'Blessings' Hybrid Tea Rose Bushes

'Blessings' Hybrid Tea Rose Bushes

Blessings is a sweet little rose. It carries a profusion of double, cupped, almost salmon-pink flowers with a lovely perfume. Each bloom is quite large (4") and held well on a plant that is unlikely to top 3ft (1m). Flowering is pretty continuous from mid-June until the autumn and the foliage is a glossy, healthy dark green.

If you are looking for a little pink hybrid tea rose then Blessings is your man but, if not, then see the full range of hybrid tea roses available to buy online.

Great for your garden

Like all hybrid teas, Blessings prefers to be planted in good soil in a sheltered, sunny spot given the choice. However the perfect location is not essential; all hybrid tea roses grow on roots descended from some of the most resilient wild roses in the UK. So cold and/or wet are no real problem. Roses must have high light levels however so keep an eye on the sun. Blessings is ideal for the front of a border and is small enough to be grown successfully in a container. It is also a prolific flowerer, so if you have the luxury of a cutting bed, pop one in there if you cannot find her a home anywhere else.

Rosa Blessings facts

• Type: Hybrid Tea
• Colour: Salmon-pink
• Flower shape: Fully double, bowl shaped
• Fragrance strength: Good
• Final height and spread: 2ft x 2ft
• Flowering season: All summer
• Repeat Flowering: Yes
• Disease resistance: Good

Trivia

Blessings was bred by Walter Gregory in 1967. He was trying for a much bigger bush, but kept it when he saw how well its flowers stood up to the rain.

How to plant Blessings Roses

You can order bareroot roses at any time and plant them from November to April, or container roses are available all year round.

Choose a spot in the border with good light. Dig a hole deep enough so that the rose will be planted with the graft union at soil level and with plenty of room for its roots. Improve the soil from the hole by removing roots, weeds, large stones and other detritus and mixing in a good measure of well rotted compost or manure. Add Rootgrow mycorrhizal fungi in the botton of the hole so it will make contact with the roots. If planting pot grown roses gently loosen some roots out of the ball before planting.

Position your Blessings rose so its roots are spread out and backfill the hole with soil, firming it gently as you go. Keep the union at the level of the surrounding soil. Water in thoroughly.

Feed and mulch with well rotted manure in spring and keep well watered during dry periods for the first year.

Hybrid Teas are pruned in late winter, when the strongest shoots can be cut back to an outward facing bud 30-40 cms above soil level and the weakest shoots are removed altogether. Blessings should be deadheaded throughout the summer to encourage continuous flowering.