Crop type: Tomatoes
Solanum lycopersicum ‘Rosella’ AGM
Common name: Cherry tomato ‘Rosella’
Crop slug: tomatoes
This Allotment Pro editorial draft summarises the cited RHS cultivar profile.RHS cultivar profile
1 - Overview
‘Rosella’ is a cordon cherry tomato for greenhouse or outdoor cultivation. It produces reliable, uniform trusses of good-flavoured dark pink to purple cherry tomatoes, a distinctive colour combined with an RHS Award of Garden Merit.
2 - Size
- Ultimate height
- 1–1.5 metres
- Ultimate spread
- 0.5–1 metre
- Time to ultimate size
- 1 year
Its columnar upright cordon habit needs tall support.
3 - Growing conditions
- Suitable soils
- Clay, loam or sand
- Moisture
- Moist but well drained
- Soil pH
- Acid or neutral
Maintain even moisture and begin high-potassium feeding when fruit sets.
4 - Position and hardiness
- Light
- Full sun
- Aspect
- South- or west-facing
- Exposure
- Sheltered
- Hardiness
- H1c — suitable outdoors in summer above approximately 5–10°C, but not frost hardy
Use a warm sheltered setting after frost.
5 - Colour and seasonal interest
| Season | Flowers | Foliage | Fruit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spring | — | Green | — |
| Summer | Green and yellow | — | Red, purple and pink |
Uniform dark pink-purple cherries are the defining visual feature.
6 - Botanical details
- Family
- Solanaceae
- Native to Great Britain and Ireland
- No
- Foliage
- Evergreen on the profile; grown as an annual crop
- Habit
- Columnar and upright
- Name status
- Accepted
- Award
- RHS Award of Garden Merit
Genus
Solanum includes annuals, perennials, shrubs and climbers with lobed foliage, five-lobed flowers and fleshy fruit.
7 - How to grow
Cultivation
Grow in full sun, water well and change to high-potassium feed after fruit begins to set. Tie the cordon to its support.
Propagation
Propagate by seed indoors.
Pruning
Remove side-shoots and pinch the leader after seven trusses under cover or four outdoors.
Pests
Glasshouse whitefly and tomato moth may attack.
Diseases
Rare honey fungus, blossom-end rot, magnesium deficiency, tomato spotted wilt virus and grey mould under glass are listed.