Chinatown in full bloom 🙂Nice early display from Summer sweetheart And finally my first ever blooms from Tottering by Gently..planted bare root over the winter. Lovely simple flowers.
'Eyes for You' plays this game with me. Opening partially but not fully and staying like that for days. Hopefully, it will get better once the weather is warmer. It has a pleasant fragrance.
Hello all, I'm a newbie (been lurking in the background for a while enjoying reading your posts). I discovered how much I love gardening 6 years ago when we moved from London to leafy Surrey and I inherited an overgrown garden that needed a lot of TLC. Over the years I have fought wars with bramble and ground elder (evil weed!), trimmed and discarded many overgrown shrubs and created new borders and most important of all...planted lots and lots of roses!
My absolute favorite roses are Desdemona and Jacqueline du Pre. Both flower their socks off and are two of the first roses to start blooming with divine fragrance and healthy growth. I also absolutely love Lady of Shalott which looks so lovely at the front of our house, but I always feel a tinge of disappointment when admiring it and it has no fragrance...if it had a stronger fragrance it would be my favourite rose without a doubt! It took a good 3 years to get going, in the first and second years it's stems were droopy and all flowers were pointing downwards, but now in year 3 (and after a good pruning) it has produced strong stems with upright flowers. Munstead Wood is also looking very healthy and vigorous this year (now in year 3) after a slow start in previous years.
I've also been really impressed with Roald Dahl. I bought it on a whim 3 years ago and it has grown into a beautiful shrub with lots of flowers all through summer and really healthy foliage. No fragrance, but because it's not nose height, it doesn't really matter.
My favourite climber is Generous Gardener. It's now in year 4 and is huge, full of blooms and so healthy and vigorous even in a shady spot. It looks gorgeous with a purple clematis growing through it and has such wonderful fragrance!
My biggest disappointments have been Gertrude Jekyll and Teasing Georgia. Both produce lovely flowers, but Gertrude is growing very slowly and just seems a bit underwhelming compared to some of my more vigorous roses. My Teasing Georgia now in year 5 and is too short to be a climber and too tall and lanky to be a beautiful shrub rose. It has very little foliage compared to my other roses and is shapeless. I love roses with healthy foliage that grow into a round shape, but these two don't fit the bill.
I also ordered lots of bare root roses from Peter Beales bare root sale 2 years ago and love Perse rose, Festive Jewel and Gardeners Joy. St Ethleburga is a bit like Gertrude Jekyll, beautiful fragrant blooms when in flower, but otherwise quite underwhelming.
I'd love to order Royal Jubilee, Ancient Mariner and Gabriel Oak, but have to pass this year due to financial uncertainty caused by covid. Maybe it's a good time for me to pause and enjoy the roses that I already have and appreciate them rather than always salivate after the next rose. I missed the Peter Beales bare root sale this year, but am also tempted by Our Beth.
So glad to have found a group of people who I can talk to about my roses as they are so precious to me!
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Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
''Chawton Cottage'...
I discovered how much I love gardening 6 years ago when we moved from London to leafy Surrey and I inherited an overgrown garden that needed a lot of TLC. Over the years I have fought wars with bramble and ground elder (evil weed!), trimmed and discarded many overgrown shrubs and created new borders and most important of all...planted lots and lots of roses!
My absolute favorite roses are Desdemona and Jacqueline du Pre. Both flower their socks off and are two of the first roses to start blooming with divine fragrance and healthy growth. I also absolutely love Lady of Shalott which looks so lovely at the front of our house, but I always feel a tinge of disappointment when admiring it and it has no fragrance...if it had a stronger fragrance it would be my favourite rose without a doubt! It took a good 3 years to get going, in the first and second years it's stems were droopy and all flowers were pointing downwards, but now in year 3 (and after a good pruning) it has produced strong stems with upright flowers. Munstead Wood is also looking very healthy and vigorous this year (now in year 3) after a slow start in previous years.
I've also been really impressed with Roald Dahl. I bought it on a whim 3 years ago and it has grown into a beautiful shrub with lots of flowers all through summer and really healthy foliage. No fragrance, but because it's not nose height, it doesn't really matter.
My favourite climber is Generous Gardener. It's now in year 4 and is huge, full of blooms and so healthy and vigorous even in a shady spot. It looks gorgeous with a purple clematis growing through it and has such wonderful fragrance!
My biggest disappointments have been Gertrude Jekyll and Teasing Georgia. Both produce lovely flowers, but Gertrude is growing very slowly and just seems a bit underwhelming compared to some of my more vigorous roses. My Teasing Georgia now in year 5 and is too short to be a climber and too tall and lanky to be a beautiful shrub rose. It has very little foliage compared to my other roses and is shapeless. I love roses with healthy foliage that grow into a round shape, but these two don't fit the bill.
I also ordered lots of bare root roses from Peter Beales bare root sale 2 years ago and love Perse rose, Festive Jewel and Gardeners Joy. St Ethleburga is a bit like Gertrude Jekyll, beautiful fragrant blooms when in flower, but otherwise quite underwhelming.
I'd love to order Royal Jubilee, Ancient Mariner and Gabriel Oak, but have to pass this year due to financial uncertainty caused by covid. Maybe it's a good time for me to pause and enjoy the roses that I already have and appreciate them rather than always salivate after the next rose. I missed the Peter Beales bare root sale this year, but am also tempted by Our Beth.
So glad to have found a group of people who I can talk to about my roses as they are so precious to me!
Ive got lots of those that you’ve mentioned. Please post some pics whenever you get chance!