the year I finally will begin planting the garden I've been dreaming about...
It has been a long time coming this garden of mine...oh, such a very long time coming. All those plant lists I've made, those inspirational pictures torn out of magazines (some saved for years), all the gardening books with post-it notes tabbing the pages, those stockpiled seed packets and innumerable links to gardening related websites...all coming together now and I pinch myself to believe its true. I'm humming with anticipation like a kid waiting for Christmas!
This week has been all about roses. What fun to walk the nursery aisles and look at all those picture tags hanging from bare, thorny sticks. Who amongst us has not been wooed by those fabulous petal portraits? I fall for them like I fall for wine labels - I may not know the product but I've gotta bring it home. This is one I fell for - isn't she GORGEOUS...
Honestly, would you be able to resist this rose?
..."exquisite, apricot-orange rosettes with a strong,
deliciously fruity fragrance." And it is repeat-flowering!
I am particularly fond of old-fashioned roses and most of them have a delicious scent as well. The U.K. rose breeder, David Austin, has been producing English varieties that do extremely well here in our Pacific Northwest climate. I'm giving a few of them a try. This pale pink one is almost thornless so I'll be growing it as a shrub in an open area where dawg loves to hang out...
Another one I couldn't resist is a climber with this description, "...one of the largest-flowered and most magnificent...full-petalled cups...wonderful fruit fragrance, with hints of citrus or lychee." sigh. Oh look, it jumped onto my cart.
It was the peachy-pink color that got to me on the next one. Another one with few thorns, it grows to five feet tall by four feet wide with "strong, arching stems" and should make a most excellent shrub. Ever been to Shropshire? Well, I never saw a lad there as good looking as this...
Thanks for stopping by to smell the roses with me!
Painting above, "The Soul of the Rose"
by John William Waterhouse, 1908