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Rosa Bolero™
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Rosa Bonica® PP#5,105
Showy orange-red hips keep this shrub beautiful long into the winter months!
Long before there was Knock Out®, there was Bonica®. This shrub rose burst on the scene in France in 1981, where its resistance to blackspot, mildew, and rust was celebrated almost as much as its nonstop spring-to-fall bloom, its fruity fragrance, and its beautiful petal-packed double blooms. Six years later it came to the U.S., where it promptly won an All-America Rose Selection award (the first shrub rose ever to do so). History was being made, and 10 years later it achieved the ultimate honor: it was voted the World's Favorite Rose by the World Federation of Rose Societies.
So does it still hold up, 30 years after its initial introduction? Absolutely. Its bloom strength is astonishing, its flower form superior to that of most other roses of all types, and as for its disease resistance . . . bye-bye, blackspot!
Bonica® is a compact rose, just 3 to 5 feet high in mild climates (a bit shorter farther north, taller farther south and west), with a spread of about 4 feet. It is upright and arching, with excellent branching. It's not as dense as the Knock Outs®, looking more like a hybrid tea that somehow keeps blooming month after month after month. The foliage is mid-green, small and fine.
The blooms are a light, clear pink, held in perfect hybrid tea symmetry, and boasting anywhere from 40 to 70 petals. They release a sweet fruity scent, particularly strong in warm weather, and hold up well on the shrub. Cut all you like for nosegays or buttonholes; more will be along shortly! The blooms are followed by bright orange-red hips, which please the birds and keep the bare shrub handsome into winter.
Bonica® improves with each passing year. Once it feels at home in your garden, it will tolerate even poor soils, and is impervious to unusually cold or warm winters. Few roses are cold-hardy through zone 4; Bonica® is with ease. It is a good choice for small gardens and tight places, because unlike most roses, it does not mind being a bit crowded.
Bonica® is descended from R. sempervirens x ('Mlle. Marthe Caron' x 'Picasso'). Its pedigree is impeccable, its performance true-blue dependable, and its beauty legendary. Find a place for it in your garden this season. Zones 4-9.
| Genus | Rosa |
| Variety | Bonica® PP#5,105 |
| Bloom Season | Late Spring - Mid Fall |
| Habit | Upright |
| Zone | 4 - 9 |
| Plant Height | 3 ft - 5 ft |
| Plant Width | 4 ft |
| Bloom Size | 2 in - 2.5 in |
| Item Form | Bareroot |
| Additional Characteristics | Award Winner, Bird Lovers, Bloom First Year, Butterfly Lovers, Double Bloom, Easy Care Plants, Flower, Fragrance, Free Bloomer, Long Bloomers, Needs Deadheading, Repeat Bloomer, Rose Hips |
| Bloom Color | Apricot, Pink |
| Bloom Season | Fall |
| Bud Shape | Classic |
| Flower Shape | Double, High-centered, Ruffled |
| Foliage Color | Medium Green |
| Fragrance | Fruity, Moderate |
| Light Requirements | Full Sun |
| Moisture Requirements | Moist, well-drained |
| Resistance | Black Spot, Cold Hardy, Common Rust, Disease Resistant, Drought Tolerant, Heat Tolerant, Humidity Tolerant, Powdery Mildew, Rust |
| Season Of Interest | Spring |
| Soil Tolerance | Normal, loamy, Poor |
| Uses | Border, Cut Flowers, Landscapes, Outdoor |
| Restrictions | CAN, PR |
Additional pruning tips for healthy, beautiful, productive roses:- Whether you’re deadheading, removing dead wood, or performing an annual pruning, make sure your cuts are no more than ¼ inch (5 mm) above a bud, and slope the cut away from the bud, to prevent water from collecting on it.
- Your cuts should always be clean, so keep your pruning shears sharp, and use pruning tools that are appropriately sized to whatever size stems you are cutting.
- To encourage an open-centered form, cut to an outward-facing bud. To encourage upright growth on roses with a spreading habit, prune a few of the stems to inward-facing buds.
- Prune any dieback to the healthy, white pith.
- Remove dead or diseased stems, as well as any that cross or are spindly.
- Your goal should be to have well-spaced stems that allow for a free flow of air.
- If pruning an established plant, remove any old wood that is flowering poorly, and use a saw to get rid of old stubs that are no longer producing new shoots.
- Other than climbing roses, you should prune newly planted roses hard, which encourages vigorous shoot production.
- When removing suckers, trace them back to the roots from which they are growing, and simply take them off.
- Butterflies like a lot of sunlight, so locate your garden in a sunny area.
- If you live in a windy location, plant your butterfly-attracting plants near a building, fence, or hedge to protect them.
- Plant a variety of nectar-rich plants, as well as shrubs and evergreens for shelter.
- Since many butterflies and native flowering plants have co-evolved, try to put in some that are native to your area. The Lady Bird Johnson Wildlife Center provides lists of plants native to states and regions.
- Certain colors are particularly attracting to butterflies – red, yellow, pink, purple, or orange blooms that are clustered or flat-topped, with a short flower tubes are especially attractive to adult butterflies.
- Avoid using pesticides, especially around nectar-producing plants.
- Provide a shallow source of water – try a birdbath with pebbles lining the bowl.
- Place a rock in a sunny spot for butterfly basking and resting.
- Create a "puddling area" by digging a shallow hole filled with compost or manure where rainwater will collect and release essential salts and minerals.
- If you want butterflies to breed in your garden, put in some caterpillar food plants, such as parsley, milkweeds, asters, thistles, violets, clover, grasses, and Queen Anne’s Lace.
- Since butterflies need nectar throughout the entire adult phase of their lives, try to create a design that will allow for a continuous bloom – when one stops blooming, another starts.
