JUST JOEY ROSE

By David Marks
Just Joey was bred by Cants of Colchester in 1973. Cants are the oldest rose growers in the UK dating back to 1765 and are still a family run business.In 1994 Just Joey joined an extremely select group of roses to be awarded membership to the Rose Hall of Fame as judged by the World Federation of Rose Societies.To put this in context, the RHS has awarded an AGM to over 100 roses but only 17 roses have joined the exclusive Rose Hall of Fame.

Ideal for the smaller garden and also for container growing, Just Joey grows to a height of 90cm / 3ft and a spread of 60cm / 2ft. This is a Hybrid Tea variety so produces one bloom per stem. Those blooms are an orange apricot colour with each bloom being 12cm / 5in wide – perfect as a very showy cut flower.

Just Joey is repeat flowering and you can expect two main flushes of flowers, the first in late June / early July and the second at the beginning of September. This variety has medium strong, sweet, fruity scent.

Leaves are mid green and glossy. This is an upright strong growing rose which is suited to garden borders and containers.

Just Joey rose

Leaves start off as a burgundy colour quickly turning to a glossy mid green. As well as being a member of the Rose Hall of Fame, Just Joey has an Award of Garden Merit (AGM) from the RHS. This variety is reported as growing well in partial shade in warmer climates.

PESTS AND DISEASES

Just Joey is a very healthy, disease resistant and quick growing rose.

We still suggest however that you follow our instructions on controlling black spot which can be found
here.

HOW TO PRUNE JUST JOEY ROSE

Prune Just Joey rose as follows:

Remove all stems which show any signs of disease or damage. Cut them back to ground level or back to a main stem.
Remaining stems should then be pruned back to 15cm / 6 in from ground level. This will allow you to get a good view of the structure of the rose bush.
Now prune the rose bush so that it has four or five stems arranged equally apart roughly in a circle from the centre of the plant. These stems should ideally be growing out from the centre of the bush.
Compromise may be required but the idea is to keep the centre of the rose bush open and have the branches growing outwards. This is to allow air circulation to the centre of the plant and avoid infections.
When selecting stems, make sure that you remove stems which are touching or nearly touching another stem. Where stems are touching, they will rub off the outer bark and allow infections to enter.
Green stems are healthier and younger than browner stems so remove the browner stems and leave the green stems which are more vigorous.
When selecting the stems to remain, don’t leave spindly stems. Your are looking to have four or five stems which are at least the thickness of a pencil, hopefully thicker.

CULTIVATION RECORD FOR JUST JOEY

PURCHASE
Bought online from Ashridge Nurseries with another rose on 24 January 2020 at a cost of £27.60 including posting costs (so £13.80 per rose).

It was delivered with the other rose on 12 February 2020, the slowest delivery time, by a large margin, of all the rose suppliers we tested. The rose was supplied as a bare root plant, see the picture below.

Just Joey bare root rose from Ashridge Nurseries

Rose variety “Just Joey” ready for planting

See our page on comparing online rose suppliers here.

Because of the delayed delivery time, it coincided with the wet weather caused by storm Ciara and then by storm Dennis. These storms caused the ground to be severely water logged. Rather than plant out in water logged ground we placed this rose in a large container and covered the roots with moist compost.

We are still awaiting better weather before planting out this rose. This is one of the problems with buying bare root roses online. They will arrive whatever the weather conditions and you may well need to “containerise” them temporarily – not a pleasant task in 60 miles an hour winds or sub zero temperatures.

We will update you below throughout the life of this rose.

2020

4th April 2020
Sprayed with Roseclear. Looks to be establishing well. Surrounding ground covered in cardboard and mulched with very well composted wood chip. Watered twice after planting because of the unusually dry weather.

15th June 2020
Sprayed with Roseclear.

20th June 2020
First flower appeared, later than the average rose.

2nd August 2020
The first flush (now finished) produced many blooms of beautiful roses. Some of the larger blooms did tend to droop and face downwards in rainy weather which is a disappointment. Totally clear of any diseases.

30 August 2020
Second flush of blooms has arrived with just as many blooms as the first flush. Signs of black spot.

VERDICT 2020
Not as good as some more modern roses but well worth a little bit of care if you love the apricot colour of the flowers.