While curled up with the new plant guide from The Growing Place, I had an epiphany. One of those “Why didn’t I think of this sooner?” moments.
I love roses and in the dark of winter have brought home many a miniature rose from the grocery store only to have it drop dead after a short period of delight.
Well, of course! The wee ones want to be outside, too, and can only survive being a houseplant for a little while. So the miniature roses are perfect for being the wow factor in your planters or as a stunning addition to a fairy, train or other miniature garden.
They can be as small as eight inches tall and four to six inches wide and there are climbing roses available, too. How adorable to have a little climbing rose next to your resident fairies’ door!
Planted outside in the sun, fertilized and watered regularly, these little beauties will bloom intermittently throughout the summer. Because the plants are smaller, their roots are smaller, too. So you will need to water more frequently.
And when you fertilize, use the fertilizer at half strength. I will keep a designated watering can with diluted fertilizer in the garage and if it hasn’t rained, give them a drink in the morning.
Cut off any spent blooms and then leave alone until next spring. They will need a little winter protection (mound up a few handfuls of mulch around the roses when the ground is frozen early next winter), but are remarkably hardy. Most are grown on their own root (not grafted) which makes them hardier than their grafted big sister roses.
Next spring prune away any tips of the branches that winter killed and wait for the flowers to appear. So the next time you are at a garden center or the grocery store, take a good look at the miniature roses and take some home with you.
