sailboat – Ever-Blooming Roses

AntiqueRoseEmporium.4.14.19

After living in Texas for a few months, one benefit to living here is the roses bloom all year long! As Spring approached, my need to peruse a rose garden blossomed as usual so my husband and I decided to meander our way over to the Antique Rose Emporium in Brenham, Texas. This charming country emporium is about a 2 hour drive from our sailboat we live aboard (and grow roses on) in Kemah, Texas, just Southeast of Houston towards Galveston. Along the way, we were greeted with the famous Texas bluebonnets and other lovely wildflowers profusely blooming on ranches established along Route 290. We were surprised to see numerous people pull over to take photos in the populated fields of various colors. It became apparent many were planned photography shoots for Easter or Spring in general. What a lovely idea indeed!

Posing with Texas blue bonnets!

My “rose addiction enabler” posing in a Texas field!

Jerry and I were delighted to find bluebonnets and other wildflowers growing on a field adjacent to the Antique Rose Emporium so we too got in on our very own photography shoot!

While browsing the various old garden roses and modern ones alike at the Antique Rose Emporium that mid-April Sunday morning, we took a few moments to stop and smell the roses they had on display.

‘Savannah’, a highly fragrant and disease resistant shrub rose with an old rose charm.

Out of the roses showcased that glorious Sunday April morning, I think ‘Savannah’ was my favorite (although it was a tough choice for sure!). Savannah’s romantic old rose fragrance and luscious petals of peach and pink welcomed me like the South always does! You can learn more about this Southern beauty, by clicking here.

I visited The Antique Rose Emporium in Brenham, Texas in 2019.

I also admired the various roses planted throughout the grounds as well as the creative displays and the overall country-like feel of the garden. If you are in the Houston, Texas area, you may want to take an easy drive out to Brenham, which is Northwest of H-Town, to explore the Antique Rose Emporium. To learn more, visit their website: https://antiqueroseemporium.com/ Every rose lover must visit at least once!

Ladybug larvae 🙂

Congo Nursery, Pasadena, Texas

For the first time since being here in Texas, my husband and I traveled to a nearby nursery known as Congo Nursery located in Pasadena, Texas, which is along the Gulf Coast area. The marina my husband and I live at as “liveaboards” on our sailboat generously bestowed us a garden bed to appease my delight in roses. Upon pulling up to this urban nursery just a bit southeast of the Houston area, we were astonished at how many roses this retailer packed in their corner store lot. We have never seen so many roses for sale at any nursery prior to this! To see last year’s list of roses they sold click here –>Roses List. It appeared all of these were present this year as well. Furthermore, all of the 5 gallon rose bushes on display were superbly cared for and healthy. Most of these spectacular roses were in full bloom as they dazzled onlookers bewildered eyes! I thought I must have died and gone to rose heaven! Texas just keeps getting better and better. 🙂

‘Full Sail’, a hybrid tea rose.

I intentionally wanted to inspect the hybrid tea known as ‘Full Sail’, a very fluffy, or perhaps I should say ‘luffing’ (a sailing term), white rose with delicious honeysuckle fragrance. After all, I do live on a sailboat. I thought this could be the perfect rose to fill the marina garden bed entrusted to us. Upon locating ‘Full Sail’ in the sea of roses, I was more than impressed by her incredibly large and magnificent blooms. I do believe her blooms were even larger than the famous ‘Peace’ rose, which also produces gorgeous petals, but little to no fragrance. After perusing the plethora of stunning roses in various colors and varieties, we purchased ‘Full Sail’ and headed back to the marina.

‘Full Sail’ in her new home on the bow of our sailboat.

While digging in the garden bed though, we discovered it was plagued with large, thick tree roots, which caused us to forgo planting our newly adopted rose bush for fear it could not compete with such conditions. Naturally, the only other solution was to go to Home Depot to purchase a large pot so ‘Full Sail’ could thrive nicely on the bow of the boat! 😉 Now when I open the hatch of the V-berth (within the bow of the boat), I get whiffs of honeysuckle! We used a couple of bungee chords to keep her secure on the bow.

Due to thinking I had some space in a garden bed to plant roses combined with the struggle of resisting roses in general, I had previously purchased two other roses, all of which are dwelling on our sailboat! LOL In addtion to ‘Full Sail’, the largest of the four, yes four total roses, plus a few succulents, a tomato plant, and sweet pepper plant, our sailboat is quite the ‘BOATanical’ experience! When living aboard a boat, you have quite a bit of packing away things before they slosh around in your boat while out sailing, so the plants will have to hang out on the pier whenever we want to go for a sail. Overall, I am overjoyed in this life of tiny living on the water, rocked by the gentle waves, surrounded by wildlife and now roses too!

Here are some photos of the magnificent beauties @ Congo Nursery for your viewing pleasure. If you are in the Houston area, do yourself a favor and visit Congo Nursery. They also have good deals on veggies, fruit trees, and loads of interesting hanging plants too!