Coming up Roses

In the last post, we left a front bay window border all newly rejuvenated, dug, levelled and poked with canes to mark out where the roses were going to go; and wouldn’t you know, it just so happens that this is about the best time of year to be getting bare root roses in. I could step out of the door into the freezing cold and make my way to one of the several garden centres around us to buy said roses but there’s a few things wrong with this scenario:

1. It’s freezing cold with arctic blasting winds outside
2. I might have to visit a few garden centres before I find all the roses I want
3. It’s freezing cold with arctic blasting winds outside
4. I want bare-root as opposed to potted roses because they’re cheaper
5. It’s freezing cold with arctic blasting winds outside

Instead, I got all pragmatic by filling up the hot water bottle, making up a mug of hot chocolate and settling in front of the computer to go shopping. I only need one web site to accomplish the task: David Austin Roses. A bit of browsing and my head was soon swimming with visions of glorious rose beds spilling over with the most exquisite flowers. Their perfect forms, spotless foliage and headiest sweet fragrance drifted virtually through my mind as I incessantly clicked, “Add to Basket”.

I did have a plan of sorts; the border I have to work with is narrow and probably has room for about three or four medium-sized rose bushes, of course, that’s completely unacceptable, I decided to fit seven. You see, I cannot resist the “English” roses, for me, there’s no point in giving other rose shrubs the time of day. Filtering through the varieties, sizes, perfume and colour, I systematically copied and pasted the pictures of the roses I liked from the site into an “Untitled Document” and moved the pictures around until I had a pleasing arrangement that looked like this:

So who do we have here? Well, starting at the back (top row) we have (from left to right):

• Gentle Hermione
• Wollerton Old Hall
• Generous Gardener

Then at the front of the border (bottom row) we have (from left to right):

• Olivia Rose Austin
• Jude the Obscure
• Munstead Wood
• Princess Alexandra of Kent

The roses at the back are larger than the ones at the front and I moved and varied the colours around a little. The scent for all these roses are supposed to be “strong”, but I’ve discovered that it really does depend on the nose.

So we have this most beautiful picture of the virtual reality, here’s what the real world sent through the post a short time later:

Triffids on the drive? No, these are the bare-root roses that are the substitute for the pictures above. How such ugly looking sticks can produce such beautiful flowers, I will never know. At the bottom-middle edge of the picture you’ll see the Post-It note that has my design scribbles of what’s to be planted in which position. These roses were delivered during the day and so were kept in a trug of water until I got home and was ready for them.

It certainly pays to be pre-prepared and knowing that winter’s short days and long working hours aren’t conducive to getting bare root roses planted in a timely manner, the border was already prepared for the plants at the weekend by digging seven large, deep holes:

I took the opportunity to blame the mess of holes on the neighbour’s dog. The preparation of this border (detailed in the previous post) meant making these holes was actually pleasurable and not a hard slog through solid, wet clay.

Despite the best intentions and even coming home early the day the roses arrived to get them in the ground, I still ended up planting by streetlight and with the help of an LED work-lamp. The neighbours have seen it all now.

With a final levelling of the soil and a few watering cans later, all seven roses were settled in, still dormant but snug and cosy. Just as well as the next morning found them with a collar of snow.

When the season starts in a few month’s time, they will wake to find themselves in a warm, sunny, west-facing border with meticulously prepared rich soil around their roots and the picture of roses above, printed and laminated with a note stuck to it saying “this is what you are meant to be, make it happen!”.