In a Vase on Monday - The Florist Roses - 25 May 2026

It is really hot today, and after getting up early and throwing open the windows just to refresh the house, before closing them and the blinds and curtains on the sunny side of the house, which normally happens just after breakfast, I went for my usual early morning tour of the garden.  The first roses are fully out on the four Home Florist Rose Shrub collection with a lot more buds to come.  Early this morning I picked three one each from 'Timeless Pink', 'Timeless Cream' and 'Timeless Charisma'.

Rose Home Florist in a Vase

These remind me of my Parents who grew in addition to all their tropical plants and flowers, rose trees and the roses were a great attraction for bouquets in the tropics.  My father was a botanist entomologist and plant pathologist and run the growing side of things, whilst my mother was the business woman and florist, helped of course by a number of talented people. 

I myself favour the more relaxed form of domestic gardening and flower arranging.  When I was once looking at the rose bouquets from David Austen and saw 'Florist type roses' rather than their more floppy stemmed varieties, I thought they also sold those type of rose trees, it got me searching, but their roses for their bouquets are sourced from Kenya, so loads of air miles! A  few years ago the 'Timeless Collection' came to my attention, and their blooms really are like the long tall stemmed roses you buy as cut flowers. In bud and open too, they are superb, and the rose shrubs strong and healthy. To get the large terminal rose I find that a little disbudding helps.  I used to love helping my dad do this job on the flowers destined to be used as cut flowers.

These roses with strong thornless stems are in a large white jug, together with Sedum Hylotelephium  erythrostictum 'Frosty Morn', aka 'Alison's sedum', and some flowers from an unnamed heuchera. The heuchera has pretty leaves too, but not featured here. Since it so hot I have included the old elephant and my Mum's little crystal watering can.

Yesterday was definitely a 'getting out the deckchair day'. I has worked in the garden till lunch time, and afterwards started on my current Reading group book: apt really as it called The Gardener.  This month's book was my choice.  I do like her style of writing, topics and have read several of her other books.  Even only three chapters in I love it.

The previous two book were also interesting and worth reading: The Wrong Sister by Claire Douglas and The Names by Florence Knapp.

I'm linking this with Cathy's post called 'Stately Spanish Galleon': the creator of 'In a Vase on Monday'.