What are Sweet Juliet Rose and How to Grow them

Roses fascinate and fascinate us – their beauty is so perfect, they smell so wonderful and like a work of art. It seems as if all civilizations, whether Asian, European or American, have fallen in love with this flower that touches and resonates with our romantic hearts. Therefore, it is not surprising that one type of rose is considered the most expensive flower in the world.

Although the pumpkin flower is technically rare, it has never outsold the sweet Juliette rose. Pumpkin, sometimes called the Queen of the Night, is expensive because of its rarity and because it only blooms at night, but no other flower truly beats the price of the sweet Juliette rose.

This craze began in 2006 at the world-famous Chelsea Flower Show. Famed breeder David Austin introduced Sweet Juliet to the public and the world’s most enthusiastic rose lovers laughed at the glory of this new variety.

Austin combined several rose varieties to create this beautiful, charming new variety and named it ‘Sweet Juliet’ after William Shakespeare’s famous play Romeo and Juliet. The cost of developing this new strain of rose was approximately £3 million, and it took him 15 years to perfect his art. But after all that work, he sold it for the almost incredible sum of five million dollars, making a profit and making it the most expensive flower ever.

The debut of this rose was, in many ways, simply stunning. Although its price has decreased over time due to increased cultivation, this rose is often referred to as the “Three Million Roses.”

David Austin, born in England in 1926, worked on producing beautiful new roses in the early 1950s. Before his death in 2018, he created more than 200 new varieties of English roses and added beauty to our planet through his creations.

Many people notice that roses purchased in the market often look patchy because they lack a prominent fragrance. As such, Austin can be considered one of the most important perfume porters in the kingdom of roses.

“When I started breeding roses, other breeders were letting the scent disappear, so I set out on a quest to restore the scent of the modern rose,” he said.

Bush roses are open and looking outward. The branches, along their length, are dotted with thin, sharp thorns, arching and bearing flowers. These roses come in many colors, including white, red, yellow, orange, pink, crimson, etc., and have single, semi-double, or completely double flowers. To grow well, they need full sun and plenty of space, and because the stems are arching, some varieties are grown as climbers and grown over a wall, obelisk or arch.

The term “old garden roses” refers to those roses that existed before the first hybrid rose in 1867 called “La France.” Modern roses began in 1867, and consist of hybrids such as tea roses and floribundas, which have lighter scents and smaller flowers than the old garden roses.

In terms of shrub group, there are both ancient garden roses and modern roses, while the ‘English rose’ is another species of the shrub rose family.

English roses actually came into being when Austin hybridized old garden roses with hybrid roses and got the best of both. These roses bloom the size of old roses and bloom again and again while also showing colors as rare as modern ones.

There’s an old saying about roses: “One year they sleep, two years they crawl, and three years they leap,” and the same is true of sweet Juliet.

It takes about three years for the plant to settle into new soil and develop a strong root system. Only then will they begin to bloom en masse, and once that happens, they will bloom profusely.

The medium-sized, double-cup bloom is another characteristic that makes it nostalgic to older rose varieties. Growing three to 3.5 feet tall, this plant is ideal for hedges and flower screens. Another interesting feature is how the scent changes with the age of the plants. At first, the rose has a tea rose scent, but at a later stage, it turns into a lemony peach scent.

Sweet Juliet is an exceptionally healthy, heavy-feeder flower that blooms for about half the year. It likes full sunlight and well-drained soil. The shrub has many straight branches growing from the right side of the stem, making it an excellent flowering shrub to grow. The plant is also generally resistant to diseases.

For abundant blooms, these roses should be planted in groups of three, each about 18 inches apart. The next group can be planted three feet away from the first group. The soil should be well aerated, and the roots should not be allowed to dry out. Be careful not to get the soil wet. Early winter pruning is another practice that helps the plant survive the winter winds.

Sweet Juliat belongs to the large English rose family. Therefore, a standard maintenance system is applied. Here is some additional information about their care.

Soak them in water overnight before planting. Planting locations can face east, west or south and can be planted as quickly as possible. Make sure to never let the plant’s roots dry out.

If planting in harsh winter areas, keep the base of the bud union three inches below ground level. In areas with mild winters, keep shoots united at ground level.

Cover the base of the plant with 15cm of compost or until the leaves begin to appear. The same principles apply when planting in containers. Do not plant near trees. The roots will compete, and the roses are too fragile to win.

You should always make sure that newly planted roses are well watered. Deep watering should be done at least once a week or more often. Keep checking in on Clay.

Do your best to ensure the plant gets at least five hours of sunlight per day. Morning sunlight is best for growth.

Add a generous amount of well-rotted green manure or garden compost. The most effective method is to absorb nutrients slowly through organic fertilizers applied to the soil. Foliar spraying is also recommended. Remember that too much fertilizer can cause diseases.

Mulching with organic materials is a standard practice in growing roses. Mulching helps maintain the water content of the soil and helps maintain soil health by creating the right temperature for beneficial bacteria and insects. Always keeping a pile of well-rotted mulch around your plants and replacing it when needed is a good practice for maintaining soil health.

One-third pruning should be done in late winter, making sure to remove branches that cross or crowd each other. In other seasons, dead heads and dead branches can be removed. Also remove the suckers from under the soil and below the bud union.

Keep the soil around the plant clean and free of weeds. You can periodically loosen and aerate the surrounding soil to a depth of about two inches.

When David Austin died in 2018 at the age of 92 at his home in Shropshire, England, he had grown nearly 200 varieties of roses. He has been completely self-taught during his extraordinary and prosperous career.

He entered the flower market at a time when roses had been almost completely eliminated from the modern garden, and many doubted the ability of rose breeding to make a living and a career. However, he became the father of modern roses, and his roses won more than 20 gold medals at the Chelsea Flower Show, the most prestigious in the world.

He loved history and literature, so he often named his roses after Charles Darwin, Dame Judi Dench, Roald Dahl, etc. His romance with Rose was as timeless as the beauty of Sweet Juliet.