David Austin Roses and my nerves

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shannonlovesflowers

shannonlovesflowers

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Oct 16, 2007
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SO I had 5 weddings last weekend, the same weekend I made that big old giant bouquet.

One of the weddings required David Austin "patience" garden roses.

So just a word of warning 'bout those roses in case ya never worked with them.

First of all, they don't travel worth a poo. So if they need to be shipped across the country, good luck.
Plus, I was told they are a "ship at your own risk" flower. So if they come in looking like poo, too bad, so sad- no credit for you.

The pics you see in magazines show big beautiful wonderful flowers. What I got in was puny little knots.

I first got in 2 bunches from the guy I buy the majority of my flowers from. I sweated it out for a few days being told, "We can't find them anywhere" So I called another company in Cali and they said pretty much the same.
I did end up getting 2 bunches from each, 'just in case'. BTW, they are 12 stem bunches.. but I knew that. I only needed 15 to 18 stems. The bouquet was to be about 10" to 12". It took way more stems than expected to get it that big.

I had to buy 4 bunches from the Cali wholesale peeps though, only 2 of which were white.

drama drama drama...

Bride wanted the roses to be pure white....
Patience roses have a decidedly yellow cast to them. And they are about as straight as question marks.
((((sigh))))

I made the bouquet Saturday afternoon, sick to my stomach the whole time. The wedding was Sunday afternoon.

I woke up Sunday morning still sick about it, so I went back to work on Sunday, and tried to find more roses to add to it. Weather they paid for it or not, I knew there would be hell to pay if I didn't make it better.

Natalie and Kate delivered the wedding while I stayed and finished up funeral work that had to go out first thing Monday morning....
I was so nervous about this bouquet that I made up another bouquet using pure white flowers...Just in case.

Nat and Kate came back and they said they took in the original bridal bouquet first and they loved it, so they never even showed them the "just in case" bouquet.

Anyways- Just wanted to give you a heads up in case ya didn't know about these roses.

Pic #1 is the bridal bouquet, she wanted nothing else than the roses, not even any greens.

Pic #2 is the MOH bouquet

Pic #3 was the 'just in case bouquet'

pic #4 is the grooms bout
 

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OMG, I glad someone is telling the way the garden roses really are, my supplier has been pushing me to use those for weddings. Haven't sold any yet. Beautiful bouquet.
 
The garden roses I got through Bill S. at Transflora (or DVW whichever) were absolutely wonderful. Of course that was not specifically wedding season but they did take a few days to open but were spectacular and held very very well.
I don't think I've seen a white "garden style" rose that didn't have at least a slight yellow cast toward the center (immature petals you know!)
Gorgous Shannon, either way......the roses or the "just in case"....
 
I think David Austin Roses are grown over her but please someone feel free to correct me if i am wrong. I see them all the time at the shows and they always look really big BUT i have heard discussions on here about their vase life not been to good etc etc. I usually tell brides that they are really expensive and then look for an alternative. That usually works..

Never seen a white one, they always seem to display the pink ones.
 
I know that David Austin roses are bred in England but licensed to growers in Ecuador and California. The California grower I know of is Green Valley Floral, 800-228-1255. I don't think they distribute, but if you call them they will put you in touch with a distributor.
Another source of garden roses is Alexandra Farms, a grower in Ecuador that sells through Stems and Bunches. www.alexandrafarms.com. They have a white called Mythos that looks, in photos anyway, more peachy in the center than yellow.
I'm not offering any personal experience with these roses yet, other than, Green Valley has shipped us roses and also amazing gerberas here at the magazine that held up nicely for a photo shoot, i.e., over a few days, about the same timing as a wedding special order, I would think.
 
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Learned from a TF designer the other day that if you are worried about your garden roses, you can always pull the inner petals out of a regular open rose and then they look like garden roses.

The only problem I see with this is that so many garden roses have wierd wiggly edges and regular roses don't. (I don't know how else to word that :p ) The brides may never know the difference though.
 
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I have 3 David Austin rose bushes in my garden. I can't remember their names but the white and pink ones have a beautiful scent. They are on their second bloom now so I have bowls of them in my house but I have never used them in any bridal bouquets or anything else because they just don't last long.
I always just pick them and put them directly in the house so maybe I should try putting them in the cooler to see if that makes them last longer.
I imagine the wholesaler David Austin roses must last longer otherwise they wouldn't be viable but I haven't tried them yet.
It's good to hear some feedback on them.
 
Tammy said:
very pretty Shannon! I have not received a garden rose that didn't look pitiful...yours look good in the picture. I wish the wedding magazines would quit with the garden roses!
Click to expand...

I hear ya! We won't touch them. But then our weddings are low budget so not worth the extra stress.
 
I had the same experience a week ago, the garden roses were awful...small knots that when they opened looked like poo. Not worth the stress or the money.
I have pulled the centers out of regular roses to give a more gardeny look however they don't look anything like a David Austin rose that has that multi layered inside. Not selling them again, not recommending them again.
Agree that vase life is less than stellar.
 
I purchased garden roses from Transflora last year and they were wonderful! I needed the pink ones for an October wedding. Bride wanted peonies but settled for those.

They smelled so wonderful and held up really well. Stems were great too. I even used the extra roses in some everyday arrangements.

I would definitely purchase them again.
 
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