Cameron roses: Differentiating minis from non-minis

To a novice eyes, it’s very hard to determine which rose is a mini and which isn’t. Buyers of Cameron roses always are misled by the look of the plants at the time of purchase.

The same roses that once looked bushy and tall with flowers are in moderate size blooming pretty turned out to be mini roses after all; shrink in size and blooms are now open to no larger than a 20 or 50 cents coin.

Note 1:

We all got to be reminded once again when buying roses from Cameron that change in flower size is inevitable. Temperature change of hilly Cameron to your flat land garden can affect the performance and growth of roses. Due to higher temperature in the flat lands, roses aclimatize to be smaller in leaf size, growth, as well as bloom size.

Don’t strike off Cameron roses just yet though. The trick is to be able to differentiate varieties that can withstand temperature change better or choose roses with reduction/changes to a level you can tolerate.

Note 2:

Do you know that there are two types of minis? They are the miniatures and minifloras. When we talked about minis, I know most of us would often think of the ‘miniatures’.

So what’s the difference?

Miniatures: Roses that can grow up to 1 – 1.5 ft tall with bloom size is 1 - 1.5 inch wide.

Minifloras: Roses that can grow up to 1 – 1.5 ft tall with bloom size is 2 – 2.5 inch wide.

It means minifloras have larger flower size but are looking dwarf in height.

Roses sold from Cameron which are available at nurseries nationwide (planted and sold in 6 inches plastic pots) are mostly minifloras.

That is why when you buy these roses you tend to think that they are not minis, as they possess moderately large flowers.

Note 3:

So, how to differentiate the minis from non-minis?

Simple! You only need to look at 3 things at the time of purchase:

A. Flower size

Flower size below 2 inches or 2.5 inches wide when flower is fully open usually is of minis.

If you want roses that are not minis, go for flower size that is above 3 inches wide. These are usually of normal upright hybrid teas.

The bigger the better as any reduction will still leave you marginally with pretty big flower.

If the flowers are half open, petal length that is roughly above 2 inches indicates a non-mini.

B. Leaf size

The leaf size is relative to flower size. Big flowers mean big leaves. Go for leaf size which length (not width) is no less than 3 inches for non-minis.

C. Height of tree

Non minis usually sold as a tall tree with tree height is around 1.5 – 2ft. The tree has only 1-2 main canes and often is supported with a bamboo stick.

I personally prefer large flower roses and recommend buying non-minis instead of minis as the flower size reduction is tolerable, that is from i.e. 4 inches when purchase reducing to 2.5 inches in the garden (depending on garden treatment and factors of nutrients and age of tree). 

So, now you know how to differentiate the minis and non-minis and understand a bit more about Cameron roses. You now can have a clear expectation when buying these roses and with the tips above, assured you are buying exactly the roses you have in mind.

Author and copyright of : Rough Rosa.