Saturday, April 21, 2012

Rush For Roses

For Christmas hubby came through big time: a gift card at a nursery to buy roses. He had done his research looking for the best place in Northern Colorado to buy my favorite rose, the David Austin, which is hard to find. I had several at the old house that we didn't bother to move, regretfully. He found a nursery in Longmont, a 40 minute drive away.  He had called the nursery to see when it would order its roses, so this morning we set out at 6:30 AM to spend the gift card. Today was the Flower Bin's Rush for Roses. He was told that people arrive early with their running shoes on. We arrived early and waited for the gate to open along with other rose enthusiasts.

The day was beautiful with bright early morning sun, cool, crisp and clear.


We had never been to this garden center before, but it was impressive. We really didn't need to arrive so early because the crowd was manageable, the roses neatly organized, the staff helpful.


We didn't do any other shopping, just gathered our roses and went on to the next stop: breakfast.


After eggs and coffee, we traveled even further south to the next stop: The Tree Farm to return a peach tree that didn't make it through the winter.


40 acres of trees


This nursery is so large that it runs a valet service, hauling its customers in golf carts. What a cool service. Kevin sold us our peach tree last summer. We picked out a nice one, but it just didn't survive our dry winter.


Row and Rows of Red Buds! One of my favorites.


Our purchase: Miss Kim Lilac, who will live in our court yard.

We did quite a bit of damage today; although the roses were pre-paid, I did go over budget, but who was counting? Neither of us. I came home with six new roses, three David Austins, including a climber and two  tea roses. We will plant tomorrow. I'll write the great reveal probably when I need a break from grading.

We had such a lovely drive outside the city limits with a glorious view of the Rocky Mountains. With the small amount of rain that we had last week, the fields of alfalfa and grass hay are brilliant green laid out like a plush carpet. We love our Colorado Rocky Mountains and today they were glorious, still capped with snow. In my new header, Long's Peak, one of Colorado's  popular Fourteeners (14,000 ft. elevation) that hikers enjoy climbing. 

This will be the last week of classes at the university with a week of finals following. I am nearly done. I can't believe how fast the semester flies by. So tomorrow I will indulge in my guilty pleasure, planting my roses before I settle in to start the grading marathon. I hope everyone has a terrific week.

8 comments:

  1. Lucky you! Those roses will certainly bring much pleasure over the coming years :o)
    Rose H

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  2. It looks like a fun day! I don't have roses growing here, tho I did dig up some of my wild rose bush that came from my parents home in Michigan that I love.

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  3. Love your visit to the garden centres - and the roses, especially. You'd love a garden centre over here in Hampshire, UK called Pococks Roses. They're well known and exhibit at Chelsea Garden Show each year. They're just a few miles from us in Winchester and I've bought beauties from them over the years. My favourite is a climber called Dublin Bay which is the most luxurious red. We gave it to my husband on Father's Day some years ago as he's of Irish extraction and loves Dublin! I look forward to sharing your trips and garden news. Don't you just love blogland - so many new people to say 'Hi' to!

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  4. The weather looks so warm on your blog photos I had to do a double check to see if I was on the right blog! Guess you're really into Spring now. Your purchases sound really good, hope you show photos of the plantings! And the roses in flowers this summer. I was thinking of buying a Queen Elizabeth rose as its her 60th year reigning this year. Did you figure out what happened to your blog before? I had some problems with mine when I switched to New Blogger but all got sorted in the end. Looks like yours is fine now.

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  5. Sounds like you hade a lovely trip and came home with lots of goodies. I am envious of your weather - we have had rain, rain and more rain - there can't be much left up there now. Enjoy planting your new roses .

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  6. Now that's a good Christmas present! Your hubby gets an A+ in gift giving! I sent away for a David Austin all the way from England, and I can't wait.

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  7. Hi Ann,

    Thanks for your comment on my blog! It's going to take me a while to catch up on all your blog posts :)

    I was keen to do some gardening this weekend but it rained almost constantly, which is a good thing since we have water restrictions in the UK and the garden desperately needs the water.

    Good luck with your roses!

    All the best
    Alan

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  8. I love going to shop at greenhouses, but going with a prepaid card would REALLY be fun!! I don't blame you for going over budget, who could resist in a place like that!! Have fun planting your roses, I hope sometime you could share them with us at Farm Fresh Friday. Roses are hard to grow on the prairie, I'll just pop in to see yours!

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