Rosa 'Alfresco' is a stunning climbing rose that brings elegance and romance to any garden setting. This vigorous climber produces an abundance of beautifully formed blooms throughout the growing season, making it an ideal choice for covering walls, fences, pergolas, and garden structures. With its excellent disease resistance and reliable flowering performance, 'Alfresco' is perfectly suited to the British climate and ideal for both novice and experienced gardeners.
The blooms of Rosa 'Alfresco' are truly spectacular, featuring:
Flower Form: Large, fully double blooms with a classic rosette shape
Colour: Soft apricot-pink petals that fade to gentle cream tones at the edges
Fragrance: Strong, sweet fragrance with hints of citrus and spice
Bloom Size: Generous 10-12cm diameter flowers
Flowering Period: Repeat flowering from early summer through to the first frosts
Flower Production: Clusters of 3-5 blooms per stem, creating impressive displays
Eventual Height: 2.5-4 metres (10-13 feet)
Eventual Spread: 2-2.5 metres (6-8 feet)
Growth Rate: Moderate to vigorous
Habit: Strong, upright climbing stems with good branching
Foliage: Glossy, dark green leaves that provide excellent backdrop to the blooms
Thorns: Moderately thorny stems - wear gloves when handling
Ideal Growing Conditions
Sunlight: Full sun (minimum 6 hours direct sunlight daily)
Soil Type: Well-draining, fertile soil with good organic content
Soil pH: Slightly acidic to neutral (6.0-7.0)
Exposure: Sheltered from strong winds, but with good air circulation
Hardiness: Fully hardy in the UK (RHS hardiness zone H5)
Best Planting Time: Potted rose can be planted any any time of the year, providing the ground is not frozen or waterlogged and it's not excessively windy.
Spacing: Plant 45-60cm away from walls or structures
Planting Depth: Same level as in the pot
Soil Preparation: Dig a hole to the same depth and twice the width of the root ball and incorporate well-rotted manure or compost
Watering
Water deeply once or twice weekly during dry spells
Focus watering at the base of the plant, avoiding wetting the foliage
Mulch around the base to retain moisture and suppress weeds
Reduce watering in winter months
Feeding
Spring Feed: Apply balanced rose fertiliser in early April
Summer Feed: Additional feed in mid-June to encourage repeat flowering
Organic Options: Well-rotted manure or compost applied as mulch in autumn
Liquid Feed: Fortnightly liquid tomato feed during growing season for extra blooms
Pruning
When to Prune: Late winter/early spring (February-March)
Method: Remove dead, diseased, or crossing branches first
Main Pruning: Reduce side shoots to 2-3 buds from main framework
Training: Tie new growth horizontally where possible to encourage more blooms
Deadheading: Remove spent flowers regularly to encourage repeat blooming
Rosa 'Alfresco' demonstrates excellent resistance to:
Black spot
Powdery mildew
Rust
Prevention Tips:
Ensure good air circulation around the plant
Water at soil level rather than on foliage
Clear fallen leaves in autumn
Apply preventive fungicide spray if necessary in humid conditions
'Alfresco' pairs beautifully with:
Clematis: Late-flowering varieties for extended colour
Lavender: Complements the apricot tones and attracts beneficial insects
Catmint: Provides contrast with purple-blue flowers
Hostas: Excellent foliage contrast at the base
Honeysuckle: For additional fragrance and wildlife appeal
Pergolas and Arbours: Creates romantic covered walkways
Wall Coverage: Excellent for covering unsightly walls or fences
Boundary Screening: Natural privacy screen with seasonal interest
Cottage Garden Style: Perfect for traditional English garden settings
Cut Flowers: Long-stemmed blooms ideal for indoor arrangements
Spring: Fresh green foliage emergence
Summer: Peak flowering period with heaviest bloom production
Autumn: Continued flowering plus attractive rose hips
Winter: Architectural bare stems provide structure
Pollinators: Attracts bees, butterflies, and other beneficial insects
Birds: Rose hips provide autumn and winter food source
Shelter: Dense growth offers nesting sites for small birds
Container-grown plants can be planted year-round (weather permitting)
Allow 2-3 years for the plant to reach full climbing potential
Investment in good soil preparation pays dividends in long-term performance
Rosa 'Alfresco' represents excellent value for money, combining beauty, fragrance, and reliability in one outstanding climbing rose that will provide years of gardening pleasure.
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.

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