Young Lycidas

  

Young Lycidas

When I retired and closed my nursery down I vowed I would have lots of roses in my new garden.  Two years ago I purchased 3 Young Lycidas from David Austin Roses.  I am one of those people who want everything in a rose, it must have a very strong scent, be repeat flowering, be of "old rose" type, disease resistant, a shrubby growth and not red, orange or yellow.  Having said all that Young Lycidas seemed to fit the bill, but I have been so disappointed.  The stems carrying the flower buds grow twice or three times taller than the rest of the bush.  The flowers are large and heavy, magnificent in fact, but so heavy that the stems bend over and end up all laying across each other on top of the bush.  In desperation this year I emailed the good folk at David Austin and they tell me Y.L. is prone to do this and this year to only prune by one third which should strengthen the stems.  By now I must have forty or fifty roses in my new garden nearly all from David Austin  but this is the only one that's been a problem and I am just hoping this method of pruning will put things right.

A little help dismantling the floor of the glass house in readiness for the new garden.