Thursday, April 7, 2011

Eye Candy - Before the Storm

I was looking forward to writing a post on eye candy for Katarina's Blooming Friday until the weatherman announced that there was going to be a heavy storm with hail and wind today, presumably destroying what little eye candy there was in my garden... All I could do was snap a few quick pictures and gather as many roses as I could (not many at all as the spring flush still hasn't quite arrived in my garden yet) for the house.

Elie Beauvilain (Noisette, Beauvilain, 1887)
As I was walking around the garden to gather my rose bouquets I stopped to look at the spireas: my front yard is so peaceful and serene before the roses explode into fireworks of vibrant color.


Most of my roses are just beginning to bloom, with one or two flowers on the bush.

Cynthia Brooke (Hybrid Tea, McGredy, 1943)
At this time, it is mostly early-blooming shrubs and perennials that carry the show.

Schön Ingeborg (Hybrid Perpetual, Kiese, 1921)
Even so, with some of the bigger roses, a flower here and there can add up to quite a lot. My wonderful rambler/noisette, Elie Beauvilain, has covered a long fence in my side yard...


...and I gathered a whole bowlful of peachy lilac blush blooms. I never tire of looking at these swirls of subtle colors, my favorite pastime whenever I have a quiet moment.


I also grow some Hybrid Teas, mostly for cutting.

Just Joey (Hybrid Tea, Cants of Colchester, 1972)
One of the first to bloom is the famous (or infamous, depending on your point of view) Double Delight, praised for its powerful fragrance and reviled for its gaudy color. My bush came with the house when we bought it, and I never felt the urge to get rid of it. Here it is full of buds ready for cutting.

Double Delight (Hybrid Tea, Swim, 1977)

I cut almost all of these, expecting most flowers to be ruined by the storm. This bouquet is right next to me as I am writing this post, perfuming the whole room.


Say what you will about the color, I find the high centers that look like little whirlpools fascinating to look at. And the fragrance is outstanding.


Finally - speaking about gaudy - a picture of vibrant and very uncoordinated color. We planted the white spirea and the purple azalea, while the California poppy (eschscholzia californica) came uninvited. California poppies grow like weeds here, re-seed freely and often appear in a garden unasked. I spent two years ripping it out, and it stubbornly kept coming back in the same spot. I finally gave up on it and just let it be. Color-coordinated or not, it is a pretty flower that brightens up my garden. I don't know if it qualifies as eye candy though:)

33 comments:

  1. Masha! What a wonderful and informative post. I like your pictures of this roses breathtakingly beautiful! Truly you are a master photographer and gardener! Love all your rose pictures. Your pictures are always perfect!

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  2. I love the last photo of the poppies! I love to plan, plan, plan when it comes to garden color and composition but sometimes the accidents or unplanned is the most fabulous! Great fun! Your roses and photography are true inspiration! I want to improve myskills in both areas!

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  3. I was garden docenting here today and they had a double delight. I just didn't know it! And sure enough, I thought, what a great fragrance, it what a weird looking rose. Still overall, I say thumbs up to it. Thanks for filling me in on the name. Funny how that happens sometime... you wonder, and someone answers from afar.

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  4. Przepiękne bukiety róż !
    Pozdrawiam Gabi...

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  5. Everything you have in the garden is gest wonderful ! Roses, poppies, spireas, everything ! Beautiful photos !!!

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  6. These are gorgeous eye candies! I hope the predictions of the weatherman have never become true and all this beauty has not been ruined by a storm. I like that Double Delight bi-color tea rose, this color combination in that rose and in some dahlia varieties brings up a feeling of a sunny warm happy day.

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  7. Oh my, those are so gorgeous! Hard to believe all that blooming loveliness is the same country when I look outside and the trees are still bare around here--your photos do my heart good. Hope the hail spares them some!

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  8. I hope your gardens survived the storm. You sure picked some wonderful roses for your home. Thanks again for a lovely blog post.

    FlowerLady

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  9. Masha, Your garden is definitely gorgeous. Eye candies everywhere. I'm sure it smells terrific too.

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  10. It's a mixed blessing your roses are not quite in spring flush yet so the storm wouldn't ruin their blooms. And maybe the rains will help the buds open. The picture of your garden with the spireas in bloom is just gorgeous. The rose eye candy - fabulous!

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  11. Gorgeous. Roses are the prettiest eye candy.

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  12. Hope the storm didn't do too much damage to your roses and the garden! I have to admit, that I am one of those people, who are not too excited about Double Delight, because of the its very bright (gaudy?) color that I find very hard to integrate successfully into the garden. But I have to say your bouquet of it looks absolutely goooorgeous! Obviously the context you present a rose in can change it all! The close-up photo of Double Delight is stunning, too. It brings out so well the perfectly swirled high-centered bloom form!
    Christina

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  13. Sandra, I am glad you like my pictures - that's why I take them! Thank you for the encouragement.

    Kelsey, thank you, and I like it too now, I always enjoy the play of shadows and light on the leaves of the back-lit poppy. I hope it will stay for awhile.

    Jess, I am glad I was able to help. With such roses, people either love or hate them. Mine is a mature healthy plant, generous with blooms, so I leave it be.

    Thank you, Gabi and Dani. I am glad you liked my post.

    Olga, that's funny what you said about the predictions: they didn't actually come true - no hail, no storm, and very little rain. After all this scare, I have to go out and water again! You are right to compare DD to a sunny warm day - it is a phototropic rose, so the more sun shines on it, the brighter the edges.

    Thank you, Daphne, Flowerlady and One, for such wonderful compliments. I enjoy hearing from you.

    HolleyGarden, thank you for your optimism, I was thinking more that the rain might cause them all to ball:). I certainly don't expect much from my Souvenir de la Malmaison... Thank you for your compliments on the spireas, I love them too.

    Thank you, Greenapples, and I agree wholeheartedly, roses are the prettiest of all.

    Christina, I am so happy you liked my DD! So few rosarians do:). Thank you for your good wishes for my garden - the storm didn't happen, but because of cold temperatures and rain I do expect some balling.

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  14. You have such gorgeous eye candies in your beautiful garden! I love the bouquet of roses of Hybrid Tea, make a wonderful table decoration with the sweet fragrance filling the whole house!

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  15. Thank you, p3chandan. You are right, hybrid teas are great for bouquets, I love them too.

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  16. How many years you have had for such a beautiful garden? What garden? Is a haven.

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  17. Thank you, Vasi. We have been living in this house for about 5 years now and started from scratch. The previous owners were not the gardening type:). California has a long growing season, so we got a mature look to the garden much faster than if we were farther North.

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  18. Oh, how beautiful! I love the shot of the Spirea leaning over the edge of your lawn. Soft colors, vibrant colors, I love them all, and I think the combination of poppies, spira, and azalea is very eye-catching. The azalea's color is bright enough to carry it off. All of your roses are gorgeous. I hope you came through the storms all right.

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  19. We try to keep the weeds away, when as lovely as your California poppies and of course not interfering to much with other plants.

    Love your photos and envie your early summer garden beauty. :)

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  20. Thank you, sweetbay, and I think you are right, the poppies don't look so bad next to that bright azalea.

    Charlotta, I think I will keep this particular weed for a while:).

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  21. Masha those roses are gorgeous and I love the poppies..vibrant color..

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  22. Thank you, Donna. I am glad you approve of the poppy, maybe it is not as bad as I thought...

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  23. Dear Masha, Your garden is lovely, and your roses stunning! P x

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  24. Thank you, Pam. I am glad you liked them.

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  25. Да, глаз радуется на эту красоту смотреть!

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  26. Thank you, Tatyana. I need to figure out how to do Russian on this computer...

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  27. LOL, it's true that a weed is just a misplaced flower... I paid real live money for california poppy weeds, I mean seeds!

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  28. That't very true, Lois. People pay money for them here too, especially for the fancy hybrids:). But once they appear, they are here to stay.

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  29. I hope the storm didn't ruin your blooms. They are spectacular. I love the bowl of roses. They look good enough to eat.

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  30. Thank you, Phillip, that's what I thought too - a little like ice cream:). The storm didn't happen, and instead of watching hail hit my roses I had to go out and water...

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  31. Masha glad you were spared the hail and severe weather. Just love your roses and the beautiful spirea take me back to my childhood.

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  32. Your Roses are gorgeous Masha, forget about gaudy, if it was good enough for the great Christopher Lloyd of Great Dixter then why should we be snobby.

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  33. Thank you, Fawne, me too:)!

    Athank you, Alistair, for making me feel better. You are right, and I should stop being so conventional. I will try harder...

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I am so glad you have stopped by!