Much like plant tokens, it took me a while to come around to roses <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>
In 1951, two days before Christmas, Vita Sackville-West<\/a> dedicated her weekly Observer column to roses<\/a>, for the reason that \u2018the very thought of a rose will be warming\u2019 and \u2018roses can still be planted any time between December and March, so it is not too late to order extravagantly on any plant-token you may receive as a Christmas present<\/a>\u2019.<\/p>\n
Plant tokens as Christmas presents<\/a> remain the stuff of childhood memory for me; my father\u2019s family would readily exchange the things each year \u2013 something I thought quite hideous while small, and now would obviously be very grateful for. Instead, though, I\u2019d cut to the chase and either stick a rose on your Christmas list or buy one for someone else \u2013 most of us have too much stuff, but few with outdoor space could deny accommodating a rose.<\/p>\n

David Austin\u2019s catalogue is a coffee table-book worthy thing, perfect for hunkering down with <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>
Much like plant tokens, it took me a while to come around to roses. I think I always considered them fussy, both in aesthetic and maintenance; all that pruning<\/a> and feeding. Instead, as Camila Klich of Wolves Lane Flower Company told me several years ago, \u201cyou\u2019d have to be Cruella de Vil to kill a rose\u201d, and so it has proved. After much deliberation and overwhelm, I ordered a bareroot Rosa<\/em> The Generous Gardener (= \u2018Ausdrawn\u2019) from David Austin<\/a> during the winter of 2020 and, after leaving it first in its bag, and then in a bucket, for far longer than strictly advised, now enjoy its pale-pink flowers every summer.\u00a0 It was swiftly joined by another and together they\u2019ve moved around the garden every year since \u2013 from the shaded, scrawny east-facing bed to the more generous and open north-facing, where they have a Victorian wall to scramble up. This winter I\u2019m going to cut both back quite vigorously, having not been brave enough to do so during year one (my favourite rose-pruning advice comes from Laetitia Maklouf\u2019s The Five Minute Garden<\/em>: \u2018simply look at the thing and cut off the bits that don\u2019t work for you, creating a pleasing framework, and tying the remaining stems on to their support in a horizontal fashion\u2019) and then move them into a sunnier corner, where they can clamber up a new pergola.<\/p>\n
Of course, I\u2019m tempted to buy another every Christmas; David Austin\u2019s catalogue is a coffee table-book worthy thing, perfect for hunkering down with. But the real gift of a rose is something less materialistic: the promise that comes in a cardboard box with nothing but an expensive twig inside; the ritual of dunking it in a bucket on a cool morning, knowing it is preparing to wake up to longer days; the feel of good, rich earth between your fingers and the effort of digging a hole. Most of all, what is top of my list? The idea of cupping soft petals between fingers, and gently diving in to inhale that scent. A second of summer in the depths of winter.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Read all of Alice\u2019s columns here<\/a> or subscribe to Gardens Illustrated\u00a0<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n
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