Thanks so much everyone! I;m sorry it took me F O R E V E R to finally post a follow up (very busy all last month). Soâ¦I plucked off the buds (most of them) and made a few lovely small sachets and also infused some to try a soap idea I have. Now, a month later, there appears to be even more small blooms occurring again - so thrilled! I'm in the process of repotting it into a much bigger container (yes I know this is WAY past due for my poor but seemingly quite strong lavender!)⦠I just have one question before proceeding: what type of potting soil would be best? I know it needs it to be more alkaline than normal plants but how do i go about getting it that way? Is regular Espoma potting soil with some "desert sand" mixed in good enough? Should I add some egg shells to it too? Or not? All help is very appreciated! Thanks so much!

Munstead Wood has a good, solid fragrance. The pictures I have of it do not do it justice. There is some seasonal color variation. This is another picture of it late in the fall. Again, the pictures from my camera do not do either this rose or other dark reds to purples justice, but you can get a general idea. The color on this year's David Austin catalog cover showing Munstead Wood is pretty close to actual. I am hoping this year will have some better flowers.

Mom planted 2 roses in the abbreviated garden of the home we moved to when I was 7. Still remember her & my grandma cutting the tin can pots they came in with big tin-snippers. One was Peace & the other Crimson Glory. Peace showed pretty flowers, but Crimson Glory was strait from Heaven. Still homesick for the mature acre of garden we'd left on the East Coast in our move to the Midwest, that one rose consoled & inspired me, becoming a nearly angelic beloved friend. When we were moving back East 5 years later, my folks promised another Crimson Glory in the new garden (and a horse, too, lol), but that didn't come to pass. Yet I kept the rose in my heart. By the time I was grown & beginning my own garden, discovered Mom had forgotten its name. Don't think I'd ever known it - simply The Rose to me. Searched nurseries for years trying to find The Rose. Though I grew & enjoyed many roses along the way, the one that began it all proved elusive. Twenty-five years into the quest, I found her again, waiting patiently for me amid rows of roses, my long lost friend - recognized by her unique song & familiar perfume - Crimson Glory! Yet she didn't thrive in my gardens, and faded away over time. Ordered her bare root when no longer locally available, only to face the same decline. Twice more, from different sources, same result. In that long ago Illinois garden, she grew well. Perhaps these later versions suffered from virus that sapped their strength? This year determined to try again, looking to find her both bush & climbing virus indexed/VID. But when I saw own root CG in the K & M sale for such an enticing price, went ahead & ordered. Not finding any info at K & M on virus indexing, assuming their roses are not. Anyone know? Sue

Mmm, I've only grown a dozen or so Austins but ironically the only ones I have that haven't done this are the official climbers and the semi climbers, Jude, GC and GT and oddly, Sharifa Asma. Everything else has eventually started throwing sky high bloom on a stick canes - Carolyn Knight which I got as a new intro stayed spindly and a little floppy for years and then last year threw a blind seven foot cane, twice. Completely upright, it was actually quite impressive. Once chopped it sulked and then attempted to grow the nearest bud from the chop point - again, directly up to seven foot where it produced three buds. Summer Song did it even faster. I need to try the technique Chris was talking about perhaps - I assume that's what you mean Marlorena, pinching it like sweet peas?