Only a rose....

That's a good looking rose, Jenny, does it live up to the David Austin blurb??

 

Just don't do it when people are around as they might think you're suggesting something

 

This is the very first of the dry root climbing Roses that I planted last Autumn to flower, and I planted this one on the North side of the Arbour and it's growing away quite quickly

Climbing Rose "Alchemist":

 

Hi lolimac, I came across "Alchemist" while at the late Great Geoff Hamilton's Barnsdale gardens a couple of years ago. I was walking through a small Trellis entrance and "Alchemist" was entwined all over it. You couldn't miss the scent as it was a hot day and as you passed through the entrance your head was surrounded by the flowers............it's a really quite strong lovely scent that will make you smile!! The funny thing was that the actual Barnsdale Plant Nursery didn't sell it, so I had to wait until last year to get it bare root.

 

In the early years of the garden my wife and I dug a Rose bed and had a selection of roses in for some years. But we got fed up with the barren months when there were no foilage or flowers so we dispersed them amongst the borders. So really I've never really focused on roses as a main plant or border filler and always thought I had only a few. It was only in this thread when I did a mental count of what roses I had bought over the years and to my surprise came up with an approximate figure of around 21 different varieties of climbing and shrub roses....how did that happen??