Blushing Pink Iceberg Rose

I'm always nervous when I buy standard roses. I feel I should have serious garden-design intent - possibly even a plan! Oops. Three Blushing Pink Iceberg standard roses have recently randomly joined the Moosey rose garden.

Standard roses are always presented in rows of three, seven, or fifteen - odd numbers, naturally. I was on a budget, so my three roses were all part of a plan for filling the enlarged Willow Tree Garden. They would give height and form to the messy perennial and rose collection already planted there. I chose three Blushing Pink Icebergs - for quite the wrong reasons. Firstly I wanted to prove to myself that I wasn't afraid of pale pink! I'm not sure why.

Not a Copy-Cat

Secondly, I'd just seen a row of standard Burgundy Icebergs in a designer garden, and was determined not to be a copy-cat. Thirdly, I knew I could propagate catmint easily for an under-planting. Older lady gardeners tend to sneak back to lilac and pink colour combinations when they think no-one's looking. Aargh!

Settle, Petal...

The new roses took their time to get settled. They had a really rocky first spring, even though I staked them. Then they all tried to point their flowers the wrong way. Like many an amateur garden designer, I forgot about the angle of the sun. Oops. So I shifted them alongside a path, so their flowers would be more visible.

Some summers there isn't as much of the blush as I'd like. But I love the timing of the flowering flushes. And oddly I haven't seen them in the rose nurseries recently. Lucky me!