roses roses!

And here I was afraid all my roses died over the winter. It appears I've only lost one, and the others are rejoicing.

I'm going to get some closer shots of these, but this is a pretty corner I think. This is where the one lost was--Fair Bianca, a white one. But that's a jackmanii clematis, Auguste Renoir rose, Othello (David Austen rose), lavender (with lots of blooms), and Russian sage. I wanted it to be a scented garden since people walk by there, but to my disappointment neither of the roses has much scent, although they're supposed to. The Russian sage and lavender do smell good, though. There's a straggly patch of grass off to the right, by the neighbor's driveway. I'd like to put sweet woodruff there, but since it gets a lot of afternoon sun I'm pretty sure the woodruff would be very unhappy. My second choice is vinca, which doesn't smell, but it's tough as nails and the small, dark, glossy leaves would look prettier than weeds. I want to get closer photos of the roses--you can't really see from this angle just how many blooms Auguste Renoir has on it, or how deep and sumptuous Othello is.

This is Winchester Cathedral (I think), another David Austen rose with no smell (can you tell I'm really disappointed in David Austen roses, which are always advertised as being highly scented?) with lambs ears behind. It doesn't get quite enough sun to be a strong bloomer, but it's obviously a strong, vigorous rose to be doing as well as it is in a less-than-ideal setting. But it looks kind of romantic and fragile and the silver lambs ears are a good foil for it.

This neon-red rose below is Francois Rabelais--well-named (remember "Rabelaisian tales"?http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabelais ). It was originally up front where Othello is now, but it clashed madly with everything there, so I moved it back to the driveway bed where I planted other things I didn't quite know what to do with. It looks low-growing here, but if you peer closely you can see a scarlet bud higher up, about half the height of the birdbath. Yes, it clashes with the mini-petunia, but then that particular shade of red is bound to clash with nearly everything. The silver artemesia at the foot of the birdbath (which is not filling in the way I'd like to see it--wonder if I can find more at this late date?) civilizes it a tad. If I could find something blue to wedge in there between the rose and the mini-petunia it might help. Or maybe I could try dividing the lambs ears and putting a piece in there.

Here's a closer look at the teacher, doctor, humanist, writer, and satirist.

Henryii beat jackmanii to the punch this year--generally they bloom almost together, but this year Henryii was several weeks ahead. There's one lone little pink down there at the foot of the trellis--I should spend some time amending the soil, as they say, and see if I can't produce conditions more favorable to pinks and other things--possibly more artemesia (I love bright silver artemesias--they complement so many colors), or something like dianthus Rose du Mai, which has pink, fragrant flowers and glaucus foliage (gotta have something to look at after the thing stops blooming) http://www.canyoncreeknursery.com/Images2/RoseduMai.jpg Dianthus Inchmery at that site is said to have silvery foliage, but the flowers are white, and in this site I think pink does better.

The first of the asiatic lilies are out. These lilies have done spectacularly well, and are a collection from White Flower Farm. The only fault I find with them is that the original collection was pastels, described thus: "A blend made up entirely from soft yellows, pale oranges, corals, salmons, rich creams, pale peaches, and pinks." The problem was that I was after the "soft yellows, pale oranges, corals, salmons, [and] pale peaches," but what I got was about 80% creams and pale yellows, and a few very clear pinks, and the whole effect was just washed out and unsatisfying. So I added a few individual plants I got on sale here and there, but eventually I want to get their Summer Fireworks mix ("This mixture emphasizes the strong reds, oranges, yellows, and golds that stand out at a distance and look great in full sun"), give them a couple of years to settle in, and then cull the ones I'm not so happy with--move the creams and pinks elsewhere, move the really really, um, assertive colors somewhere else. I'm also thinking of adding orientals to the mix, for scent and a longer blooming season.

So that's today's garden update.

I had hoped during my vacation this week to get out to the local perennial nursery which specializes in hostas to see if they had some aureo-marginata--mine have mysteriously petered out--but transmission problems prevent. I wish the money-fairy would leave enough money for new wheels on my doorstep.