Saturday 4 July 2015

Smelling of roses

My mum says I always come up smelling of roses, I am a positive kind of person. This post is all about roses and is especially for Nicole from My Garden Diaries. She photographed her rose bush from David Austin roses which is only 8 miles from where I live she however lives in the US so I felt a little theme coming on.


I have two David Austin Roses. This one is called Strawberry Hill and has the sweetest fragrance with of course, a hint of strawberry. It is a blousy climber and has grown really well this year.


It is currently covered in little black beetles but they are OK not laying eggs or eating anything just roaming around. With these roses being out a the moment, my mind turned to some rose themed paper crafting. My Auntie had a sort out of her card making stuff and gave me a box of stash with rose inspired bits and pieces included.








Then I made one for my friend who is leaving work.




It made me think about a tea cosy I made a while back so I went to my 'present drawer' and wrapped it up for her using the key ring I made in my last post as a gift tag. The pink roses matched the card perfectly.



My other David Austin Rose is called Raubritter. It has the sweetest, small, ball-shaped flowers in groups and is also a climber but more of a rambling variety. It has grown confidently over four years and mixes well with a blue ceanothus that comes in late May then the roses come next in late June.




 Do you have a favourite rose? 

Thanks for popping by and don't forget to stop and smell the roses.

 1. (idiom) To relax; to take time out of one's busy schedule to enjoy or appreciate the beauty of life.





15 comments:

  1. I have always adored pink roses and not especially liked yellow ones. But I have two dear friends who each adore yellow roses so I have looked for and made yellow rose items for each of them. I made some cushions with vintage French yelow rose fabric for one of the and the flowers have gradually grown on me, so to speak. Last autumn I bought a yellow rose called the Pilgrim and it's flowering now. It's a bush at the moment and beautifully scented; it's going to be trained as a climber round our front windows. I think I might be converted. But I also have a deep red Darcey Bussell and the pink A Shropshire Lad and I'm deliberating over some white and apricot climbers for training over our new shed which will be painted blue/green. They will be ordered for next autumn and after that there's going to be a medium red somewhere...All scented roses from DA; how can anyone buy a rose without scent?

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    1. I love Darcey Bussell, that is next on my hit list and I have a Shropshire Lass that my bessie bought me for my 40th Birthday. Thanks for stopping by. Jo x

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  2. Beautiful cards and beautiful roses. I have one rose in my garden, I have no clue what it is but it's yellow and miniature. I've always been a bit scared of buying roses as I thought I would kill them! The miniature yellow one is still alive though! Yay!
    Jillxo

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  3. I have done just that today - smelling roses. We went to the rose garden in the Botanics. The roses are mostly of the wild variety and smell divine. I picked some last year for rose petal jelly (don't tell the gardener). I opened a jar yesterday and the fragrance was amazing. Our only rose is beautiful and white but completely fragrance free. x

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  4. The cards are lovely and the tea cozy looks very.....cozy! Your roses are beautiful. I love roses but have never tried to grow any...maybe I will give it a go.

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  5. Your roses are so beautiful !! :) you made a lovely card and the cozy is lovely too !!
    What fertilizers do you use for roses?

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    1. chicken manure pellets. Every year the buds arrive and they are covered in green fly eggs so I wipe them off with kitchen paper and then they are fine after that. Jo x

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  6. A stunning post, the roses and cards are beautiful. I only have one rose it is a miniature and yellow that was given to me by my daughter.

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  7. I have two roses. A white one that I don;t think has a name. It's a climber and it is absolutely stunning this year. I plant one in each house I have lived in since my mum died as she loved roses and white roses were both our favourite. I recently planted (as in last weekend) a yellow climber too which I think is called Golden Celebration it is a David Austin Rose and this one is in memory of my friends mother who died five years ago this year and she was always like my second mum. Having lost my other friends mum last year at the age of 90 years and 5 days I am now on the lookout for one to plant in her memory. As pink was her favourite colour I might take your recommendation and look for Strawberry Hill.

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  8. I love roses and yours are spectacular. Your cards are beautiful too - very special.

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  9. This made me laugh. You grow Rosa Strawberry Hill and I grew up and went to school at Strawberry Hill and I grow Rosa A Shropshire Lad in honour of my mum who was born in Shrewsbury. I've just bought R. Lavender Lassie to mark my mum's birthday last week because it was bred in the year of my birth and I love the colour and scent but next year I think I'm going to have to look out for R. Strawberry Hill. I loved the photos of your daughters sewing and crocheting. Liquid seaweed fertiliser applied as a foliar wash is my top tip for keeping roses in tip-top health plus lots of home-made compost as a mulch.

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  10. I love roses but especially those with a good smell.

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  11. Forgot to say - love your cards and tea cosy.

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  12. What a wonderful gift you put together, Jo, and I loved your pretty bouquet of rose photos as well! The Joseph's Coat roses I have shown you before are still among my favorite roses. We have had more than a dozen blossoms on the climbing vines this year and more buds forming. Very exciting [and worth stopping to smell for sure :) ] xx

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  13. Roses! A favorite of mine. These are so pretty!!!

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