Phase Four Rose Planting

Betty Harkness

Pink Abundance

The Friends group met on Saturday 4th November for phase 4 of our rose planting programme. This is the final rose planting of bare-root rose bushes, which are supplied by Chessums Roses.

We had already spent many hours digging up and removing weak and already dead roses from nine of the rose beds which had not been touched since our rose appeal began.  Our aim was to fill in all the gaps which were left.  With this in mind, we tried to match the colours and heights with those roses which were remaining.

The four varieties of rose we used are shown in the pictures. Betty Harkness, Chandos Beauty, Pink Abundance and Mountbatten. Altogether 440 bare-root roses were planted.

Mountbatten

Work began on the Saturday at 10am.Luckily the weather remained mostly dry and apart from two short coffee breaks, we managed to complete the nine rose beds by 3.20pm. However, we still had 50 Mountbatten roses unused. At this point exhaustion got the better of us and we arranged to continue on the Monday. 

Chandos Beauty

Monday  morning was chilly but dry.  We decided to completely clear the bed nearest to the flagpole, which only had some of the original but very old pink roses.  As two of us dug over and removed all the old roses and roots, our Secretary Peter began planting the remaining  yellow Mountbatten roses. By one o'clock we had finally planted all 440 roses.

Our next project is already underway.  A rose arch is to be installed across the central pathway as it reaches the top shrub beds and raised lawns.  This will be planted with climbing roses and clematis to extend the flowering season.  We hope it will be a wonderful new addition to the Rose Garden.