Rose Rhodos

'Rhodos' is ranked among the top five red roses exported from Kenya thanks to steady yield and ship-ability as of 2025. Florists prize it for its vivid deep-red colour, big flower, thorn-free long stems and an impressive vase life - qualities that have made it one of the world’s most exported red roses.

FLOWERING

This rose variety has a continuous flowering habit. In the greenhouse it is able to flower year round, and in a garden it blooms in flushes with short breaks from summer until frosts. The number of blooms per plant during the growing season is profuse.

Blooms:

The flowers of the rose variety 'Rhodos' are large, the height of the flower when the flower starts to open is 5.5 cm on average, and they are particularly valued for their slow and even opening quality - 95% of the flowers hold their shape and the minimal number tend to bend the neck. When flowers fully open the diameter is about 6 – 7 cm.

The flower form is classical for Hybrid Teas, high centered, only closer to fading the shape changes slightly, becoming broad cupped with flattened top, but it almost never reveals the center of the flower. They are very full, they normally have about 60 velvety petals.

The flowers of rose variety usually appear singly on upright, long and strong flowering stems, of about 60 - 90 cm long. The colour of 'Rhodos' is one of the main reasons of its popularity, it is uniform bright crimson-red, slightly lighter when fully open; brighter than ‘Red Naomi!’ and cleaner red than velvet types such as ‘Freedom’. It is ideal for Valentine’s, Christmas and high-impact corporate work.

Unfortunately such wonderful flowers have very light to none fragrance, but it has an impressive vase life of about 12–14 days when used as a cut flower and in a garden it also lasts for about 10 - 12 days.

PLANT

Rose variety 'Rhodos' is classified as Hybrid Tea rose of premium florist quality. The growth character is vigorous, upright and compact with strong, upright flowering shoots. A mature and well-established plant has a height of about 100 - 150 cm and the width of about 45 - 50 cm.

The stems of this rose are almost thornless, thicker and leafier than of many similar red florist roses. There is a normal quantity of foliage on the plants of this rose variety. The leaves are large, the number of leaflets on normal mid-stem leaves varies from 5 to 7 leaflets, including the terminal leaflet. The foliage is leathery, glossy and has dark-green colour that photosynthesises efficiently under equatorial daylight.

Works equally well as a single variety bouquet or as the focal rose in mixed arrangements; long, thornless stems are bridal-bouquet friendly. It performs best under cool, high-light greenhouse conditions where it is relatively tolerant to botrytis and powdery mildew when grown under < 85 % RH and with good airflow. The standard practice is grafting this rose, but ‘Rhodos’ also roots easily as own-root cuttings - in this case though it will produce less flowers.

In the garden conditions it is somewhat susceptible to black spot and mildew. The pest resistance has not been tested yet. This rose variety is recommended for growing in climate conditions similar to USDA 7 and requires winter protection in more colder climates.

Unfortunately we do not have information about the origin of the name of this rose.

ORIGIN OF THE VARIETY

Bred by the Dutch house De Ruiter Innovations B.V. and mass-produced on high-altitude farms in Kenya, Ecuador and Ethiopia. The origin of this rose is not disclosed.

USDA 7