One of the largest collections of roses in Europe is located in the Burgas village of Mirolyubovo. Because of the warmer weather this year, instead of May, when roses bloom, Hristo Arabadjiev’s flowers bloomed at the beginning of April.
The 45-year-old man defines the flower trade not exactly as a business, but rather as a hobby and pleasure. Christo’s passion for roses comes after he started working in nurseries in Great Britain years ago. He transferred his knowledge to our country in 2009 and began growing hundreds of different varieties – a selection from all over the world. “This year I started with 315 different varieties, and at the moment there are somewhere around 220. And there are not that many in Europe,” explains Hristo.
Every morning he enters the greenhouse with roses to inspect them, water them, remove dead flowers and petals, communicate with them. The formula for growing a rose turns out to be simple – water, fertilizer, spraying and love.
Hristo points out that nowadays there are already millions of varieties of the prickly aromatic plant. It is likely that new hybrids continue to be created by proven botanists and breeders. “One of them is David Austin. And in Germany there is – Korde Santal, in France there is Mayland”, explains the collector. Among his exhibits are roses with a fruit aroma, with a hint of citrus, or even a rose in the color and smell of a violet. Some roses are just beautiful and colorful, but without fragrance. Hristo shows us even a green rose, as well as hybrids in several colors. It is categorical that this is the queen of flowers.
Hristo specifies that it is important to protect the flower from pests, which it easily attracts, and adds that the aroma of the rose is often affected by the warmth of the air and the acidity of the soil. “It so happens that a rose from red, when it is very, very warm, it blooms pink. It simply fades the color, burns and the beauty of the rose itself is not visible”, adds the breeder.
