Na Li

I planted Princess Alexandra of Kent in a large container next to the patio for its beautiful blooms and delicious fragrance. She has huge flowers that changes in color from coral, to a warm rosy pink, to almost mauve and pretty princess pink. Under the sun its flowers look almost like coral color. It does not have a strong fragrance yet, although it is said to be one of the most fragrant David Austin roses after a couple of years.  It developed quite a bit of mildew, mainly due to suffering from the water run off from the hanging Fuchsias. I moved its pot away from the Fuchsias and sprayed with organic rose mildew solution for a couple of times (applied once per week). Seems to be recovering well! Isn’t it glorious!

Daron and I went hiking for a few days. When we came back, we were surprised to see our Roald Dahl rose has twenty six perfect, charming flowers in bloom! Not only that, its sweet, fruity fragrance is so lovely! The flowers are not as big as those of Graham Thomas, but Roald Dahl makes it up by having clusters and clusters of flowers on a single plant. The flowers are delicate, charming, with perfect shades of apricot, yellow, and a hint of peach. They are prolific flowers that bloom wave after wave. By late August, the flowers seem to take on a stronger, deeper orange color as well.

Although this rose is not as big as the others, the Princess Anne is unique with clusters of brilliant pink flowers with a hint of yellow in the center. Its leaves are super handsome too: they have a perfect shape with dark green vines running through them. The entire plant forms a nice, healthy, and beautiful shape. The flowers do not stay on their stems more than a couple of days.

I got Graham Thomas because of a beautiful picture of cascading yellow roses on a castle wall. Yellow roses make me happy. We planted it next to the patio – it gets a lot of sun but the soil is poor and shallow on top of the foundation of the house. Nevertheless it has settled and grown into a strong, healthy plant, rewarding us with flawless, large flowers combining rich, yellow blooms and light, sweet fragrance.

A lovely David Austin Rose that is strong and healthy like the ancient mariners! What I like about this rose is that the color of the flower changes as the bud opens up. The bud starts white with just a hint of pink. Then suddenly it opens up to a surprising, pretty lavender! It’s large, elegant flowers and pure pink color make it look like a queen in my book. It is supposed to have strong fragrance after a couple of years. I’ll be waiting! Their flowers don’t stay on the stem for long – the pedals turn white and then fall gracefully to the ground, which reminds me of the falling cherry blossoms and time passing us by.