Since we’ve been spending some of our winter months talking about buying new roses I’d like to take a moment to encourage you to try some very old roses that sadly are being used less and less these days.

These are the “once blooming roses”.  The ones that flower in the spring.

First off let me just say I hate the term “once blooming” roses.  It sounds as if you are not home that day you miss the whole show.

“Hi Honey, I’m home.  Anything exciting happen today?”

“Sally got an A on her test, the plumber came and oh yes, Mme Plantier bloomed.  Sorry you missed it but there’s always next year”

“Spring Flowering” is what they really are.  Often for weeks.  Glorious, in your face, fragrant weeks.

No repeat flowering rose I know can rival a Cardinal de Richelieu in full war cry.  Or all the other Spring Flowering Roses for that matter.  Since they put all their energy into one big show the display will simply take your breath away.

To all those who say they don’t grow “once blooming” roses because they want color all year, I say then assassinate your azaleas, rip up your rhododendrons and fell the forsythia!  After all, they only bloom “once”.  Why take up all the space the other months of the season with something only green.  Take all up your “once flowering” shrubs and replace them with annuals or better yet how about plastic plants.  They bloom all year!

Or here’s a better idea.  Plant other plants that bloom during other parts of the season in with the spring flowering roses.  It’s why Graham Stuart Thomas titled his book The Art of Gardening With Roses.  You can use perennials, annuals, bulbs, other shrubs – anything your heart desires – except plastic plants of course!

There is an old saying that goes “absence makes the heart grow fonder”.  That’s why the spring flowering roses have a special place in mine.

How about you?

Happy Roseing & Happy Holidays
Paul