Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Everything is Coming Up Roses

I get that many of you are not terribly fond of roses. After all, the plants can be fussy, the foliage is susceptible to all manner of leaf uglies and then there's those dang thorns. Ouch!

But what can I say? Despite all the reasons not to grow them, I love roses. I adore burying my nose in those velvety, fragrant petals or walking into a room and being greeted by their heavenly fragrance.

However, contrary to my typical nature, I don't obsess over the genus Rosa. I don't have an unquenchable need to crowd my garden's borders with every variety known to humankind and have a succession of blooms from March to November. Believe it or not, I'm really happy with the few that I already have. Here are photos of most of them. 


Rosa 'Cinco de Mayo' ... Unfortunately leaf miners found a place to play. 

Gertrude Jekyll 

'Knock Out' with Geranium 'Jolly Bee' 

Another shot of 'Knock Out' and surrounding plants.

'Sophie's Rose' 

'William Baffin' 

'Sea Foam' 

Another shot of 'Sea Foam' 

And one more. I love the touch of pink in the buds


'Carefree Delight' 

NOID ... a miniature my youngest daughter recently gave me. 

'Lyda' 

Not the best photo, but can you see the tiny crab spider?
I don't like crab spiders. They eat bees and that makes them bad! 

In other news, the garden is in full-on mode. Here are some random shots.

I purchased Centaurea atropurpurea last year. These are the very first blooms. I love it. 

It's only supposed to get about 2 and a half feet tall but mine is as tall as I am,
which isn't saying much--5 feet--but kind of tall for a front-of-the-border plant.

My winter-surviving artichokes are looking perfect. I'll be letting them bloom. 


Being a lover of pink flowers, I swoon over these seeded (by me) rosy-pink California poppies.

What pink garden would be complete without pink daylilies? 

This is a horrid photo of Campanula punctata 'Sarastro'.
My apologies.

While the larger-flowered Penstemons have died,
Penstemon x mexicale 'Sunburst Ruby' has done really well in my garden
for several years, as has it's brother P. x m. 'Minaret Purple'.
I don't know why I neglected to get a photo of him.

The much-maligned Puple Loosestrife (Lythrum saliciflorus)
has never made a nuisance of itself in my garden. 

Sanguisorba tenufolia 'Pink Elephant' is just starting to bloom.
It looks better than ever this year.


I mentioned in an earlier post that I succumbed to the appeal of the "It" plant, Digiplexis.
Another, maybe not quite so popular "It" plant is Gomphrena 'Fireworks.'
Several weeks ago, when my sister and I visited Al's Garden Center, I found it
and there went my final few dollars.
I'm in love with Fireweed. (Epilobium angustifolium). Up close or far away,
those blossoms are enchanting. 

On the foliage side of things, finally I'm seeing some girth develop on my Tetrapanax.

Darmera peltata is really going places. 

Oops, back to flowers: the recently-purchased Geranium 'Double Jewel' is blooming.
Such a perky little thing.



I'm a fragrance fanatic.
Lonicera japonica 'Purpurea' is in full optical and olfactory splendor

As is Hall's ... Lonicera japonica 'Halliana' 

Finally, I'll finish it off with some wide shots.






As always, thanks for visiting. 

23 comments:

  1. Your blog is educational for me, since I've never seen most of these plants; it's almost like browsing through a good book about flowers. And I love seeing your wide shots with the vintage items!

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  2. Very lovely Gracie. Thank you for sharing.

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  3. I don't grow roses because of the care they require, but I totally concede that they are garden-worthy plants for anyone who wants to put in the effort. Yours are beautiful. I sowed some pink California poppies in the early spring too, but they are taking a long time to get to blooming size.

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  4. Grace, your garden is full of flowers!
    The Sophie's rose is wonderful, love it, and pink elephant is very cute. I like the combination of blue geraniums and 'Knock Out' roses!

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  5. Once again WOW! You have beautiful roses growing among your beautiful and 'unusual to me' bloomers. You are an inspiration to me.

    FlowerLady

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  6. I think your rose collection is pretty stellar! Besides the hell strip roses we inherited, I only grow a few others, including Darlow's Enigma. You remarked on my blog once (years ago, now) that you had to remove Darlow from your garden because it grew too big for your limited space. I'm afraid mine is almost at that point now!

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  7. Of course you would find pink California poppies! I think you could possibly make it in the book of world records for the garden with the most diverse collection of pink flowers. It's lovely!

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  8. Looking lush! This is the first time I have seem artichokes not on my plate or in a grocery store. I must say, I absolutely love the architectural quality they bring to the garden. Very beautiful. :)

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  9. Gracie girl I too love roses and battle what nonsense they go through. Zephirine D. has produced it's first flower for the season and yes leaf miners and a wee bit of rust has started .. ugh !
    All of your plants make me smile because I know there has to be a story behind each and every one of them. I just picked up my first tall garden phlox "Glamour Girl" have to get her planted when the rain decides to stop .. hot coral colour to her flowers should put some bang back in the sun strip part of the garden.
    Well .. I have to get off here but wanted to say hi there and say I enjoyed your garden twirl : )
    Joy

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  10. What a great garden you have! I love roses too but I haven't got enough sunshine to support many. You have some very pretty varieties. I've never seen artichokes growing- that's intriguing to me! I like the honeysuckles- I bet they smell marvelous! I also like seeing the wide angle view so I understand your garden better. You have some fun garden objects too!

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  11. Wow your flowers and garden is wonderful! I am definitely going to be following you so I can learn more about roses!!

    I had 6 different varieties but a truly harsh winter killed all but one and I never know how to prune or where and I still have 3 large stalks but each one only has one rose.....yours look gorgeous!

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  12. I always love walking in your garden. LOL! So many pretties to look at and just not all the blooms either. Do you have your Honeysuckle in a container? If not I do not know how you keep it from taking over. Here they are climbing the trees in the woods to the tops. It does smell divine though out in the yard.Those California Poppies are so lovely. I like the airy foliage on them much better.Your new Centaurea is going to be so pretty. I love the dark pinks. I had some geranuims planted with my roses and I had to move them. They were crowding out the roses and I was afraid they would not get enough air and get mildew. I think I need something lower growing under them...maybe Dianthus?? Got any ideas? Have a great week Grace.

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  13. I think I have almost as many roses (mostly pink) as you. Most came with the house ; but I've been adding a few as well. 'Radway sunrise ' is my latest .

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  14. Almost every single one of my roses is naked from the neck down right now. It makes me crazy. But I do love them and don't have the heart to yank them out.

    I can't believe you aren't going to eat those amazing artichokes. They are perfection and my mouth is watering.

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  15. I am thinking of converting my back garden from grass to mulch. I have a 4 year old who digs holes all over the grass. Its also very balding grass........so this post was inspiring I think I will also incorporate some loose gravel/stones, I love the look.
    Janice

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  16. Beautiful garden and pictures. I have never been to Oregon, but now I want to go... right now!

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  17. Your gardens are bursting with gorgeous blooms! Cinco de mayo rose has the pretties petals, bummer that some little pests have found a happy place to play... thanks for sharing over here at this weeks garden party at Fishtail Cottage! oxox

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  18. I'm not much of a rose person either, but love the way you incorporate them into mixed plantings...so much better that
    n the much maligned "rose ghetto" approach.

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  19. I love your garden! Thank you all pictures titled, so I also know matter what beautiful plant I see ...
    Sorry, my English is not perfect. Greetings from Germany!

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  20. Grace, I'm a bit late reading posts but am glad I looked at this one. Your Gardens are so inviting! I love Gertrude Jekyll and the Centaurea is something I've never seen. It's wonderful.Your Double Jewel Geranium is also a keeper......now, the Honeysuckle.....Is Lonicera Japonica an Heirloom? It looks just like the one I have that came from a very old vine. It was growing before I was born.....

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  21. I adore roses and yours are gorgeous. I just pick ones that can withstand the climate here...no fussing they just get tossed if they can't make it...mine seem to understand and agree to that arrangement although this year they have had to grow from the base and are small or not flowering yet...I found a native swamp rose that is a beautiful single rose with an addictive intoxicating smell.

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  22. I love to see all the unique plants in your garden. Every time I think that I know a lot of plants, someone else proves me wrong. Your centaurea is really gorgeous, I've only seen the more traditional kind.

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Thank you for being here! Your comments feed my soul.