Wow! VaVoom

“I have a garden of my own,

 But so with roses overgrown,

And lilies, that you would it guess

To be a little wilderness.”

Andrew Marvell

 Most of my roses have a story behind them.  This one started in May 2005.  My granddaughter Tafta Rogers gave birth to a lovely little girl, Audrey Jane.

 When  Audry Jane was born I stayed with Matt and Tafta and helped with the baby.  When the Dr. let Tafta drive we went riding around looking at yards on the South side of  Shreveport.  We passed a yard with an orange rose bush, it had blooms top to bottom.  I had never seen a rose that color. I wanted to ring the door bell to ask the name of that beautiful rose.   We could see no one was home. Tafta was glad.

Later we went to Tafta's brother's house, Ben Evans, in north Arkansas.When we got there, we looked up orange roses, on his computer. We found Vavoom. I started looking every where. I did not find one until 2008. Carrel and I took a Master gardening class in 2008.  One of our classes, on making pot plant arrangements, was taught at Selman's Nursery in Eudora, Arkansas.   This is when I met Elizabeth and Mike. We have been buying most of our plants there every since.  I ask Elizabeth one day if she had a Vavoom rose, she said no but she could order it.  We built  the orange bed in 2008 and planted some roses we bought from Jackson and Perkins,  Laura Bush , Cinnamon Twist.  In August we ordered 3 Vavooms to plant in there also.  The Laura Bush did not make it, we bought a deal in August, bare root.  They shipped us 8 roses, 6 lived, 2 died.   It is hard to get, bare root, to live it August.  In 2009 we finally bought 3 Vavooms and an October Fest for this bed.  Replaced the Laura Bush, left the Cinnamon Twist. In 2010 we moved the Cinnamon Twist to the back yard ,wrong color.  We bought another Vavoom,  for the center of the bed, to replace the Cinnamon Twist.  The Vavoom has become one of my favorite roses.  Being a Floribunda,  it blooms all season, however it does not bloom in clusters.  I am never without an orange rose.
I need to tell you this bed is 8 feet square and 4 timbers high.  We planted 5 roses, one in each corner,and on in the middle of this bed.   Bordering this bed with orange Blanket flowers and in the middle 3 or 4 Asiatic lilies,orange.   We planted 1 orange double day lily from Elizabeth's Mother's yard.  Mike gave the day lily  to us.  Also on the left side we planted 3 Tiger lilies, a friend gave us.  Charlotte my daughter gave us a little bit of the Creeping Jenny.   As you can see my bed is, with Roses an Lilies over grown.This fall we will have to find a place for a lot of lilies.  It will be a major job, as all my yard with Roses and Lilies is over grown.  I also have Iris in this bed.
Hope you enjoyed my Blog about my Vavoom.  My next page will be about  the beings I share  my garden with. Happy gardening to you from me.   Juanita