A beautiful rose that will not flower

Hello everyone. I am a newbie who grows house plants and have, so far, had great success and passed many cuttings on to friends and family.

Recently, I saw a nice miniature rose in a supermarket and bought it. It is healthy and its daily growth is astounding. It has four large buds that have been there for over a week, with such healthy flowers inside that they are almost bursting! But, they will NOT flower! Grrrr! I am so looking forward to their beauty, but this plant will not flower.

Advice, please. Any and all ideas welcome, though I have read mini roses do not do well indoors. That is a given, but it is doing well, it just will not go the last step and flower!

Thank you so much for reading.

Maybe needs feeding roses are heavy feeders. Saying that rose buds can take a while to devlope too.

I think it is just a matter of patience-where have you got this plant situated?

I have it in a kitchen window which catches the beuatiful sun (today especially) from dawn until 2pm.

What I failed to mention is these are the second round of buds. In a past life, I was a county-champion dahlia grower and show'er and am used to 'bringing on' the best buds. With this in mind, I removed the whole first lot that wouldn't flower, fattened the plant up a little by topping it, and these are the second tranche odf buds, so it is definitelty not a patience issue! It is an 'EEEEEK' issue!

Thanks.

Sorry, I failed to respond to the feeding question. I read that flowering roses need permanently watering, not far short of boggy soil, so I put 6 drops of Baby-Bio to a small watering can and keep it topped-up in the saucer so it can draw the water as it needs it.

I think you are treating it to well-dont understand why you removed the first set of buds to be honest-this plant wants to flower -you seem to keep stopping it-treat it mean-it wants to flower to set seed-if it thinks it is on the way out -it will do that

Seems to be in the right spot -let it get on with it

I will do as you say, sotongeoff, and leave it for a few more days. The first set of buds went through the whole life-cycle; they burst to flowering, but didn't, stayed in that state for a week until the flowers would start to whither normally, then began to turn brown, when I nipped them, so I definitely didn't jump the gun but genuinely have a plant that goes through normal life-cycles, but forgets to flower!

There is a genuine reason for this, I am sure. It cannot possibly be a first-time-it-ever-happened thing!

I think it might be a patience issue, rose buds can take a while to mature inside. You can't expect it to bud and flower within a week, especialy in this weather, even if its on a windowsill, its mild cloudy weather. 

I think it mght have something to do with length of daylight etc.  When you bought the plant it will have been raised under artificial conditions with long periods of 'daylight' to bring it into bud.  Even daylight from sunrise until 2am will not have been of the intensity of light needed to get a rose to flower.    I think it will do better when we get better light conditions, and even better still outside or in a conservatory or greenhouse.  

It's worth remembering that dahlias are late summer/autumn flowering plants, and are stimulated to flower by shortening daylength, whereas roses are late spring/summer flowering and need lengthening days to flower.  

Having been brought from nursery conditions under intense 'Gro-lights'  with long 'day-length' to a shorter period of daylight will have confused it no end.

Also, I'd cut back a bit on the watering.  I agree that when in flower roses need water to keep the petals 'plumped up', but yours isn't flowering yet.  Let it dry out just a little bit, then with the lengthening daylight you might just fool it into thinking that it's summer, but my best bet is to get it outside under glass.

Remember that where plants are concerned supermarkets rely on the impulse buy - people go there to buy their groceries and see a potted rose full of buds and think 'That's going to look lovely' and buy it on a whim.  It doesn't really matter to the supermarket if it fulfils your expectations - you'll still go there to buy your groceries.

Garden centres and nurseries rely on people going there to buy plants - if the plants they sell disappoint their customers the customers will go elsewhere so it's in the GC's interest to make sure their plants are going to bloom when the customer gets them home.  I doubt if you'd find a reputable GC selling roses in bud in what must've been mid-winter 

And another thought, I find that Baby Bio is good for foliage houseplants, but flowering plants need a bit more potash - I'd use a very small amount of a proprietory rose fertiliser.

God, thats a depressing though Verdun, I LOVE my roses and find them so easy to grow, have never even fertilized or watered them. Its a shame to think with all your attempts and knowledge that you strugle. 

Cornwall has the same problem as Wales - it is too wet for Roses. Lots of black spot. I did just wonder whether the reason the plant is ont flowering might be that it is making lots of root and leaf growth because its roots have room and you are feeding it well.

Thank you all for the wonderful responses and advice. Doveabove, like the rest of you, talks a lot of sense and it is true, I should have known better than to buy a supermarket plant, but it sang to me, so I was forced to!

Anyway, thank you all and just to update, I repotted the rose this morning, so that should take a bit of the water away, I had a thought it might be 'pot bound' to an extent. I used specialist rose potting soil, probably with lots of potash as advised above, and I shall let you know, in a few days, how we go on.

Thanks again, and may I say what a wonderful forum this is, full of nice people!

Phil x

Hi, Verdun. I am deeply aware that you know a lot more than me and I'm keen to learn from you. After your post, I did a bit of research, because I had read somewhere that roses grow better in the dryer east of the country. As I understand it, clean air means that they do not get enough sulphur, which makes them vulnerable to black spot fungus. The fungus grows faster in warm, humid conditions, provided best in the UK in the mild, wet west. I do grow roses, though they struggle. I have just (five minutes ago) discovered that there is something called Balance pH Wettable Sulphur which is supposed to be the best way of giving roses back their sulphur and thus preventing black spot from starting.

I'm not pretending I know more than you - I'm just passing on what I found out.

Oooh, Lyn. I can see what you mean. I shall have to get some more pots!

When I was a teenager, illness forced me to eschew sport so I took up gardening and became something of an expert.

40 years later, I haven't got a clue!.Foolish old person.

Verdun, you just come across as someone who knows what he is talking about and is enthusiastic about it. I've read quite a few of your posts and you are never rude and always knowledgeable, two things that impress me. I'm glad I was able to find out something useful.

I may have grovelled a bit in my earlier post!  I know I'm too quick with words and don't want to pretend to know more than I do. I love to learn, and having a bit of fun and interaction with other people improves the experience no end. That's why I like this forum.