It's rose season and there's lovely roses bursting into bloom across the country! Perhaps you are lucky to have some in your garden? Sadly, there are very few commercial rose growers left in the UK and most grow fragrant roses for special events, such as weddings, because these roses don't have such a long vase life for other purposes.
The posies this week include homegrown David Austin roses which have been cut early this morning in bud so you can enjoy them for longer. If you are familiar with 'David Austin', they specialise in growing old garden rose varieties with blousy heads and fragrance and they always have eye-catching displays at Chelsea. Although they are a British company, nearly all commercially-grown David Austin cut roses are actually imported from countries such as Kenya.