For The Love Of Roses

Oh lordy, where do I even start? 

Roses…..second to Sweet Peas , I don’t think there is a more exquisite flower!

Some years ago, before this whole flower farming thing happened, I had a sweet little cutting garden. It had been a big veggie patch the season before but once I discovered the lure of flowers I dug out the entire plot and replaced the food with blooms.

At the time it seemed enormous, 60x60ft. and it was all I could do to keep it weeded, watered and the flowers deadheaded. There were a few little rows of Sweet Peas, a couple dozen Peonies, lots of misc. perennials and a few shrubs. Along the outside edge I constructed a wonderfully wild fence out of Chestnut branches and decorated it with  30 different antique and English Rose bushes

 Over time as the garden evolved, the fence came out, along with our lawn, and the pretty little flower beds were transformed into long, straight rows of flowers and shrubs.

The large old fashioned roses were tucked into the hedgerows that surround our property and the remaining plants were given their own special plot. Being a “trialer”, of course this little patch grew and grew.

While nowhere near as many Rose bushes as I hope to someday posses, this hearty collection certainly rocks the month of June!

Each variety is exquisite in its own unique way and whatever blooms I’m working with end up being my favorite.

The heady scent of a Damask or Bourbon bloom transports me to another dimension…

The fuzzy green buds (pictured below) of the antique Moss Roses are beyond words.

Multiflora’s, with their airy sprays of spicy little flowers, transform every bouquet into and experience. And the cupped, full heads of the English Roses ….they make me about lose my mind.

During Rose season, it’s hard to stay focused on anything else!