Rose Expansion

Here We Grow.

March 23rd 2023

Upon starting our farm, we knew we wanted to be rose growers. In our small backyard farm - we grew about a dozen different garden roses around our tiny property. In fact, one of the first plants I ever planted in my cut flower farm was a ‘Sweet Juliet’ David Austin rose - and is now in our rose garden at Daily Farm. We collected climbers, ramblers, and shrubs in all different colors. There kindled the deep love we both share for roses.

What are Garden Roses?

Garden roses are bred to be enjoyed in every sense a flower can. Garden roses tend to be larger and more rounded whereas standard roses come more to a point. Roses you buy at a grocery store, or that you get from an arrangement at a florist, are bred for tall stems, and to be long lasting once cut (assisted by chemical spraying). In order to achieve a lasting rose for shipment - usually from South America, some traits of a standard rose are compromised. As previously mentioned, they tend to have slightly smaller blooms. Standard imported roses also tend to have less of a fragrance where garden roses are highly fragrant. And while long lasting flowers in a vase are great - think of flowers like you do your produce. With produce, you should plan to enjoy them right away. Usually within 5-7 days. Flowers, like produce, are not meant to last forever - but to be enjoyed now. The only way an imported cut flower can last as long as they do is because they are doused in chemicals.

Our garden roses may not last weeks, but their beauty and scent will fill up a room and your hearts with lasting impression and serve as a reminder to enjoy the present.

Our Garden Roses

Year 1 of our farm, we planted over 150 rose plants of highly sought after colors, varieties, and shapes within the sphere of floristry. We are drawn to those pastels, muted tones, and sometimes odd or unusual colors. Some of our roses even are considered chameleon roses - where they shift in color at the start of the season to the end of the season. While they tend to be shorter stemmed and shorter lived - their color, scents, and forms make them a lovely addition to any bouquet we grow.

While we battled the same pests and diseases that make most growers turn their noses at roses - we nevertheless chose to lean in to our niche of being rose growers. Roses are the divas of the garden, and no doubt they require more of everything. They need to be pruned, deadheaded, checked on, fertilized more than any other plant we grow. But when you experience these blooms, I think you’ll agree with us that they’re worth the effort.

We studied the varieties closely that we chose - and the best performers of 2022 were the ones we carried into our plans for a rose expansion. Some blew the others away in terms of blooms, disease resistance, hardiness to cold, etc. Some will need more careful attention but fill a pocket for color or shape that we want to offer. We now grow just about every color of the rainbow at our farm and it’s only just beginning.

2023 Rose Expansion

This spring, we are adding 270 roses to our collection; 18 varieties, 15 each. And upon field planning we discovered we may have room for a 19th row… (excited about this and pondering which variety I want).

Among this collection were the “winners” of our garden this year, and some new to us varieties that we are willing to try for the sake of their beauty.

Here are our rose expansion varieties:

These borrowed images represent each of the 18 varieties we’ve chosen for the 2023 season in planting order. You may notice there is some color duplicity, which was intended and important. Certain varieties tend to flush all around the same time. If by chance that does happen, we have the chance to have another variety of similar color waiting to bloom right behind it.

We are so excited to offer these varieties to our community of florists and folks that love roses as much as we do.

-Kristen