Even the less-rosy parts of the garden are looking better than usual. Here's a favorite sitting spot (bench obscured by the not-yet-blooming "Portland from Glendora" bush in lower-right of photo) under the valley oak (Quercus lobata). The white rose on the hillside is 'Fortuniana', which, at some old homesteads around town, survives with little or no summer irrigation. The shrub at the base of the oak is the native shrub Holodiscus discolor (cream bush, not yet in bloom) and the pink flowers in front are Watsonia borbonica. Some of the plantings on the lower part of the hill, to left, are installed just this season, replacing a huge old Grevillea shrub that succumbed to the drought.

Thank you so much for posting broad pictures of your garden, instead of just single blooms! So gorgeous! I agree that the roses are blooming so well right now in our area - the rain was adequate, and more importantly, spaced out well. The best Spring bloom I can remember.

In the last picture, who is the large pink bush on the right in the back? So nice to see your vina banks - ours was behind a banksia lutea, and I had thought it was lost until it popped up, having climbed up Lavender Lassie to emerge into the sun.

Looking forward to seeing more pics like these, from you and others!

Jackie

Are you referring to "Florence Bower's Pink Tea" on the trellis, Jackie (not that you can see any of the trellis!)?

catspa, I'm simply blown away by your roses. Huge bushes, with hundreds if not thousands of flowers, it's just unreal. I've never seen a Comtesse du Cayla even close to this large, and never gave this rose much credit. I'm amazed at what it's capable of. What a treat to be able to see this. Please keep posting as new roses come into bloom.

Oh what a joy it is to come here and see your gardens. I am green with envy of all you warm climate gardeners. ( it will be at least 6 weeks before I will even see a bud on my roses.)

Florence Bower on the arch is absolutely dreamy. I adore that look.

Your whole garden is amazing. Glad that you had some rain.

Thanks for sharing.

Valerie

Yet another garden I'd love to be able to explore. Just stunning.

Trish

I can't even imagine how heavenly your garden is in person! How many years in the making is it ? It's just beautiful!!

Lilyfinch, we moved here 14 years ago. The first two to three years were basically demolition. The previous owners, of Finnish origin from Minnesota, had, reputedly, wanted to make it "look like Minnesota" (okaaaaaay....) and had planted more than 30 trees in the backyard (including the navel orange tree, oddly and severely pruned to a sculpted topiary-esque shape from which it has thankfully now recovered, various cedars, including Deodar, a dozen paperbark birches, a giant redwood and a smaller one, about a dozen privets -- don't get me started on privets -- a dwarf crape myrtle, and a couple of liquid ambers, and a central lawn, almost none of which looked healthy). You couldn't even see the now 40'+ valley oak, which was a suppressed tree of about 8' height. There was also the great old pepper tree that probably dates from the earlier homestead from which this housing development was derived (there is an old, ranch-type dump up in that corner where the pepper tree is where I often dig up old crockery ca. 1900 - 1950).

The back hillside was 1/3 prostrate rosemary and 2/3 of that vile (invasive, ground-poisoning) mesembryanthemum ice plant of brilliant magenta purple that literally hurts your eyes, but there were also some Grevillea, a few Ceanothus, and a couple of good native toyon and (stab to this restoration ecologist's heart) an invasive gorse. The other hillside, with Mrs. B.R. Cant etc. on it, was all English ivy and white oleanders with terrible scale around the ugliest large Deodar cedar I have ever seen (they are usually quite handsome). I either personally removed, or had removed, all of it, except the orange tree, the heritage pepper tree, the valley oak, the crape myrtle, and some of the more appropriate native/Medit. shrubs.

So, the oldest roses are about 12 years old and most are 10 years or younger, including the 'Comtesse du Cayla'. That "Florence Bowers' Pink Tea" is just going on five years in the ground, from a gallon-size plant. Roses, and other plants, grow fast here.

Know you are loving this! I appreciate your combinations and companions. Great!

Susan

Catspa, I can see your garden is not Minnesotan anymore! It is just incredible, and looks so Californian now. Unbelievable.

That Comtesse du Cayla! I keep coming back to look at it again. Makes me so, so envious! I ordered her to accompany Clemetina Carbonieri in the new mini pond area, but had to buy from a french nursery, due to it being out of stock - then of course, the english nursery had one left after all (a puny thing, although leafing out now) and now I have two. They are potted for tlc for now, and I so hope that in ten years they might be even a quarter of the size of your beautiful monsters.

..apart from the wonderful roses, I like the little paths winding their way through it all....quite superb...

Yes, Sheila, we're not in Minnesota anymore :-).

Fduk, the blooms of your Comtesse du Caylas should be more consistently beautiful there in the UK. Each one is gone in a few hours when it gets warmer than about 85 degree F (which is most of the summer and fall here!). There are always more blooms to follow, but in our summers you have to catch her in the first few hours of the day to enjoy the flowers at all.

True about oaks, Rosefolly. Oaks make great garden focal points (especially since they should be located well away from the house -- 1/3 of an acre here, so it works) and centerpiece opportunities for native plantings. I am especially fond of Holodiscus discolor (there are actually eight or so in the vicinity of the oak, including three new ones that replaced, in part, non-native victims of the drought, and also have the interesting serpentine versions of that species and Holodiscus dumosa (and incidental hybrids) -- all charming. Other native shrubs that have worked very well here: Salvia mellifera, Artemisia californica, Rhus integrifolia, Ceanothus 'Ray Hartman' and 'Blue Jeans', Eriogonum giganteum, Malacothamnus fremontii, Cercocarpus betuloides, Salvia clevelandii and S. leucophylla hyrids, Garrya elliptica, and the toyon. And, of course, carpets of Douglas iris hybrids -- there is a purple-flowered, shiny-leaved variety (unknown name) that has spread extensively and willingly all over the west-facing hillside (way better than English ivy!).

And, yes, old roses can be surprisingly tolerant of drought, as our pioneer cemeteries and abandoned homesteads attest. It doesn't take much water to keep them alive in dire circumstances. I have a 'Reine des Violettes' (Vintage) that I have tried to get rid of for years (unimpressive, screaming pink blooms, usually), which has come back from the roots every time it has been pulled, and is not irrigated in summer. So, here it is last Friday, with large flowers and more purple than I have ever seen it (saying "nyah, nyah, nyah"):

Holy cannoli, catspa! Tea roses are fabulous (imho) in general, but when so many are able to reach their full size in fairly high density--heavenly! I'm so glad you were able to arrange your space to give them the room to really go to town.

Amazing as usual. I am always in awe of your roses. Thank you for sharing!! I love, love, love, your pathway with that magnificent Juane Desprez.

Just beautiful. Unbelieveablely beautiful. What a wonderful garden. What a delight it must be just to walk through it daily. Thank you for sharing such a beauty with all of us.