David Beckham is best known for his soccer skills, but his gardening chops are not to be discounted. The athlete frequently spends time in his backyard tending to his vegetables, chickens, and flowers. This week, Beckham added a new plant to his outdoor space, and its benefits go far beyond aesthetics.
Wife and fashion designer Victoria Beckham shared an adorable video of her husband in their garden digging a hole to plant a Queen of Sweden rose bush. He is placing the plant against their wooden fence to act as part of the border for their yard. It contrasts perfectly with the idyllic English countryside behind, the stone path, and the fence.
Rachel Bull, head of gardens at Homes & Gardens says of Beckham's rose garden idea: 'The Queen of Sweden is a David Austin English shrub rose in a classically romantic shade of pale pink. It is glorious, and has a gentle fragrance. These roses can grow up to five ft tall and 3ft wide, so once established will create the most beautiful rose bush. It’s an ideal rose variety for creating a hedge or border, and as David Beckham has done here, a clever way to mark a boundary between different zones in your garden.'
Rachel is a gardening writer, flower grower and floral designer. Her journalism career began 15 years ago on Country Living magazine, sparking a love of container gardening and wild planting. After more than a decade writing for and editing a range of consumer, business and special interest titles, Rachel became editor of floral art magazine The Flower Arranger. She then trained and worked as a floral designer and stylist in London for six years, and has created floral installations at iconic London venues including Kew Gardens, the Barbican and Peckham's Asylum Chapel.
Furthermore, Beckham's flower choice is one of the best rose varieties to use as a flower border because it stays vibrant all season and will not require replanting. Bull states: 'The Queen of Sweden is repeat flowering, which means it will begin to produce blooms in late spring, and provided you deadhead it regularly it should continue to flower until very early winter. If you want a boundary to look good, this is the perfect rose for the job.'
In addition to rose choice, David Beckham's technique is a masterclass in how to plant roses. 'In the video he asks his wife, Victoria Beckham, whether the hole he has dug is deep enough,' says Bull. She continues, 'When planting a rose, you need to dig a hole that is two inches deeper than the height of the root ball, and almost twice as wide, so it looks like David has done a pretty great job here.'
To replicate his technique, Bull recommends: 'To give it the best start, once you’ve filled the hole with compost, place two inches of mulch on the surface of the planting area to keep the soil moist and suppress potential weed growth.'
Taking David Beckham's yard as garden inspiration can never be a bad idea.
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