Fabulous pictures Ingrid! I don't know about you, but I certainly look at old pictures to revive the feeling of being among my roses, even in the dead of winter. Or I look at this forum and enjoy other people's roses vicariously when mine aren't in bloom.

Wow, my Whippets would LOVE to be invited to dinner at Chez Ingrid :)
Spring is so worth the wait thanks for sharing your roses!
Carla in Sac

Beautiful, Ingrid. All looks so lush and gorgeous. You'll need to post photos to help encourage the rest of us, I agree.

Ingrid - This is so exquisite. The roses are beautiful and the entire garden is spectacular. I really enjoyed all of these photos. I know what you mean about the feeling you get when you are among the roses. Me too, I can't get enough of this spring.

Suebelle

Spectacular. Don't feel bashful about posting. You have many roses I wanted, but did not have the space for.

Soak it in! Make it last! Agree you don't know when you'll get so much rain next.

Your garden is breath taking !

I absolutely love your blue flower by the birdbath..... is that sea lavender.... in Florida we have a sea lavender that is UGLY.... it is more grey and it is considered a native.... I love yours.... blues are one of my favorite colors in the plant world.

These are so beautiful, Ingrid. I love the scrolled bloom of William R. Smith. The sea lavender is a lovely companion for Jesse Hildreth.

Thank you for the garden tour, a wonderful color palette and variety of plants and shrubs.

Cute rabbit pic! I, too, like blue Toyotas. I had a Corolla for 16 years, dark blue, and it was really reliable.

Krista, our Camry is a 2000 model and still going strong, with hardly a repair. We love it.

So sorry, I mislabeled Mlle. Franziska Kruger as Mlle. de Sombreuil; it's now been fixed.

Yes, that is sea lavender by the bird bath, and in quite a few other places. It's Limonium perezii and, Sharon, yours may be a different variety. I've noticed that there is more than one plant that's named sea lavender.

Part of the thrill is seeing one rose after another coming into bloom. I'm glad they don't all start at the same time since it keeps the excitement going for a longer period. Even better, when the greatest bloom is over here, some of you will be starting yours. After some time I tire of my roses and love seeing everyone else's!

Breathtaking pics !! Absolutely beautiful. Pls don't feel bad about bragging. You kidding me , don't hide your camera. I love all of them including your bunnies.
I was so happy to see your thread first. And I know after my nap, I will be looking at it again and again.

Spring is Beautiful and all that rain helps a lot :)

jin

Ingrid, it’s all so beautiful, and you’ve got an artist‘s way with your garden. So much beauty! But what makes me even happier is how much joy it brings you—no one deserves it more! I'm certainly not going to tell you to put the camera away—keep ‘em coming! :-)

Ingrid, thank you for sharing your garden and joy with us! Wow, it is beautiful! This is a garden of my dream. I almost fell off my chair seeing your Aunt Margy's Rose. That is one of the most gorgeous pink rose that I have ever seen. What a spectacular bush! I also love the fullness and perfect form of Mlle. de Sombreuil, Looking forward to see more from your garden.

I love your Aunt Margy’s Rose and how the flowers nod romantically!

I'm privileged to share my garden and roses with such wonderful and caring people. It's great to have this flowery spring season after all my moaning about my ugly garden during the last brutal summer and the rabbits then eating everything that wasn't nailed down. I still miss my irises a lot, but it's been an interesting experience to find other companion plants that aren't quite as drop dead gorgeous but which have a quiet charm of their own, and thankfully the rabbits have left most of them alone. Gardens are ever-changing, as are gardeners, and that has to be a good thing.

You have had a miraculous Spring, Ingrid. I guess you were right about rain being the best fertilizer.

This post has made me happy like few others please clickaway

Ingrid, what is your Aunt Margy's rose bloom size? According to Rogue Valley it has a bloom size of 2? Is that 2"? Yours look so much larger than 2"? I also understand why I am attracted to its color because it is described as a lavender and not pink by Rogue Valley. Is it a repeat bloomer for you?

vaporvac, your words have touched me deeply.

Karen, I just went out and measured. The blooms are 1.5 to 2 inches, and I've had other people say they were fooled about the size, one reason perhaps being that the blooms have so many petals and are so intricately formed. In truth I wouldn't have them be any large because this rose forms such a lovely contrast to the many other larger blooms in the garden. So much of the charm of this rose is in the dainty leaves and the smaller blooms. For me Aunt Margy's Rose blooms for most of the year which obviously would not be the case for you, but it's a totally reliable rebloomer. I've never seen any disease, not even now when quite a few of my roses have mildew caused by cooler nights and warm days. It's a rose I would recommend to anyone and everyone who loves roses that have old-world charm.

Your garden is looking wonderful this Spring... I do like the use of Alyssum, if that's what it is, all around there... I try to do something similar with other plants..

There's that 'Duchesse de Brabant' again... I'm enjoying seeing pictures of this rose as I recently recommended it to someone who lives in southern Italy... I hope I did the right thing..

I really enjoyed the whole bush pictures and wider shots of your overall landscaping! Thanks!

I love your photos of your garden!

What a piece of heaven you have there, Ingrid. I remember your ongoing challenge with drought over the years. You are such a trooper.

Marlorena, I think DdB should do very well in southern Italy as long as she is watered regularly. Yes, that is alyssum and it was wonderful this year. It's now beginning to brown and soon it will be time to take it all out. It always reseeds and comes back up during the cooler seasons.

mm12, Ray and jjpeace, I'm so glad you enjoyed the photos. A large part of living here and growing roses is the happiness of sharing it with everyone here. Another part is seeing other parts of the country (and some of the rest of the world) here with so many other beautiful gardens and areas.

Lovely pictures! It's the best encouragement for rese lovers who live in cool, damp spring. Wait for more about your garden.

I hardly know what words to use to convey the joy your pictures bring me, Ingrid. I’ve been admiring them over the past couple of days, and I think the word “tranquility“ describes the feeling your photos are bringing me. On the other end of the spectrum, I also feel a big thrill seeing your garden looking so lush and bursting with colorful blooms, after you felt so dismal about your roses late last year. I’m so happy to see the incredible difference that rain, the rabbit barriers, and new companion plants have made. I’m especially glad that you get to “have your cake and eat it, too”. By choosing less tasty companion plants, and putting protective barriers around the roses, you have a beautiful garden, while still having the privilege of wildlife living right there in your garden.

In one of your other posts, I noticed that Aunt Margy’s rose has filled out a lot since I was there. I remember her being more slender looking than she is now. I’m enchanted by her darling little lilac pink blooms. I think this rose has jumped into many a radar, thanks to your beautiful pictures of her. Duchess de Brabant is looking fabulous. Yours always has been much healthier than mine. I especially like seeing Jessie Hildreth in his pure white blooms. I think JH has such classy looking blooms, and yours looks as happy as can be.

Everything is wonderful to see, and I’m so thankful all of us get to enjoy your roses and landscape right along with you. Lisa

Lisa, I'm overcome by your words. Tranquil and thrilling can both exist in a garden; one such garden is catspat's and another is Jackie's, and also Lily's. I know there are more. The thrilling part, which is the bounty of a rain-fed spring, will be gone before too much time has passed, but the wonder is that we had it at all. It will surely last longer in your garden with its clay soil, and I'm so glad of that.

Jeri, those incredible pictures say it all. I am SO happy that you also had this wonderful rain. Grandmother's Hat is simply amazing. It seems to be hugging the smaller rose in front of it. Is it a China or something else? I'm wondering whether the front rose in the first photo is IHT. Mine is just coming into bloom and I love it!

I took these pictures late last night, when the light was really poor, but they're of the garden and the roses, and you're all much too nice to judge.

Wild Edric (this is the second bush which is not doing well)
The monkey flowers (mimulus) bush has grown very quicklyRosette DelizyAunt Margy's Rose (again)Gruss an Aachen on the left is beginning to bloom, with Wild Edric on the right and milkweed in front. The bunnies do not touch it, yay!The little cage by the driveway is protecting a California poppy plant.For some reason this second Souvenir de la Malmaison has never grown much, but it still blooms nicely, so no complaints from me.It's long after the sun has gone down, with the garden quietly sinking into the night.

These are wonderful images, Ingrid, the colors are gorgeous. I like to take pictures in the evening.

(My husband drives a Camry to work, and he's happy with it. He likes your garden photos as much as I do, I've showed him many Forum pictures over the years.)

Those are wonderful... I think your garden is enhanced further by the evening light..

I'd like that mimulus actually..

Ingrid, I was wondering about one of your comments. The way you phrased it made it sound like you believe the milkweed keeps the bunnies from your roses. Do you believe it to be so? I have both but not near each other. It would be worth moving them closer if it would stop the bunnies.

Ingrid, Rosette Delizy is stunning! I love seeing these pictures of your garden.

Krista, that is so touching that you show your husband pictures of the gardens here. I make my husband look at stuff too but he'd rather look at a 1957 Ford or an astronomic phenomenon. Marlorena, the mimulus comes in different colors, white, yellow, orange and red, so there's something for anyone. I only have the red and the white one (so far). The red one is in rabbit territory and they have not even had a tiny nibble (so far).

our steelers, no such luck; I only meant that they haven't eaten the milkweed. The roses are fair game unless they're caged, and it helps that I feed the bunnies.

I show my husband your photos, Ingrid. He is very impressed. I just love them.

Beautiful photos of a beautiful garden, Ingrid. I am always in admiration and awe of the beauty and serenity you have created in such tough conditions.

Aunt Margy’s Rose is my pick for today.

I love mimulus but they don’t return for me. I had one that reseeded but the seedlings were short-lived. A treat for me to see yours.

Jo

Ingrid, thinking of astronomy, I like it as well. I have a telescope but haven't used it in many years. It would be good to renew this hobby. We used to look at Jupiter and Saturn, that was neat to see; we saw Uranus on one occasion. The Moon is wonderful when viewed through a telescope. The Perseid meteor shower is a summer treat in August.

My husband likes the rose garden, he has his favorites; he's fond of the red roses for their vibrant color. He doesn't mind when I buy more pink roses...

He enjoys the Forum photos, and they give us inspiration.

The mimulus is new to me, a colorful companion for the roses. Rosette Delizy has an amazing color blend, the caramel and vanilla shades with the pink.

My husband now has a telescope that can look into deep space. It's so huge it has to be carted around on a stand and is too heavy to lift. It will be very interesting to look at those further-away parts of the universe.

Jo, I wonder whether mimulus doesn't prefer a warmer and drier climate than you can provide. So many plants have rather specific requirements in regard to moisture and temperature. Thankfully each area can support many different and beautiful varieties,

Things are definitely progressing from a few weeks ago!

That’s amazing, altorama! I love how lush it’s coming in! Beautiful! :-)

Thank you!

But I posted this in the wrong thread sorry!

Ray, I'm sorry, I just now saw your pictures, and that is so neat! I'd love to know what those roses are. Did they live through your winter unprotected? Seeing those leaves appear in the spring must be so exciting.

omg, that's a lot of bunnies!! Beautiful photos, everyone!!

Hi Ingrid, sorry didn't mean to post in your thread! But the roses you can see are Ghislane De Feligonde, Glory of Edzell, Complicata, Geschwind's Orden, and a seedling I let grow. They have all been tip hardy in my zone 6a garden.

Ray, I post in other people's threads all the time. I didn't know that was wrong. I thought your Spring scene fit in beautifully.

Thank you Sheila!

Beautiful, Ingrid! I love seeing photos of your garden. I know it’s been a struggle for you the past few years between bunnies and drought, but it is so gorgeous right now!!

It is totally fine to post your photos, even more so since the topic is spring roses, but I don't think it's ever inappropriate. We're all about the roses, and are in this together, and it's a good feeling to have other join in and show what's happening in their gardens. More fun for everyone, I think.

Ray, you chose your roses well to have them all be tip hardy, and those are some tall roses. That's quite remarkable.

Dilly, it's been such a joy to see the garden come alive, even more so after the years of drought. Lots of fun also to see some new roses with buds, with the excitement of blooms to come.

Ingrid it was trial and error and great advise from NEroseman who used to post on GW years ago.

Being able to get advice from someone in a similar climate is invaluable. I learned so much from the kind and helpful people here.

Your garden is looking splendid Ingrid.
Beautiful.
Thank you so much for sharing!

Steven