Jacques, Mary, Geoff, Constance, William and Gertrude...

( I created these collage grids using BeFunky )

I love roses. When I was little, I remember there was a lovely 'Albertine' rose in the garden.  That love has stayed with me and over the years, I have amassed a collection in my small back garden.  Some have come and gone, but others have stayed. Some are in the border, but most are in large pots.  With the uncharacteristically hot May weather we have been having in the UK over the last week, they have rushed to bloom. (While they may enjoy the sun and heat, I am struggling!)

Above, top line, left to right: Jacques Cartier; Mary Rose; Eyes for You.

Middle line, left to right: Cottage Rose; Olivia Rose Austin; Dannahue.

Bottom line, left to right: Geoff Hamilton; For Your Eye Only; Constance Spry.

Above, top left, going clockwise: William Shakespeare 2000; Gertrude Jekyll; Roald Dahl; Susan Williams-Ellis (the white one, bottom left corner) and Desdemona (my newest purchase, earlier this year.)

They are doing well and I am enjoying their perfumes.  This isn't the whole collection, as there are a few more yet to flower (Bring Me Sunshine; Ferdinand Pichard; Emily Bronte; Blush Noisette and New Dawn), so hopefully there will be more for us to enjoy. 

Flowers and Fireworks

I have had a flower-filled few weeks recently and have been really enjoying the additional colour they bring.  Above was a 'Just Because' bunch of flowers from my lovely husband, "I thought they were your colours" - they were!

Then there was a bunch of dahlias to add to the display from a fellow allotmenteer.  

Then there was a bunch of chrysanthemums from a different fellow allotmenteer.

Finally, a colleague at work gave me these roses and lilies as a 'thank you'. I have been so lucky!  

Having discovered that my camera does have some settings for various things such as Fireworks, Portraits and Low light (see here for the post about it), I decided to have a go with the Firework setting.  After a slight problem of not remembering how to access the settings, I downloaded the manual and then found the setting.  The photos were better than previously, but as these were taken from a distance, they aren't all that great.

I obviously managed to move the camera when I was taking this one, but I rather like it. (I don't think professional photographers need to be worried though!)

The rest of the Roses

It has been a good rose year so far.  Here are some photos of the other roses in my garden.  Above is Cottage Rose.

My latest acquisition, Dannahue.  I will be putting this one in a big pot in the Autumn.

William Shakespeare 2000, still growing tall and attempting garden domination.

For Your Eyes Only, which I repotted earlier this year and I thought I had killed it. The roots were growing through the bottom of the pot and it was difficult to get it out of the pot.  It looked distinctly unhappy for quite a while.  However, it has decided all is well and is flowering beautifully.

Eyes for You, which is a really pretty flower with dark purply splodges at the base.  You can see the different colours it goes through here too. It will be repotted in the Autumn too.

New Dawn flowering on the arch.

Emily Bronte who was also trying to take over.  She has been cut back a bit now after the first flush of flowers. The scent in the garden has been lovely and it has been enhanced by the little white orange blossom which has been fantastic this year. (That will need repotting too, I think...) I now need to feed them all, especially the ones in pots.  A nice relaxing job for this evening, I think.

Roses, roses, roses

 The roses have enjoyed the recent rain we had (and so have the rest of the plants too).  Here's a snapshot of some of the different plants I have.
Top row, left to right: Charles de Mills, Rosa Mundi, Blush Noisette
Middle row, left to right: Cottage Rose, The Pilgrim, Olivia Rose Austin
Bottom row, left to right: Winchester Cathedral, Eyes for You, Ferdinand Pichard

Here are a few more, top left going clockwise: For Your Eyes Only, Gertrude Jekyll,  Mary Rose, Geoff Hamilton.
Since I took these photos, we have had some rain which has battered the blooms a bit.  I went out and deadheaded yesterday and am looking forward to seeing the next flush of flowers.

June Artists' Trading Card (ATC)

 Here's the latest of my ATCs - for June.  I knew the focus had to be roses, not just due to the verse for June, but also because my garden is full of roses in June.  I used a sort of leaf stencil and green paint for the background and stencilled the roses using texture paste.  I needed to infill the roses with paint as the green showing through was just too distracting.  I coloured the texture paste, but ended up painting the roses as well.

 They needed a little something extra, so glitter was added as highlights.

The gemstones I used this month were all pinks and purples and I tried to get an ombre look.  I used rose quartz, lavender amethyst, kunzite, peach moonstone, pink opal and pink shell. The gemstone for June is pearl, so I added a pearl charm.

The back of the card features the verse and some die cut roses.  The new rose dies arrived the morning I was working on this ATC which was serendipitous, so I made good use of them.  I am pleased with the end result - June is all about the roses!

Early June - everything's blooming!

All of a sudden, the garden has gone into overdrive.  The roses are flowering and everything is looking lush and gorgeous.  However, there is mildew and rust and a huge number of greenfly about, just to temper my enthusiasm.  The alliums are looking lovely and attracting the bees.

 I like this mix of alliums with the white foxgloves in the background.

 Erigeron is looking lovely too.

As is this dark astrantia, shoved rather unceremoniously into a pot.

I have noticed lots of bees, which is a good thing.

But, the stars of the garden are the roses.  One minute they were all tightly in bud, the next, there is a profusion of blooms.  Above is Geoff Hamilton with a single raindrop on its petals.

 This rose is also blooming away happily.  I think it is 'Eyes for You', but should check!

As are these.
Top row left to right: New Dawn, Ferdinand Pichard, Constance Spry
Middle row left to right: Darcey Bussell, The Pilgrim, Gertrude Jekyll
Bottom row left to right: Cottage Rose, Charles de Mills, Winchester Cathedral
There are other roses not featured yet which I have managed to cram into the garden.  There is something very indulgent about being surrounded by roses and I love it!

Chelsea week 2018 (a biased view of my favourite things based on the TV coverage)

 One year, I would like to visit Chelsea Flower Show in person, just to say I have been.  However, I do watch all the TV coverage that I can and in fact, I probably see more through the coverage than I would if I actually went.
I can't take any credit for the photos as I have found them courtesy of the RHS Chelsea website and I have chosen the ones of the gardens or planting or features that I really like.  It is a totally biased view!
The first is The Claims Guys 'A Very British Garden' designed by Janine Crimmins.  It is indeed what a formal British garden conjures up - dry stone walls, roses, box bushes.

This would have made a beautiful fountain.

I also like the cool greens of this garden, The Warner Edwards Garden by Kate Savill and Tamara Bridge. More lovely dry stone walls here too.

I liked the pietra dura mosaic of the British Council Garden, India: a billion dreams by Sarah Eberle and thought the embroidery on the cushion echoing the beautiful stone work was really clever.

 This is such beautiful workmanship.

 The David Harber and Savills garden by Nic Howard featured some dramatic sculpture and striking colours.

 This view of the same garden shows a more gentle side.

 The 'Welcome to Yorkshire' garden by Mark Gregory again showcases beautiful dry stone walls and a great attention to detail, with wool stuck on the fences and a cow pat in the field.

 It has a vegetable plot and I like the water feature.

 I think this is my favourite garden.  I would love to sit by the wisteria and enjoy a cup of tea and piece of cake.  Edited to add: this garden won The People's Choice award this year, voted by viewers and visitors.  It seems we all appreciated the atmosphere of this garden.

 The Wedgewood tea garden by Jo Thompson showcases purple and orange planting with a dramatic sculpture.

You couldn't fail to notice the bright colours in the Supershoes Laced with Hope garden by Laura Anstiss.  It shows the progression for a child diagnosed with cancer, going through the treatment with hope and coming through.

 I do like the sculptures in this garden.

 The planting in the Viking Cruises Wellness Garden by Paul Hervey Brookes looks  really inviting.

 The Silent Pool Gin garden also appealed to me (probably to do with the word 'gin' in the title!) but also a quiet, enclosed place with more stone walls.

So, there are my favourites from the TV coverage I have seen.  I wonder if I will ever visit in person?  Seeing all the hoards of people on the TV coverage does put me off a bit as I think it would be a bit claustrophobic.  However, I am going to RHS Chatsworth in a couple of weeks time, so will let you know how I get on there.

End of June

(collage created using picmonkey)

As we near the end of June (this year is going much too quickly), it is a good time to look at roses. June has been good to them this year, despite the baking heat last week and then the heavy rain over the last few days.  I love roses and here are just a few:
top row, left to right: Chandos Beauty, Ferdinand Pichard, New Dawn
middle row, left to right: For Your Eyes Only, The Pilgrim, Eyes forYou
bottom row, left to right, Gertrude Jekyll, Madame Hardy, Rosa Mundi
I do have some deeper pink/red roses too, but haven't taken any photos of them yet, although I probably will.

June 2016 in the garden - a riot of roses despite the rain

It has been a very wet June this year.  I have been waiting relatively patiently for my roses, peonies and poppy to flower, only to see the blooms turning into a soggy mass.  However, on those few occasions when it wasn't actually raining, I did managed to take some photos.
I love roses and have gradually built up quite a collection in the borders and in pots.  Various shades of pink are my favourite but I am branching out into deeper shades and the odd apricot and white too. All of the roses are scented, but some have a stronger fragrance than others.  Above, top row l to r: Jacques Cartier, Constance Spry, Arthur de Sanchal (my latest purchase); middle row, l to r: Gertrude Jekyll, Bright as a Button, Ferdinand Pichard; bottom row l to r: New Dawn, Frilly Cuff and Cottage rose. I hope I have identified them correctly, but it is quite difficult, as several of them do look very similar.

Above top row l to r: For Your Eyes Only, Chandos Beauty, William Shakespeare 2000, middle row Molineux, bottom row l to r: Madame Hardy, Mary Rose and Rosa Mundi.  

My patio peonies have done well despite the rain.  Above on the left is Madrid, in the middle is a new one this year, Rome and on the right is the one poppy flower which wasn't ruined in the rain.  I have Patio Peony Kiev too, but it hasn't flowered this year.  

I treated myself to some new petunias called 'Night Sky' which I wasn't sure about when I saw them in a catalogue earlier in the year.  However, when I saw them in the flesh, I was intrigued by the patterns and I like the way each flower is different. They do seem to glow and are a darker purple in real life.  I suspect they are a bit like Marmite - love them or hate them - but I love them.  They are scented in the evening too, which is a bonus.  I am hoping that July might bring a little more sun, but with the weather in the UK, you just never know!

Open Gardens 2016

A village about twenty minutes from where we live had their Open Gardens on Sunday, so, as the weather was reasonable and I do enjoy nosing round other people's gardens, off we went.  We visited last time they were open, in 2014 and you can see the posts here and here . There was a variety of sizes of gardens but all had lots to interest the visitor.  Many of them had large borders, which showed the plants off beautifully.

 This poppy had escaped into the next door field.

 I liked this arrangement with peonies and delphiniums.  A nice place for a G & T (or cup of tea), depending on your preference.

There were small gardens behind a terrace of cottages which were beautifully maintained.  The owner of this garden made me laugh.  She told me that one of the organisers of the afternoon had sent all the owners badges to wear, but "mine's still in the envelope...I'm not wearing that!"

There were roses, lupins and geraniums a-plenty.

In the next door garden, there was some fiery planting with the orange and red of the potentilla.

 There was a very inviting deck chair in a quiet corner.

Hardy geraniums were everywhere and this one caught my eye with its gentle apricot and lilac tones.  It is a double flower, which meant it wasn't good for wildlife, but it was still very pretty.  I think it may be Geranium 'Summer Skies'.

These photos were from my favourite garden, which was very photogenic (and looked very labour intensive).

 There were some inviting shady area with lots of foxgloves...

 ...as well as some sunny borders with hot colours.

 The screens and trellis dividing areas of the garden provided some pretty views.

 Doesn't this archway make you feel that you want to explore?

 The rose had climbed right to the top of the tree and looked amazing.

The front garden was full of roses, cat mint and geraniums.  Scruffy would have loved the cat mint - it is a good job he wasn't with us!  We had a lovely afternoon and enjoyed sandwiches, cake and tea at the Village Hall.  A perfect Sunday afternoon.