New Roses

Installing piers destroyed my beloved roses. The roses I had purchased for $1.00 a bush. They were beautiful, but crowded in the little bed by the garage. The story I am about to tell is admittedly overkill. My previous roses I picked from the leftovers of the season. They were beautiful, and I loved them. This year I tried to make informed decisions, and what will it benefit me? Only time will tell.

We have been waiting and waiting to replant the rose bed. Pretty bare and dismal – right?

Friend Jane the Gardner told me of online sites that sell roses.

David Austin out of Tyler (The Rose Capital of not just Texas, but the Rose Capital of the World.) sells English roses.

Then there were the antiques roses from the Antique Rose Emporium in Brennan. These are two of the on-line sites, and there are many many more. My head was swimming. Floribunda, hybrid tea, antique, Texas pioneer, and on and on and on. How do you choose? I made notes and notes of notes.

Then I got an email from North Haven Gardens that they were going to have a rose event where they would have over 200 varieties of roses for sale. Jane the Gardner even sent me the information. That really made me take notice. We set off to do our homework. First we went to local nurseries, but most of them did not have many roses in stock at this time. Then we went to the “Happy Hour” (first Friday of every month) at North Haven gardens. The email mentioned that we could preview the roses, but we could not buy them until 7:00 a.m. the next morning.

Previewing the roses was beyond helpful. There were pictures of each rose with pertinent information. They even gave us a master list of all the available roses. We marked the ones we liked, and went home to make our choices. Again we checked information online. I only had room for five roses, and it was difficult to choose.

A little after six a.m. we stumble out of bed, dress, got our lists, headed to North Haven Gardens, and got in line with other brave souls to buy roses. Let it be known. It was cold.

Not only were these people buying roses, they were also talking roses. Loved it.

Our stash of roses. The tall one is a yellow Lady Banks rose bush. Super Sister has this, and I loved it. It only blooms once each year, but while it blooms it is magnificent. Hope it works.

Sweet Mother of Pearl. During our preview, I noticed a Mother of Pearl rose – light pink. Can you believe that? Had to have it.

We only made one change to our list. As we passed by, the rose Tahitian Sunset, I mentioned to Ever-Lovin’ how pretty the picture of Tahitian Sunset was – it is a variegated yellow/apricot rose. This little man said, “That is my favorite rose.” With a recommendation like that, we bought it. Doesn’t he look like he knows about roses?

Can’t wait to see the big red/coppery blooms on Dolly Parton. The description mentions this rose is “full bodied like it’s namesake.”

Jane the Gardner told me about a Belinda’s Dream – a pink rose with large blossoms. She has two and loves them. I do trust her judgement.

I think the Julia Child might not be what I need in this bed. It appears to have beautiful yellow blooms, but I think it is going to be too short. The information mentions that it is a good rose to grow in a container. We will see.

Buying roses was fun. But then Ever-Lovin’ had the hard task of planting them. He worked so hard.