This week I popped by Palatine Roses in Niagara-on-the-Lake. They carry so many rose shrub varieties and have the most beautiful cut roses as well. I picked out two bunches of different pink garden roses because I couldn’t resist how pretty they were (seen here on Instagram & in the photo below).

Garden roses are typically very thorny (which I hate!) but I’m willing to do the bit of extra work for their beauty. To remove thorns on a rose I suggest wearing gardening gloves that won’t pierce easily and then snap off any large thorns with your thumb and then rub your gloved hand down the stem to remove smaller fine thorns. With the correct gloves this can be done quickly and painlessly.

I like to have garden roses in a vase on their own or combined with just a few other flowers, allowing the garden roses to stand out. Everything used in this arrangement was found around my property. I used lilac leaves, allium seed heads, and spirea blooms to compliment the roses. The allium seed heads are unique in shape and form, and although they are not in bloom (well past their prime actually!), I love them for the architectural quality that they bring to an arrangement. Since the seed heads are green they do not take away from the roses. The spirea ended up being a great flower that I have never used in a cut arrangement before. It was the perfect fluffy filler for this arrangement and lasted well when cut.

Even when you make flower arrangements at home remember to use flower food in your water so that flowers last their longest and cut the stems and change the water every 2 days.

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