Oh, James Galway...I'm in love.

10 years ago

My young James Galway that I got as a band in April is now about 3 feet tall, has lots of new shoots and buds, and has rewarded me with his first full bloom! It really made my day to come home from work and see it. It's small, and was slightly "bullnose," but once it opened up it showed me the potential this little plant has and reminds me why I fell in love with the photographs and had to have it. I can't wait until it matures.

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Comments (14)

sara_ann-z6bok
10 years ago
Beautiful Bloom!
canadian_rose
10 years ago
Oooooh!!! That's heavenly!!! Does it have any fragrance? What's the size of the bloom.
Gorgeous!!
Carol
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Arley, it will never be worth it to me. I just don't care that much, I never weigh anything and sometimes I don't even measure. I do much of my cooking by "eye", depending on how it feels and looks and if my results are not perfectly consistent, I don't care about that very much either, as long as it tastes good. Plus, making bread, you can't measure ingredients and get consistent results. You could weigh the finished dough and get loaves or rolls the same size, but bread baking isn't an exact science. There are differences in brands of flour, how long it's been stored and where, the wheat is different from year to year depending on the climate conditions, even if it's grown the same place. There is humidity and temperature, a lot of factors that have nothing to do with how much your flour or liquid weighs. Even where your water comes from makes a difference in bread, so I'm always adding more flour or more liquid until it's "right". As for metrics, well, I refuse. I can barely remember the information I have now, let alone convert it to metrics. My theory is that the brain is like a computer. When my memory is full, nothing new can go in unless I get rid of old information and I have a bunch of information stored. Too bad much of it is useless, LOL. I know how much two liters is, because it's the size of a large soda bottle, although the local drug dealers use metrics, because they sell stuff by the gram. (grin) Plus I'd have to replace all my measuring cups, spoons, batter bowls, etc. Nope, I'm staying with cups and teaspoons, thanks. Add the fact that I HATE mathematics of all types any anything I have to do that involves numbers. I can do it, I just hate it, so a sure way to be certain I'll never make a recipe is to give it to me in metrics and tell me to weigh everything or convert it. It's WAAAYYY more fun to just screw it up the first time and then fix it. Something about swamps and alligators...(grin) Annie
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So, I was in a nursery today and saw James L. Austin and sort of fell in love! And brought it home. Will see what happens next! I agree about the color! It suprised me to see how vibrant it is "in the flesh" after all the times I have seen it in the DA catalog. I have grown GO and it was a really dud for me--super weak and I got very few flowers out of it all summer, in only two flushes, and died down to one sad cane, so it was SP but maybe I just got a bad one. JLA is magenta , deep reddish magenta, almosrt sort of a rich hot pink. Very hard to describe and most photos cannot capture its vibrancy. It's not that dissimilar from GO, in color, although I personally think JLA's color is more sort of shocking, in a good way. Gorgeous. I have also grown Boscobel, which has salmony tones that JLA does not. It was so beautiful, also not great in my garden, not particularly tough--prone to every sort of ill and pest--nor prolific, only two real flushes, although I know that for some it does great so it was also SP. My Young Lycidas, however, is tough as nails. When I got it, it was almost dead, and now it's on it's third summer, worst spot in the garden, with buds galore! The leaves are not the most attractive, sort of weirdly crinkly, but the flowers are super. And it stays relatively compact and orderly compared to some. For me, it has less pink/red tones that JLA, it's more purplish, and Princess Ann is somewher between the two, more pinkish. JLA is a bit darker. And then there's the unique form of Princess Ann's flowers that are like no other. JLA does have a scent but it's not super strong, but lovely. Perhaps of all of them, Princess Ann has the most detectable scent for me, but they are all pretty. In it's first year, Princess Ann was very hardy, but not the most profilic. In its second year, it's about to give a big show of blooms, based on the uncountable number of blooms, and is growing quite upright and tall. And thanks to people on these chats, I learned that one needs to wait a year or two to see what a plant can do, which kept her off the SP list. Hope this info helps someone in turn. Here's a photo of my Jame L. Austin, colors are true to life:
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growing_rene2
10 years ago
oh how beautiful! I would also be in love if I had that to look at every morning. :)
erasmus_gw
10 years ago
Just gorgeous..I have been considering giving some space to that one for years.
monarda_gw
10 years ago
I love this rose, also. It has a very pleasant sweet fragrance to my nose, though not wafting.
racin_rose
Original Author
10 years ago
Thank you all for the compliments!

It's only about the size of my palm now. It has a mild old rose/sweet fragrance, as stated above, and to me a little spicey.
I'm hoping that as it matures and petal count increases the fragrance goes up too...but so far I love the health of the plant itself and the coloration is to die for. Even if the blooms don't get any bigger they're plenty charming as-is.
If any of the other buds bloom better, I'll post pics.
This one, out of all my spring band purchases, was the one I anticipated the most. I so wanted it to do well and I hope it keeps thriving.
Thanks again!
ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9
10 years ago
I've always thought James Galway was a beautiful rose and that's quite an impressive bloom for a young rose, although it is bound to be even more beautiful at maturity.

I'm really convinced that rain helps bands to grow and bloom much more quickly. Mine in a hot and arid climate with poor rain last winter are coming along very slowly. Young Lycidas was doing nothing, in spite of daily watering, and when I dug into the soil it was totally dry below the first inch. That was pretty discouraging.
seil zone 6b MI
10 years ago
Easy to see why you are in love, it's gorgeous!
Kippy
10 years ago
I love the blooms on my James Galway. It has been planted a year and threw a tall cane, hoping for more, about 7 feet tall. But had a cluster of roses that seemed to last and last.
bunnicula03
10 years ago
Gorgeous! I think that's going on my "want" list...
Krista_5NY
10 years ago
I love this rose. It's a wonderful rose that grows large in my garden setting (8 feet wide). It has fantastic clusters of blooms packed with petals and with a lovely fragrance.

This is a pic of a section of it:

{{gwi:228883}}
racin_rose
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks guys! It's nice to have people to "ooh" and "ahh" with me over things like this.

JG was the first Austin rose I saw online. I HAD to have it and the only place I could find it in stock was Heirloom. I thought for sure it wouldn't make it because I didn't know how to grow something so small. I'm thrilled it's happy.

Thanks to everyone, again, for the encouragement, and those that have the rose sharing their experience.

Ingrid, you must be right. We haven't had rain here in about a month, except a light sprinkle for a couple hours one night. I have to religiously water, and since JG is in a half-barrel, I try to water deepest around the perimeter to encourage the roots to spread.

Krista, that's drop-dead gorgeous...and it's hardy in New York? I'll have to tell my mom it would probably do well on her 6a Ohio farm. I'm green with envy, thank you for sharing.

-Kellyn
Krista_5NY
10 years ago
Thank you, Racin. I'm zone 5 and it's quite hardy here. It forms really substantial canes. I grow it as a freestanding shrub, but use mini-trellises and stakes to support some of the canes.
anntn6b
10 years ago
My first JG was grafted onto multiflora rootstock and became just what it was supposed to be : large and vase shaped and loaded with blooms.

It was simply wonderful and darned near broke my heart when it got RRD.

But I waited, and left the land fallow for two years and then replanted it, because it belongs where I'd chosen to plant it. And I will keep replanting it there if this replacement gets RRD, because it's that great a rose.

Oh, James Galway...I'm in love.

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Oh, James Galway...I'm in love.

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