Saturday, April 16, 2011

On the Cusp Part II - Almost There

It has been a week since my previous post, but a cold week, with wind and even rain. Some more roses are blooming, but the garden has yet to reach its peak. Still, there are lots of plants to enjoy, and as this is my favorite season, I spend a lot of time in the garden.








Carding Mill, along with William Shakespeare 2000, is my best Austin rose. It is a generous bloomer with a bushy restrained growth habit. The blooms have a heavy myrrh fragrance, are nicely sculpted and tolerate heat very well. It is just gearing up for the spring flush, and I can't wait.


Purple Pavement is opening its first blooms, just as my snowball viburnum's flowers get heavy enough for branches to start falling all over the rose. A few weeks later, it will be a gorgeous show of deep vibrant purple against pure white.


My other viburnum, doublefile, is also starting to bloom. Both viburnums bloom at the same time as the roses, creating a nice white foil to their exuberance.


Bishop's Castle is full of buds, and they are still so heavy that they are hanging upside down. Pruning, fertilizing and talking to it in a stern voice do not seem to help.


Mme. Berard has not been enjoying the chilly wet spring we have had so far. We are not supposed to have blackspot here, but the rose doesn't seem to have heard about this...


I can't fault the spring flush of Elie Beauvilain. It is covering more and more of our long fence, and the blooms are lovely in a charming old-fashioned way.


Golden Celebration is opening more and more blooms each day. I love the strong citrus fragrance and the huge beautifully sculpted blooms, but it does get some blackspot and repeat is not that great.


A wonderful rose that I would grow for its name alone is Gloire des Rosomanes (Glory of Rosaholics if you don't speak French). It is a very vigorous plant (it was used as understock at one time), full of lovely deeply colored blooms, and look at the size of the clusters. It happens to be my husband's favorite rose:).


My lovely Lady Hillingdon is opening its delicate flowers which remind me of curlicues. Its growth habit is a bit stiff (it could be hybrid tea, not a tea), but the blooms are lovely.


At the end, a bright and bold Sheila's Perfume, a floribunda bred by an obscure British hybridizer and named after his wife. Mine is very bushy and vigorous, and the blooms are very fragrant, so its bright colors are forgiven.

40 comments:

  1. Masha, I love your viburnums and of course your roses, too :-)! I believe I can grow viburnums here and your post is tempting me to get one. But back to the roses. Bishop's Castle, Mme. Berard, Eli Beauvilain (it looks so romantic how she is conquering your fence) and Golden Celebration are my favorites. Can't wait to see pictures when your roses are at the spring flush peak. Here in San Diego in my front yard, the peak is already over, but in the back yard it is still to come!
    Christina

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  2. I am with your husband on the yellow rose. It really is a beauty. The clarity and color are wonderful in your photos.

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  3. Thank you, Christina, and it is hard to believe your spring flush is already half over. Mine can't seem to begin:). If you think about a viburnum, my fruitless doublefile blooms from spring into fall (no berries though) and is a wonderful shrub. Western Gardening book calls doublefile the best deciduous flowering shrub, which is saying a lot!

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  4. Thank you, Donna. I happen to like Golden Celebration quite a lot too. I am glad you liked my pictures.

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  5. Gorgeous! You just get better and better with that camera - amazing!

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  6. Thank you, Sherry. I am trying hard, and I am glad you like the results...

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  7. I love the idea of a rose snaking on a fence.

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  8. Merci, Isabelle, moi aussi:). Elle est une très belle rose.

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  9. Love how your viburnum looks close to the roses!

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  10. Oh my goodness, your beautiful roses make me gasp in delight and yes, I admit, I'm a little envious too. How wonderful to have all that beauty surrounding you. I look forward to seeing more pictures of your lovely gardens and bloomers.

    FlowerLady

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  11. Ah , Masha, I LOVE them all ! And your photos are gest perfect...Thank you for all the beauty you are sharing with us.

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  12. Bonjour Masha,
    je vois que vous parlez français. Merci pour votre beau blog et vos superbes photos. C'est incroyable comme la nature est précoce chez vous. Avec vos reportages vous me faites voyager dans votre pays et ainsi j'ai appris que les 'bourgeois de Calais' y habitaient. Je vous souhaite un bon dimanche !

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  13. Thank you, Tatyana, I love that look too.

    Thank you, FlowerLady, and no need for envy, your garden is far more beautiful than mine.

    Dani, thank you,I am glad you liked them.

    Jacques, bon jour, oui, je parle un peu de français:). Merci pour m'écrire. Je suis heureuse que vous lisez mon blog et voyez mes photos. J'éspére que vous pouvez visiter Bay Area un jour. Je vous accompanierai en un tour.

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  14. Whenever I visit your blog I always find myself searching for words to express how beautiful it is. It's such a treat to come here and feast my eyes on these lovely lovely flowers.

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  15. Thank you, Sweetbay, I feel the same about your blog.

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  16. Masha your pictures look like I have 3d glasses on . so clear and refined with depth. thanks for commenting on my foliage post, in regards to Japanese maples, the burgundy colored varieties seem to do much better in the sun than the "plain" varieties. Also the thread leafed varieties even do better than the standard leafed varieties, i think you would be surprised what you can get away with even in california.

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  17. Wow, Greggo, thanks for the comment. I was thinking exactly the opposite. I will have to give them a try, thanks for the recommendation!

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  18. Oh how beautiful - each and every one! I simply love the Sheila's Perfume and Carding Mill! What beautiful roses you have and how I LOVE visiting your blog to see your latest bloomers!

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  19. Beautiful! I don't have any viburnums in my garden and I've thought for years I need to get one. I'm convinced again - yours are gorgeous. Relieved to hear the bad things about Golden Celebration as I had been lamenting about not having one - now I can stop moaning over that. :)

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  20. Well I needed that..I am out of breath or maybe it is because I was holding it as I scrolled slowly down through those magnificent flowers and roses...overwhelming...

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  21. Thank you, Christine, for your appreciation of my roses. I wish we could visit each other's gardens in person...

    Thank you, Julie, I am glad to hear from you.

    Thank you, HolleyGarden. I am glad I saved you money on GC. It is wonderful in spring though...

    Donna, thank you for making me laugh. I will try to make my posts shorter so you don't pass out:)

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  22. Ta ostatnia jest prześliczna, poprzednie róże i kalina śliczne. Pozdrawiam

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  23. Thank you, Giga. I am glad you liked my roses and viburnums. Thank you for commenting, I love reading your comments.

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  24. Wow, so many blooming roses! The fragrance must be amazing in your garden!

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  25. They are all so beautiful... Is your Purple Pavement on its own roots? I had one a while ago but had to get rid of it because it was spreading all over the garden.

    I love the way the Elie Beauvilain peeks through the fence.

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  26. Bonjour masha,
    Tu nous fais découvrir de fabuleuses roses encore aujourd'hui.. Je possède golden celebration depuis ce printemps et je fonde beaucoup d'espoir en lui.. Les viburnums sont des arbustes que j'adore également: j'ai le viburnum plicatum mariesii (superbe!), le lantana, le carlesii aurora et le pink nude beauty..
    J'espère que tu vas venir à bout de cette maladie des taches noires sur tes rosiers!
    Bises
    sophie

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  27. Masha, thanks for the beautiful tour. Congratulations on your new lens! It's a great thing for you AND for all of us who so enjoy your wonderful photos! Looking forward to your next batch.
    Sandra

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  28. Thank you, Cat, it is!

    Bonjour, Sophie. I love viburnums too, I need to check out your blog for that particular variety. Blackspot should end soon, or at least I hope so...

    Sandra, thank you for your encouragement. I will try hard:).

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  29. Lois, thank you, and yes, it is own-root. Because our soils are not to its liking, it spreads modestly, I weed a couple of suckers a couple of times a year. Not too bad. David Austin sells some grafted rugosas (I have his Roseraie de l'Hay), and so do some Canadian nurseries.

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  30. Love them all! Keep sharing pictures of your roses and the viburnums in the background, pretty please. It's great to hear little notes about growth habits and diseases from gardeners in the field.

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  31. Thank you, VW, I certainly will!

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  32. If this isn't all the way bloomed I can't image what it must be like in your yard when it is first flush. At my house the first flush is just about over, but I'll have a quick second flush before it gets hot out...then it will be waiting on roses til September flush.

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  33. Jess, not quite yet, that's why there are so many pictures of just one or two blooms... We have a good spring flush, and then also have to wait for the fall.

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  34. Masha, your Roses are just picture perfect, if I were asked I could never choose a favourite.

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  35. Thank you, Alistair, I am glad you liked them.

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  36. ... This is not the peak? Oh my! :)
    I expecially love the colours of the first and the last one. Ciao!

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  37. Great post. I love Golden Celebration also. Have the same issues with blackspot and repeat...

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  38. Gorgeous gorgeous roses! Im envious of your beautiful rose garden! I cant get enough of those beutiful roses!

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  39. Grazie, Dona. No, this is not quite the peak yet... I am glad you like the orange ones, so few people do.

    Thank you, RR. It seems to be the problem with a lot of Austins (I mean the repeat)...

    Thank you, p3chandan. I am glad you liked them.

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