Looking good, Melissa. I wonder if you ever considered 'Follette' as a possible ID for "Miss Mystery"? I can't recall which roses you looked at...

Thanks for the pix and prose,

Virginia

Bumping this up so it doesn't get lost in the shuffle. Whatever kind of day people are having, this post will make it a bit better...

Virginia

Good for DH! it'so interesting to see some more of your garden. What a wall of climbing roses. I should like to wake up and step out onto that balcony. I am intrigued by all the buildings. You seem to have several extra houses!

Melissa, please, get your husband out there more often! He's a very good photographer. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to see a garden that isn't mine, with big, glorious roses, in a different country, although I see we both grow phlomis fruticosa, although mine blooms only a short time on its hot hillside. Jaune Desprez is wonderful, and so is White Lady Banks. I love the green background, and the golden privet as a counterpoint. You have a painter's eye and it's all so lovely. Please continue to take pictures as the roses come into bloom. I'm absolutely starved for pictures of gardens and roses as wonderful as yours. I'm limited to a paltry 48 roses, half of which are barely blooming or not at all.

Virginia, thank you for moving this up because I assumed this was the previous post and so didn't take a closer look. It certainly made my day better. Melissa, I hope you don't mind if I copy your pictures into my photo file of "Others' Gardens".

More lovely roses to match the descriptive texts.... your 'Lady Banks' will soon rival the Tombstone rose the way it's going Melissa...

Yes, this does make my day better. Such fun seeing mature, beautiful roses and gardens.

So so beautiful !! Your roses respond wonderfully to you!

Copy away, Ingrid, and I wish you could come and take pictures here while reveling in the green. We could use your photography skills. I do like the thought that people are having a pleasant minute or two looking at the threads on our garden.

News flash: it's raining. Just a sprinkle, but the forecast last night was for actual rain today; well, we'll see. Just consider that the roses in these photos have gotten about two inches of rain in the last five months, most of that coming in February.

Virginia, I hope you're doing well. Thanks for bumping up the thread! I remember the possibility of MM's being a hybrid Gigantea came up the last time I posted about her, but don't remember whether I looked into a possible ID of 'Follette'. I'll check further later, but the open flower form I see on HMF doesn't look right. And the habit of my rose appears to be shrubby, though large: no appearance of long climbing canes.

P.S. Yes, the property is a former farm, and we bought out the whole family, giving us two houses and a third building, plus a barn that needs a lot of propping up and other odds and ends. They're not in great shape, and houses in the country are a glut on the market, so what they mainly represent is real estate to pay (fortunately low) taxes on.

That s real lush rose garden you have everything looks so green and huge..very beautiful

Very beautiful, and what a setting you have for your garden.

Oh thank him for us!! I love how much space your roses have and they look so pleased.

Papa Gontier.... delicious! Hm... we need more space for climbers.

"Oh my goodness", was all I could think of when I saw your wisteria. You have the soul of a poet.

Cath

Melissa, that's very good news that you're getting some rain. I hope you get more than a drizzle.

Thanks for asking about me. Just over a week after surgery, and I'm feeling surprising well, and weaning off the pain meds already.

I wasn't convinced about "MM" being a hybrid gigantea, but I thought you were. More photos of 'Follette' in bloom might help with a flower comparison, since Tea-types can be pretty variable in color and form. I can't recall if your rose had that same sort of foliage?

Enjoy your precipitation!

Virginia

Bump...

Thank you all: I appreciate your favorable comments. Cath, it's good to hear from you. I was thinking about you the other day. Virginia, I hope you continue to make good progress. DH is recovering from surgery and thought he could get out the other day and cut some grass with the motor scythe: he found out his mistake, I hope with no long lasting damage.

Our first day of "rain" bestowed upon us approximately 1 millimeter of water. Oh, pooh. All we can do is hope for better today. The weather since last summer doesn't favor optimism, though.

I'm all for climbers, work though they are. Just think, additional gardening room, in the air! I have this ambition for spaces walled and roofed with climbers. Henry Mitchell wrote that he had an impression that gardeners are afraid of height. I don't know whether they're afraid of it, or whether it just doesn't occur to them. I've also found that one needs to scale up one's ideas, and think of big plants. You get very wealthy, in flowers, if you do.

Oh, "Miss Mystery". It was my horticulturalist sister who suggested she might be a Gigantea, and I thought the idea worth considering. Currently, while MM's official name is still unknown, I have a plan for dealing with her, leaving her as a shrub. I'm arriving at the idea that many Teas, grown in favorable conditions, can make climbers if they have support.

My goodness, what a garden!! We shall go to your place for vacation, what a peaceful and beautiful place! I just receive my Marechal Niel yesterday, I want it to grow up fast ! Jaune Desprez is not growing after 2 years, will try Chris's magic mix this weekend. I want them to speed up to bloom like yours! :-)

Thanks for sharing, your DH did a wonderful job!

Melissa, so inspiring when you write: "Henry Mitchell wrote that he had an impression that gardeners are afraid
of height. I don't know whether they're afraid of it, or whether it
just doesn't occur to them. I've also found that one needs to scale up
one's ideas, and think of big plants. You get very wealthy, in flowers,
if you do."

I hope you got more rain today! We got lots here... nice april showers.... you know what they say.