Twinkleberry

Gloire De Dijon

23 May in Brush Cottage | Comments (0)

I came across a blog called Found, Now Home very recently and yesterday’s post, which I have just read, reminded me of the first rose that has just bloomed in my garden.

This rose is special – when we lived in South Africa, many years ago now, I used to collect old roses. They were not easy to come across – they were not as popular as they are now and David Austin’s amazing work at re-introducing them had not yet taken off.

In order to obtain one of these rare and elusive plants, you had to sniff out a special, once a year sale which few people knew about or skulk around with some secateurs at the ready – should you come across one of these lost and forgotten gems in an unlikely corner. Gwen Fagan was instrumental in establishing a collection at Boschendal and this is where most of my plants came from.

By the time we left South Africa I had crammed about 50 old roses into a postage stamp sized garden – it was my pride and joy. But there was one rose that always eluded me – I looked everywhere always hoping to find one and never did – Gloire De Dijon.

Then, on a visit to Mottisfont Abbey, the Home of the National Trust’s Heritage rose collection – I saw one for sale – there right in front of me – FOR SALE!! I could not believe my eyes and snatched it up immediately.

I planted it, loved it, watered it, fed it, talked to it  but it did not thrive and my heart sank – perhaps this was just not a rose I was destined to see bloom in my garden.

In a last ditch rescue attempt – I dug it out last autumn and moved it to another spot – not very carefully, and not even the ideal recommended positioning for it, but would you believe… it grew.

These roses only flower once a year and so I waited anxiously for the first leaves and then masses of buds and then….. my first rose flower of the year opened yesterday.

It was the centrepiece of my dinner party table last night – and I could barely tear my eyes away!

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