The Queen Elizabeth Rose

I have quite a few ‘favourites’ in the garden, but top of them all are roses. The first rose I ever grew was the grandiflora rose “Queen Elizabeth”, which was given to me by a dear friend to start my garden at the old house. I was quite sad to leave her behind when we moved (the rose, not the friend). Here are some pictures of the Queen Elizabeth flowers taken at the previous house:

Queen Elizabeth blooms in a vase

These blooms were cut on short stems

Queen Elizabeth is known to be a tall-growing cultivar, and in fact in our Sydney climate she was so vigorous as to be a little unsightly. She was easily visible over the top of our 180cm (5’9″) fence.

The Queen Elizabeth rose was introduced in 1955, and is an old-fashioned rose these days, so I had not expected to find her cultivar available again after we moved. And then by pure coincidence one day, while looking at standards (tree roses) in the garden shop, there she was. A solo Queen Elizabeth standard hiding at the back, just waiting to come home with me. That day I wrangled a total of 4 roses out of the store alone whilst pushing a stroller- the things we do for love!

Here she is in the garden. The previous photos were taken indoors at night, so the colour is a lot ‘warmer’ than it should be. The pink colouring below is much more accurate.

Looking down onto the first Spring blooms of the standard (tree rose) Queen Elizabeth

So far I have much preferred growing her as a standard, although now I am conflicted as to whether I should cut the lovely blooms to bring inside (as previously), or maintain the look of the plant and leave them alone.

I ended up cutting these for my vase

An older bloom left on the plant

I have observed that she attracts a large number of butterflies, which show no interest in my standard “Iceberg” roses.

Here are some basic care notes for rosa “Queen Elizabeth”, based on my own experience and knowledge:

Sun: Full sun to part-shade (more blooms in full sun)
Water: Drought-tolerant once established.
Soil: Cultivate soil and fertilise as per most roses. Keep base clear of all other growth, mulch well.
Flowers: Repeat blooms of large, double pink flowers, with a subtle but lovely fruity scent. Flowers from late Spring to the end of Autumn.
Growth: Vigorous. Narrow but can be excessively tall in warm climates. Viciously sharp thorns mostly on the old wood.
Pests and Diseases: Susceptible to blackspot in humid climates as the leaves are matte rather than glossy. Average resistance to most rose pests; excellent aphid resistance.
Pruning: Cut back hard (to 1/3 its size) at the end of winter and summer. Take long stem cuttings for vases, and dead-head regularly for repeat blooms.

She is much tamer in the ground in cooler climates. Details for growing her in the Northern Hemisphere can be found here.

I would love to know if anybody else out there is growing this lady!