The ‘True Love’ rose (Rosa ‘ALTcaptain’ PP31,575) is a popular and visually appealing cultivar known for its abundant, deep red blooms. It offers continuous flowering, bringing lasting color and charm to the landscape.
Understanding the True Love Rose
The ‘True Love’ rose is a Floribunda shrub rose, resulting from a cross between a hybrid tea rose and a shrub rose. It produces full, cupped, crimson-red rosettes with a high petal count, typically between 41 and 90 petals per bloom. These vibrant, deep red blooms appear in masses throughout the growing season, from late spring through summer and into fall.
This cultivar generally reaches a compact size, growing approximately 1.5 to 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide, making it suitable for beds, edging, containers, or as a groundcover. The foliage is dark green and glossy, providing a lush backdrop for the intensely colored flowers. It may have a light fragrance. The ‘True Love’ rose exhibits good disease resistance, including black spot and powdery mildew, and tolerates heat, humidity, and winter chill, thriving in USDA Hardiness Zones 4 through 9.
Planting Your True Love Rose
The ‘True Love’ rose requires at least six to eight hours of full sun exposure daily. Good air circulation also helps inhibit foliar diseases.
This rose performs best in rich, organic, well-drained soil that is slightly acidic. Before planting, amend heavy or poor soil with compost or a soil conditioner to improve drainage and nutrient content. Dig a hole that is twice the diameter of the root ball and as deep as the root ball.
Carefully remove the plant from its container, keeping the root ball intact, and position it in the hole so that the graft union is at or just above ground level. In colder climates, positioning the graft union 1 to 2 inches below ground level can provide additional winter protection. Fill the hole with the amended soil, gently packing it down to remove air pockets, then water thoroughly to settle the soil around the roots. Applying a 2 to 3-inch layer of organic mulch around the base after planting helps conserve moisture and suppress weeds.
Essential Care for True Love Roses
Watering Practices
Newly planted roses need more frequent watering than established plants. Established ‘True Love’ roses should be watered deeply and thoroughly when the top inch of soil feels dry, allowing water to penetrate deep into the root system, aiming for about an inch of water per week.
Watering early in the day helps minimize water loss due to evaporation and allows foliage to dry before nightfall, reducing disease problems. Avoiding overhead watering, especially in the evening, is recommended to keep leaves dry. Drip irrigation systems or soaker hoses are effective methods for delivering water directly to the roots, conserving water and promoting disease-free plants. Roses grown in containers may require more frequent watering than those in the ground due to faster soil drying.
Soil and Fertilization
‘True Love’ roses prefer moist, loamy, well-drained soil with a slightly acidic pH. Incorporating organic compost into the soil improves its texture, drainage, and water retention capacity.
Fertilizing ‘True Love’ roses supports continuous blooming and overall plant health. Apply a balanced fertilizer, such as a 10-10-10 formula, in early spring after the last frost and before new growth begins. Once flowering starts, switch to a fertilizer with higher phosphorus and potassium to encourage more blooms, applying it one to two times per month throughout the blooming season. Always ensure the rose is well-watered before applying fertilizer to prevent root burn. Stop feeding in late summer to allow new growth to harden before winter.
Pruning and Maintenance
Pruning promotes vigorous growth and continuous flower production. The main pruning, referred to as dormant pruning, should occur in late winter or early spring, typically three to four weeks before the average last frost date. This involves removing dead, damaged, or spindly canes, and any that are crossing or rubbing.
When pruning, make clean cuts at a 45-degree angle, about 1/4 inch above an outward-facing bud. This encourages new growth away from the plant’s center, improving air circulation. For this Floribunda type, it is common to remove one-third to two-thirds of the plant’s height to stimulate new growth.
Deadheading, the removal of spent or faded flowers, is a routine maintenance task that encourages the ‘True Love’ rose to produce more blooms. Cut the faded blossoms back to the first set of five leaflets on the stem. General maintenance also includes regular weeding around the base of the plant to reduce competition for water and nutrients.
Protecting Your True Love Rose
The ‘True Love’ rose is generally disease resistant. However, good air circulation from proper spacing and pruning helps prevent fungal problems. Watering at the base of the plant and avoiding wetting the foliage, especially in the evening, also reduces disease spread.
Despite its resistance, roses can still attract pests such as aphids or spider mites. Regular inspection of the plant allows for early detection and treatment. If issues arise, consider appropriate horticultural oils or insecticidal soaps.
For winter protection in colder climates (USDA Zones 4-5), mounding soil or heavy mulch about 1 foot over the base of the plant after a few hard freezes can protect the graft union from extreme cold. Cutting back longer canes to about 4 feet can prevent winter wind damage. This protective mound should be removed in spring after the danger of hard frost has passed.