More roses!

The big show right now is being put on by Maggie, who is also wonderfully scented. Weirdly, her scent is very changeable from day-to-day, but usually rich and rosy. However, on one bizarre occasion-- and I am not making this up-- her flowers smelled like Miller Lite. (I made two friends smell the flowers in question to make sure I wasn't insane, and yup, lousy American beer. )

Here's Louis Philippe, who is doing wonderfully in part-shade. Check out the lighter petal reverse-- I love the depth it gives to the bloom. L. Philippe's flowers start off cupped, and stay that way if it's cold:

But when it's warm, he looks like this:

















This bush is rather leggy, so I recommend planting in groups of three or at the back of the border. The Antique Rose Emporium does this too.


Double Knockout, burning my retinas, but look at that form!

Sweet relief! This is the first decent picture I've gotten of my Blushing Knockout. I love the delicate coloring and form, like a wild rose:

The Pink Double Knockout. I take back what I said about this bush lacking charm, because unlike the other Knockouts, it's actually scented! And it's scented enough that I, with my lousy sense of smell, could smell it from two feet away! I would describe the scent as a sort of spicy tea rose, very pleasant.

My only hybrid tea, Double Delight. This one also clashes with my color scheme in being too warmly red, but every time I'm about to give it away, it blooms with huge vanilla-scented blooms, and well...

Double Delight also changes color with sun and heat. This is the same bloom a day later. When it's really sunny and hot, the whole flower turns red.

The last day of Abraham Darby in bloom:

And now I think it's time for the first lawn mowing of the season. A few days ago I had a ribbon-cutting ceremony like Carol, but mine was quite literal, as I fired up my electric mower and then promptly ran over the power cord and sliced it to ribbons. Oops? Or rather: Welcome to spring!

Souvenir de la Escargot

Sunday's roses

After not being in the garden for nearly three days while I was busy with Spring Fling, like many Fling-ers, the first thing I did when I got home on Sunday night was to check on the garden.

Now that the trees have leafed out, it feels more like a garden in the backyard. Nearly the entire backyard is covered with a green ceiling of leaves, either crape myrtle or the delicate sun-filtering leaves of the two mesquite.

Abraham Darby is almost done blooming:

And here's poor Abe from the top view. It looks like he bloomed at just the right time, since the plant tends to defoliate when this happens. The sad thing is, this is the only rose I spray!

Pink Knockout against the fence. I'm amused that the flower color and foliage of the Knockout perfectly match the flower color and foliage of the verbena planted right in front of it. Happy accident!

The first good picture I've taken of the found rose "Maggie":

I was losing the light, but here's the Pink Double Knockout, finally blooming. I'd never seen it flower before, so I was ragingly curious. Sadly, now that it's in bloom, I think it lacks charm, but I'm hoping it'll take some shade and still bloom. Nothing else really seems to want to thrive in that spot under the crape myrtles. We'll see what happens.

For comparison purposes, here's the regular Double Knockout, looking less obnoxiously tomato-red today. This pink is a bright shade that I can live with.

And in conclusion, the garden seen through the gate of two unfurling blooms of the hybrid tea "Double Delight":