My rose

[ladylouise62]

I planted this rose 3 or 4 years ago and it has never done much, then suddenly, this year it already had 4 or 5 blooms, and at present has 13 altogether. Whoo-hoo!!

[rolf]

Result, lovely deep colour as well.

[Catherine]

Lovely rose, Louise!

I think this is going to be a great rose year - the early summer part anyway. Mine are rather taking over here - and they were only planted in March 2008!

[ladylouise62]

Wow, Catherine - they must like it there.
I'm not a big Rose plant lover as I don't find the plant very pleasing and although the flowers are stunning, they aren't normally longlived... and my garden isn't big enough to have things that are nice for just one part of the year. But I am glad that I decided to plant this now it has got going... I'm going to plant a Spring and autumn clematis nearby to make up for the non-flower mnths.

[Catherine]

'Nice for one part of the year?' How can you say that, Louise? Roses flower from May to December - and sometimes into January..

Here are two of ours just now - Climbers, 'Masquerade' (two pics, back and front) and 'Zephirine Drouhin'. We have 34 bush roses and 10 climbers/ramblers. Only the two ramblers have a short season - June, July and early August.

My great uncle used to say, 'Without water a garden has no soul, without birds it has no spirit and without a rose it has no heart'. Very true if you think about it!

(We have several Clematis plants growing through roses as well!)

[ladylouise62]

What lovely roses, Catherine. I particularly like the first one (Masquerade) as it varies in colour - that always add more interest. My memory was that Roses flowered then gave up and despite cutting the heads off after flowering, my one hasn't had more than a couple of weeks of showing. I was thinking of getting a rambler (I believe that they do keep going), but do you have to still cut the faded heads off, as that must be difficult once it gets large and, well, rambling?

As for a garden without a rose - I sort of agree, which is why I gave in and got one

[Catherine]

Thanks, Louise!

Some are 'one time' flowering, but many are 'repeat flowering', so you need to think what is the best choice for each planting.

(I'll not continue here and distract attention from your subject, but maybe when I'm more organised, I'll try a 'rose thing' on another thread.... )

[ladylouise62]

Continue away, Catherine.. it seems 'on topic' to me, and I'm not that precious about my threads - I like to chat! Anyway, I need all the help I can get on ornamentals