I've mentioned the Arthur Bell yellow floribunda rose more than once in my posts, I know, but I cannot stress how wonderful a rose it is. Floribunda means it has abundant flowers. If you have room for one, I recommend you try it. I cannot recall it ever having greenfly or blackspot or any other rose pest or disease and it has a beautiful fragrance. The only problem my Arthur Bell roses have is that I grow them in an area which is open to the elements. The wind where I live in West Yorkshire has been so awful these last few days and is hammering them. A couple of days ago the wind ripped a large stem off one of them taking with it several small buds and a few larger ones. I saved what I could, discarding the tiny buds that were too undeveloped to ever open, and put the pruned stems with the fatter rose buds into a vase. They have opened up so beautifully. Look how glossy and healthy the leaves are too. I think next year, after spring pruning, I might push in some supports to help the bushes against the wind in future but I am also thinking of finding a way to build up the soil level around them.
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| Arthur Bell, yellow floribunda rose |
I love the way it has this vibrant red around the buds which disappears once the roses are in full bloom.
A mistake I made when I planted the Arthur Bell roses is that I didn't plant them deep enough. To be honest, there isn't a great depth of soil under them, only 12 inches or so. Beneath that is a drainage pipe covered with concrete. For years I always understood that roses that are grafted onto a root stock should be planted with the graft above soil level to try and avoid the root stock throwing out it's own shoots. Lately I read that it is better to have the graft below soil level. Sigh. Live and learn!
This is a link to
Gardener's World.com, with a video on planting a rose (external link).
Arthur Bell is a Floribunda rose that has received the Royal Horticultural Society 'Award of Garden Merit' (external link to Royal Horticultural Society webpage).
