The Rose of the Year 2023 is Rosa ‘Peach Melba®’ (KORmelpea)
Every year I wait in anticipation to discover the newest winner of The Rose of the Year Competition. I adore growing roses and I particularly enjoy trialling plants and finding new, naturally healthy roses I can recommend. In February 2023, Roses UK sent me a new bare root rose to trial – the winner of the Rose of the Year 2023 Competition – Rosa ‘Peach Melba®’ (KORmelpea). I’m excited to show you my plant and tell you more about this award-winning rose!
How Tall Do ‘Peach Melba®’ Roses Grow?
‘Peach Melba®’ is a climbing rose that grows up to around 2m (6.5ft) tall and spreads around 80cm (2.5ft) wide. This is an ideal sized rose to grow up an obelisk or wigwam. ‘Peach Melba®’ roses are ideally suited for planting next to a wall or fence, where they will add colour and interest. If you have a patio or balcony garden, ‘Peach Melba®’ roses can planted in a large, deep container, making this rose a great choice for a paved garden where there is no access to the soil.
I’d choose a different rose (a taller-growing rose) to cover an arch, as it’s easy to underestimate how tall a rose you need to cover an arch.
Are ‘Peach Melba®’ Roses Accessible to Bees, Hoverflies, and Pollinating Insects?
‘Peach Melba®’ roses have cup-shaped, semi double flowers that are accessible to bees, hoverflies, and pollinating insects. I have only seen a couple of hoverflies on my rose, so far. If ‘Peach Melba®’ becomes a bee or hoverfly magnet later in the summer I will be sure to let you know.
Are ‘Peach Melba®’ Roses Fragrant?
When I meet new roses I always want to discover their fragrance, Rosa ‘Peach Melba®’ has a light fragrance that’s warm with hints of citrus when the flowers first open. Rosa ‘Peach Melba®’ blooms also produce a perfume that reminds me very much of perfectly ripe nectarines! This is not a rose with a powerful perfume that will fill your patio with scent – you need to enjoy a close encounter with a flower to take in ‘Peach Melba®’ roses’ scent.
‘Peach Melba®’ Roses Repeat Flower Throughout the Summer
This award-winning rose is a repeat flowering cultivar that will bloom in regular cycles from June until the frosts arrive in November. Take care to dead-head ‘Peach Melba®’ roses promptly as the flowers fade to enjoy an abundance of flowers through summer and autumn.
Who Bred Rosa ‘Peach Melba®’?
Rosa ‘Peach Melba®’ is the winner of the Rose of the Year 2023 Competition. Rosa ‘Peach Melba®’ was bred by W. Kordes’ Söhne at Kordes Roses.
An Award-Winning Rose
Rosa ‘Peach Melba®’ has been awarded the prestigious title of Rose of the Year 2023 and has received recognition in the International awards in trials in Barcelona, Courtray, Le Roeulx, Paris, Rome, and Warsaw.
How to Plant Rose ‘Peach Melba®’?
I always order bare root roses, as this is such an economic and sustainable way to order plants. When my bare root rose arrived I plunged my new rose into a bucket of water for twelve hours to rehydrate the plant’s roots and prepare my rose for planting. Our lovely friends Neil, Sarah, Rebecca and Ethan very kindly bought us some lovely roses from David Austin as a house-warming gift which arrived the same day, so I soaked all the plants together at the same time.
Looking For a Climbing Rose to Grow In a Container on a Patio?
My ‘Peach Melba®’ rose has been planted in a large ceramic container filled with peat-free compost. Roses are usually happiest growing in garden beds and borders and thrive in most garden soils (avoid wet or boggy water-logged ground). Roses have long tap roots and so they really do need tall, large-sized planters to thrive if you’re not growing them in the ground. The growing media blend I made up for my ‘Peach Melba®’ rose is comprised of….
- Four parts SylvaGrow® with added John Innes mixed with
- Four parts SylvaGrow® John Innes No.3 (Peat-free) For Mature Plants
- Two parts Dalefoot Double Strength Wool Compost – added as a top layer.
We purchased all of these composts from our local garden centres. I opted to use a growing media blend I made from four parts SylvaGrow® with added John Innes mixed with four parts SylvaGrow® John Innes No.3 (Peat-free) For Mature Plants. Rosa ‘Peach Melba®’ was then planted in my planter with a mix of these two growing mediums and finished off with an upper layer and mulch of Dalefoot Double Strength Wool Compost. This is a rich, concentrated compost that will form a long-lasting feed for my rose. Adding powerful nutrient-rich compost as a top layer allows the fertiliser to travel through the growing media to the plant’s roots; this provides my plant with a lasting and effective fertiliser throughout spring, summer, and autumn.
When potting up plants, avoid any temptation to incorporate your most nutritious compost components into the bottom of the pot and instead utilise nutrient-rich composts as a mulch or top layer when potting up plants.
I’d recommend adding Dalefoot Double Strength Wool Compost as a mulch around container grown rose plants. Every year I carefully scrape away the top layer of compost and then add a new mulch of Dalefoot Double Strength Wool Compost. The best time to top-dress roses is in March, but if you’ve not done this already, go ahead and top-dress your roses now. I don’t use any rose feed – I just use a mulch of Dalefoot Double Strength.
I am hoping to find or construct an obelisk for my rose.
To see my rose plant pages with pictures and information for various different rose cultivars, please click here.
For gardening advice for July, please click here.
To see pictures and my experience of growing the Rose of the Year 2022, please click here.
To see my Calendar of Rose Garden Openings & Rose Events, please click here.
For articles about the Rose of the Year Competition, please click here.
For more articles about roses, please click here.
