Three glasshouses in time for Rose Planting

Despite the winter weather, construction is progressing at breakneck speed and soon our three glasshouses will be a reality. Pedro and I are deep into the planning stage. We are equal partners, which means that if we disagree we have to compromise in order to overcome the hurdle.

So far we’ve agreed on using an Ebb and Flow hydroponic system to grow our roses in the medium of coco coir. We are going to use a 100% organic feed regimen, with Advanced Nutrients Iguana Juice Grow and Bloom being our base nutrients, with Colossal Bud Blast making the NPK more attractive to roses.

We’ve agreed to name our company Jill & Pedro’s Hydro Roses with a 50-50 capitalization. Pedro’s share is coming from family money, while my share was made possible by an inheritance from a recently deceased uncle.

We’ve also managed to establish new credit lines from the bank, which is essential for the cash flow of any business venture.

What about my previous decision to grow Hybrid Tea Roses, as opposed to the other varieties? Pedro agreed that Hybrid Teas were the most marketable, but he thought that my choices—Alec’s Red and Julia’s Rose—required further consideration.

He was being very diplomatic. He said that “in addition” to my choices, he would like us to grow a few more varieties. It seems that there is a multi-coloured very fragrant strain called Granada, which his family has been growing for a number of years.

It’s continuous blooming, extremely disease resistant, hardy zones 6-10. It’s been around since 1964, so it’s no longer subject to patent. It grows to three, three and a half feet and it mixes the colors rose-pink, lemon-yellow, and nasturtium red.

He showed me a picture of a Granada rose, and I fell in love with it right away. Another exquisite rose that Pedro would like to grow is called Blue Girl. It’s also very fragrant, grows to four or five feet in height, with classic, high pointed blooms of lavender blue.

It seems that there is no such thing as a perfectly blue rose, but this comes as close as it gets. Somehow the color lavender sneaks in whenever breeders attempt to hybridize a purely blue rose. Blue Girl originated in Germany, and has won the prestigious Rome Gold Medal.

So we put in an order for these four varieties, but we’re keeping an open mind about other Hybrid Teas that might fit in with our plans. We also put in a huge order at Advanced Nutrients for Iguana Juice Grow, Iguana Juice Bloom, Grandma Enggy’s Humic Acid, Fulvic Acid, and Seaweed Extract, as well as the root colonizers Piranha, Tarantula, and Voodoo Juice.

Pedro has contacted a fellow rose grower in Mallorca, who is using these root colonizers from Advanced Nutrients, and he received a glowing report. The guy sent him some before and after pictures of rose bushes treated with these beneficial fungi, bacteria, and microbes.

He was astounded to see the size and quality difference, as well as the number of blooms on the treated bushes. “I look forward to using all these products,” enthused Pedro as he examined the bottles and labels I had left over from my carnation growing days.