Garden Centre

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

May flowers - unknown roses

I don’t know what this rose is. It was planted in the front garden when we arrived, and in the first three years we lived in the house I don’t think it ever flowered. In year 4, armed with some pruners and a lot of hard-heartedness, I pruned it to within an inch of its graft. The following year it produced beautiful blush pink and golden blooms in May and has done so ever since. It’s strongly scented, with a tea and sugar fragrance, and has large open flowers. If you think you know which of the many hundreds of roses it is, please let me know.

Because we’re on pretty intractable clay and live in a windy, salt-exposed environment, even though the garden at the back as six foot fences, we don’t have massive success with roses. I have one Old English Rose, which holds its own but has never really been impressive, one Ernest Morse which does pretty well, and an Iceberg climber which thrives (but then Iceberg would survive in a dustbin, given an inch of soil) so this rose, whatever it is, makes me very happy as it provides the illusion of a British summer garden without putting me to too much effort!

Labels: English rose, may roses, rose garden

The All Seasons Gardener at 1:25 AM

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