonder why they called these beautiful roses "blue" since they are so purple...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Poor you swamped with work and so many things in your garden. Do you find time to appreciate these things? I hope so. Groetjes,
    Hetty

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nick, Gershwin would be proud. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Such a wonderful colour.

    All the best Jan

    ReplyDelete
  5. Interesting article. Those are certainly an intense purple!

    ReplyDelete