DayDream's First Bloom

I love very double roses such as St. Swithun but I do enjoy the occasional single rose.  When this  enjoyment of a single rose is combined with something in the lavender tone I will be hooked.  Add to these features a vigorous healthy shrub rose and you have something that I find irresistible - the 2004 introduction rose DayDream by Ping Lim.

DayDream is a cross of Lavender Dream x Henry Kelsey and grows as a dense healthy plant spreading wider that tall and a good four fet tall.  I fell in love with this rose at the Oklahoma City Rose Garden at Will Rogers park were it is planted and grown into a dense hedge and has always been in bloom.  A healthy dense hedged rose in a public garden is a rare thing.  I suspect it will be very winter hardy from the presence of Henry Kelsey but I don't know this for sure. 

Now to the hard part of the post after seeing DayDream a couple of times at the OKC Rose Garden last year I tried to obtain this rose for my garden.  I tried all the nurseries I know of to find it, the HelpMeFind list of those who sold it, and put out a plea on the Old Garden Rose Forum on GardenWeb and could not find a nursery who had it available.  Finding it irresistible (and it is), I took a couple of cuttings to start one for my own garden and it was the easiest start I have every made from a rose. It grew roots immediately. It took a long time to bloom this Spring (almost to June) but here is its first flower.  I would gladly send a few dollars in Ping Lim's direction, but I am so glad to have this rose in my garden.  If you would like to obtain one legally I saw that Roses Unlimited is now carrying it.  I feel better now that I have that off my chest.