There is a golden rule, if you are after a certain plant and you find certain plant, buy it when you see it. If you do not then you will regret it: usually immediately you have left the vicinity far enough from when there was a chance you could have nipped back and rectifed this error.
One such regret was the Rose Spong. I first heard of this delightfully named rose from a tweet by Roses UK, the British Association of Rose Breeders. Now a rose is rose by any other name, but come on, how can you not want to grow a rose called Spong?
This is an old rose introduced in 1805 and was bred, apparently, by Spong (hence the name I assume). I regretted not buying the one when I saw one at Larch Cottage Nursery when I was wandering around the Lake District last year. I was looking for Rosa American Pillar at the time but a Spong in the hand is worth two American Pillars in the bush as they say. More of my quest for American Pillar will follow on another day.....
I did some internet hunting for Spong, I went on a waiting list for when it would be available and earlier this year a lovely strong plant was duly purchased and arrived. I was very happy.
I quickly planted her into the garden and I have to say that all the rain we have had this year means I have not yet had to water very often. The many buds soon opened into flowers.
She will get to be around 120cm high, which is a goodly size for a rose to fit into a garden. Her scent is wonderful too. Her flowers seem smaller than on many other of my roses but they are very pretty nonetheless. I wonder if they will get bigger when she's settled in and put her roots down.
I am so pleased I tracked her down, I should have bought her on the day but it turns out that finances are finite and you cannot buy everything no matter how much you want to.
But now she is mine so alls well that ends well.
Take care and be kind.
