Rose Appreciation Thread

[Furries]

Following on from some chat on another thread, I said I’d start one on here re roses. Any hints, tips and lots of photos welcome!

Disclaimer: I am not a competent gardener, but I do love my roses. I will start with a few separate posts to allow for relevant photos.

To start, I love the David Austin website. You can search by colour, size, aspect etc. And there is plenty of helpful information re planting, pruning, watering, feeding etc. However, you also NEED to request their brochure. It is a thing of beauty and I look forward to receiving it every year - so many gorgeous photos to pour over!

I had never had or planted roses before. I wanted to make roses the focal point for my front garden. Partly for ease - rather than having a garden with a variety of plants that needed different care at different times, this means that they all get the same care at the same time.

With regards to planting/care:

A couple of weeks before planting, I made sure that I dug plenty of well-rotted manure into the beds. When planting, I sprinkled Mycorrhizal Fungi into the hole and over the rootball.

I prune, feed and mulch around the first half of March. It can be done earlier, but I like to try and wait as long as possible to avoid frosts. By the time you come to doing this most leaves should already be gone, but if there are any left then these should be removed.

I then feed and mulch again after they’ve had their first flush of blooms - this is usually around the beginning of July for me.

Other than that, it’s keeping on top of deadheading. That can be quite a lot for me - I’ve got 18 shrubs and 5 standards.

If anyone is looking for roses, David Austin have 15% off until 18 April - the code is PILGRIM.

Will add some photos in further posts. Looking forward to seeing lots of rose love on here!

Thrilled with my rose this year.
The Lady Gardener

Thank you @Vicliz24 and @BestIsWest 🙂

Hurrah, I found my people 👋. I'm loving everyone's photos. I have a potted Roald Dahl and a Generous Gardener (first photo). The deer munch in it endlessly so it has really survived the worst treatment. I would like to find a variety that currently I buy as cut stems in the supermarket (second photo). They are like tightly packed tea roses, dusky cream and vintage pink, the edges of the petals curl up slightly. So beautiful I'd love to grow my own. Long term I have plans for a walled garden which I intend to plant with roses and soft fruits. But first I need to understand how to grow the roses. I don't know anything about pruning and dead heading for instance. Real beginner ☺️

This one is Sweet Syrie which I love because a) gorgeous scent and b) the openness which means the bees love it.

I have a thing for pale pink roses, think it goes back to being a child when we had a hedge full of pink roses at the bottom of the garden. Those Supermarket roses look ace @BlooDeBloop.

@OnceUponATimeInChristmasTime
I am a bit of a novice when it comes to cut flowers. I just cut them at an angle and put them into water. I’m afraid I’ve no idea as to whether it encourages new growth or how it affects the plant. I have been cutting a bit more than normal over the last fortnight, so I’ll watch and see how it affects the second flush of flowers and report back!

If anyone else knows the answer to onceuponatimes question I would love to hear the answer!

My rose photo.

Forgot to say its name! It’s Rosa Versicolor. A newer variant of Rosa Munro, a really old rose from Tudor times. Something to do with Henry 8th I believe.

Ga! Rosa Mundi

Love this thread I'm a rose lover and also look forward to my David Austin book every year 😍😍 I have three DA so far, got my eyes on loads more

Harlow carr
Emily Brontë
James Galway

I also have a just Joey, peace, and radio times, and several others we inherited from previous owners. Sometimes the black spot is bad, I've noticed if I use miracle gro rose feed it helps blooms and seems to stop the blackspot being so bad

Attached photos will add more

Harlow carr
Emily Brontë
Alnwick

That apricot rose is just stunning

That's Emily Brontë David Austin
The other apricot one on my other pics is "just Joey " 🥰

Yay, I found my people!

im on the other side of the world, but I’m a rose lover from way back. Growing up, my Dad was president of the Rose Society in our area. We grew up surrounded by them. I inherited his live!

This pic is from last summer of my Pierre de Ronsard.

Looking forward to reading along.

Our garden has a lot of very old roses which the deer mostly leave alone; they seem exceptionally thorny so perhaps that's why. I've just added a new rose, my absolute favourite, Margaret Merril, which is a pinkish white and has the most wonderful scent. Pic below. I've also added Wollaston Old Hall which unfortunately I've just dead headed so can't show you the flowers. My hope is one day they will together cover the wall they are growing against.

Ben Hamilton Anderson is a David Austin rose expert,.You can find him on Instagram and youtube. I follow him on YouTube as he does lots of short honest David Austin rose reviews, as well as tips on how to look after them. He grows lots himself and does a top ten on best roses, best roses for shade, scent, drought, etc. I have learnt so much, he also advises on good companion plants for roses. There are some really good YouTube videos 're David Austin roses, people grow them all over the world and share on there.

I've promised myself a Margaret Merril, that photo is everything I want in a rose except the scent. I was talking to one of the gardeners at Fryer's, he seemed very knowledgeable. Told me about Margaret and her husband. He said they had a perfume made with the same scent as the rose.

My beautiful Bright Spirit ❤️

Eiffel Tower ~ 1963

I am pretty useless when it comes to keeping up with threads, but it’s particularly shameful when it’s a thread that I started!

Wow, there are so many stunning photos and descriptions. I’ve been doing lots of googling to check out all of the varieties mentioned. I now just need to double the size of my garden, I want to squeeze them all in.

I’m another one who never thinks to take cuttings, but having scene the beautiful vases on here I think I’m going to give it a go. Do you cut when they’re buds or in full bloom?

How are all your roses doing this year? We had a rubbish spring - very cold and windy. And summer, so far, has mostly been constant grey skies, very wet and some strong winds. My standards and shrubs have done ok, but haven’t looked as great as last year.

For my new rose arch, I planted The Generous Gardner mid-October last year. Not a great photo as you can’t really see them as they were so small. Am pleased with how they’re doing so far, though I need to do better at tie-ing them in. The scent is absolutely stunning, I keep shoving my nose in to inhale when I walk by!

For David Austin fans, you’ve probably seen the emails if you’re on their mailing list. If not, they’ve got a competition on at the moment to submit photos of your DA roses. On instagram use #ukfeaturemyrose.

Couple more!

Gorgeous rose arch. I’m very envious.

The rain has done for most of ours but we do have these two flowering which DH bought in a sale as bare roots in May. I didn’t think they’d flower this year but they have.

I absolutely love my David Austin roses.
They are my preferred roses and very beautiful.

But, I must say I have been blow away by a pity purchase from Poundland two years ago. £1.50! It was left on the shelf without water or light and I couldn't leave it in the shop.
Beautiful strong, disease resistant deep pink climbing rose with wonderful scent.

It's finished flowering otherwise I'd post pictures.

I absolutely love that arch @Furries
So beautiful

My David Austin “Mary” just bloomed again today. It wasn’t in bloom yesterday!
“Claire” is the white buds next to it, and ready to go too

I’ve just saved it to my photos on my phone. It’s absolutely stunning @Furries