Tea Rose

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Tea rose (lat. Rosa odorata) - flowering plant belonging to the Rosaceae family.

Description

Tea rose is an evergreen or semi-evergreen shrub, endowed with sufficiently long climbing or drooping branches. The thorns of this rose variety are rather flat, thick and curved. Closer to wide bases, they gradually taper, and their length can reach seven millimeters.

The length of the compound leaves of a tea rose, together with the petioles, ranges from five to ten centimeters, with each leaf formed by five to nine oblong-ovoid or ovoid elliptical leaves. All leaflets are serrated, with pointed tips.

Simple five-petalled and incredibly scented tea rose flowers can be either double or semi-double. They are either located singly, or they gather in small groups of two or three flowers each. Moreover, the diameter of each flower reaches from three to ten centimeters. And the length of the glandular-pubescent or naked pedicels usually does not exceed two to three centimeters.

Each flower of a tea rose is formed by five fleecy lanceolate sepals with tops pointed and folded back at the end of flowering. Sepals can be either whole-edged or pinnately-lobed (the second variant is much less common). The petals of the flowers are obovate and endowed with notched apices and wedge-shaped bases. And their color can be either white or pinkish, orange or yellow. As for the fruits, they are always naked in a tea rose and have either a spherical or, which is extremely rare, a pear-shaped.

Where grows

China is considered to be the homeland of the tea rose - these amazing flowers have been known to mankind since ancient times. In 1789, they were brought to England, after which tea roses began to gradually appear in other countries and interbred with noisette roses. Currently, the tea rose is grown almost everywhere, but most often it can be found in Europe. And, nevertheless, in the wild, this plant is on the verge of extinction, in connection with which many gardeners tend to grow a tea rose in their own personal plots.

Growing and caring

Almost all varieties of tea rose boast excellent cold resistance and the ability to quickly recover from possible frostbite. This spectacular plant is propagated either by dividing the roots, or by cuttings, and it can be planted not only in spring, but also in autumn. Tea rose soil prefers slightly acidic, as close to neutral as possible, while it will feel best on black soil, as well as on dense clay soils. When planting this plant, it is important to ensure that there is soil on its roots, otherwise they may dry out. If the roses have already dried roots, they must be soaked for several hours in well-settled water. In addition, about a couple of weeks before planting a tea rose, it is necessary to dig up the soil - it should have time to settle a little.

The area for planting flowers should be calm, in addition, it should have variable shade throughout the day. These beautiful flowers are watered about once a week, and in case of heavy rainfall, watering can be completely abandoned. It does not hurt to know that the tea rose is intolerant of moisture stagnation - it can lead to damage to plants with powdery mildew. Tea roses are also often affected by aphids.

For the winter, the root system of tea roses is often covered with a layer of mulch, and some gardeners additionally feed the plants in accordance with the technology of natural farming. And with the onset of spring, it is imperative to cut off the frozen branches (if necessary).