Sweet Juliet Rose The Opulent Beauty of the World's Most Expensive Flower

Sweet Juliet Rose; Source: https://www.davidaustinroses.com/products/sweet-juliet

David Austin's Sweet Juliet rose is the most expensive flower in the world, wowing audiences back in 2006 when it debuted. Here is some information about the flower and how to cultivate it.

Sweet Juliet Rose: A Touch of Shakespeare

Roses captivate and enchant us—their beauty is perfect, fragrance sublime and shape like a work of art. All civilisations, whether Asian, European, or American, have fallen in love with this flower, which touches and resonates with our romantic heartstrings. Therefore, it's no surprise that a type of rose is considered the world's most expensive flower.

Though the Kadupul flower is technically considered the rarest, it has never been sold for more than a Sweet Juliet rose has been. Kadupuls, often referred to as the queen of the night, are costly due to their rarity and their unique nighttime blooming, yet no flower has surpassed the price of a Sweet Juliet rose.

The craze began in 2006 at the Chelsea Flower Show when renowned breeder David Austin presented the Sweet Juliet rose. The audience, filled with ardent rose lovers, gasped at its magnificence.

Austin cross-bred several rose varieties to create this new and enchantingly beautiful type and named it Sweet Juliet after the iconic play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. The cost of developing this new rose breed was about three million British pounds, and it took him fifteen years to complete. But after all that work, he sold it for an almost unbelievable five million dollars, garnering a profit and making it the most expensive flower.

The debut of this rose was awe-inspiring in many ways. Though the price has decreased over time due to increased cultivation, this rose is often called the "three million rose".

Who Was David Austin?

David Austin, born in England in 1926, worked to create beautiful new roses beginning in the early 1950s. Before he died in 2018, he created more than 200 new English rose breeds and enhanced the beauty of our planet through his creations.

Many people note that roses bought from markets often feel incomplete, as they lack a noticeable scent. Thus, Austin could be viewed as one of the most significant gatekeepers of fragrance for the rose kingdom.

He is quoted saying, “When I started breeding roses, other breeders were allowing fragrance to disappear, so I embarked on a quest to restore scent to the modern rose.”

David C H Austin

What Is Austin's Sweet Juliet Like?

In terms of the Sweet Juliet, Austin’s website once described it as:

“An abundant peach rose with a deep, apricot heart, Juliet is the enchanting heroine of our collection. A classic choice that’s at the heart of many beautiful occasions. A distinctive full cupped rose with voluminous petals, that ombré beautifully from a soft peach to warm apricot."

The website now characterises this rose variety as possessing a strong fragrance, a glowing apricot color, and a hint of tea aroma. The bloom size is medium and has about 70 petals, and the plant belongs to the English Shrub Rose family.

English Shrub Roses

Shrub roses have an open and outward-facing appearance. The branches, spotted with sharp thin prickles, arch and bear flowers along their length. These roses come in many hues, including white, red, yellow, orange, pink, crimson, etc., and bear flowers with single, semi-double or fully double architecture. To grow well, they need full sun and plenty of space, and because the stems arch, some varieties are cultivated as climbers and grow over a wall, obelisk, or arch.

The phrase 'old garden roses' refers to roses that were present before the introduction of the first hybrid rose, known as 'La France', in 1867. They have strong fragrances and large blooms. 1867 marked the dawn of modern-era roses, consisting of hybrids like the tea roses and floribundas, with milder scents and blooms smaller than old garden roses.

Within the shrub group, there are both traditional garden roses and contemporary roses, with 'English roses' representing another category within the shrub rose family.

English roses were actually born when Austin cross-bred the old garden roses with the hybrid roses and garnered the best features of both.

These roses feature large blooms reminiscent of the old varieties and bloom repeatedly, showcasing rare colours like the modern ones.

Roses Forever

An old saying about roses goes, “Year one, they sleep; year two, they creep; year three, they leap.” This is true for Sweet Juliet as well.

It takes about three years for the plant to settle in new soil and develop a strong root system. Only then will it start blooming on a large scale, and once this finally happens, they bloom abundantly.

The medium-sized, double-cupped bloom is another feature of it that makes it enchanting to those nostalgic for old rose varieties. Growing three to 3.5 feet tall, this plant is the best for fences and flower screens.

An intriguing aspect is how the fragrance evolves as the plant matures. At first, the rose emits a tea rose scent, but at a later stage, this shifts to a lemony-peachy aroma.

Growing Sweet Juliet Roses

Sweet Juliet is an exceptionally healthy flower and heavy feeder that blooms for around half of the year. It loves full sunlight and soil that is well-drained. The shrub has a lot of upright branches growing right from the base of the stem, thus making it the perfect flowering shrub to grow. The plant is generally disease-resistant as well.

To get rich blooms, these roses should be planted in groups of three, each about 18 inches apart. The next group can be planted three feet away from the first. The soil should have proper aeration, and the roots should not be allowed to dry up. Take care to ensure that the soil does not become soggy. Pruning in the early winter is another practice that helps the plant survive the season's winds.

How to Cultivate the Sweet Juliet Rose

Sweet Juliet belongs to the large family of English roses; hence, the standard care regime applies. Here's some more information on taking care of them.

Planting

Soak the cuttings in water overnight before planting.

Planting locations can be orientated towards the east, west, or south, and it is important to plant as early as possible. Ensure that the plant roots are never allowed to dry out.

Keep the base of the bud union three inches below ground level if planting in areas with strong winters. In areas with milder winters, keep the bud union at ground level.

Build up the base of the plant with 15 centimetres of compost or until the leaves start to show. The same guidelines apply when planting them in containers. Avoid planting near trees, as there will be root competition, and the roses are too delicate to prevail.

Watering

It's important to ensure that newly planted roses receive adequate water. Deep watering should occur at least once a week, or more often if needed. Regularly monitor the soil's condition.

Sunlight

Try your best to make sure the plant gets at least five hours of sun daily. Morning sunlight is ideal for growth.

Fertiliser Application

Add a generous quantity of well-decomposed green manure or garden compost.

The most effective method involves the slow absorption of nutrients through organic fertilisers applied to the soil. Foliar sprays are also advised. Keep in mind that too much fertiliser can lead to diseases.

Mulching

Mulching with organic matter is a standard practice in rose gardening. Mulching helps preserve the soil's water content and helps the soil stay healthy by creating a conducive temperature for beneficial bacteria and worms. Always keeping a mound of well-decomposed mulch around the plants and replacing that when needed is a good practice for maintaining soil health.

Pruning

Pruning back by a third should be done in late winter, and make sure to take off the branches that are crossing or crowding one another. In other seasons, deadheads and dried branches can be removed. Remove the suckers that emerge from beneath the soil and below the bud union as well.

Weeding

Keep the soil surrounding the plant clean and free of weeds. You can also loosen and aerate the surrounding soil by mildly stirring it with a fork to a depth of about two inches every now and then.

The David Austin Legacy

When David Austin died in 2018 at his home in Shropshire, England, at the age of 92, he'd developed some 200 rose breeds. He was completely self-taught throughout his extraordinary and prosperous career.

He entered the flower market when roses had been almost entirely removed from the modern garden, and many doubted his ability to pull off creating a life and profession out of being a rose breeder. Nevertheless, he became the father of modern roses, and his roses won more than 20 gold medals in the Chelsea Flower Show—the most prestigious in the world.

He loved history and literature and hence often named his roses after figures like Charles Darwin, Dame Judi Dench, Roald Dahl, etc. His romance with roses was everlasting, like the beauty of the Sweet Juliet.