WORLD of roses

These symbols of peace, joy and love are said to be more than 35 million years old.

- Mike Booth

There are two flowers I love more than any other and I have hundreds growing in every corner of my country garden – they are roses and dahlias. They sit perfectly together or planted alone, en masse. The first flower I remember as a child was the rose.

I would accompany my grandmother to cut flowers for the house and I remember her making me spell the name of each rose. All of which had a slightly different fragrance. She kept Hybrid Tea roses for their long stems and they are still one of the most commonly grown varieties.

It wasn’t until my first overseas trip to the UK and France in my early 20s that the world of roses opened up. Everywhere I looked roses were climbing over walls, up the sides of houses, planted in mass by the hundreds and muddled into perennial garden beds like a beautiful tapestry.

You can plant a rose at anytime, but I strongly advise you to wait until winter or early spring. This is when the plant is dormant and will experience the least amount of stress. It also allows the plant to get settled and develop roots as it emerges from dormancy. I recommend a bare-rooted plant either from your local nursery or direct from the grower.