The Wait Has Ended

The wait has ended.  The buds on the rescued mystery climbing rose bush were ready to bloom.  I absolutely love, love, love the rich red color.

It's so pretty!  It was so worth the wait!  I am so pleased that we were able to rescue this rose bush and that it is actually blooming!

Here's a closeup of one of the roses.  When opened, it's much lighter than the deep red of the bud.

Isn't it gorgeous how many blooms it has?  It is quite beautiful!  I was hoping for some blooms but this is more than I expected.  What an amazing surprise!

I did notice one thing that concerned me about the rose bush.  On some of the leaves, there were blackspots and the leaves were turning yellow.  I know that some roses are susceptible to blackspots.  For your rose growers out there, do you have an organic method of getting rid of this?  I read that manure tea helps, have you tried that?

A Rose By Any Other Name

I finally placed my order for my David Austin Roses.  (jump for joy) I always admired the roses featured on Davy's Louisiana's Gardening Blog.   He grows the most stunning specimens.  I asked him where he ordered his roses and he recommended  Chamblee's Rose Nursery.  I placed my order for the following rose bushes.  I ordered the Anne Boleyn, it's a stunning soft pink rose with lots of petals and a nice fragrance.  What I like about this rose is that it's a repeat bloomer, so it should bloom well into the fall. 

photo from Chamblee's Nursery website

I knew I also wanted a white rose so I picked out this one.  It's called Glamis Castle.  On the Chamblee website is says the rose is named after, "Glamis Castle, the childhood home of the late Queen Mother and the legendary setting of Shakespeare's play 'Macbeth'".  I love that the color is a creamy off-white.  It also has a fragrance and a repeat bloomer.

photo from Chamblee's Nursery website

Lastly, I ordered this deep yellow rose called Graham Thomas.  It is named after "one of the most influential rosarians and garden writers of our time." What I like about this rose is that it's disease resistant and the color is amazing.

photo from Chamblee's Nursery website

The roses are being shipping out next week. I can't wait to get them in the garden. I planted only hybrid tea roses last year, so I am really excited to add David Austin roses to the garden this year.

I'm Drooling!

I received a catalog in the mail yesterday, and it's an amazing one! A David Austin 2011 rose catalog.  I've been wanting to "upgrade" and expand our rose bush selection so I ordered this catalog to pinpoint which variety of roses I wanted to try next.  This catalog does not disappoint.  They are all pretty spectacular looking, so it's going to be pretty hard to pick which ones I want to grow.

Each rose in the catalog comes with gorgeous photos and a detailed description of the rose.  I wish it also had a "scratch and sniff".  Hehehe.  I bet they smell amazing. 

I know I definitely want to try an Abraham Darby ever since reading about this rose bush on Davy's blog.  His rose bushes are amazing!

I can't wait to put in my order!  I wish Spring would hurry up and get here already!  I'm so bad at waiting!

A Fall Surprise!

I bought 3 hybrid tea roses in Walmart this past spring and so far they are doing great.  Two of the rose bushes bloomed this summer, and were plagued with aphids.  Since the aphids did a number on the roses, they bloomed with petals half eaten.  I was out raking leaves today and saw that one of the roses were blooming!  What a nice surprise!  This one already bloomed this summer, and could not believe that it was blooming again.  This time, no aphids, sweet!

So, I bought this rose bush for $6, and so far, it's been worth the price.  It bloomed twice and it is very healthy.   We were on a budget this year since we had so much new garden costs, and so a $6 rose bush sounded like such a great bargain.   However, this rose has no fragrance, despite being pretty.   Hmm, one the reasons I love roses is because of the scent!  I decided for this upcoming year, I want to expand my rose garden and get some nicer quality roses, some with more fragrance.  To all those rose gardeners out there, do you have a recommendation for a fragrant rose, and where do you recommend I buy it?