If you live in Texas, you are lucky enough to have access to a wonderful nursery called the Antique Rose Emporium which specializes in old garden roses. They have three locations in Texas: Brenham, Independence and San Antonio. Even if you don’t live in Texas, you can mail order countless roses from their ever growing collection of roses. I have done this a few times and had gorgeous two gallon roses delivered to my doorstep. Still, I highly recommend making the trip out to one of their locations if you can. Last weekend I managed to wrangle my family into going to the San Antonio location before heading down to the Riverwalk. Here’s a shot that shows just how many roses this nursery sells.
A closer view shows the arbor at the end of the pathway just about to come into full bloom. You can also see how the nursery has organized their roses into groups by color, size, and rebloom.
Even though most of the roses weren’t in bloom, the San Antonio location was still spectacular.
In another month it will be breathtaking. Still, there are some lessons to be learned in a garden that isn’t yet covered in blooms. For instance, it was easy to see the proper method of twining a climbing rose up a pole.
Another thing I learned was the importance of structure in the garden. No one notices that your roses aren’t blooming if you’ve got a spectacular blue wall instead.
Inside the gate is a tranquil garden room and a fish pond.
This bottle tree will be in bloom all year round.
If roses aren’t your thing, the Antique Rose Emporium sells other ornamental plants, heirloom bulbs, vegetables and herbs. Once you’ve loaded up on plants you can pay for them in this adorable cottage.
I almost expected to have someone from Grimm’s Fairytales as my salesclerk. Sadly, that was not the case. Still, don’t let that discourage you from making the trip out to the Antique Rose Emporium. In a few weeks the roses should be in full bloom and it will look even more amazing than it does now.
Game of Thorns
Gardening in Austin, Texas
