Penstemon 'Midnight' has opened its flowers further and is so prettyThe milkweed and penstemon give some color to a garden bereft of roses (except for Plum Perfect's single bloom in the lower left).Madame Lambard in Tea Rose RowBishop's Castle (encased in its plastic girdle)AlohaThe increasingly shady back gardenThis is how it looked when we moved in.

I love how your plants are spaced, Ingrid. Each has room to breathe. Your foliage on Evelyn looks more attractive than my plant's paler foliage. The penstemon and yellow milkweed complement your garden beautifully. Your old move in photos make it look like global warming is going backward. The old photos have a sunbaked look, replaced by a restful green paradise now.

..for a moment there I was thinking ''what has she done?''... before the mention of the before photos..

...I like the apricot Evelyn more than the pink... strange how it always seems to be one colour one day, and the other the next...

...the shady back garden looks idyllic in that picture... so nice...

Lovely! Funny, but I like the pink Evelyn more than the apricot but they really are both very nice. I know what you mean about having a dream rose, one that you wanted even before you grew roses. That's how I am about Abraham Darby, even though he is far from perfect. I bet you are excited though.

I've had Penstemon 'Midnight' for 3 years and it has yet to bloom. I thought it would be great having P. strictus as a parent, but the P. strictus are blooming away in my garden, but 'Midnight' just grows leaves. Yours looks great.

I've got to get my hands on Midnight! My Penstemon "Raven" is so plum-colored that it sticks out among my purplish-blues. Your garden's before and after pictures are really night and day -- you've made a major improvement to the space.

Sheila, your comments illustrates how you can have a green garden with less water than it takes to maintain a lawn, although I will say that the rainy weather has caused everything to grow and prosper more this spring. Noseometer, my 'Midnight' did not bloom last year, which is when I got it. It seems to need time to grow tall before it wants to bloom, but three years is a bit ridiculous for a perennial. I will admit that I prefer a more pinkish Evelyn but I doubt that my plants care about that. My feeling is that it's more pink in cooler weather and more apricot when it heats up. Marlorena, wouldn't it have been funny if my before pictures had been the after?

K S, I looked up penstemon 'Raven', and felt that it looked great when only the flowers were shown, but seemed to lose impact when seen against the green foliage. Midnight seems to look good either way.

Gorgeous Ingrid! I really love your spacing, too—you have a real knack for companions that make the roses sing! :-)

Ingrid, your garden is so beautifully designed, it's an amazing transformation.

You must be so pleased to see Evelyn in bloom. It looks wonderful with your other roses and companion flowers. It's a lovely addition to your collection.

Evelyn is stunning! And I love seeing your before and after pictures. It looks so much better now. Restful and refreshing :-)

Ingrid, your garden is lovely this season. Bravo!!!

Your home and grounds look like a retreat and a great place to relax. I'm so glad you have Evelyn and that she is showing off for you. Mr. Austin out did himself on that one!

Ingrid,

Wait until your Evelyns get big for you. You "ain't seen nothin' yet! I'm happy for you. The transformation your garden has gone through is incredible. Lots of work and thought went into it, is clearly evident.

Moses

Your gardens look great! The shaded area is a huge improvement from the before. As much as I love roses, I love a shady retreat too! I prefer the peachy Evelyn to the pink one, but they are both beautiful. After seeing so many pictures & posts of Evelyn, she is on my must purchase list. Which seems to be a very long never ending list!

My husband is the one who did all the hard work of shoveling, planting, taking out the grass first, etc. I had the easy and fun part of choosing roses and other plants and pointing to where I wanted them. It was a great division of labor! We both love living here and never stop appreciating and loving our peaceful surroundings.

I do believe Evelyn will look much better after she reaches substantial growth because now she has big flowers on an itty bitty bush, and that is not a good look. This photo I took a little while ago when it was already fairly late shows the blooms again assuming a more pinkish hue.

Rhodologue Jules Gravereaux has only these three blooms right now.White Meidiland blooming with very little sunlight.
Blush Noisette



A lovely bloom of Aloha

It just gets better. How lovely!

These photos are wonderful, Ingrid. The changeable colors of Evelyn are interesting.

It must have been a relief to remove the grass from the yard. Your landscaping is imaginative and inspiring.

RJG is so romantic!

I agree, Stephanie; it's one of my favorite roses and my favorite tea rose. It's such an elegant rose, with more substance to the petals than many of the teas.

I apologize for the multitude of pictures. Taking pictures is one of the few things I have enough energy for at any time, and I tend to get carried away.

I think you are doing a great kindness for the rest of us in posting photos, Ingrid. It is not always easy to find the right photo and deal with the hassle. You know many lovely members who aren't up to posting at all. You really are keeping a lot of spirits up.

It is good to have shade for your sitting area. Did you plant that big tree? Do you know whst it is? It has beautiful branching structure.

Evelyn is so luscious! I don't grow this one, but wish I could.

Ingrid - it’s always a treat to see your roses and garden. You can never post too many.

Evelyn is lovely!

Jo

Ingrid, I've said it before, but what a beautiful garden you have created. So interesting to look at. The work of an artist. The eye moves around and back for another look. Love the sculpted petals of RJG.

Stephanie, your bouquet is luscious. I especially love that rich, dark red petal-packed Darcy Bussell.

Oh your garden is just glorious! So serene and tranquil. Any visits from the neighborhood peacocks lately?

Sheila, the kindness of your comment overwhelms me. It's interesting that as one's horizons narrow one delves more deeply into what is left and in that way there is really no loss. More than ever I value the friendships here and the richness you've all added to my life. Stephanie, I'm afraid I don't detect much scent in Rhodologue Jules Gravereaux, but in truth I have a hard time with teas in that regard, with the exception of Duchesse de Brabant and her sport, Mme. Joseph Schwartz, where I do detect a lovely rose fragrance that is light and sweet. I'm glad you have Reve d'Or, which I would say is my favorite climbing rose, which I would so love to have again, although the spot where I had it became too hot for it, and I'm not sure where I'd put it now. Your bouquet is so beautiful! Monsieur Tillier is a gorgeous rose which fries in my dry heat, alas.

totoro, that tree is ficus benjamina, which is commonly grown as a house plant, and indeed I have one in the dining room, but in milder climates it can grow into a ginormous tree outside, and I'm afraid that in time it will buckle the concrete and advance toward the house foundation. The tree was already in place when we moved in. Jo and Trish, thanks so much for the kind words. An appreciative audience is everything! mustbnuts, it blows my mind that you remembered our peacock visitor. That was quite a few years ago. We haven't been fortunate enough to see one again. Here are some pictures from that time. It was actually a peahen, and we named her Ladybird.

Our cat and dog were absolutely transfixed by the largest bird they'd ever seen in their lives.

Your garden is beautiful. Please post away!!! The pictures are such a pleasure to see.
I love roses more and more. I could never tire of them. I’m fairly new to Houzz (March) and was so pleasantly surprised to find this rose thread.

Ladybird is somehow both beatiful (head) and cute (plump body).

Ingrid, such a sweet peahen! I had silkie chickens growing up and adore birds of all kinds. I hope my Monsieur Tillier likes his spot with some afternoon shade, but if not maybe I can replace him with Rhodologue Jules Gravereaux. How big does RJG get? So little info on HMF. The other tea on my wishlist is Jesse Hildrith, which should also get as big as Monsieur Tillier. I have a plastic fence that needs to be camouflaged, but I cannot attach to it so I need roses that will get 6-8 ft tall and be dense self supporting shrubs/hedges. I also have Mrs Dudley Cross. Rosette Delizy is the other one planned and being shipped from ARE now! Along with Maggie, which I have no idea where I’m going to put, probably in front yard, but couldn’t resist. I have a feeling a few roses will not like my conditions and so I put in more than will really fit. Here’s my view right now from my back covered patio looking directly SW. The very dark red is kangaroo paw; stunning when backlit in late afternoon and humming birds love it. You can also see Valentine that sent out one cane of lighter roses. My DH loves red roses so planted for him and because I can keep it quite small and it has zero thorns. That bottle brush ‘Slim’ on left forms a row to the left to frame a fountain not installed yet. I keep thinking I could remove it and put a rose hedge there but DH likes it. The color of ‘Slim’ is more orange than the dark red tree varieties I see around here so I now want to remove it after seeing it bloom this spring, but we just put them in last fall.

Stephanie, that is gorgeous and will only get better as it matures. The reddish rose there "lifts" the color of everything else and looks perfect. Monsieur Tillier will appreciate the afternoon shade. Mine was in full sun and fried all the time, as did Clementina Carbonieri, and I had to take them both out. I love Mrs. Dudley Cross, it's a great rose, and so is Rosette Delizy. I've had the latter for quite a few years. I hope you'll continue to show us your garden as it blooms and grows. By the way, RJG in my garden has not grown nearly as large as my other teas, but that may be the result of it not having any afternoon sun at all for a good part of the year. It's not much more than 4 x 4 feet for me.

Michele, welcome to the rose forums. I hope you'll like it here and get as crazy about roses as the rest of us. It can turn into quite an exciting passion and is also so much fun.

totoro, I love your comment about Ladybird! That is so endearing.

Ingrid, I grew up in a neighborhood just outside of Manhattan in Queens in NYC. My parents transformed the backyard into a beautiful garden. I’ve absolutely loved roses ever since then. It was so beautiful and peaceful. We had a roll out awning over the patio with table and chairs. We practically lived out there as soon as the weather allowed.
I love this thread. I never tire of seeing these photos.

Those kinds of memories stay with us for life and make us want to recreate that same beautiful vision. Compared to many other things it really doesn't cost that much to make something that is so beautiful and life-enhancing.

Magnificent, Ingrid! Your garden is a slice of heaven. I think your critter cages are a wonderful solution, and truth be told, they're hardly noticeable, no more so than our rebar tripods or ubiquitous plant stakes. I had so much fun viewing before and afters. What a glorious change! You and Cecil have created a miracle. Carol

Awesome photos!

Ingrid, your garden is wonderful, with lots of structure and gorgeous roses. I prefer the pink Evelyn, I think ;-).

I have a sneaking preference for the pink myself, gdinieontario, but I thought I wanted an apricot rose to break up all my pinks - sometimes I don't know what I want! It's okay, they're all beautiful roses and I'll take whatever color they decide to be.

Thank you, Carol, for the kind words. We had a lot of fun doing the garden, and I'm glad we did all that while we were still in relatively good shape. I think it was while you were away from the forum, around Christmas 2017, that Cecil had the beginnings of an extremely rare form of autoimmune encephalitis, fewer than 1000 known cases in the world, and only caught because his spinal fluid was sent to the Mayo Clinic who had the specialized equipment to diagnose his disease. That and my increasing weakness from fibromyalgia have made for interesting times. But here we are, and I'm still loving on roses just as much as ever. It is so good to have you back!

I’m sorry to hear about what sounds like a very tough time. Glad to see you’re enjoying your garden. I know there is always work in it but at least the big stuff is done. I know the beauty of nature is calming and healing for me.

I did read about Cecil's diagnosis and was glad to also read that the Mayo was able to pinpoint the problem so Cecil could get the help he needed. What a scary time that was prior to diagnosis, treatment and healing! Fibromyalgia is both painful and aggravating and as it progresses or flares, it's nice to know that you don't have to jackhammer any 4 foot holes on the rocky slope and that if you hide from the heat, at worst you'll just have a few extra weeds and some deadheading or pruning to deal with later. What is up with all the autoimmune diseases these days? Everything in this world involves timing, and it's wonderful that you and Cecil accomplished such great things earlier so that your garden is established now. There will always be bunnies and other--albeit sometimes cute--annoying or even agonizing challenges, but the framework and what I would call "the garden proper" is in place around you. I love before and after pics, like yours, because it's so encouraging to take the journey vicariously through creations and alongside the people that create them. Our talents, skills, desires, visions and down-to-earth and very human quirkiness are all part of the product and make each of our gardens ours alone. You and Cecil are (to borrow your poetic phrasing) two Ingrid-shaped and Cecil-shaped places in the universe that can never be filled by any others, and your garden could only have been created by your shared visions and devoted relationship. It's always a treat to visit you two and your living art project even while I remain in my comfy chair in Portland! Carol