REMEMBER ME ROSE

By David Marks
Remember Me was bred by Alexander Cocker in Aberdeen and introduced in 1984. Its parents are Alexander and Silver Jubilee.It’s not like some of the heavy flowered roses you now see as recent introductions but this Hybrid Tea rose has beautifully formed flowers and lots of them.

The flowers start off as copper brown and deepen in colour as they age.

APPEARANCE

By all standards Remember Me is a very beautiful rose bush. Under most conditions it grows to somewhere between 90cm (3ft) and 1.2m (4ft) high with an average spread of 90cm (3ft). This is an upright bush with strong growing stems which are ideal for cutting.

The flowers are average size for a Hybrid Tea, about 7cm / 3in wide. Although the colour is beautiful the flowers have very little scent. Flowers appear singly on a stem and repeat over summer.

Rose variety Remember Me

Rose variety ‘Remember Me’

The mature foliage is a dark green and very glossy and it contrasts very well with the flower colour. Some new foliage is initially a light green.

PESTS AND DISEASES

Remember Me is a very healthy and quick growing rose. We still recommend that you follow our instructions on controlling black spot which can be found here.

HOW TO PRUNE A REMEMBER ME ROSE

Prune Remember Me rose as follows:

Remove all stems which show any signs of disease or damage. Cut them back to ground level or back to a main stem.
Remaining stems should then be pruned back to 15cm / 6 in from ground level. This will allow you to get a good view of the structure of the rose bush.
Now prune the rose bush so that it has four or five stems arranged equally apart roughly in a circle from the centre of the plant. These stems should ideally be growing out from the centre of the bush.
Compromise may be required but the idea is to keep the centre of the rose bush open and have the branches growing outwards. This is to allow air circulation to the centre of the plant and avoid infections.
When selecting stems, make sure that you remove stems which are touching or nearly touching another stem. Where stems are touching, they will rub off the outer bark and allow infections to enter.
Green stems are healthier and younger than browner stems so remove the browner stems and leave the green stems which are more vigorous.
When selecting the stems to remain, don’t leave spindly stems. Your are looking to have four or five stems which are at least the thickness of a pencil, hopefully thicker.

REMEMBER ME CULTIVATION RECORD

PURCHASE
Bought online from Crocus with another rose on 24 January 2020 at a cost of £34.97 including posting costs (so £17.49 per rose). This price included a seasonal sale discount of £10.

It was delivered with the other rose on 30 January 2020, extremely quick delivery time. The rose was supplied as a containerised plant. A containerised plant is one which has been dug up previously and then placed in a pot with compost.

Ideally they should be planted as soon as possible however, if the weather is not good, they will do fine in the container for a couple of months (keep watered).

Rose variety Remember Me, potted and ready for planting

Rose variety “Remember Me” ready for planting

See our page on comparing online rose suppliers here.

CULTIVATION RECORD
The Remember Me rose was planted in our rose bed on 4th February 2020. We will update you below throughout the life of this rose.

2020

4th April 2020
Sprayed with Roseclear. Looks to be establishing well. Surrounding ground covered in cardboard and mulched with very well composted wood chip. Watered twice after planting because of the unusually dry weather.

3rd July 2020
First flower appeared. The very full flowers are held well on strong stems. This is a stunning looking rose, and remarked upon by all who viewed our trial rose bed. Our only comment is that this variety does not produce many flowers.

2nd August 2020
Contrary to our initial remark above about flower production, Remember Me does produce several very large and beautiful blooms in its first flush, they just appeared later after the first flower. The first flush is still continuing with several more buds appearing.

1st September 2020
The second fush is in progress. See £rd July above.

VERDICT 2020
Choosing this variety will give you less flowers compared to many other rose varieties, but the roses it does produce are stunning.