Well that's a surprise

Last September I had the front garden revamped.  This included removal of the Knot Garden, reinstalling of a front lawn and a new fence being erected between the house and the side hedge.

The renovation involved diggers and digging and the small border in front of the new side hedge was dug and pummelled by diggers and generally suffered.  Quite quickly a few plants started to re-emerge.  First the Japanese anemones made an appearance and then the Manx fuchsia put its head above the ground.  Both are tough plants and whilst I was surprised, I was not that surprised.

Then a couple of rose-looking sprouts appeared.  One where the Susan Williams Ellis rose had been and one where the Ballerina rose had been.  Now these surprised me and also made me very curious.  I thought it very unlikely they would actually look like they had previously, I assumed that they would be sprouts from the root-stock and probably would look like some sort of wild rose.  I was happy to wait and see.

I waited and the sprouts grew to be reasonable looking plants.  Then buds appeared.  This was very exciting and at first gave no clue as to what the flower would look like.

Then I started to see white appear as the rose formerly known as Susan Williams Ellis rose developed further.

Then the flower opened and it is indeed Susan - I was amazed.  Regular readers will know that I don't generally rate this rose very highly.  She is pretty but not the strongest.  I grow her solelyx for her name and connection to Portmeirion.  Clearly she is stronger than she looks!

Then I checked the Ballerina rose, and yes, she is Ballerina!  This is amazing!  I am chuffed to little mint balls.  and the best bit?  I had bought a new replacement Ballerina so now I have two -whoop!

Oh and is that Leda re-emerging by the front gate?  Time will tell.........

Take care and be kind.

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