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Rose Gallery
dublinbay

It's Spring! First Blooms

13 years ago

So exciting watching these first blooms of the year. They actually opened several weeks ago, but I've been too busy cleaning up the gardens and dodging tornadoes to get around to photographing--and my camera skills need brushing up on also. Oh, well, we can all still enjoy these!

Isn't this a springlike picture? Lady of Guadalupe on right, Easter Basket in front of her, peony Cora Stubbs center-left behind Easter Basket, and purple pansies on the left.
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This Easter Basket is replacing my first one that produced one bloom and then came down with RRD. So glad to see that this Easter Basket is healthy and blooming its fool head off!

Molineux with some storm-battered blue irises and white peonies (dark blue Siberian irises in background). Molineux is feeling very apricotish after all our storms.
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Braveheart--my favorite Clements shrub. (You can see Molineux in background, top right corner).
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Here's Braveheart viewed from the opposite direction (that's Lady of Guadalupe in the background). Braveheart is right in the center of my backyard (but I have no idea why that chair is sitting in the middle of my picture).

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Edith Wolford Iris--one of my new batches of iris. Just had to sneak these in here since this is their first ever blooming.
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Another one of my new irises, but I've forgotten the name. Love its frilly edges.

Isn't that odd. Can't remember all my iris' names, but never forget a rose's name. Hmmmmm.

My patriotic corner of the garden: Double KO, old-fashioned light blue iris (they look darker in the picture), and white peony (Bridal something or other).
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Actually, it was entirely accidental. Never occurred to me that they would all bloom at the same time.

Lady of Shalott with purple-fringed tetraploid iris someone gave me years ago. The iris blooms are so large that the plant falls over in windy weather, but the Lady seems willing to prop them up. What a Lady!
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Anne Boleyn--a smaller, airy Austin. This is the best bloom she has ever produced--I guess she's maturing.
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Now I'm just waiting for the new roses I planted this spring to start blooming--like Munstead Wood which has been sitting there with one red fulsome bud doing nothing but looking back at me--ALL WEEK. Like how long does it take this character to pop into bloom?

Hope you enjoyed the first spring blooms in my garden. : )

Kate

Comments (18)

  • 13 years ago
    last modified: 11 years ago

    I certainly, enjoyed your lovely garden, very much. I love brave heart, with it's lush flowers and leaves. Everything looks so healthy. Edith looks huge and beautiful too.

  • 13 years ago
    last modified: 11 years ago

    Clearly someone set that chair right there to sit in a beautiful garden! I don't know where to start. You have shown me that I need to start adding perennials to my rose gardens, you have some nice combinations. I especially enjoy your iris. Love your braveheart bush, I may have to add that one to my list for next year.

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  • 13 years ago
    last modified: 11 years ago

    Kate, your garden is just beautiful!! Should be in a magazine!

  • 13 years ago
    last modified: 11 years ago

    Kay, your gardens are just lovely! I am so glad you shared the pictures. I love looking at everyone's roses but find the most useful and inspiring are the ones that show the bush and the planting combinations. You have done such a beautiful job and everything looks so healthy -- and picture perfect!

    I planted some Easter Basket this year too, she's already quite a bloomer. Yours looks so pretty, especially with her companions.

    I think it's something in the nature of Munstead Wood to do that: tease you with one ever-swelling bud for days and days and then take your breath away when it opens. Mine did that too and then followed with an explosive opening of all the other buds.

    Wow, your Molineaux is spectacular. I really like the Lady of Guadalupe as well.

    Out of all your roses, do you have a favorite?

  • 13 years ago
    last modified: 11 years ago

    Favorite rose? It's kinda like your kids--each one is special in a different way, so its hard to say which is the favorite. But if you threatened to pull out my fingernails, I'd probably go for Molineux or Braveheart as my favorite. Might have to flip a coin there. LOL

    Kate

  • 13 years ago
    last modified: 11 years ago

    So lovely to view the pics of your garden. Thanks for sharing!

  • 13 years ago
    last modified: 11 years ago

    Your garden is enchanting. I love Molineux with the blue and white, but Braveheart is to die for!

  • 13 years ago
    last modified: 11 years ago

    I agree...magazine worthy! What a beautiful garden you have created. Loved every picture and hope you will post more. I agree with you in that Braveheart is a wonderful rose. One of my favorites,too. Thanks for sharing. lesley

  • 13 years ago
    last modified: 11 years ago

    Kate, your photos are wonderful, your roses are beautiful and your garden is breathtaking!

  • 13 years ago
    last modified: 11 years ago

    They are all wonderful, Kate! I love the mix of roses, iris & peonies, its similar to what I use. I just got into iris this year and I think I may have went a little overboard on my ordering! I may dread it when they all start arriving and I have to put them in the ground (at least you don't need a hole as big as you would for roses!!)

    Thanks for sharing!
    Tammy

  • 13 years ago
    last modified: 11 years ago

    Thank you, everyone, for your comments. I guess we all pretty much agree Braveheart is wonderful.

    Tammy, yes, fortunately iris require very little digging. Do wish they would bloom longer --I'm quite fond of them, but they take up too much space, so I have severely limited my use of them. They do look great with the roses, however.

    Happy gardening, everyone. I'm looking forward to seeing your gardens also. : )

    Kate

  • 13 years ago
    last modified: 11 years ago

    What a beautiful garden, the pansies and iris look spectacular with the roses.

  • 13 years ago
    last modified: 11 years ago

    Don't know how I missed this post. Where to begin! Your garden is delightful. I love seeing all the different perspectives. Those stepping stones just invite me to take a stroll through the gorgeous roses and other delightful perennials.

    I am smitten with Molineux. Looks so perfect with the blue irises and peonies. Your garden really makes the case for combining roses with other flowers in the landscape. I love it!

  • 12 years ago
    last modified: 11 years ago

    Now here's a beautiful garden, equally full of lush perennials, as well as roses. There are some great design lessons to be learned from these photos. The color of Molineux is stunning, set off with the blue irises in the background, and the Edith Wolford iris with its breathtaking color combination makes me want to grow iris again. What a gorgeous array of colors you have put together, Kate. Diane

  • 12 years ago
    last modified: 11 years ago

    Thank you, nanadoll, for calling up this thread again--and on my birthday even! I had forgotten how lovely the spring gardens were--needed the reminder, because the rest of the summer the skies were usually grey and overcast and I swear every leaf disease in the world visited my gardens--very discouraging, to the point that I nearly forgot that the spring gardens had been some of the most beautiful I had ever produced. As a whole, the season was a bummer, but I loved my spring gardens.

    Kate

  • 12 years ago
    last modified: 11 years ago

    Kate - I love your beautiful roses and the irises and other flowers are a lovely complement, it's so colorful. I hope your 2014 rose season is much better. I appreciate Diane finding this. I love seeing all the beauty!

  • 12 years ago
    last modified: 11 years ago

    I've just got into irises - planted a whole bunch of bulb/corms? . Loved your irises. Roses gorgeous - I especially liked Braveheart. Your bush looks amazing!!! What a rose!!
    Carol

  • 12 years ago
    last modified: 11 years ago

    What a beautiful garden, and looks so charming and right with the house. I'm so glad you sneaked in photos of the iris.
    Trish.

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