Wednesday 22 June 2011

Roses


Two weekends ago I set off with husband and youngest son to travel to the Teddy Bear Artist Event, in Stratford-upon-Avon, on the Sunday.Before I share the photos of where we visited on the preceding Saturday, here is an interesting panoramic pic of the lovely octagonal hall in the civic buildings. (well done Ashley!)



This year we decided to go to David Austin Roses - a world renowned breeder and nursery of old English roses near to Wolverhampton in the West Midlands. I have always wanted to visit the viewing gardens as I adore roses; especially those with delicious fragrances. The rain stayed off all morning until we had finished looking around, and as an extra bonus we got to see some partial aerial displays whilst various helicopters and aircraft practised for the next day's air show based at RAF Cosford!


The various gardens are laid out in beautiful style, aiming to show off the roses to their full advantage. I spotted "Golden Celebration" which was the one I bought for my parents on their 50th wedding anniversary - it is definitely one of the strongest perfumes. I also particularly liked "A Shropshire Lad" and "Jubilee Celebration" for their strong perfumes .... but then I loved them all! Truthfully, I felt as though the whole place was a sweetie shop stuffed with an ever-more delightful display around each corner! Even a (fairly) uninterested 15 year old was sniffing everything by the end, and talking about the merits of this bloom conformation compared to that!

Ashley took hundreds of photos - so here are just a few to drool over:-













The size of this next one had to be seen to be believed!!










There were so many ravishing blooms in all sizes and shapes. I highly recommend a visit, and not the least for the rather quaint waitress-service tea rooms, where we snarfed big chunks of cake from pretty, rosey china. How I wished I could leave there with a car boot full of plants!

Before leaving, we just had time to say hello to the free roaming peacocks who had kept up a constant "N'yark N'yark" whilst strutting around as resplendent as the roses.


I'll be sighing over the catalogue for quite some time .....

T.T.F.N.   Ruth XX

7 comments:

Bearly Sane said...

Did you come home on a high? When we were looking for roses for our back garden, we went sniffing all the fragrances and I came home with a headache.
Tell Ash he's done a wonderful job of the photos.
Warmest hugs,
Sandi

Kays Kids said...

What a delight. I just love roses so much. Especially David Austin roses.I only have 2 of his but I'm always trying to find a spot to plant another.

Ruth said...

Hee! No headache here :0)
Yes, he's a clever boy .... although he's always yards behind me and Brett 'cos he's always pointing his camera at something!!!
Lucky you Kay; I used to have 5 DA roses in the garden - now down to just one (Gertrude Jekyll)I find them mesmerising!! :0)

Hugs, Ruth xx

Любонька said...

Красивая страничка. Цветы прекрасны, очаровательны. Спасибо за хорошее настроение от просмотра блога!

ginger@bearbits said...

Beautiful rose photos Ruth. I can imagine wandering through all those flowers - I would probably want to take them all home! Great photos too. That huge one - amazing. I enjoyed seeing these and the one of the show too!

~ginger

Donna Griffin said...

Ohhhhhhhh Ruth! I can smell the glorious roses right through the screen! Thanks so much for sharing those wonderful photos!

Mini hugs,
Donna

Ruth said...

How lovely of you all to stop by! I'm so glad you enjoyed the roses :0) What is it about them that just "gladdens the heart" even from a photo!? Smellivision would've been good too, Lol ....

Hugs from Ruth xxx