May Showers, June Flowers?

Remember when it used to be April showers, May flowers? What a strange year of weather so far. It was pouring again today, on one of the best Spring flush days. It's too warm to have all this wet weather! Can't you just hear the blackspot cackling in the background?

Things are still looking pretty so far. Those knock-outs really pop in the front garden. I like that they start blooming before the rest, adds length to the spring garden time.

My variagated dogwood used to be in the front garden and would fill up the background, all the way up to the window. Had to move it this winter to the backyard because it got too huge. So far he seems to like his new home next to the catmint that refuses to die and Madame Plantier that is fixin to bloom. I think she's almost doubled in size since last year.

When we redo the siding this year, we are using a color called Granite Gray versus white. Will be much better to show off the white roses. Moondance kind of fades into the background currently.

Summer of Love had 1 bloom yesterday and filled up today with one of the blooms the size of a soft ball.

Gotta love that Mills Magic Mix. In my garden, the timing is what is critical for the stuff though. You have to drench the roses about two weeks before they are due to bloom. I think I hit it pretty close to the mark this Spring. Now if I can just remember for Fall.

Gorgeous Perfect Moment hybrid tea from Jackson & Perkins. This rose absolutely glows and I love the burnt edges....although I don't think they are supposed to be so crispy looking, but I love the look. Had to try quite a few different shots with different exposure levels to capture the color. Still didn't really do it justice.

This shot is just using the AV mode on my Canon Rebel (macro lens) with aperture of f/6.3. The color is too pink, not very accurate.



This is more true to color using the manual mode: 1/200 second at f/5.6. The rose is more orangey than pink and those burnt edges really are black. Much better!

 

Red roses...gotta love them

Just a few favorites....

This is Black Cherry, a floribunda that I got a few years ago. Black Cherry is notoriously my very first rose that blooms in the Spring. I'm betting on her again this year. Last year, this bloom opened on May 18th after a bunch of rain the week before. No scent.

Below is Traviata. This is a Hybrid Tea and was the very first rose I ever purchased. I bought her at the local nursery in the middle of summer when she was completely in bloom. Yes, I know, you're not supposed to buy them then, but I didn't know! I actually can't believe she's still with me. That first year, after I put her in the ground, she shriveled up and went into shock. It took a good year for her to spring back. No scent in my garden.

So, there is much debate about Knock-Out roses. The blooms are really bright and look terrible in a vase. However, for sheer blooming power, they are pretty impressive. I have 2 double knock-out roses. Both have served me well as background filler, so I'll mention them here.

This is Ingrid Bergman, a Hybrid Tea. She is very stately on tall stems with a slight fragrance in my garden. She is fairly new for me, so I only had a few blooms last year, but they were indeed lovely.

I have 2 Cinco de Mayos and I love them both. They are kept in barrels and bloom non-stop. They did get blackspot later in the season, but they weren't the worst offenders, so I'll keep them where they are. I love the pink, orange and red blooms. Just beautiful.