Unboxing and planting a rose plant from the official David Austin website
I love roses and have always dreamed one day of having the ultimate rose garden. True gardeners have always told me about the David Austin brand of roses because they are so prestigious in the way they have evolved since the 1960s.
Such time and effort has gone into this company’s roses to be disease resistant, fragrant and giving you the choice of being a shrub, climber, rambler or tree. Such is the fascination with all the roses in the David Austin collection that there are fan clubs worldwide and each year a new rose is cultivated with such exciting names after people such as Roald Dahl, Dame Judi Dench and Desdemona.
I really wanted to visit the David Austin gardens in Albrighton, Wolverhampton so that I could see and smell all the roses for myself before picking the perfect rose, however the drive would have been over three hours to get there, so I opted to shop online.
The website for David Austin roses https://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk is absolutely stunning and so easy to use. You can easily find many roses just by searching for what type you want, by colour, by growth or just by name if you know exactly what you want.
I was looking for a repeat flowering rose that could withstand south facing sun outside my house and had a strong scent so that when I came in and out of my doorway I could smell a lovely rose scent. I must admit I do like the romantic deep pink roses so I went for Gertrude Jekyll in the end, which is a firm favourite for David Austin fans as it is so easy to keep and flowers well.
Once I had ordered my Gertrude Jekyll Rose Schrub which was £24.50 plus £3.95 for postage it was easy to pay and checkout. I wish I had paid the £5.95 for the next day delivery as I must admit it took quite a long time to get my rose, maybe about 6 days. But I did get a text alert.
Along with my Rose Shrub I also bought David Austin Rose food and on Amazon I bought some Empathy Root Grow which is better known as Mycorrhizal Funghi. These two elements really help your rose settle in when you are planting from a pot.
This is how my David Austin rose delivery came. It was quite funny because it was the size of my four year old son! I really didn’t expect to get such a large plant so already I could tell the rose shrub was going to be good value for money.
When I opened the box I was very excited to see that there was an extremely healthy looking plant with actual blooms. I was expecting more of a plant with hardly any flowers on it.
Here is my beautiful rose plant straight after unboxing. I immediately made sure that it was well watered and I was pleased on inspection that it was in excellent condition.
When planting I made a hole big enough in a large pot for the rose roots. I then made sure I put the root grow on it to encourage it to settle. The soil was well watered and organic.
Next I made sure that the plant had rose food on it as well. You only need to feed your rose plants twice a year, ideally in February and and July. Don’t over feed them as this could affect your plant.
Here is my Gertrude Jekyll rose plant all settled in her pot. I think you will all agree that the purchase was well worth it and since I have bought it I have had many blooms and it smells lovely when I walk in the door.
I will update you all soon with a new picture on how it is getting on as I hope it will grow a lot bigger and I have bough an obelisk for it.
Let me know what David Austin rose is your favourite and how you have got on with ordering online in the comments.
All images except my personal ones are (c) David Austin from the official website.
The Glamourcat 
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