A rose by any other name

I picked up a gardening book from the library today on roses and this spurred me on to drop into the local garden centre on my way home to grab a couple more roses whilst they are still on offer. They are David Austin roses which have always been healthy whenever I've bought them. I had a 'Winchester Cathedral' rose (a lovely white rose) in my last garden but haven't found one to replace it yet so I bought a different white, 'Glamis Castle' which I've planted by the deck. It doesn't have a great scent but is a lovely cupped flower and is flowering abundantly right now, only a month after I planted it. I coudn't be more pleased with this exquisite plant.




I've gone for another 'Crown Princess Margarete' for the front steps. I was looking for another apricot coloured rose to accompany my original 'C.P.M.' and the 'Teasing Georgia' that I have interspersed with blue clematis but just couldn't find the right shade despite my best efforts so I've decided to double up on one of them and this way I get to keep my colour scheme without it getting too busy. I'd hoped the 'Spirit of Freedom' rose would work but it had too much of a pink tinge to it and whilst a cream or white would have uplifted the apricot and blue scheme I couldn't find one. I also couldn't find a climbing rose which is what I really wanted but the garden centre chappie told me it was a bad year for climbing roses (interestingly enough though they will be getting some in next week when the two roses for £20 deal finishes!) I smell a rat!






For my other rose I chose a completely different colour than I normally would choose - I don't know, in the last year I've really fallen for orange in the garden which is something I had never considered before. I'm still not a huge lover of red in my own garden and yellow isn't ever my first choice but I'm loving orange right now. Against blue or purple flowers or pots they just scream for attention. Of course, if you don't want anything too loud there are lots of variations right down to the palest, faded peach blush. A bright orange lily though always catches my eye; brave little thing, standing upright in a border and demanding I look only at it.



I've made it sound like I chose an orange rose, haven't I? Sorry to mislead you; I have in fact gone for a deep crimson rose called 'Munstead Rose'. It's a short shrub but mine has four stems, all topped with a mass of buds and it wafts the most delicious smell under my nose when I get near it. It's a sultry Rita Hayworth kind of rose if you know what I mean? It is just full of confidence that it is the most beautiful rose in a dusky, explosive sort of way. Of course, as in people, we are attracted to different types but this rose is my tall (although it's short!), dark and handsome type and I'm blown away by how much I love it. It's the sort of rose I want to put in a hidden garden, tucked between lots of dark, glossy leaves so it makes even more of an impact when you spot it. You know Jessica Rabbit, all curves and a great big fringe over one eye? I'm not explaining it very well but this is what this rose conjours up for me. It is not flashy but just completely sure of it's worth. Oh la la!

The tale doesn't end there, of course. I went back to the garden centre a week later and choose two more roses. ONe of them, a large shrub rose called Claire Austin is full of bud and I wanted another orange rose for the front garden (to soften the edge of the raised deck)