Elina Hybrid Tea Rose Bushes

Elina Hybrid Tea Rose

Like soft mounds of lemon cream, Elina's prolific flowers are deeply romantic and subtly scented, carried high on strong stems on a compact bush with strong, glossy green leaves, whose new shoots are tipped with burnished copper in spring. Have a look at our other hybrid tea roses here.

The buds are a classic, pointed hybrid tea shape, soon opening to large (up to 15cm across), ruffled double flowers of the prettiest primrose yellow, more richly coloured towards the centre, with a gentle perfume to suit her sweet, yet refined countenance. This wonderful combination of repeat flowering, strong growth and delightful colour has won Elina the RHS Award of Garden Merit, as well as a handful of other accolades in Germany, New Zealand and her homeland, Ireland.

Dreamy combinations

Elina is a brilliant subject for a rose border; planted in groups she can really shine, with all those canary yellow blooms creating a soft, fragrant mass of sheer loveliness. She'll get to around 1m tall, so she's never overbearing. She'll also do well in a roomy pot, given a good mulch of manure or garden compost once or twice a year.

If you're planting her in a mixed border, the combination of pale yellow and purple is one that's hard to beat, so plump for salvias, nepeta or Geranium Rozanne as an underplanting, perhaps, or combine with lavenders, maybe used as a short hedge to frame her. For spring interest, underplant with bulbs such as crocus, daffodils or grape hyacinths.

Elina is generally trouble free, but keep her well watered and mulch in spring for a boost of nutrients that all roses appreciate. And don't forget to prune in late winter/early spring to keep her compact and disease free.

Features of Elina

• Height: to 1m
• Spread: to 1m
• Colour: pale primrose yellow
• Size of flower: large
• Scent: fresh and delicate
• Flowering: June-November
• Group: hybrid tea
• Foliage: green with reddish new shoots
• RHS Award of Garden Merit

Did you know?

Elina hails from Ireland, where she was bred by Dickson Roses in 1983, the progeny of white floribunda Nana Mouskouri and apricot hybrid tea Lolita. Apparently she can produce up to 60 blooms per flush.

How to plant Elina Roses

Choose a spot with as much light as possible. Dig a hole sufficiently deep to allow the rose to be planted with the graft union at soil level and with plenty of room for its roots which should be spread out. Improve the soil from the hole by removing roots, weeds, large stones and other rubbish and mixing in about 25% by volume of well-rotted compost or manure.

Position your rose so its roots are spread out, wet them and sprinkle them with Rootgrow mycorrhizal fungi. If planting pot grown roses gently loosen some roots out of the ball before planting.

Then backfill the hole with mixed soil and compost, firming it gently as you go. Keep the union at the level of the surrounding soil. Water in thoroughly.