Fall is a gorgeous time of year, and the most spectacular trees, like red maple, have glorious foliage in a bright orange-red. Imagine that color is a rose, and you have captured the essence of the Autumn Sunblaze® Rose. With blooms just 1½ inches across, but fully double, and carried continuously from spring to late fall, this is not just a rose for the autumn, but a rose for all seasons. These miniature roses are charming bushes, staying small and compact, with leaves and flowers in perfect proportion. They are wonderful in any bed, at the front as a specimen or group, or as borders. If you enjoy growing plants in pots, or only have a balcony or terrace, then you can still enjoy the beauty of a rich red rose, with the Autumn Sunblaze® Rose in a planter. Wherever and however you grow it, you will adore this stylish little charmer, which is more resistant to heat and dryness than many other roses.

Growing the Autumn Sunblaze® Rose

Size and Appearance

The Autumn Sunblaze Rose is a compact, bushy, deciduous shrub growing just 12 to 18 inches tall and wide. It has small leaves covering the branches, and tiny thorns along the stems. The leaves are typically made up of 7 leaflets, with one at the end and 3 pairs along the mid-rib. Some leaves have only 5, and occasionally only 3, leaflets. These are small, oval, and rich green, with a finely serrated edge and a glossy surface. Growth is vigorous, persistent and clean, because this plant is very resistant to all the common rose diseases, such as black spot, or powdery mildew.

At the ends of each stem, beginning in May and continuing into October in an unbroken succession, there are clusters of up to 15 flower buds. These open sequentially, and each flower lasts about a week. The pointed buds open into a cup of over 25 curved petals, forming a rich, fully-double flower of great charm and substance, but just 1½ inches across. They open a rich vermillion – an artistic shade of orange red. As the flowers mature, they darken to a blood red, before the petals neatly fall, leaving a clean plant.

Using the Autumn Sunblaze® Rose in Your Garden

The strong coloring of this rose makes it a natural for bordering a path, or clustering by a doorway. Use it to brighten your shrub beds for three seasons, alone in a smaller bed, and in groups of 3, 5 or more in larger beds. Plant it as an edging on a bed with larger roses behind for a brilliant lawn feature. It also thrives in planter boxes and pots, and in large troughs too, where it could be grown outside a window, or on a balcony.

Hardiness

The Autumn Sunblaze Rose will grow without protection from zone 5 all the way into zone 10. It will grow with winter protection in zone 4. When used in planters it is hardy to zone 6. Since this plant is growing on its own roots, even if the stems are killed in winter it will vigorously re-sprout from ground level, or even from below ground, and quickly grow to its full size again.

Sun Exposure and Soil Conditions

Plant the Autumn Sunblaze Rose in a spot with full sun, as this is needed for the best growth, and to keep those blooms coming. The ideal soil is rich, moist and well-drained, and this plant will grow in clay soil, but not so well in dry, sandy soil. It is relatively resistant to the heat and dryness of summer, and it keeps blooming through those hot months where other roses go dormant.

Maintenance and Pruning

Rich organic material should be used when planting, mixed into the soil, and as mulch, added over the root zone in spring or fall. Use a rose fertilizer regularly, according to directions. For containers use a potting soil blended for outdoor planters, and add 25% garden soil (by volume), if available. Because this rose is very resistant to diseases, spraying is not normally necessary. Its vigorous growth keeps it free of serious pests. You can trim back the flowering stems to the first full-sized leaf when the last flower fades, to encourage fresh new growth, although this is not essential, as new stems soon hide the old flower stalks.

Prune in spring, letting the buds swell a little first, so that you can easily identify the healthy ones. Remove any dead, damaged or weak stems, and trim the remaining strong stems back by about one-third, cutting just above an strong outward-facing bud.

History and Origin of the Autumn Sunblaze® Rose

This rose is the result of skilled breeding by the famous rose expert Alain Meilland, whose famous family has been breeding roses, including the historic ‘Peace’ rose, for six generations. He began by crossing a full-size orange and yellow rose called ‘Bonfire Night’ with one of his own miniature roses called Orange Symphonie (‘Meininrut’). He then used pollen from a miniature rose called Orange Juwel (‘Korkister’) to pollinate one of the seedlings from that first cross. Among the seedlings he then raised was one with brilliant orange-red blooms and a vigorous habit. He named it ‘Meiferjac’ and it was patented in 1996. That patent has now expired. This rose has been released in America by Star Roses and Plants as part of their Sunblaze® family of roses, with the name of Autumn.

Buying the Autumn Sunblaze® Rose at The Tree Center

Nothing beat roses for glorious color all summer long, and for smaller gardens and planters you simply can’t beat the Autumn Sunblaze Rose for continuous bloom with classic red roses. Order now, because these plants are leaving our farm fast, and they will all soon be gone.