Last year, 2009, a friend offered me 12 China Doll roses that had been in her garden for about 15 years. The shade had increased to the point where they were not growing or flowering well. I swapped them for a spare food processor that I had bought on ebay. However, the price didn't stop there. By the time I bought 300 clip-lock bricks for a wall, 3 tonne of garden soil and a concrete statue for the centre (made by a local fellow for a very reasonable cost), and spent several weeks building the wall (using a level to get it right, much to the joy of my husband, who hates visitors to think that he built my crooked garden brick edges), the cost had skyrocketed.
I planted a dozen small statice plants around the outer edge, not realising how well they would grow there. The roses arrived in June with huge, old woody bases and only a few lingering roots. I didn't hold out much hope for their success. I should have had more faith in the ability of roses to overcome adversity. I only lost one and since last spring they have grown to about a metre tall and flowered profusely. I have now ordered 6 more from Swanes to fill in the centre part of the garden so it looks like a hedge.
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