Rosa "Mandarin", 2 l vazonas

• Type: miniature / patio rose
• Botanical name: Rosa 'Mandarin'
• Origin: bred by W. Kordes' Söhne (Germany, bred 1979, introduced 1987), registered as KORcelin; Glasgow rose trials gold award 1994
• Height and spread: 30–50 cm tall, 35–45 cm wide
• Flowering: repeat flowering from June until frost; salmon-pink and mandarin-orange small (about 4 cm) double flowers (26–40 petals) with a yellow centre, deepening to reddish with age, in clusters
• Fragrance: light fragrance
• Light: full sun, at least 6 hours a day
• Soil: fertile, loose, loamy, pH 6–6.5, free-draining
• Hardiness: USDA 6b; RHS H6; rated RHS H6, hardy in northern Europe; in Estonia mound with soil and cover with spruce boughs, move pots to a cool shed for winter or sink them into the ground
• Disease resistance: good powdery mildew resistance, moderate resistance to black spot and rust
• Use: containers and window boxes, edging, small gardens, rockeries
• Size: potted rose plant

Planting. Potted roses can be planted from spring to early October. Choose a sunny spot (at least 6 hours of sun a day) with good air flow and fertile, loose, loamy, slightly acid soil (pH 6–6.5) that does not stay waterlogged. Dig a 50×50 cm hole and set the graft union 3–5 cm below the surface. Space plants 30 cm apart.

Watering and feeding. Water deeply but infrequently — 10–15 L per plant once or twice a week in dry spells, at the base, not over the leaves. Feed with a nitrogen or complete rose fertiliser in spring, a complete feed in June–July, and from late July only potassium and phosphorus without nitrogen so the stems ripen before winter. A compost mulch keeps the soil moist.

Care. In spring cut stems back by half and remove frost-damaged tips. In summer deadhead clusters regularly; water more often in containers than in the ground. In late October–November, after the first frosts, mound the base with soil or compost 20–25 cm high and cover with spruce boughs; remove the cover gradually in April.

Gardener's tip. Rated RHS H6, hardy in northern Europe; in Estonia mound with soil and cover with spruce boughs, move pots to a cool shed for winter or sink them into the ground. To keep 'Mandarin' healthy (good powdery mildew resistance, moderate resistance to black spot and rust), plant it in an open, airy spot and clear fallen leaves in autumn.