FFF360 - ROSA 'KARDINAL'

Rosa 'Kardinal' was raised by Kordes, Germany in 1985 and was originally produced for the cut-flower market. This rose does exceedingly well in the home garden and one bush will continually produce many perfect flowers. However, if three bushes are planted in a clump, gardeners would never have to purchase a red rose from the florist because this abundant flowering rose will generously provide bunches of vase quality roses throughout the season.

Unfortunately, because of its perfect form, Kardinal invites you to take a sniff to enjoy the perfume – the disappointment of little or no fragrance lasts only moments because the flowers will endure in the vase for more than 10 days! The strong, long stems on this rose carry lots of prickles and there is usually one rose per stem which makes it easy to use a de-thorner. The foliage is semi-glossy, dark green and has good resistance to black-spot and mildew. If Kardinal is well nurtured, the flowers will be large and flower production will be immense in all weather conditions.

The generally sunny, dry and hot conditions of the Australian garden are particularly well suited to planting roses and roses flourish in our gardens when you take measures to provide the following:

• WATER – Roses are very deep rooted plants and require one good, deep soaking at least every 10 days in hot and dry conditions.
• FEED – Because roses flower throughout all but the Winter season, they should be regularly fertilized with quality (preferably organic) fertilizer which contains a balance of major nutrients (NPK) and trace elements. The fertilizer should be applied at least once a month – small amount often – with fortnightly applications of liquid seaweed over the foliage.
• PRUNE – During Winter, 70% of the rose plant should be pruned and all old wood removed back to the crown and the bush pruned to shape. During the flowering seasons, 25% of all flowering stems should be cut back after flowering to encourage strong re-growth.
• MULCH – Particular attention to application of lucerne or pea straw directly around the root-zone of each rose will enhance the overall health of the rose and then the whole bed should be mulched to 75mm with any other mulch medium available.

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