Rosa 'Meilanein' CHARLES DE GAULLE® hybrid-tea shrub rose (Meilland)

Every rose breeder is eager to make a blue rose, or closest to blue possible. Marie-Louise Meilland managed to breed a beautiful hybrid tea rose variety in 1974 which was named CHARLES DE GAULLE® in honour of their successful general, president, and writer. The flowers are a combination is mauve and pale lilac, 10-11 cm across, and in spite of Meilland's description we cannot smell any perfume. It makes an upright but not very compact shrub with almost thornless branches and reasonably disease-resistant foliage. It prefers warmer and drier locations with good air circulation.

Planting instructions: Prepare a hole of size 30x30 cm. Put your rose in the way that the grafting point is 3 cm deep in the soil. Water well and cover new shoots with soil or bark mulch about 15 cm high. Roses tolerate wide range of soils but thrive in deep, humus-rich, moist but well-drained soil, in full sun. During the flowering season regular feeding is recommended.

Pruning: Regular deadheading during the flowering season will enhance production of new flower buds - remove stems with spent flowers above the first leaf with 5 leaflets where the stem is strong and does not bend. Hard prune the whole shrub in early spring after frosts to 3-5 live buds above the ground.

Last update: 08-10-2018