Monday 15 June 2015

WE CAME HOME TO ROSES

We left behind the bougainvillea and palm trees of
 La Paz at the end of May and came home to 
roses blooming in our garden on the river.

The first one we smelled was this Lovely Lavendar Lagerfeld 
(named for Karl) by the mailbox.

We bought these Magic Carpet ramblers years ago because they were supposed to be groundcover roses, and we thought it would be lovely to have a carpet of little roses between the other shrubs. Our Magic Carpets didn't obey their instructions and climbed on our pergolas instead! 
This one near the mailbox loves the low pergola 
where the sweet peas grow.
This one, in the main garden, chose to climb to the top of the highest pergola and spread itself out up there. By mid summer it will have spread into our Japanese Apple Pear tree!
And this pink one waited until we pruned an unruly 
Climbing Peace and scrambled up the stalks to replace it!

In the main cutting garden, these two stalwarts have been blooming since April.
 They are the mainstays of our summer bouquets, 
adding their pink and red tones.

As you walk down to our house, two fragrant Olde English Roses have also reached for the top and put their blooms up on the roof of the canoe shelter and the greenhouse  so that you can only appreciate them from the ramp.
 We hope they will form a canopy 
around the canoes this summer.

Once you reach the house to check in, this prolific red climber, which we planted over 20 years ago, 
will tumble out of it's container to greet you.

And no matter where you are in our garden, or on our dock, you will find David Austen English Roses with their intense fragrances. An elderly specimen of this climber is in the planting bed beside the lawn, but we loved it so much that we had to get another to add to a pot on our dining dock.

How many roses do we have? We truly have no idea....
and some of those that welcomed us home looked completely new to us....as if they had been in hiding for years and decided that this spring was warm enough for them 
to chance an appearance!