Whenever there is a special occasion where you have to give someone something to make them feel special, flowers probably pop up in your head. Whenever you think of flowers, one of the first ones that come across in most people’s minds is a rose.
People don’t usually think much about the type of rose and just focus on the color, so they get the right message across. What if we told you there is a unique type of rose that is not seen that often? That rose is the Bengal rose, and it is truly a sight for sore eyes. Come and take a look at this beautiful flower with us!
What is the Bengal Rose?
The Bengal Rose is rather uncommon and is nowhere near the regular rose that you are used to seeing everywhere. This flower goes by multiple names, including China rose, Bengal Beauty, Bengal Crimson, Rose Chinensis, etc.
It turns out that this flower comes from the genus Rosa family. Regardless of the Bengal in its name, the Bengal Rose is native in Hubei, Sichuan, and Guizhou, which are all parts of Southwestern China.
A rise in popularity for this flower was observed around the late 18th century when they were being cultivated in Western Europe. However, cultivation has been taking place in East Asia for an even longer period.
The flower is a shrub plant that thrives in hedges with a height of about 1 to 2 meters. This rose is considered to be a wild flower, and that is why it is a bit rarer than regular roses. When it comes to the color of the petals, they can be anything from red to pink. A vibrant crimson is often seen in the Bengal rose. Sometimes they can also grow white petals.
Each flower has 5 petals, but in some cases, they might have 6. There are about 3 to 5 leaflets on each flower. The flower is not too big, just about 4-5 cm in diameter, but it can be bigger. It also forms kind of like a cup form. However, the cross-sectional shape can be shaped like anything amongst a circle, pear, or egg.
The length of the leaflets is about 3 to 6 cm, while the width sits anywhere between 1 to 3 cm. The leaves on this plant are divided pinnately, and their length can range from 12 cm up to 27 cm. The branches supporting everything have a unique bark with a purple to brown hue. Be careful when handling a Bengal Rose plant because the barks have some spikes that you don’t want to cut you.
Long stamens can be seen on the flowers, and there are a lot of them. There is also a decent amount of hair on this plant which is invisible even through the naked eye.
Lastly, Bengal roses produce red fruits anywhere between June to November, and they come in egg and pear-like shapes.
How to Grow Bengal Rose Flower
Growing flower plants is something not everyone can do because they do need to take good care of the plant before the flowers begin to bloom. The same applies to Bengal Roses. However, these flowers do not require a large amount of maintenance since they grow on their own in the wild quite often.
Below, we are going to be discussing the amount of water, sunlight, and fertilizer this flowering plant will need to achieve full bloom.
The size of your pot should not be too large because that will be just unnecessary. A medium-sized pot, either made of plastic or clay, will do just fine. Like all other roses, the Bengal rose can also grow in bushes, so you can plant it outside in your garden as well. However, when you are planting it, you need to keep a few things in mind.
A very helpful tip would be to get your roses in small containers; it makes planting them much simpler.
These roses need a great amount of sunlight for about 6 to 8 hours of the day. If you are planting this flower inside, then your best bet would be to keep it on a West or East facing balcony.
However, the sunlight during the afternoon can be too harsh, which can scorch the petals of the rose. So, you want it to be in an area with a lot of indirect sunlight.
Be ready to take a bucket of water to your Bengal Rose plant every two days. This plant needs quite a bit of water for its beautiful bloom. Don’t forget to water it or else the plant and flowers will start to wilt very quickly.
While this plant does need a lot of water, make sure you’re not overwatering it either because that can cause severe damage to it as well. Good soil drainage is also essential for the growth of Bengal Roses.
Maintenance Tips
Maintaining the Bengal Rose is not particularly difficult, but it’s not the strongest plant either so it does require some care, as we have said before.
Cut off bits of roots that have become rotten
While planting your Bengal Rose, you may see that some parts of the roots look discolored. The wise decision would be to carefully cut those parts so it doesn’t inhibit the growth of the flowers.
Slow-release fertilizer should be used from time to time
Too much fertilizer can cause damage to the plant, but using slow-release fertilizer sparingly but routinely will give you the best yield of roses. The fertilizer should be used more during the growing season because then it will promote healthy growth.
Clean up your roses
By ‘cleaning up’ here, we mean to remove any dead parts of the plant that looks unappealing. This can be anything from damaged wood, odd-looking stems, suckers, etc.
Different Ways you can Use the Bengal Rose.
The Bengal Rose has great ornamental value with their beautiful colors, from a light pink to a deep crimson. There are several forms of this plant with slight variations, so it can be used for many different ornamental purposes.
Besides decorating, this flower can be used in some unique ways as well. The buds of Bengal roses and even the whole flowers can be boiled and used as a kitchen herb to cook dishes like soups. That is not the only edible part of the plant. The flesh around the seeds of this plant can be consumed after removing the seed hairs.
This flesh from the seeds provides beneficial nutrients like Vitamin E, and they are usually consumed by grounding them with flour.
Final Words
Flowers are very fascinating things when you start taking a deeper look into them. The Bengal Rose is no exception. It is quite a unique rose, so you may not have seen it in real life before. However, you can try to find this Bengal beauty and add it to your garden, so your garden looks more unique!
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Resources:
https://www.gardendesign.com/roses/care.html
https://myplantin.com/plant/830