Miniatures-The Roses of the Future

As a result of the reduced size of suburban blocks and more people living in units ther are many in the rose industry who believe miniatures are the roses of the future.

Haven't thought of it like that before Ausrose , but you are probably dead right ....

Breeders are working on that idea Doug, there are some already out there, If you look through HMF, you will notice these are being called "miniflora's".

Paul Hains the President of ARBA is leading in the breeding of minifloras in Australia and he has a number being trailed at the moment by a leading nursery.

Hmm, most miniatures have tiny sharp thorns don't they? Or am I confusing miniatures with ground cover roses? I have dark memories of Green Ice being vicious and impossible to weed. Perhaps miniatures that are thornless would have greater appeal for mini land-holders!

I seem to have ended up with some ground covers that were OP seeds from Borderer. They are spreading quite well. I can't wait to see if they are ever going to flower.

I guess minis without thorns will be the thing.

Many of the miniatures are relatively thornless.

There are many outstanding miniatures available ones which I grow and have a high opinion of are Delicious (Welsh), Irresistible, Figurine, Baby Boomer, Ruby, Magic Show, Baby Jack, New Hampshire and Hilde. These are all fairly large miniatures and great on the show bench.

Joyce Abounding (Chapman) and Red Gem (Chapman) would have been on my list however they have been reclassified as a miniflora and are my top two minifloras.

Excuse my ignorance but what is the difference between miniatures and minifloras?

Hi silkyfizz

I was going to explain in the last post however I was interrupted by a phone call and didn't finish the post. I have read an article on the development of minifloras and will relay it when I find it however a broad explanation is a miniflora is bigger than a miniature and smaller than a floribunda.

Thank you Ausrose. When you say "bigger" are you referring to the plant itself or flower size? Maybe I should just wait until you post the article.

My understanding is it is the size of the bloom, foliage and to lesser degree the plant itself.

are there miniatures with strong perfumes? I seemed to recall that that trait has been lost in the breeding?

There are miniature roses with fragrance. Australian rose breeder Eric Welsh was into breeding miniatures with fragrance.

Back in December I predicted the popularity of miniature roses was on the increase. According to the sale of miniatures by Treloars with 23 of the 33 cultivars for sale being sold out indicates I was pretty well on the mark.

Ausrose have seen Magic Show at my local nursery looks like a lovely coloured rose how do you find it bloom size and frequency,health etc.Cheers

Thanks Ausose.Really like the colour of Magic show.Would you consider the bloom size similiar to a hybrid tea or alot smaller.

Although it is considered a large miniature it has a lot smaller flowers, foliage and bush than hybrid tea of for that matter a floribunda thus the name miniature.