Antique Rose Additions

For years I have been dreaming about having a rose hedge, where I envision myself going out to cut weekly bouquets for the house.  After last year's new garden bed project, I had the perfect spot for my rose hedge - along the neighbor fence line.  

It took me forever to figure out what rose varieties that I wanted.  I knew for sure that I needed to include Texas Superstar Belinda's Dream, which can easily be found in local nurseries.  So, I added that one last fall.

Over the winter, I did a lot of online searching for the right roses for me.  I knew I wanted antique roses - for their durability in the Texas weather, abundance of blooms and reflowering qualities, as well as their bushy-hedge shape.  I wanted to feel like I was walking through and English garden. 

There were two main sources that I used - The Antique Rose Emporium and David Austin Roses.  I ended up finding The Antique Rose Emporium's site more helpful - the searching capability was more helpful - getting to put in all the different qualities that I was looking for.  Being based in Texas, I also knew that the varieties they carried would be better suited for our hot and dry weather.  They carry a variety of brands/breeders - from David Austin to Earthkind and others.   Additionally, they ship their roses in 2-gallon containers, making it easier for the gardener to wait to the right time to plant the rose, without concern of it drying out or starting to grow funny (David Austin Roses are shipped bare-root, so you need to make sure you get it in the ground ASAP after it arrives).  Plus, The Antique Rose Emporium was cheaper - so they got most of my business.

From The Antique Rose Emporium, in early February, I ended up ordering:

• Heritage (David Austin - light pink)
• Mrs. B. R. Cant (Benjamin R. Cant & Sons - bright pink)
• Madame Joseph Schwartz (Earthkind - white)
• Abraham Darby (David Austin - apricot)
• Graham Thomas (David Austin - yellow)

Additionally, I purchased one rose directly from David Austin, since it was not available through The Antique Rose Emporium, and I just couldn't say no:

• Huntington (David Austin - lavender pink)

All of the roses I ordered are own root, meaning the flowering stalk is on its own roots and not grafted onto a rose of a different variety.  I got these types so that when we do have hard freezes, the roses will come back true to the plant that I ordered, and not the different type of the root.

The Antique Rose Emporium shipment came first (I got to select when I wanted them delivered).  I was so excited to see them on my doorstep.

And here is my "unboxing," if you will...

The plants arrived looking very healthy and secured in their little separator containers.

It was a little bit of a chore to pull the plants out without getting scratched by too many thorns (in hind-sight, I probably should have put on gloves, but I was to excited to run and grab them).

I really wanted to get the plants in the ground right away, but I was informed at a rose-care seminar that I should wait until after the last freeze.  That was good advice, since we had some pretty cold temperatures in February and early March.  I ended up spending my waiting time prepping the rose bed soil with more compost so that they would thrive once I did get them in the ground.

I tried to keep the pots out in the sun as much as possible, but there were a few cold snaps of several days in a row where I needed to keep them inside.  The Madame Joseph Schwartz white rose ended up blooming a couple of times while indoors.

In early March, my Huntington rose from David Austin arrived.

Unfortunately we were having a bit of a cold snap, so I wasn't able to get him in the ground as soon as I would have liked.  As you can see, the shoots all started growing sideways since it was left in the box a bit too long.  I'm hoping they will self-correct once in the ground, otherwise I'll just have to do some pruning later to correct the misshapen form.

While I was waiting on getting my plants in the ground, I played around with different positions and orders for them in the garden so that the color scheme would be pleasing to the eye.  I ended up with the following order (from left to right along the fence):

• Heritage (David Austin - light pink)
• Mrs. B. R. Cant (Benjamin R. Cant & Sons - bright pink)
• Madame Joseph Schwartz (Earthkind - white)
• Abraham Darby (David Austin - apricot)
• Graham Thomas (David Austin - yellow)
• Belinda's Dream (Earthkind - medium pink)
• Huntington (David Austin - lavender pink)

Using photos from The Antique Rose Emporium and David Austin websites, the roses will look something like the below:

I was finally able to get them all in the ground last week.  I know that air circulation is a big factor for roses, so I made sure they each had ample space to not get crowded (about 5-6 feet between roses).

I really can't wait to see what these guys will look like in the coming months and years - full of flowers from spring until frost.  Mrs. B. R. Cant even has some some buds getting ready for an early spring showing.