ROSES, ROSES EVERYWHERE

I haven’t posted for a couple of weeks as we’ve been away on holiday. When I left there were only a couple of roses in flower, but. I got home (only 12 days later people!) they were all out. I watched Gardeners World on Thursday (not Friday because of Glastonbury which is fine because I enjoy the music and there’s no way I would want to be in those crowds in person). Adam Frost talked briefly about how lovely Peonies are despite their short flowering season. Too right it’s short- I’d missed mine entirely.  There were just shrivelled brown petals left and did I mention that I was only away for 12 days? 

For me, holidays can be a time of reflection and on this one I did ask myself why I spend so much time on the garden and whether I should reduce it a little. On my return home I found the garden battered and bedraggled with heavy rain, the ground scattered with fallen petals and the warm moist air heavy with the perfume of roses. It all looked wonderful to me at least so the answer seems to be carry on as I was! 

Very short video of glorious heavy rain

It is of course terribly fashionable to grow the old roses from the 19th century and I was intending to make this weeks six about them. But while I can manage the odd picture of a perfect bloom, they don’t seem to have coped well with the rain and the more modern roses have (due to their shorter sturdier habit) so you’re getting those instead. 

This is probably ‘Frensham’. The only rose in the garden when we arrived, swamped by a spotted laurel and sending out one solitary bloom on a long stem like a distress signal. I moved it here where it has done ridiculously well ever since. A skirt of Munstead Wood lavender sits under it happily growing in the piles of builders rubble that lurked below the surface. 

Champagne Moment is a beautiful creamy floribunda which is smothered in flower and doesn’t suffer from the dreaded black spot. Its only downside is that it’s not scented. It seems that when it comes to roses you can’t have health and beautiful flowers and scent, and of course we want all three with repeat flowering too of course. If you’ve ever found this holy grail of roses do let me know. 

For some reason the peachy apricot shades feature a lot in my garden. This is Roald Dahl from David Austin roses. It’s quite a compact one if you have a small space to fill. 

Next to it, and very similar in colour is the hybrid musk, Buff Beauty. 

In this photo below white ‘Iceberg’ has ‘Raubritter’ tumbling forward at its feet. I went to a talk by Michael Marriott (the Rose expert) recently and he said Iceberg was far closer to being a shrub rose than a floribunda.  

In this one Iceberg is surrounded by some sisyrinchium which have flopped all over the place. 

I’m finding it very difficult to keep it to six. My last choice must go to Jude the Obscure. I love the tropical fruity scent of this one and its colour and the cabbage rose blooms. Of course it isn’t healthy (remember you can't have all three attributes)  and is no longer sold. The new rose launched by David Austin this year called 'Dannahue’ looks like it may be a fine substitute. 

I can’t leave you without showing you a picture of ‘our’ hare. At least we sincerely hope it’s not a rabbit in disguise. It seems to enjoy the grass on the front lawn very much and we are wondering whether he would be a good substitute for a robot mower. 

 Thank you for reading, and don't forget all the Six on Saturday posts can be found on Garden Ruminations where Jim collates all our garden ramblings.  See you next week.