Coming up roses

Roses are flowering everywhere in the garden at the moment; the various scents drifting around to surprise and delight, especially in the breezy weather we’re experiencing at the moment.  I’m afraid I can’t share those wonderful fragrances with you but I can manage one or two pictures:

 

Geoff Hamilton by David Austin (this is one I grew from a cutting and is now about 3 years old)

 

Another unknown rose in the front garden, wonderful scent and big flowers

 

 

Charles Rennie Mackintosh from David Austin

 

Another David Austin but I can’t recall the name

But it’s not just about the roses, there are plenty of other things happening in the garden: 

 

 

The wife weeding one of her many cut flower beds

 

New staging area for the many plants and seedlings that we have

 

Allium christophii, the last of the various Allium varieties to flower in the garden.

And tomorrow evening I will be visiting the Chelsea Flower Show for the first time; I might just take a peek at David Austin stand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Time Machine: Courtesy of the Rose

Could we think of a blog as a time machine? I am going to argue that it is on this simple basis: it can transport us to the past; propel us to the future; or simply speak to us of the present.  And how is this achieved? The example I am going to use is Roses.

Now I have a soft spot for Roses, a very soft spot, whether they be Floribundas, Hybrid Teas, or English Roses, climbers, ramblers or bush; I have numerous in the garden either planted or in pots.  They occupy a great deal of my time during the growing season (especially the potted ones), feeding, watering, deadheading, pruning and picking off nasty little pests.  But what, I hear you ask, has this to do with the vagaries of time?

I was looking back through photographs I had taken of last year’s Roses and in that single act I was transported; both backwards to what was and forwards to what will by (hopefully, assuming no disease or infestation of bugs).  And so I thought I would share these pictures with you all and, in so  doing, transport you all through time with me.  So there you have it, the blog as time machine! … oh, and here are the pictures:

Teasing Georgia (David Austin)

Tess of the d'Urbervilles (David Austin)

Geoff Hamilton (David Austin)

Winchester Cathedral (I think) (David Austin)