I am baaaaack! and drooling, drooling, drooling! That is "Heaven's Gate" into a marvelous wondrous garden... I love the swirls for the inner gates and sun/moon motifs on the outer gates and the way the roses drape on the side, complementing the swirling pattern...Gorgeous bee! I love the honey honeys and bumbles... Stairway to Heaven is the perfect name for both! your rose and your garden!

And Eureka I love that... I looked through your Brandy as well while scouring trying to find out which rose was which on the rest of your bouquet...They both have this wonderful lush orange yellow color to them. outstanding photos and roses...Love that LD Braithwaite....

I love those gates to your garden and the full garden pics!
All those awesome blooms and I couldn't take my eyes off your gates...LOL

JIM

Thanks guys ;-)

KG, I thought of you even before the shutter clicked on that bee. My garden is thick with them not just on the Rose of Sharons but all the other bloomin thangs right now.

Jim, the cedar/copper fence scheme started on the other front side by the pond for climbers and so I wanted to continue it as well as screen the unsightly cyclone fence that borders an easement path that has constant riffraff going back and forth. I had to allow access to the meters thus the short unlocked gate and the tall locked one. The circles are bicycle rims painted and clearcoted to match the copper. They were originally designed to have hanging baskets but after the first year, I decided to change the scheme. The panels in the front (two of which are fixed and one hinged for the gate are Ross Dress for Less. My wife drug me down there screaming and the minute I saw them, my design was complete :-) One side of that path is all shade plantings....hydrangeas, camelias, aucuba, hosta, etc. The other side is almost all roses except for some sedums and spiraea.

This is the gate on the other side......

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oo0000 bees on roses, beeeees on your beloved roses! I am drooling over the thought of a bee on your Braithwaite and Eureka... Wow, is that Lyda on the right side of your house??? I am posting a follow-up sneaking away Boxofrox's photos, on your other thread too!

You have done some awesome landscaping! All the plants, right down to the fences, gates and other designs.
Really nice!

JIM

Thanks Jim, I was a lot younger when I started ;-)

Yes KG, that is my lovely Lyda, ain't she a peach?

Today's Bouquets......

The first one is for Sally, my step mother in law at the retirement center. The roses are Betty Boop, Hot Cocoa, Livin Easy, and Easy Goin. I picked and arranged, my wife photogged ;-)

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The second was for my wife who wanted only glads and dahlias

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That first one has quite a burst of color! Both are Very nice!

JIM

Your Lyda wants me to go run and get Lyda right away!!!!! so how long did it take for her to mature? to her full blooming height and vigor? I always assume that beautiful single row-petaled ultra fragrant roses like Lyda will attract the most bees out of the roses. Is this correct? Bees just seem to prefer the single petaled roses?

Boxofrox I am shocked your wife didn't want roses in her bouquet???? I'd go insane, I'd always want roses in all my bouquets...Hey, send those missing roses my way, LOL!

Lyda was actually one of my very first rose purchases. I got her as a band from Heirloom along with my Darlow's Enigma and Midnight Blue. I pinned her on that fence as she grew (about 7' in that pic )and I want to say that was taken in year two, maybe three. The copper gate is flanked by her fragrance on one side and a star jasmine that grows up into the wisteria on the other. Yes, the bees love her and Darlow's, both singles.

Only a stalker like you would know that I'm temporarily forbidden from cutting AD, so I kind of helped her choose those other two species ;-)

aha! Lyda, I must get Lyda! Thank you Boxofrox! uh-oh, you mean I actually am guilty of hogging up the AD for myself??? uh-oh! hee-hee!

By the way on a serious note, I know that your flowers and roses bring soooo much joy into people's hearts. This time can you send a few blooms, photos to 2 people. One for Rosemeadow the Australian Gardener and one for Paul Zimmerman's friend Mike Lowe? I did some research and found 2 roses that Mike Lowe bred Autumn Sunset and Eglantine. I don't know all of the roses, but am hoping that there might be some you might have? And even if you didn't I bet a flower bouquet would be a wonderful touch as well. As you well know I am horrible about names. I was just about to ask you to post your photo of Sunset Celebration thinking it was Mike Lowe's Autumn Sunset (what a loopy girl I am). LOL! But maybe just some other floral arrangement, in case you don't have any Lowe Roses? I just have the feeling that Mike's family right now is having a very tough time.

All very pretty, love the bouquets. Lyda is really charming.

I would love to see how you have Lyda pinned, boxofrox. So beautiful, flowers top to bottom! I can watch as many videos as there are out there, and I still stand in front of my climbers bewildered.

Hi greenhaven,

Lyda isn't really a climber, it's a shrub. Typically a climber, you would want to spread out farther to get it lateral which seems to really encourage the vertical growth which produces the best buds. Case in point this White Eden, all these blooms come off the growth above one lateral cane.

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What I do with shrub roses that I want to be taller and trained flatter on a fence is to pin each branch up as they grow in the spring. The fence you see in the pic was designed so I could just wrap that green velcro tape around the appropriate 2x2. The copper that runs horizontal was to be able to keep the wrap from sliding down. I do this same thing to my Easy Goin and Livin Easy to keep them upright and flatter against a block wall. That is an older pic of Lyda. Now to the left of that gate I have a Stairway to Heaven climber on this side and a Sunset Celebration on the otherside by my pond.

Anyway, back to the Lyda.....Once I have the main framework pinned to the fence, then I simply use the velcro tape to secure the newer forward growth to the existing canes that are already in place. Any that get too far forward I simply prune. As you can see by this pic, the velcro becomes invisible with Lyda's impeccable foliage ;-)

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Now THAT is stunning!!! Exactly the show I wanted for a very particular spot (or two) in the front of my house. So, with a vigorous hardy shrub that is known to get tall I wouldn't have the issue of trying to force lateral breaks? Is that the difference between "climbers" and shrubs? (And do you think Lyda would be vigorous and hardy in a zone 5a within a microclimate?)

All I can tell you is what worked for me, not why it worked or any of the technical jargon. I am somewhat of a self taught "necessity's a mutha" gardener with my own vision of what I want. I only recognized that roses were what I wanted incorporated into certain parts of my landscape a few years ago and am still a considerable work in progress when it comes to learning how best to care for them.

Heirloom's catalog says down to 5/6 for Lyda so I certainly wouldn't pretend to know if she would suit your specific situation. What I will say though is that if she can handle your zone, you'd be nuts not to have her because she can really be spectacular in the right spot ;-)

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Boxofrox, wonderful photos that make me wish for the lushness of the growing season.
I really like your Lyda too. I wish we could get it here.
The advice you gave about pinning to the fence was very interesting. I have put in over a hundred poles which will have climbers, rambers and species roses on them. So I will have fun tying them up.

Thanks rosemeadow, I should own stock in that velcro tape company by now ;-) It's the greatest invention since sliced bread !!!

Well, it's beautiful regardless. HMF and Heirloom both say 4-5 feet, so that is all I would get from it, especially in my zone. I have it on my list, though!

Gorgeous, Boxofrox! whoo-hoo! I didn't even have to stalk this time, but let Zyperiris do my work for me, lol! Now we have 3! gorgeous Lyda photos on this thread...

I love the way you have designed your landscape!
Many great choices in roses/flowers ect.
I stop by this thread all the time to look at it.

I can't believe serenasyh is too busy to stalk you today...LOL

JIM

hahaha, Jim I did stalk but I didn't have to do any stalking WORK! Greenhaven did it all for me by making Boxofrox put up more!!! rose photos, bwahahaha! I'm such a freeloader!

me and getting my names and now people mixed up. Apologies, Greenhaven, about 4 responses earlier, I got you and Zyperiris confused. I meant to say Greenhaven, I had to post earlier to Zyperiris about Gemini and I got my names all jumbled in my head. I was thinking of you but just said Zyperiris by accident. Boxofrox I ammmmm hopeless with names, lol! Before I know it I'll be calling JeffAurora Boxofrox too and vice-versa! Man, my brains are in the "scrambler", hahaha!

So it's an overcast Monday AM, the heatwave which produced a bzillion buds is now but a memory and the garden is in a bit of a holding pattern awaiting the golden orb to give the order to open, open, open......

I did manage a few shots though :-)

Lyda at 8' with her buddy the clematis at 10'

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Soulmates : LDB & AD

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AD on the outside from the public easement path

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Oklahoma

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Livin Easy

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Yellow Dinnerplate Dahlia

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Honeysuckle

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Very nice! I see you have alot of buds there just waiting to explode. That should be a real show!
Thanks for posting as I always enjoy looking at your roses and all the other goodies you provide pics of from your garden.

Jim

fabulous, Boxofrox, just fabulous! By the way your honeysuckle has got to be the fanciest, schmanziest honeysuckle I've ever seen! usually I only get to see the white ones. Hurrayyyyy, more Abraham Darby! whoo-hoo!

Lyda and the clematis go perfect with each other. I remember Henryinct advising me that there's cool pinks and that those go better with purples and magentas than the warmer pinks. And this reminded me of his useful tip to me.

I've never seen honeysuckle before. How interesting and intricate it is! Does honeysuckle come in different colors?

I'm loving all these roses!! BEYOUTIFUL!!

Carol

Thanks Carol and yes there are many varieties and colors in the lonicera family. I added about a half dozen different varieties last year to mute fences and climb posts but mostly to enable my little hummingbird friends. I figured the more feeders and fuschias and salvias and trumpet vines and weigelas and abelias and honeysuckles, the stronger the magnet ;-)

Wow! I love your garden. I am so glad you posted pictures of the 'whole' instead of just close-ups. I like looking at rose pictures, but absolutely love it when you can see the entire garden in its beauty. Thanks for posting.

Thanks hg and you're welcome ;-)