These 5 rose varieties (listed below) smell outrageously beautiful, each individual chosen for a different scent (not all roses have the classic old rose scent, though my Gabriel Oak does a wonderful job of it!). The season is coming to plant bare root roses which are cheaper and more environmentally friendly as there isn’t a plastic pot with compost being shipped (I planted these in mid Dec). I never thought I’d grow roses and even dug one out when I moved to the tiny garden nearly a decade ago (one of only two leggy plants growing in the mud patch) but I planted 4 at the allotment and 1 in the garden a few years ago and haven’t looked back. I was lured by the descriptions of their scent in David Austin catalogues I’d picked up at a flower show. 🚼 They’ve kept my spirits up through the newborn phase when all I could manage was walking to the plot and picking them while letting the ‘weeds’ grow thick at their feet - keeping me company through the sleepless nights. I picked a few today and the baby mimicked me sniffing them 🥹. . Some rose history: Ornamental rose varieties like these scented shrub roses are named by the breeder - roses have been cultivated for millennia, with the earliest known dating from at least 500 BC in Mediterranean countries, Persia, and China. Varieties pictured here in rough order are: 🌹 Desdemona 🌹Eustacia Vye 🌹Boscobel 🌹Gabriel Oak From the garden 🌹 Strawberry Hill All bought from @david_austin_roses . . . . . . . #rose #rosa #davidaustin #eustaciavye #roses #rosebush #allotment #allotmentlife #allotmentlove #thehappygardeninglife #gardening #gardenblogger #gardenersofig #organic #organicgardening #growyourown #homegrown #botanic #petals #horticulture #homegrownflowers #thomashardy #redrose #redroses #pinkrose #whiteroses #bees #bee #savethebees #scentedroses