Its not that roses have fallen from favour, its just that there were no roses in my new garden. The rose I missed the most was Grace.....I have won prizes with Grace, and even picked Grace at Christmas Time. Of all the roses I grew in my last garden, Grace was consistently my favourite.
I also loved Ghislaine de Feligonde, and Mr S Open Arms...and I had taken a few cuttings of these two, and have one of each well rooted here in the garden now. Ghislaine de Feligonde is a perfect match in a vase with Grace, and as I write this, I have come up with the perfect spot in the garden to plant Ghislaine which was taken out of its pot and positioned temporarily in the ground last autumn.
I had planned on ordering bare rooted plants and planting them this winter, but when I read Cathy's blog about her new roses arriving from David Austin...I knew what I had to do. Life is too short now, and I want to get the bed by the Conservatory planted up. It will be a mixed bed. The plants were ordered on Monday, and arrived around lunch time Wednesday, and planted in the afternoon...probably less than 48 hours in their box...that's smart logistics for you.
This morning the small damaged side shoots were just picture perfect: I give you Three Graces...well three stems of Rose Grace.
The rose bushes arrived by courier and here they are ready to be opened.
Cleverly packaged with just some plastic tape, to hold the plant pot steady and upright...
The two rose bushes are having as good start as possible: a large and bountiful hole was dug, with plenty of compost added, well watered, with a sprinkling of David Austin Rose Food, and some fairy dust....then more mulch all around.
They may be small now, but will have plenty of time to send out good roots and get established well before the winter. Then next year they will be ready to romp ahead.
A few hours later this morning, the blooms are unfurling...and outside the plants had an additional good shower of rain.
Thank you Mr Austin and thank you Cathy.
What a gorgeous rose.
ReplyDeleteIf you type Grace in the search bar, you'll find other posts from a few years ago and be able to see how the rose changes as the bushes mature and grow stronger.
DeleteI am so pleased that you were as thrilled with your purchase as I was with mine - and I shan't apologise for leading you down this path of temptation! As you say, life is too short and if the resources are available then let's go for it!
ReplyDeleteAu contraire, you inspired me Cathy...thank you again.
DeleteYour 'Three Graces' are simply quite beautiful Noelle. It looks as if David Austin do an excellent job with the packaging. How soon did they arrive after ordering and is Grace highly scented? I'm with you on the life is too short theory! Thanks for your email. A reply is imminent :)
ReplyDeleteGrace has a gentle scent, a pleasing one...not strong...I am finding highly perfumed flowers bring on eye irritation these days. I think it was about three or four days.
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