Rose – What’s in a Name?

Growing Roses in the climatic conditions of Gangetic West Bengal takes real knowledge and skill.
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“Babuda, I have come to know from someone that Kolkata has been marked as the venue of All India Rose Convention, 2026. Is that authentic news?”

“Yes, there is much possibility. But why are you so excited about it? Our city was chosen as the venue of All India Rose Convention earlier as well, in 1991 and again in 2020.”

“Is it so? Then, Kolkata must be famous for growing very good roses.”

“Yes, they do, but don’t restrict the rosarians to Kolkata alone. In fact,

most of the roses having superlative qualities grow in suburbs, due to climate and lesser pollution.”

“Can you tell me why Kolkata, or say West Bengal is the point of focus for roses?”

“Actually, we are acclaimed worldwide because of ‘Pot Roses’. In most places, roses are mostly grown on ground. But here we excel in roses grown in flowerpots. Outstation visitors marvel at the grandeur of such pot roses.”

“Where can I see them?”

“You can come to Assembly House campus during their Annual Flower Show from 22nd December till 26th December. Previously, you could have seen the show also at The Agri Horticultural Society also, but they are not hosting it for the last couple of years.”

A photo of the Annual Flowe Show in Kolkata, then hosted by The Agri Horticultural Society

“Can you accompany me there? I am excited about it.”

The above conversation was the reason behind our visit to the show in the year 2023. Kanchan was taken by surprise looking at roses grown in about 12 inches diameter pots having numerous blooms and all of them were fresh and vibrant. “How can they do this? They must be magicians,” he remarked.

“You may call them so. It’s because of their passion and dedication.” Now Debdas, a master rose grower and a judge in this Rose Contest appears in the scene. “Hello Debdas, let me introduce you to Kanchan, a keen floriculture enthusiast.”

“That’s nice of you, Babuda. I’m fortunate to meet a judge of roses,” said Kanchan.

Golden Medallion, a rose known for its bright yellow hue

“I’m also glad to meet you Kanchan. In fact we could have met much earlier at Babuda’s residence, but I could not make it.” Debdas grinned.

“Yes, Babuda has told me much about you that you grew about 150 Roses in a pot of about 10 inches in diameter.”

“Kanchan, Babuda is always generous in showering praises. In fact, I enjoyed the opportunity of having at my disposal, a large roof by the bank of River Ganges. The area had a cooler micro climate, at least in the eighties, and that helped me a lot.”

“Debdas da, would you please tell me about the basics about growing roses.”

“First of all, you have to accept that, Gangetic West Bengal is characterised by heavy rainfall, high humidity and hot weather, which create an atmosphere averse to rose cultivation.

Period of cool temperature suitable for roses is very short, so some cultural adaptation becomes necessary.”

“I am amazed by the spectacle of variety of roses in the show ground and that creates an urge inside my heart to grow some roses. For that I need to know at the outset about the soil composition. Please enlighten me about that.”

“To begin with I must inform you that

roses dislike stagnation of water; hence a porous soil mix is an essential need. It is solely because porosity helps the roots to breathe easily.

Sandy loam (some planters also use lateritic soil) is mixed with sand and compost to increase the porosity.”

“What should be the components of that soil mix?”

At this point, I interfered in their conversation. “We have been talking for quite some time. I think it would be nicer if we sit in the canteen outside and continue this discussion over a cup of coffee. That would act as the manure for this knowledgeable discussion. Ha-ha!”

Debdas was excited. His eyes glistened. Kanchan on the other hand looked a bit embarrassed, “Sorry I should have thought of that much earlier. Thank you Babuda for this reminder.”  Amarnath da was seen searching for somebody. Sighting us, he joined. On entering the café, Kanchan placed order for crispy fish fry and coffee and our discussion continued over bites and sips.

“Soil and decayed cow dung manure may be mixed in proportion of 60:40. If cow dung is not available then soil, cocoa peat and vermicompost can be mixed in 60: 10: 40 ratio. You need to add 100 gms each of bone dust and horn meal to every 10 inches pot mixture. I learnt that you know the basics of pot culture like placing crocks etc. Hence I am not mentioning about that. What I do is that, I put some large pieces of bones along with rocks; it allows sustained release of nutrients.”

Also Read: How to Grow and Care for Hibiscus

I quipped, “Just like the sustained release of medical capsules, ha ha…”

“It’s exactly so. But you have to supply nutrients regularly to keep the diet balanced. You can use organic manure in the form of decayed mustard oil cake and cow dung. For 10 matured pot roses 25 grams of mustard oil cake and 200 grams of fresh cow dung are required to make the wet solution and that should be allowed to rot for 5 days. By that time the solution will become diluted and can be applied to the pot. Just remember that concentrated solution will damage the plant. This liquid manure can be applied weekly and to be stopped when the bud starts showing colour.”

The stark red Ingrid Bergman rose named in honor of the Swedish actress

“Can I use chemical manures also?”

“Oh yes, there’s no harm. In addition to the aforementioned organic manure, chemical fertilizer may be used. DAP (Di ammonium phosphate) may be applied, 3-5 granules in each 10” diameter pot. After 3 days 3-5 granules of N:P:K  in 15:15:15 ratio may be applied. Usually I bathe the plants every 5 days with a solution of Urea (5 grams) and Potassium Nitrate (5 grams) in 5 liters of water. This bathing acts as a foliar feed and needs to be done in winter season only. Trace Elements (2.5 gms) can also be mixed with the foliage feed. You must keep in mind that all these manures need to be applied in afternoon only when the soil is wet.”

At this time we could see Sanjay coming. He was also summoned to join our discussion. “This is Sanjay, a master grower; he grows mostly in soil-less medium. He will now indicate the best time to plant roses.”

“Generally in the tropical climate of West Bengal planting roses can be done at any time of the year except during April to June due to scorching sunlight. In my opinion,

the ideal time to plant roses should be between middle of October and mid-January. But they can be planted during pre-monsoon and monsoon seasons also when the temperature is not that much.

“I have heard that rose-branches are to be cut in October to get better flowers…”

“Yes, pruning helps a lot to encourage emergence of new shoots and to shape the plant. But over-pruning can be disastrous. For beginners my advice is to cut and remove the aged flowers, dead heads and dead twigs only. Pot grown roses need minimum pruning. It is better to cut above a node with axillary bud pointing outwards. Keep in mind that it takes 45-50 days to flower after pruning. It is better to seal the cut end with fungicide paste.”

Debdas now offered his view. “There’s one more thing and it’s about ‘sucker’. Sucker is the shoot of the wild stock rose, which emerges from below the budding point, and it has to be removed, otherwise it will consume all the nutrition, and the weaker modern rose may die in course of time. Try to identify the suckers which are slender, light greenish, and have seven leaflets. Differentiate basal shoots of modern rose from suckers.”

The removal of the suckers is essential for the proper growth of the roses

Throughout the discussion Kanchan was all attentive. Now he added, “Tell us something about pesticides also.”

Debdas replied, “Yes, that’s an important aspect of rose plantation. Like many other flowers roses also fall prey to insects and fungi. Hence, it’s better to bathe the plants regularly that will wash off any attacking organism.

At this point Sanjay added, “Debdas da, don’t you think that at the same time pesticides should be used at regular intervals as a safety measure. Am I correct?  I would, therefore, recommend using a pesticide with the following ingredients:

Imidacloprid (Confidor) 3ml/5 liters of water

Dichlorovos 1ml/liter of water

Bavistin 1gm/liter of water

Liquid soap 5 ml.

The above components should be mixed thoroughly and sprayed on both sides of the foliage and the entire plant. Since liquid soap acts as a wetting agent and contains KOH solution it will help to keep the stems of the plant green.

Spider mites are also one of the most common pests that attack the plants. Vertimac or ABC (Abamectin) may be used to combat it.”

“Sanjay da, tell us something about growing roses in soil-less media.

“Well, the basic idea is to have an overall control over the nutrition. Calculated amount of nutrients should be provided and no extraneous nutrition from soil should be allowed to interfere here. I prefer ‘cinder’ as the main planting medium. It is basically half-burnt coal at a very high temperature (usually it comes out of the thermal power plants as an industrial waste material.)… The cinder available here contains high amount of free calcium (CaO) which is highly beneficial for rose plants as they need sufficient amount of calcium. I also add adequate amount of leaf mould or compost along with it.”

Sanjay further added, “If you are a beginner and not matured enough as a dedicated rose planter, I would suggest not to go for soil-less culture at the beginning as you need to have a close vigil on watering and manuring.”

At this point Amarnath da interrupted, “True that I am not a rosarian, but my association with Babu has enabled me to learn that there are many Dahlia varieties bred in India by Buddhadev Maharaj and others. There must be Indian bred roses.”

Also Read: How to Take Care of Indoor Plants

“There are so many rose varieties available in the market. Are any of them bred in India, or say in West Bengal?”

Sanjay: “Sure enough. You are absolutely right. A couple of roses were bred by Swami Vinayananda of Ramkrishna order. Bhattacharya of Mihijam was another who bred roses. Later on, few more varieties were bred by Subrata Ghosh of Durgapur. Mr. Vira Raghaban also bred many roses…

Avalanche, a rose named after its snowy white color

Debdas: “Don’t be so humble, mention your name also. You are also acknowledged as a breeder of about six good quality roses including Crown Jewel. After all these discussion Kanchan finally remarked, “Excellent. Thank you all for this valuable guidance. Now please give me a list of roses that can be grown relatively easily in our climate. Please include large roses as well as small ones.  It will be nice if both of you give a suggestion.”

Sanjoy- “You mean HT and Floribunda roses?”

Amarnath da- “What do you mean by HT and Floribunda?”

Debdas- “HT stands for Hybrid Tea, named so because of the aroma emanating from them as they were transported in tea cartons. The flowers are large and generally there is one flower in each stem. First HT Rose, La France was created in France in the middle of 19th century.”

The beautiful Rose ‘La France’, a first of its kind

Sanjoy- “Whereas Floribunda Roses are medium size flowers which are smaller than HT but bigger than Miniature roses. Usually floribunda Roses come in clusters or in bunches.”

Amarnath da sighed, “What a change of dice. I knew that roses belong to the apple family and now I see them labeled as Teas. Ha ha!”

Once, the thanks giving were over Kanchan ordered prawn cutlets and another round of coffee. Those were served and Debdas and Sanjay kept themselves engaged in preparing the list besides enjoying the servings.

NameDescriptionRemarks
AshaPinkHT, Indian
First EditionBlend, orange-pink Floribunda
Gary Player PinkHT
Gret ScottPinkHT
 Ingrid BergmanRed HT
LoveReverse Bicolour, Red and WhiteHT
MohanaYellowHT
Moonstone  Blend, White with pink borderHT
Blue Ocean,LavendarHT, Indian
Peach AvalancheBuff yellow, peach colourHT
Princess de MonacoWhite with pink borderHT
Red Master pieceRedHT
SadabaharPinkFloribunda
Saint BonifaceOrangeFloribunda
SarveshDeep orangeHT
Shanti (Sport of Peace)Yellow Indian
Siddhartha,Striped on deep pink baseIndian
Shooting StarBlend, Yellow and pink borderFloribunda
SolaireYellowHT
Summer SnowWhiteFloribunda
Sunset CelebrationApricot to peachHT
Tata Centenary,Striped on red baseHT, Indian
TinekeWhiteHT
Tempi Moderni Multicolourfloribunda
White AvalancheWhiteHT
White Success WhiteHT
ZorinaOrangeHT
‘Sunset Celebration’, the rose colored in hues of the waning Sun

Image Courtesy: Author, Wikipedia, The Spruce, Experts Column

Dr. Ashok Kumar Ghosh

Ashok Kr Ghosh is a Gynecologist by profession. He is also a Mountaineer and Traveler and amateur photo artist. He is the recipient of several awards including Honourable Mention, Lalit Kala Academy Award, Excellence Honors from ‘Federation International de la Arte Photograhoque’.
Dr Ghosh is also a Naturalist specialising in Ornamental Floriculture and appears as Judge in horticulture exhibitions. His articles are frequently published in leading Bengali periodicals and magazines.

Ashok Kr Ghosh is a Gynecologist by profession. He is also a Mountaineer and Traveler and amateur photo artist. He is the recipient of several awards including Honourable Mention, Lalit Kala Academy Award, Excellence Honors from ‘Federation International de la Arte Photograhoque’. Dr Ghosh is also a Naturalist specialising in Ornamental Floriculture and appears as Judge in horticulture exhibitions. His articles are frequently published in leading Bengali periodicals and magazines.

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