Alnwick Rose

I am very lucky with my garden - both with the shrubs that were in residence before I moved in, and with the plants that Mum and Dad have helped me choose since.  That's not to say that everything has worked - but, being a gardener, you learn quite early on to have no sentiment with something that's clearly wrong.   There's no point nurturing a plant if you really don't like it!  

One of the best value shrubs I have is the Alnwick Rose, which I bought on my Northumberland jaunt with Amanda back in February 2007.   It was originally planted in a pot in the garden of my cottage in Hardley Street - those gardens were communal and we each had our own patch, but which wasn't exclusively for us. And, at that time, I was quite nomadic so all my plants were in pots and could be easily transported.

However, once I moved to Norwich and had a garden totally of my own - how many other people wait forty-two years to have such a luxury?! - Mum insisted that we take it out of its pot - which to be fair, it had completely outgrown - and plant it in the soil.   Scary stuff.   And since then it has thrived to the point that I have to keep giving it a haircut as it is trying to escape into Geoffrey's garden next door!   It's enormous!   Mum was here last week and made her usual garden inspection - stand by your beds! - and announced that the Alnwick Rose could NOT be left like this for one more year.  So I have my instructions and this winter, it is going to be cut back to just two feet tall - it's currently nine or ten!   All being well, it will then not be quite so leggy, but should be much bushier - hopefully still with the amount of flowers it has each year.  

If it all goes horribly wrong, I can see another trip to Alnwick Gardens on the horizon!