Thank you

Thank you.

Thank you - I don't think my wife appreciates the pots as much as you seem to. Many of the roses in small pots were supposed to be put in the ground this spring, but the weather wasn't favourable. The large potted roses are just there because I wanted large rose bushes but haven't really got space in the garden for them.

Thank you. I am pleased that you enjoyed the video.

Thanks Peter. I could not resist posting the Ancient Mariner at the beginning of the video - I just thought it looked gorgeous fluttering in the wind.

Thank you. 5 or 6 years ago that Ancient Mariner was in a pot and performing so badly that I wanted to throw it away, but my wife suggested giving it another chance in the ground, and that was just what a big bush like that needed - space! I shudder when I think how close I came to losing him!

Last year Eustacia seemed to be in flower nearly all the time, but the big Ancient Mariner took a very long break (about a month) between flushes, so I am enjoying the Ancient Mariner to the full while it's flowering. The second flush was not as impressive as the first last year, so, although the individual flowers will still look great, perhaps the overall display won't be as good.

@@nikkonchBTW, forget to write, the opening with the Ancient Mariner blown by the wind but still had a very clear colour looks really cool!

@@rosegardengems I thought so too - I was really keen to show the AM in particular - to show it is still flowering and to show its beauty.

So, only a few more days and you will be enjoying your garden to the full again, Linda. That must be a relief. And you still have the best of summer to come. I have probably mentioned my poor sense of smell before, which means I prioritise colour, shape and quantity over scent, but this week I was in a garden centre and stuck my nose in a Bathsheba and got a lovely hit of scent, and the same with Arthur Bell, but I have Bathsheba in my own garden and can rarely smell much at all - was it just the still air in the enclosed space or just a lucky combination of warmth and moisture in the air? My Mum in a Million (which I can smell!) had a brief first flush and I've been waiting weeks for her to start up again. Anyway, glad you enjoyed seeing the video. Start planning moving your plants back into position!

Hi Maggie, thanks for your kind comment. I remember considering buying Jacqueline as an alternative to Starlight Symphony as a bare root last autumn, but I wanted to have a climber. So I was surprised to hear you couldn't find JdP online and checked myself - you're right! But she is listed on many sellers' sites, so I am sure you will be able to pick her up as a bare root in the autumn. You'll just lose a year's growth, which for a gardener is annoying but not a disaster - we gardeners are a patient lot, aren't we? I enjoy the feeling of achievement when I grow successful cuttings, especially when I have put effort in, but the casual unplanned push of a pruned stem into the ground also gives me pleasure when that takes root! Moving roses, as I know to my cost, can be a risky business, especially if done when the rose is not dormant, but sometimes you have no choice. Good luck with your garden, and let's hope we get some more sun this summer.

@@nikkonch apologies for the lateness of my reply and thank you so much for your beautiful and encouraging message, it really mean a lot. I actually didn't consider the season we're in currently and got so worried that JdP might not be available anymore but hopefully it's just because we're in the summer season and that come autumn time there will be some in stock again. I got my JdP from a bare-root stock from David Austin almost 4 years ago but I know that they no longer supply it anymore. I will keep looking from other websites from autumn :) Retrospectively, I can now see why JdP didn't make it 🙈 it was definitely not dormant when I disturbed it. Thank you so much for your advise. I have not tried growing rose from a cutting but might need to start practising soon🙃 Happy gardening and I love all your roses. I have responded to your message so late that I'm now going to say let's hope we get some rain soon (it's been very hot and dry down here in the SouthWest). Regards, Maggie x🥰

@@lifeisbeautiful-smile I'm glad you found my reply reassuring. I think maybe my choice of Starlight Symphony as a similar-looking alternative (but a climber) was a poor one - mine has produced only a few flowers so far this summer. I was really tempted by JdP, especially since listening to the recording of the Elgar cello concerto played by the real JdP is one of ... no, not one of, it is THE most beautiful musical experience ever as far as I am concerned, so I would have liked to pay floral tribute to her. Maybe I will in the future! Wishing you rain or sun, whichever you are in need of as the season goes on!

No, Wendy, it's not your pruning, quite a few (most?) DA roses seem to get floppy as they get bigger. There's never a dull moment here - a young Jay flew into our patio door this evening. He lay upside down on his back for about half-an-hour and then righted himself, then he staggered behind a pot and he was there for at least another half hour. He may still be there. I don't know if he will actually survive. Panicking birds seem to hit our windows every few days, sometimes fatally, despite the stickers we have put on the glass. Badgers tend not to survive long in front of our house - they cross the road from a field and eventually get hit by a car. I had to lift a dead one into the ditch on the other side of the road, which was a mistake because the stench of his decomposing body could be smelled in our back garden for a week or two.

Thanks, Gav, but it would be easier to keep them healthy if we had warmth and sunshine though. wouldn't it|?

You had me walking around the garden with my tape measure in semi-darkness for this Jay Jay! The Ancient Mariner, Eustacia Vyes, Golden Celebration, Lady of Shalott and Desdemona are all 36-48 (about 42 average) inches apart, the ones at the left end (Gabriel etc). had to be packed in a bit tighter due to lack of space (and I also planted a Gabriel cutting late, next to its parent). That large Eustacia Vye "cutting" I have in a pot has presented me with a problem since ideally I would like them all in the same bed - but where?

@@nikkonchyou can cram them in nik if you wish. One thing I learnt looking at some established rose gardens is it’s possible. I think what they do is prune back hard. And a reduced number of stems. Roses that I see no more than 7-8 inches apart usually have 1,2 occasionally a max 3 stems rising from the bud Union. There is an amount of counter production there but all energy and flowering goes into those one or two stems and of course balanced by cramming them in. I think that’s how they do it from what I’ve seen. Personally I think your getting every inch of rose from that bed there and I think it looks great.

The first rose is The Ancient Mariner. It is a David Austin rose. The name comes from a famous poem about an old sailor.

@@nikkonch Thank you! it is so beautiful.