Rosa "Tricolore de Flandre", 1.5 l pot

• Type: gallica rose, old garden rose, once-flowering
• Botanical name: Rosa gallica 'Tricolore de Flandre'
• Breeder: L. Parmentier, Belgium, 1844; introduced 1846 (L. van Houtte)
• Height and spread: 90–150 cm / 60–90 cm
• Flowering: June–July, once; double rosettes, white striped lilac-purple and red
• Fragrance: moderate, old rose
• Light: sun, light shade
• Soil: any garden soil, well-drained
• Hardiness: USDA 4b (about −30 °C); no winter cover needed in Estonia
• Use: borders, informal and heritage gardens
• Size: potted rose plant

Planting. Choose a sunny, airy spot (at least 6 hours of sun a day) with fertile, loose, loamy soil that never stays waterlogged, pH 6–7. Dig a hole about 50×50 cm and add compost or well-rotted manure at the bottom. Set the graft union 3–5 cm below soil level – in the Estonian climate this protects it in winter. A potted plant can be planted throughout the season, from May to September; space plants 60–80 cm apart.

Watering and feeding. Water deeply but not too often – 10–15 l per plant once a week, more often in hot weather, ideally in the morning and at the base without wetting the leaves. In spring give a nitrogen-rich or complete rose fertiliser, again a complete feed when the buds form and after the first flush, and from mid-July only potassium-phosphorus feed without nitrogen so the shoots ripen before winter.

Care. Gallicas flower on last year's wood, so avoid hard spring pruning: in spring just remove dead and frost-damaged tips. Do the main pruning right after flowering – take out 1–2 of the oldest stems at the base and shorten the flowered shoots by a third. Own-root plants send up suckers, which can be kept to widen the clump or removed. No winter cover is needed; in the first winter after planting simply mulch the base.

Gardener's tip. Do not deadhead in late summer – gallicas do not repeat, and in autumn the bush may carry small hips. Striped old roses look especially good next to plain purple and pink gallicas.