Rosa 'Blue Girl' is an enchanting climbing rose that brings a touch of the extraordinary to any garden with its distinctive lavender-purple blooms. This moderate climber is renowned for its unusual colouring and strong fragrance, making it a prized addition for gardeners seeking something truly different. Originally bred as a hybrid tea rose, the climbing sport of 'Blue Girl' maintains all the elegant flower characteristics whilst adding vertical impact to garden designs.
The captivating blooms of Rosa 'Blue Girl' feature:
Flower Form: Large, fully double flowers with high-centred, hybrid tea form
Colour: Unique silvery-lavender with deeper purple tones and occasional pink flushes
Fragrance: Exceptionally strong, sweet fragrance with spicy undertones
Bloom Size: Large flowers, 10-12cm diameter when fully open
Flowering Period: Repeat flowering from early summer through to autumn frosts
Flower Production: Blooms appear singly or in small clusters of 2-3
Weather Sensitivity: Colours intensify in cooler weather; may fade slightly in intense heat
Mature Height: 2.5-3.5 metres (8-11 feet)
Spread: 1.5-2 metres (5-6 feet)
Growth Rate: Moderate climbing growth
Habit: Upright climbing stems with good branching structure
Foliage: Medium green, semi-glossy leaves that complement the unusual flower colour
Thorns: Moderately thorny - protective clothing recommended during maintenance
Ideal Growing Conditions
Sunlight: Full sun essential for best colour development and flowering
Soil Type: Well-draining, fertile soil enriched with organic matter
Soil pH: Neutral to slightly alkaline (6.5-7.5) for optimal colour expression
Exposure: Sheltered position protected from strong winds
Hardiness: Hardy in most UK regions (RHS H4-H5), may need protection in coldest areas
Climate Considerations: Performs best in areas with warm summers and mild winters
Best Planting Time: Spring (March-May) for best establishment
Spacing: Plant 60cm away from walls or support structures
Planting Depth: Same level as pot, ensuring good root-to-soil contact
Soil Preparation: Incorporate well-rotted compost and ensure excellent drainage
Watering
Regular, deep watering essential during growing season
Water at base of plant to avoid wetting foliage
Maintain consistent moisture levels - avoid allowing soil to dry out completely
Reduce watering frequency in winter months
Feeding
Spring Feed: High-quality rose fertiliser applied in early April
Summer Feed: Additional feed in mid-June to support repeat flowering
Potassium Boost: Extra potassium in late summer to improve winter hardiness
Organic Options: Well-rotted manure mulch in autumn provides slow-release nutrients
Magnesium: Occasional Epsom salt application can enhance foliage colour
Pruning
When to Prune: Late winter/early spring (February-March)
Method: Remove dead, diseased, and crossing branches first
Main Pruning: Reduce side shoots to 2-3 buds from main framework
Training: Tie in new growth, training horizontally where possible
Deadheading: Regular removal of spent blooms encourages continuous flowering
Rosa 'Blue Girl' has moderate disease resistance but can be susceptible to:
Black Spot: Particularly in humid conditions
Powdery Mildew: Can occur in poor air circulation
Rust: May develop in wet seasons
Prevention and Treatment:
Ensure good air circulation around the plant
Apply preventive fungicide programme if necessary
Clear fallen leaves promptly in autumn
Avoid overhead watering
'Blue Girl' creates stunning combinations with:
Silver Foliage Plants: Artemisia, lavender, or lamb's ear for colour harmony
White Flowers: White clematis or jasmine for elegant contrast
Purple Perennials: Catmint, salvia, or alliums for tonal matching
Cream Roses: Nearby cream or pale yellow roses create sophisticated schemes
Grey-leaved Herbs: Rosemary, sage, or thyme complement the unique colouring
Feature Walls: Spectacular against light-coloured walls or fences
Pergolas: Creates romantic covered areas with exceptional fragrance
Cottage Gardens: Adds unique colour to traditional English garden styles
Cut Flowers: Long-stemmed blooms perfect for sophisticated arrangements
Fragrance Gardens: Essential component in scented garden areas
Specimen Planting: Striking enough to serve as a garden focal point
Spring: Fresh foliage emergence and early bud development
Summer: Peak flowering period with strongest fragrance
Autumn: Continued flowering with intensified colours in cooler weather
Winter: Attractive bare framework provides structural interest
Unique Colour Properties
Colour Variation: Tones vary depending on soil pH, weather, and season
Photography: Particularly photogenic variety beloved by garden photographers
Evening Appeal: Colours appear luminous in twilight conditions
Seasonal Changes: Spring flowers often show more pink tones, summer blooms more lavender
Fragrance Profile
Intensity: One of the most fragrant climbing roses available
Scent Description: Complex fragrance combining sweet rose with spicy, almost violet-like notes
Best Times: Fragrance most intense during warm, still evenings
Indoor Use: Cut flowers bring exceptional scent indoors
Ideal for gardeners who:
Appreciate unusual and rare flower colours
Value exceptional fragrance in their garden
Have experience with moderately challenging roses
Can provide consistent care and attention
Have suitable sunny, sheltered positions available
Consider alternatives if:
Seeking very low-maintenance roses
Garden has poor air circulation
Preference is for more common rose colours
Climate is particularly harsh or exposed
Establishment Period: Typically flowers well from second year onwards
Peak Performance: Usually reaches full potential by third growing season
Longevity: With proper care, can provide decades of unique garden beauty
Weather Tolerance: Best performance in areas with warm, dry summers
Rosa 'Blue Girl' represents a truly special addition to any rose collection, offering gardeners the opportunity to grow one of the most distinctively coloured climbing roses available. Its combination of unusual beauty, exceptional fragrance, and moderate climbing habit makes it a rewarding choice for the dedicated rose enthusiast seeking something genuinely extraordinary in their garden.
Reasons to Buy Roses from Jacksons Nurseries
(1) ‘Excellent’ on Trustpilot
Buy with confidence from the only online rose grower rated ‘Excellent’ 4.9* on Trustpilot. We have been a trusted supplier of roses for 3 generations. We take pride in growing our own roses in the field before potting them up, allowing for meticulous quality control to sale.

(2) Best Prices Guaranteed – Direct from the Grower
Save £££s by buying direct from a grower you can trust. We’ve already price checked all of our roses against competitors so you don’t have to. We are so confident we offer the best value, if you find a rose of the same type and grade elsewhere, we’ll beat it by 10%.

(3) 12 Month Plants Guarantee
We offer a 12 month guarantee on every plant that you buy from us that we have classified as Fully Hardy. If a plant you've bought from us fails in the first year, we will either replace it or refund you. See our satisfaction guarantee page for more details and conditions.

(4) Third generation family-owned nursery specialising in roses
Jackson’s Nurseries is a 3rd generation family owned business which has been growing roses for over 60 years. Roses have always been our specialty, as you can see from the colourful array of blooms in the background to the old family photo below. Today, we offer over 200 different varieties of floribundas, hybrid teas, patio, shrub and David Austin roses. Our roses are initially grown in the field before being potted up for website dispatch.

(5) Grown at altitude to produce strong, healthy plants
Our North Staffordshire nursery is situated at 250 metres above sea level, producing strong, hardy plants that will thrive in your garden. Our nursery sits on clay, so you can be sure our roses can handle heavy soil too.

(6) Help & Advice and Aftercare
We are help to help you with any help and advice you need in choosing, planting and growing your roses before, during and after your purchase from us. The help and advice section of our website has extensive information, see below some examples of articles you may find useful:

How our roses are supplied through the seasons
All our roses are cultivated in an open field and are carefully dug up when the weather is optimal, typically in October or November. While other nurseries supply roses bare root, once our field-grown roses have been potted up we supply them freshly potted. This better protects the roots and helps keep them moist in transit, ensuring your roses arrive as healthy as when they left our nursery. So don’t be alarmed if the compost comes away from the roots when you remove them from the pot.

The roses can remain in their pots over the winter, as long as they are properly watered and fed, but it's best to plant them out as soon as possible. If you do plant them straight away make sure the planting mix is prepared first, hold the root close to the top of the hole as you tip the pot upside down and try to keep as much compost as possible from falling away. They will already be pruned, so no additional pruning is needed except for trimming any dead tips. Regular pruning can start in late winter, the year after planting.

Rose Types
Hybrid Tea Roses (HT)
Hybrid Tea roses are probably the most popular group of roses, available in both bush and standard form they have long flower stems and shapely blooms. Blooms are typically medium to large in size, with many petals which form a distinct central cone.
Floribunda Roses (FL)
Floribunda roses bears its flowers in clusters or trusses, with several blooms open at time in each truss. A popular choice the Floribunda rose group is unrivalled for colour, reliability and longevity as a bedding display however the flower form in generally inferior to the Hybrid Tea.
Patio Roses (PATIO)
Patio roses were introduced in the 1980’s and the group now contains several popular varieties. Generally low-growing roses that were once grouped with the Floribuna group but have now been put in their own group of compact versions. Usually growing about 50cm high they make excellent plants for patio containers or at the front of borders.
Climbing Roses (CLM)
Climbing roses as the name suggests are the perfect choice for covering a wall or screen. Often grouped together with Ramblers, Climbers tend to have stiffer stems, larger flowers but smaller trusses than Ramblers.
Rambling Roses (RAM)
Rambling roses are often grouped with Climbing Roses but the ramblers tend to have a more pliable stems that can be used to run along the soil to use as groundcover or can be used to make weeping standards.
Miniature Roses (MINI)
Miniature roses have increased in popularity in recent years due to their versatility, even grown indoors as temporary pot plants that grow to a maximum height of 40cm. An ideal choice for planting in tubs, edging beds and rockeries.
English Roses (ENG)
Often referred to as Austin or David Austin Roses, English roses are hybrids of old English roses and more modern varieties bread by David Austin to provide the best of both, mixing old rose shapes and scents with more modern colour range, compact habits and repeat flowering.

Planting Advice
Roses like a generous root space, so dig a deep hole approximately twice as wide as the current root system, preferably adding composted organic matter to the soil. Never plant into frozen soil – in winter, await a frost-free period. Carefully remove the pot and gently tease the roots apart to spread them around the hole. Position the plant so that the ‘bud point’ (the place where the shoots emerge from, where the cultivated rose was grafted onto the rootstock) is at soil level. Replace the soil, firming it down gently, then water copiously. Ideally, a general purpose fertiliser should be applied to the surrounding soil as a top dressing. We also highly recommend the use of Rose Rootgrow, which provides a friendly fungus that prevents ‘rose replant syndrome’.

Buying our Roses
Most of our roses are supplied in a 4 litre pot although this may vary slightly depending on rose variety. If the size of pot differes significatly from 4 litres then we will make this clear somewhere on the product page.
Seasonality
Our roses are grown outdoors and as such are subject to seasonal changes. As we sell potted stock throughout the year your rose may not arrive and look like you expect it to. If you are uncertain how your rose will arrive (especially if buying for a gift) then we suggest you contact us prior to making a purchase.
Freshly Potted
Each year a new batch of roses is potted up ready for the following season. Once potted (usually November/December time) they go on sale as 'Freshly Potted'. If you purchase a freshly potted rose and plant it soon after you will find that when removing the rose from the pot there will be a lot of loose soil as the roots will not have had time to grow and bind the compost.

Pruned/Cut Back
In autumn the majority of our roses have finished flowering and begin to look untidy, at this point we prune them quite hard in preparation for the following season. We continue to sell roses throughout the year, when a rose has been pruned in such a way we will identify it has being so. If you are not sure what to expect then please ask prior to making a purchase. Some garden centres/supermarkets sell stock that has been grown abroad or in poly-tunnels so they look 'picture perfect' out of season, while this is ideal for a gift they are short lived once planted.

No posts found