The Fragrant Cloud Rose Plant
The Fragrant Cloud rose is a hybrid tea rose. It has been a favourite of gardeners and rose enthusiasts due to its striking beauty and fragrance for many years. Its showy, dramatically coloured, coral-red to orange flowers with its strong and sweet fragrance is a mainstay of garden beds and often the focal point in floral arrangements. Its deep fragrance, large flowers and vigorous growth make the Fragrant Cloud an excellent addition to any rose garden. What are the characteristics of this rose and when was it developed? Can it survive in cold weather? What are fragrant roses and what makes them stand out from other roses? In this article, we will answer all of these questions and more. We will cover the basics to advanced topics on Fragrant Cloud roses. We’ll give you everything you need to assist you with your plant selection, planting, soil preparation and the care of this beautiful flower.
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The History and Origins of the Fragrant Cloud Rose
The Fragrant Cloud (Rosa ‘Fragrant Cloud’), a hybrid tea rose bred by the renowned German rose breeder Mathias Tantau Jr in 1963, was an instant hit. It won a number of awards in its first few years, including the prestigious Gamble Fragrance Award, honouring roses with preternatural scent that’s awarded annually by the American Rose Society. The rose has a mixed ancestry of its own, a tangle of unknown grey roses from Germany, Turkey and the Caucasus.
Aside from its beauty, the Fragrant Cloud was bred for its scent. And it lives up to its name. A mix of damask and citrus, the ‘Fragrant Cloud’ has been likened to both sweet and spicy. No wonder it’s a popular rose. Most rose-lovers plant it near a patio, walkway, or window for genuflecting whiffs.
Characteristics of the Fragrant Cloud Rose
The Fragrant Cloud rose is a hybrid tea rose, one of the most popular types of rose, with large, high-centred blooms, upright stems and large blooms, making them ideal for cutting. The Fragrant Cloud’s buds are a deep coral-red to orange, sometimes even pink. As the flower ages, the colour turns slightly darker and there is often a darker band on the ‘cupped’ bottom of the bloom. It’s not unusual for a single bush to bring forth blooms in a number of hues.
The flowers are quite large – about 4 to 5 inches across at the most – and are typically single or sometimes double and often have long stems rising high above the plant, making them a good cut flower. The petals are ruffled around the edges so the blooms are quite soft and romantic-looking.
The 3 to 4ft tall and wide, with dark green, glossy foliage and blooms 2 to 3ft tall, and resistant to mildew or rust.
Planting the Fragrant Cloud Rose
And beyond selecting the right rose, such as the Fragrant Cloud, for your garden, you also need to pay attention to the environment to which you introduce it. The Fragrant Cloud (and, really, most roses) requires full sun. What this means is that your roses should receive a total of six hours of direct sunlight every day. This is optimal, as most plants require substantial amounts of light in order to photosynthesise and generate the energy they need to grow and flower.
Siting your Fragrant Cloud rose in well-draining soil is key. While rose roots need moisture to stay healthy, they don’t do well when their roots are sitting in water. Sitting in wet soil leads to conditions like root rot and other ills, so make sure you’re planting where your roses have good drainage. If the soil in your garden is heavy clay, then you can amend it with some compost to loosen things up, or plant a rose in a raised bed.
Dig a hole twice as wide and just as deep as the rose’s root ball so the roots have room to fan out nicely and the plant can get a good start pushing down. If your rose is bare-root, soak the roots first for several hours in water so the roots get rehydrated.
Plant the rose so that the graft union (the upswelling where the rose was grafted to its rootstock) is about an inch above soil level; fill and tamp your hole with soil; then water the hole well to settle the soil around the roots.
Caring for the Fragrant Cloud Rose
After planting, here is what you need to do to keep your Fragrant Cloud rose looking its best. The rose is sensitive and requires regular care and attention:
Watering
Ros, but not flood watered. Try to apply water deeply so it soaks the soil to a depth of about 12 to 18 inches. This encourages long root development, which will help the plant survive periods of drought.
Water early in the day if you possibly can, in order to allow the plant foliage to be thoroughly dry before nightfall, a time when fungal diseases spread. Watering with a soaker hose or drip system is the best alternative for roses because water will be placed in the root zone and not wet the foliage.
Fertilizing
Feeding is important for all roses, including the Fragrant Cloud. Each year, the Fragrant Cloud will continue to bloom, but will never grow bigger — it’s only a small, stunted shrub, after all. So, as with any rose, fertilising on a regular basis through the growing season will keep your rose blooming well. You should feed soil-grown plants following the manufacturer’s guidelines on a bag of basic, balanced rose fertiliser.
In spring, as new growth begins, apply a granular fertiliser around the base of the plant. Then feed it again every 4 to 6 weeks throughout the growing season, watering well each time to help nutrients get to the roots.
Pruning
Another essential facet of rose care is pruning, which keeps your Fragrant Cloud rose healthy and prolific. Prune your rose in late winter or early spring, before its buds begin to break, removing all dead, damaged, or diseased wood. Trim back the remaining canes to about 12 to 18 inches above the ground, cutting just above a bud that points outward from the centre of the plant.
As summer, deadhead the old blooms regularly so the plant keeps setting flowers. After the bloom time has passed, deadhead as needed, pinching back spent blooms just above the first set of five leaves below the bloom to prevent the plant from going to seed. This keeps the plant blooming.
Mulching
Why should you mulch your Fragrant Cloud rose? A two- or three-inch layer of organic mulch that is replaced or added to each winter will help reduce swings in soil temperature and moisture. Organic mulches – such as compost, shredded bark or pine needles – also add useful organic matter to the soil as they break down. This serves to improve soil structure and fertility.
Place a 2 to 3-inch layer of mulch about 1 inch away from the stem so that it doesn’t touch; that way, the mulch can help to prevent rot, helping air circulate about the base.
Enjoying the Fragrant Cloud Rose
The Fragrant Cloud rose is a wonderful feature for the garden. There are many different things that you can do with this rose to take advantage of its beauty and fragrance. Here are a few ideas:
In the Garden
If it’s your plan to grow it near a patio or along a garden walk, you’ll do best to plant it where you can walk by and give it a sniff or two as you go. Plant it in mixed borders, where its lipstick red blooms create a luminous spot highlighting curved monarch yellow blooms of Old Blush or pink flowers of Scentimental.
In Bouquets
With its long stems and large blooms, it is ideal for cutting and making into bouquets. Bring a few of the blooms into your house to enjoy the flower’s fragrance in your home, or whip up some bouquets and give them to friends and loved ones as gifts.
In Rose Competitions
Give your rose a chance in rose shows; rose judges tend to like its colour, bloom size and fragrance. Enter the Fragrant Cloud in local rose shows, and see how it stands up against others.
As a Symbol of Love
Roses are the classic gift when one wants to express love. The Fragrant Cloud roses (Rosa ‘Fixing Pine’) are a romantic reddish purple colour with a heady fragrance. They would make a striking gift by themselves or included in a bouquet to capture someone’s heart.