Golden Celebration and Friends

I have several yellow roses, but my favorite must be Golden Celebration. Not only because of the color, but because the blooms are huge.  This is the first bloom of the year.

I love the soft apricot color on the inside petals.

If you compare Golden Celebration's blooms and color to Graham Thomas below you can see quite a difference. This isn't the best picture of Graham, but the color is that soft pure yellow and the blooms are more cupped.

Beautiful yellow blooms continue with this huge iris, Well Endowed. This is my tallest iris and must be staked.

Another favorite, Heaven On Earth has its first bloom. Looks a bit like Abraham Darby to me but the habit of the bush is so different. This is a short plant  and these huge pinkish-apricot blooms sit on really floppy and slim stems. When the bush is in full bloom it's very striking because the blooms fall all over themselves. The petals are also very soft, light and airy. Beautiful cut flower.

Side rose bed...uh, oh

On the side of our house, I have full sun. Great for my Hybrid Teas, Grandifloras and Floribundas. I planted a row of them behind a row of boxwood. Usually this strip of roses looks something like this....

But, this summer it was decimated by blackspot. Can't really explain why, must have been something about the wet weather. I got so frustrated at one point in August last year, when I was trimming my boxwood with hedge clippers, I hacked the crap out of the roses too. I have no idea what this will do to them this year...usually they are kept nicely pruned, now they just look sad, regardless of it being Winter. This is what they look like currently:

Some of my best roses are in this bunch, so I'm crossing my fingers that my temper tantrum didn't spoil them.



Chicago Peace

 


Moondance

 


Heaven on Earth

 


Playboy adn Traviata