It has been a decade now that I have been planting and growing Roses. My tendencies in general for Roses are first the colour, second the shape of the flowers and third and lastly the scent.

A Happy Day Rose from my Garden. It has a lovely pale Apricot colour.

My Father loved his Roses and I must confess that I do so just as well. When I didn't have a Garden I had miniature Roses in a pot upon my tables either the Kitchen table, the Dinner table or the Coffee table. I always found them to be a little cheerfulness in one's home. But I always went for a pot rather than the cut Roses. I just wanted them to last as much as they could. Mainly they were little Red ones.

Dried Petals of Rose.

Roses do have a lovely scent and are excellent flowers to dry and to use for a Pot Pourri.  It does deliver a sense of gone by areas or times when your Grand Mothers used them to give that wonderful scent in the air of their home. But let us not forget that Roses Oil or/and Water are also used in perfumes.

Jacqueline Du Pré Roses. Tudor type Rose from my Garden.

There are about two main shapes for Roses, ones which classify as per say as Tudor like Roses which are quite dainty, and open up fully then you can see their centres. The other type is larger with lots of petals. They are most commonly known or reffered to as Tea Roses. They are not subtle or dainty, they are flamboyant.  To be honest I do like both kinds equally. 

'Absolutely Fabulous' Roses from my Garden, bright yellow and when they blossom, they do steal the show. A lovely tea Rose to have.

I must confess that I try to choose colour scheme and so on for my Garden but I always fall flat on that one. I just have that fancy at the very last minute.

Our Happy Day Rose bush. It is a very abundant and lovely one with a very nice scent.

And the fancy can clash with everything else. The French call it the 'Coup de Coeur'. It is nothing to fight for, it is something to embrace. So if your well planned out colour scheme is yellow and white, it might end up with dashes of blue, purple and black within it at the end of the day. I am not very fussy about it, I just enjoy the liberty of the flowers of my Garden even if it can be just a pure impulsion and Mis-Match.

What I would advise is to grow Roses from a root, for me it did work. I was given a 'Remember me' Rose root one Valentine's day and the result is still in my Garden and I will always carry the vision of it all in my heart.

Remember Me Roses from my Garden.

Sometimes I buy a new Rose, being a little selective about it either looking for a new scent, specific variety, or colour but when the Root of the Rose arrives by delivery, I receive with it an apologetic letter saying that for different reasons they didn't have the rose I ordered any longer. Then they do decide to mild down my disappointment by giving me another Rose with their apologies within the same letter. But I must confess that the two times it did happen I was happy with the result which I call: the Happy Mistake Roses.

A happy mistake Rose which I enjoy so much the 'High Sheriff' Rose variety.

I must confess to be a sucker for my Roses to be a talking point at some point. With all the effort involved to their care, it feels like you do bestow a little show of your 'Babies'. During a World Football Cup, I was proud to display my White and Red Rachel Rose... I was certainly rooting for England but the it's coming home didn't happen. But the flowers showed up that summer. 

The Rachel Rose. It is a beautifully variegated Rose. I would say that it is a show stopper. 

To keep within the confessions, I must admit to go for flowers with colours which are said to be unusual or hard to get. If I do like the yellows and the whites in any flowers, I am also very fond of the blues, the purples and the blacks. There was something quite romantic about having what was described as a Blue Rose. Called Rhapsody in Blue, I received that root with glee and saw the bloom later with a satisfied smile upon my lips. 

It is a purple Rose rather than a Blue one but I loved it nonetheless. I didn't feel short changed. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db90KwVVDAs

Rose Roots