Miniature roses are an excellent option for those gardeners who would like to admire these flowers almost all year round, and without leaving their homes. Despite the fact that they require more attention than standard indoor plants, the result is certainly worth it. What varieties are worth paying attention to when choosing and how to create optimal conditions for flowering in pots - this will be discussed in this article.

Names and descriptions of miniature varieties of roses

For the first time, miniature roses came to European territory from China as early as 1810, but they became widespread only after 1918, in which Dr. Rullet from Switzerland played an important role. It was she who first began to propagate mini roses, thanks to which in our time breeders managed to get more than a dozen different varieties.

All of them are united by the following characteristics:

• bush height not more than 10–35 cm (for indoor floriculture);
• small, dark green leaves with a shiny surface;
• thin but durable spikes;
• small terry and cup-shaped flowers with a diameter of 1-3 cm (can be single or collected in inflorescences);
• long and plentiful flowering throughout the summer period.

As for the specific varietal variations, the following varieties are considered one of the most popular in home floriculture:

1. Green Ice Mines - a short plant with a height of 20-24 cm, with peaked buds, greenish-white. The color of flowers varies from pure white to pale green, but all of them do not exceed 2–2.5 cm in diameter. Each flower has about 40–45 fragrant petals, which give the flowers a “terry”. The leaves of the plant are light green in color, leathery and shine well in the sun. The bushes are semi-spreading, so they do not always need to be connected. When all the conditions for the development of the rose are created, flowering will always be plentiful, especially since Green Ice Min belongs to the winter-hardy varieties and is highly resistant to ailments.

2. Baby Maskerad - abundantly blooming variety, represented by plants with shoots up to 35 cm tall. The cupped flowers are painted in rich yellow color, smoothly turning into pink-red. The diameter usually does not exceed 4 cm, while in each flower there are about 30-40 petals, with a light and pleasant aroma. The leaves are leathery and glisten well in the light. The variety is winter hardy and tolerates drought well. Suitable for planting in pots, as well as for marking borders.

3. "Daniela" - a relatively young French variety, bred only in the 90s of the last century. Compared with the previous ones, it is even more compact, because the height of its shoots does not exceed 20 cm. The flowers are large, rosette-like, with slightly pointed pink-colored petals. Flowering is very plentiful, and its feature is the almost complete lightening of flower petals towards the end of the season. “Daniela” can be grown not only as a pottery culture, but also for pragmatic purposes: for example, to create buttonholes, but do not forget that the variety is afraid of frost and requires shelter for the winter. To pests and diseases, resistance is much higher.

4. Coraline - rose bushes grow up to 30 cm in height and differ from the rest in a long flowering period. Coral red flowers do not have a pronounced aroma, but at the same time, this does not prevent florists from using them in floral arrangements. The shoots of the bush are densely leafy, the leaves are oval, saturated green in color. "Coraline" has good resistance to disease and is characterized by high unpretentiousness in care, both when grown indoors, and when placed on balconies or terraces.

5. Hummingbird - one of the old varieties of miniature roses, which was bred at the beginning of the XIX century. Compared to other varieties, its flowers seem even more unique, as they have a rich apricot-orange hue. The height of the bushes of these roses usually does not exceed 25 cm, the leaves are leathery, glossy, dark green in color. In inflorescences, 3-4 fragrant orange flowers are combined. The flowering of roses begins in the summer and continues until late autumn, until the first frosts strike. The Hummingbird variety is often used not only in indoor, but also in garden floriculture, using it to frame flower beds or create rabatok. Small roses often become the basis for wedding boutonnieres.

6. Lavender Jewel - a short plant, reaching a height of 15 cm. The pink-purple flowers of this rose are small (up to 3.5 cm in diameter), collected in inflorescences, slightly fragrant. Bushes look compact, densely leafy. Leaves are dark green, glossy. Flowering is plentiful. In addition to growing in pots, Lavender Jewel can also be useful for creating beautiful live borders, especially since it has high winter hardiness.

The advantages of small roses

In comparison with the usual large buds on long legs, miniature varieties of roses do not seem so impressive to many, but they also have a number of advantages that can convince of the suitability of planting.

Important! Given the small size of miniature roses and the relatively low density of bushes of many species, it is better to plant several plants at once in order to increase decorativeness (provided that there is a sufficient amount of nutrients).

• First of all, it is worth noting the following features:
• Dwarf varieties up to 45 cm high are always kept in compact groups. Their shoots do not spread on the ground, do not form arcs and do not require garter.
• Despite the small size of the sheet plates, their decorativeness is enhanced due to the large number and glossy, shiny surface.
• On different bushes there are fragrant flowers with a variety of shades: red, orange, yellow, pink, white and even green or purple. There are also varieties with a two-color color, which looks very unusual, but at the same time quite attractive.
• Some miniature roses are able to change the color of their colors with age (for example, “Daniela”), and these changes can affect a completely unexpected color palette: sometimes the color changes from rich yellow to dark red.
• Most varieties are characterized by terry compact inflorescences, 3-15 flowers in each, which only gives the bush even more elegance.
• The blooming of mini roses is quite lengthy, and when optimal conditions are created, you can enjoy their beauty from May until the first frost, and this is only if you are not going to take the plant to the house for the winter. Potted roses often bloom even longer.
• If the shoots of crops planted in the garden during the winter are slightly frozen, then in spring they can be simply cut, without worrying about the abundance of flowering. It will not suffer from this in any way.
• When growing small flowers in the garden you don’t have to fear the usual pests and diseases, because in comparison with large roses the mini-variant is more resistant to them.

As a pleasant addition to the list of advantages of mini roses, one can note the ease of propagation by cuttings, which in some cases often becomes the only way to get more plants.As for the existing shortcomings of small varieties, the main ones include the almost complete absence of aroma and increased demands on the conditions of detention.

Did you know? Natural rose oil is one of the most expensive in the world. This is not surprising, because for the preparation of one kilogram of the product you will need at least 3 tons of plant petals.

How to choose in the store

By and large, the rules for choosing roses of low-growing varieties are not much different from the recommendations for buying ordinary ones, so in any case, the grower should consider the following:

1. Always choose only healthy plants, without visible mechanical damage or signs of activity of diseases and pests.
2. Never buy discounted bushes, even if at first glance they seem normal to you (no seller will work at a loss, which means that there are still questions for a specific instance).
3. Carefully inspect not only the upper part of the flower, but also pay attention to the pot by looking into the drainage holes: they should not show the sprouted roots.
4. The selected bush should have compact dimensions, but with a large number of buds, otherwise the opened flowers will not please you for long.
5. The plant should not be ripened, because even if there are no traces of mold on it, it is likely that it will appear soon (the first sign is a grayish coating on the bottom of the pot or falling of the lower leaves).
6. It is better not to buy bushes from the “new arrival” group on the same day. Wait a week to make sure they are viable (it is better to let a faint rose die in the store than at home at the buyer).
7. If you buy a flower for your own needs, and not for sale, then pay attention to options that have been in the store for a long time and even managed to bloom. Confidence in such a rose is much greater, because it has already proved its viability.
8. The leaves of fresh and healthy roses should be dense, shiny, rich green. Weak and withered leaf plates indicate irregularities in the care of the flower, which means that after transplantation from the transport capacity, it may die.
9. If you trust the words of a particular seller, you can clarify the nuances of caring for the plant, and at the same time find out how long it has been on sale and what attention has gotten used to during this time.

At home, the purchased copy must immediately be placed in a warm, but not hot place in the apartment and allowed to acclimatize. The lighting in this place should be bright, but at the same time diffuse enough not to burn the delicate leaves.

Important! You can not put pots of roses on window sills, above hot batteries or next to other heating appliances. Excessive temperature and dry air will be detrimental to buds.

Planting flowers

Given the small size of the plant, they can not be planted in areas with frequent accumulation of melt and rainwater. If possible, it is advisable to choose only elevated places, placing bushes on the southeast slopes.

This will ensure optimal sun exposure: in the morning it will quickly dry the night dew, and in the afternoon it will not burn the leaves of the flower. Of course, this applies only to garden varieties of roses, because when planting in pots, you can move the plant to any suitable place.

When choosing a room, it is also desirable that it is located on the southeast or southwest side of the house, providing continuous natural lighting of flowers, but without burning sun.

As for the timing of planting mini-roses, at home this procedure can be performed both at the end of February and throughout the spring months.

Before planting plants in pots, be sure to prepare nutritious and at the same time loose soil from 2 parts of turfy soil, 2 parts of humus and ½ part of sand. After mixing, the resulting substrate is poured with boiling water or steamed in the oven and only after that it is poured into the landing container.

All further actions are performed in the following sequence:

1. Lay a layer of expanded clay or other drainage material at the bottom.
2. Fill the pot with soil mixture, about 1/3 of the total volume.
3. Spill the soil so that water begins to drain from the drainage holes (to prevent fungal ailments, it can be dissolved in Fitosporin liquid).
4. Place the stem or adult rose in the center of the container and fill it with the remaining soil, leaving at least 1–2 cm to the edge of the container.
5. Take the pot of seedlings out onto the windowsill of the southeast or southwest side and water regularly, adding liquid in small portions. If you are afraid of a possible overheating, then it is advisable to wrap the pot with white flower pots or ordinary foil. An earthen clod, dried in the sun, is first cooled, and then watered with water at room temperature.

Planting small roses in the garden provides almost all of the same actions as planting in pots, except that instead of filling the flower container with earth, you will need to dig a hole (its size should correspond to the size of the root system of the plant), if necessary, add a mixture of dried clay to it, humus and sod soil.

If there is heavy soil on the site, then a mixture of peat, compost, ash and sand will help to fluff it up. As in indoor floriculture, the best time to complete the procedure will be early spring, so that during the summer the rose has time to fully adapt to a new place and calmly survive the winter.

Important! Roses do not fertilize immediately after transplantation. This procedure will have to be postponed for at least 2-3 weeks.

Growing and caring at home

Compared with many other indoor plants, small roses can be called more finicky in terms of care, requiring the gardener to take care of himself.

However, if you immediately arrange for them a suitable temperature, a proper level of lighting and humidity, ensuring in the future regular watering and timely top dressing, then any problems can be avoided. Let's take a closer look at all the requirements.

Optimal conditions

For roses planted in the garden, the correct choice of a place for further growth plays a greater role than for indoor copies, but even here you can’t let it go by itself.

The main things to remember:

1. Optimum temperature in summer - + 18 ... + 24 ºC, in winter (dormancy) - about + 8 ... + 15 ºC (depending on variety). In any case, one must not allow the root system to overheat, leaving the flower in direct sunlight or placing it next to heating appliances. Some varieties are able to tolerate an increase of up to + 32 ºC, but with prolonged exposure to such temperatures, flowering can suffer. Also, sharp temperature jumps will not be beneficial, so it is advisable to avoid them whenever possible.
2. Lighting - bright but scattered. Pots with flowers should be placed on the south and south-west windows, and in the summer they should be taken out into the open air, always covering from direct sunlight in the afternoon. The room in which the roses are located should be well ventilated, but at the same time protected from the cold wind and drafts.
3. Humidity indicator. Excessively dry air causes drying of the leaves and the appearance of insect pests, so be sure to follow these values ​​(they should not fall below 50-60%). In the hot season, you can spray a rose from a spray bottle, and once every few weeks arrange a warm shower for her.

If for some reason the necessary indicators in one room change, then you can always transfer the pot of roses to another room.

Watering and fertilizing

Both indoor and garden varieties of roses have a high level of drought tolerance, so their watering should be rare, but plentiful (to the depth of the entire root system). The ideal time for moistening the soil is until 10 a.m. or in the evening, but before sunset.

Pouring water preferably under the root, avoiding moisture on the leaves of the flower. Under the sun's rays, non-dried drops of water begin to burn leaf plates, which does not affect the decorativeness of the rose in the best way.

Also, do not water roses at night, because if they do not have time to dry, then on cold nights they will become more vulnerable to some diseases: for example, rust or black spotting.

Regarding the regularity of watering, it is important to consider the rate of drying of the substrate and the age of the plant itself. Young flowers need daily watering, and in the future it can be reduced to 1 time in 2-3 days. The drying depth of the soil should not be more than 2-3 cm.

Water for irrigation should be soft, well-settled, without impurities of chlorine and other harmful components. In addition, it is important to take only warm water so that the root system of the plant does not experience stress. If you wish, you can mulch the near-stem circle with a layer of wood sawdust or peat, which will reduce the regularity of the liquid.

After watering, you can feed the mini roses with specially developed preparations for them, which necessarily include nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus. For the first time, the plant is fed in early spring, immediately after removing the shelter. In the future, the regularity of applying nutritional compositions is approximately 1 time in 2-3 weeks or after each flowering wave.1-2 months before winter dormancy, it is advisable to completely stop the introduction of nutrient compounds to prevent unnecessary growth and development of buds.

Important! If on the package with fertilizer there is an instruction to use it only for the soil, then it is worthwhile to prevent the possibility of the composition getting on the stem or leaves of the plant, otherwise they can get serious burns.

Pruning

The first planned pruning of small roses is performed with the arrival of spring heat and is of a sanitary nature. After removing the shelter (if any), the grower needs to carefully examine the bushes and remove the broken, diseased and frozen shoots.

In the future, it is possible to perform the forming pruning, while thinning the bush from excess shoots (especially those growing inward). At least 3 buds should remain on the stem, and the cut is performed to the kidney, located outside at an angle of 45 °. Places of cuts must be powdered with crushed coal.

In summer, all wilted flowers must be removed from the rose bush, and they perform this procedure while simultaneously capturing 3 cm of the stem part, which will provoke the awakening of sleeping buds and will contribute to the more rapid development of buds.

Thus, continuous flowering of roses is supported. At the same time, dried branches and yellowed leaves can be removed.

Autumn is the time for the second stage of sanitary pruning. During this period, diseased and dried shoots are removed, while healthy ones are shortened, especially when it comes to roses planted in the garden. Before winter, at least 5 buds should remain on the branches, and pruning is carried out to the kidney, looking out so that the new shoot does not grow inside the bush.

Seasonal Features

The seasonal features of mini-rose care depend on where they grow. When growing in the garden after autumn pruning, almost all plants are covered with agrofiber or covered with a layer of mulch so that the shoots do not freeze over the winter.

At home, such events may not be necessary, but some varieties should still be covered with plastic wrap and taken out for the winter in a cool room, with an air temperature not exceeding + 5 ... + 12 ºC.

Also, do not forget about winter-resistant varieties of flowers: it is likely that they will not need shelter at all when growing the Baby Maskerad or Lavender Jewel roses. In this case, you can leave roses on a cold windowsill, slightly increasing the duration of lighting.

Did you know? The aroma of roses is considered one of the most powerful antidepressants, so people who regularly inhale it become friendlier and discovery.

Pests and diseases of miniature roses

Given the small size of small rose bushes, it is not surprising that diseases and pests quickly destroy them. In this case, the main task of the grower is to prevent infection, including by supporting good plant health. If you can’t save the plant, then it’s better to immediately know what you can face.

The most common ailments of miniature roses include a black leg and rust, upon detection of which the affected parts are cut and burned. The remaining part of the bush is preferably treated with one of the possible systemic fungicides - Fitosporin-M, Ridomil Gold or Fundazole.

For preventive purposes, in spring, plants are treated with a three percent solution of copper sulfate.Of the pests, spider mites, thrips and aphids sometimes settle on indoor roses. Almost all of these pests suck the juice from the flower, as a result of which it turns yellow and dies.

In the fight against them, wide-spectrum insecticides are often used (for example, Fitoverm or Aktaru), or they are simply treated with a solution of laundry soap (200 g) and copper sulfate (20 g).

With a responsible approach to growing miniature roses, there will be no more problems with them than with the cultivation of tall varieties. The main thing is to always maintain an acceptable level of lighting, humidity, and suitable temperature values ​​for the colors.