An afternoon at Magic Gardens

Had a lovely leisurely afternoon at Magic Gardens this week. Most of the roses in the display garden were in bloom, so it was a perfect time to check them out, especially this late in the season to check health status. I confirmed some of my choices for this year and crossed some off my list (Scentimental I didn't like after all).
Confirmed:
Queen Adelaide, Firefighter, Parole, Olde Fragrance, Jardins de Bagatelle (for next year, I have special plans for this one involving a hedge and a statue!)
I was very taken with these:
Best Friend - my fav for the day! Fantastic fragrance, covered in deep pink blooms, strong and healthy looking.
Elle - Lovely fragrance (but not as powerful as BF above), light pink/peach, well formed large flowers, bees loved it.
Jessika - peachy tones, large flowers, very fragrant. Looked fantastic beside Joy of Life (no fragrance alas but smothered in large blooms, a knockout from a distance, I just kept going back to it).
Jacaranda - deep rose pink, excellent fragrance, nice shaped buds, strong growth.
Hadley - very fragrant, reddy-pink flowers, healthy, strong growth, medium sized bush, lovely flowers.(This one I'd never heard of)
Ashram - little fragrance, but what a show,covered in large beautifully formed apricot/soft orange blooms.
Dame Elisabeth Murdoch - much more impressive than pics I've seen. No fragrance though.
Paradise - gorgeous flowers
Mon Cheri - a stunning mass of flowers, bicolour red/cream (but more appealing to me than Double Delight) bold impact from a distance, hard to describe the overall effect, sort of dusky colour.

On the way home, pulled into nursery having rose sale. Came out with Old Port, Daybreaker and Grimaldi (just couldn't resist its beautiful exuberant blooms). So much for will power! Lol
I'll post pics soon.

Betsy, they had sold out of Louisa Jane and I couldn't find her in display garden. Sorry.

Sounds like you had a good day at Magic , Silky , did you talk to the owners while you were there ? Scentimental i have never liked either , could never smell much fragrance on her. Jardins is a lovely rose , isn't it ,one of Betsys favourites , thanks Betsy , i too am planting it next year , i thought with a mauve and either a darker pink or red rose and some lavender plants , will browse your list , well done !!!

Hehe I think we may be on the same wavelength..... When I visited Newstead Roses the other week my Fav of the Day was 'Best Friend'. I also noticed 'Elle'.

I have 'Ashram' and 'Olde Fragrance' and they've been very good. With growth and blooms. I noticed the other day that Ashram has some BS on the lower sections but I don't think it will be a total defoliator like Gold Bunny or Julia's Rose! 'Tis the season for BS here at the moment and I don't get too fussed because most of them will get it. I just need to work more on getting the soil better.
'Mon Cheri' is gorgeous - ours has a few blooms at the moment and they look more "glowing" than Double Delight.

There's nothing like going to the nurseries at such a time. I went to Treloars one New Year and it was a experience. LOL
From that visit I determined to purchase 'Ashram' and 'Gremlin'. Neither of which I would have probably purchased if I hadn't seen them hitting me between the eyes from a great distance...
I'm really surprised Treloars aren't still offering 'Gremlin'. It's a fantastic modern shrub - very vigorous, flowers like a champ, and very healthy. If you had that as a border on a driveway or garden edge by heck you'd notice... LOL

Wendy, 'Gremlin' is a nice rose from what I just read about on HMF, wonder why they are no longer offering it.

love my ashes scattered up there, lovely ppl and good quality roses.

Way to go, silky! Thanks for the Louisa Jane look-out, and more to the point, I am SOOOOOO glad you liked Parole, Firefighter, and my darling Jardins. A hedge and a statue, eh? I think JdB is the perfect choice for such a romantic design.

Interesting that Best Friend revved your engine, I loved Best Friend too, once upon a time before I met Parole. BF just never came good after its first joyous production. Maybe this one needs more time. I really want to hear how it goes for everybody else, because the colour is rich. the bloom is large, and the fragrance is EXCELLENT.

Betsy, what colours do you put with Jardins ? I'm thinking darker pinks, mauve maybe red roses , i've got a bed i dug some camellias out of , so nothing there at the moment , thanks . I had a Best Friend , but it was one i shifted , it was a nice rose , but from memory it got die back and wasn't too healthy , so can't really comment , the shifting probably didn't do it any good ....

maree. I think she looks splendid with Valencia, and that's why the two are my avatar. So I would say yellows, creams (oh yeah) and cerise pinks would be my pick. Red might be a bit of a Santa combo - I think JdB would be reduced to an also-ran next to one. What do you have planned to go in the new bed?

Jacaranda - deep rose pink, excellent fragrance, nice shaped buds, strong growth.It's lovely rose as you say I've got one and she is still flowering and very healthy plant.

What sort of scent did Hadley have, silky? Can you recall if it was sweet? Oh I know, a million nose memories to sort through ;-))) Anyone here familiar with this one? New name for me, but that's no yardstick

Sorry Betsy my descriptive powers of a particular fragrance is very limited but I've noted it as very fragrant, so it would be powerful and sweet from memory. It's those sort of perfumes that make an impact on me. Hope that helps.

Betsy, thought I'd share my Jardins de B vision with you, as you started me on this....
Way down at the back of the yard I want to create a fragrant nook. This will be a U shape(rectangular). At the entrance I'm thinking of a pair of Aeotearoa standards (never thought I'd say that Lol) with JdB planted each side of the U. The back of the U will be box hedge with some sort of statue there, gaura at the base. Behind and to side of hedge, as a backdrop, I'd like Monsieur Tillier (I hope this can be contained to 2 m). A few metres behind that area is back fence, which I would like to plant with a row of Magnolia Fairy (cream) but I'll just have to wait until that comes on the market. I can see it all in my head, just hope I can make it all happen.
.....and it all started with your description of JdB.

I just pulled up images of the three roses, and I see exactly where you're going with this, silky. The bracket of pale pink , with parallel lines of of cream with pink tinge, anchored by the statue which is in turn backdropped by a tight hedge of dark green, in turn backdropped by a stronger pink. It's going to look magazine-worthy, my friend. Just elegant. And the fragrance...OMG I can vouch for at least two of the roses, and it's going to be a sweet, intoxicating, sophisticated cloud of perfume. Maybe you'll want to swap out the statue for a Mme Recamier chaise with massive pillows and a cashmere throw... hey. move over.

Wow , that sounds fantastic Silky , good vision . Betsy , its a long narrow bed , doesn't get all day sun , morning to early afternoon sun , needs a lot of digging , so its next years project , but i'm thinking , Jubilee Celebration , Jardin , a mauve rose , haven't decided which one yet and i don't know what else yet , Valencia probably too big as they'll be standards , was thinking of Aoteroa cause its a narrow bed and she's a small upright rose , perfect spot for her .... Danny i haven't seen Jacaranda , would you have any pics ? thanks .....

Hahaha. Thanks Betsy. If I put a chaise there, I might never leave. lol
It was you with JdB and Maree with our discussion about standard roses that got me thinking about a design. Mind you, the making of it all remains to be seen, but the vision has been planted and I think it will work. That area contains large square beds contained within sleepers (old veggie garden) which I am reworking into rose beds, so I wanted to utilise the straight lines, even though the rest of my garden has curved beds and a naturalistic look. It would be nice to have a hidden little nook enclosed by perfume and flowers. The suggestions and ideas gleaned from this forum has inspired me. Thank you!!!

Maree just saw you posted. That narrow bed will be stunning with those beauties. Would Pope John Paul fit? Don't know if it comes as a standard. I don't know much about them, as you know, but you are changing that. Lol

Right, it's a standard bed maree. Forgot that. Then why not take a lead fom silky, and put JdB between your Ao and your mauve? I wish I could fast=forward my roses into next year, so I could give you a more comprehensive report on Sight Saver. I am keen as mustard on this one.

Okay, here's a phoney fast-forward

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Ooh that just looks soooo sumptuous. That's the tone of pink I like best. I'll be very interested Betsy.

Silky , will take some pics of the standards after i prune , get a better look then , am putting in two new ones this year , just pulled out Chartreusse and Firefighter , i planted them way too close , drat , so am replanting Firefighter in the space ,just make sure you plant standards 1200 cm absolute minimum Silky , more if you can and if its a big rose a bit more , might put a Chartreusse in a pot , in full sun somewhere and see how she goes ,also got Fragrant Cloud ordered from Magic in a standard .. Betsy SS does look lovely , this is one i won't forget now ... how do you think Jubilee Celebration would go with Jardins , definately Jardins in the middle as you say , got all my roses sorted for this year , so am now thinking next year , must be nuts lol .... Silky PJP11 does come in a standard , Swanes has it , have heard Amazing Grace is even better, Diana from Silkies roses said it is better , said it has stronger stems , when i asked her about the two of them , hopefully someone on this forum has ordered Amazing Grace ....

I think it would work well between JC and Ao

Fantastic !!!

Thanks Maree, photos post pruning would be very helpful. Ditto advice on spacing of standards. I'll be working to put this into place next year, lot of work to do before then.
JC + JdB + Ao would be a great combo, merging colours subtle and welcoming. And the perfume would be a knockout! Maybe you'll need to have a little bottle of smelling salts at the end of the path for anyone who gets overcome. Lol. It will look beautiful!

Don't you love it when a plan come together?

Sure do Silky , just got to get the shovel out Lol !!!

I should have posted these pics from Magic Gardens days ago, but here goes:

Best Friend
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Elle
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Olde Fragrance
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Paradise
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Ashram
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Hadley
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Jessika (Joy of Life peeking through at right)
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Jacaranda
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Parole
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Mon Cheri - more subtle than appears here
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Why, it looks just like my garden! Sure it does.

Ohhh yeahhhh. Gorgeous pix, silky. Love 'em all. That little Jacaranda looks like a rather fetching bouquet.

Silky , definately better time to go than when i did , the roses look so much better , Olde Fragrance one of my fav roses too , they all look lovely ....