I love love love your color scheme. It is exactly what a garden should be. If I got Ancient Mariner because of Marlorena I got Potter aNd Moore because of you. If that isn’t magnificent I don’t know what is!

Thank you, Ingrid. Looking beautiful. Your color scheme is so cohesive, unlike some of us. So glad to see you spreading the joy.

Thank you, our steelers! There's something so satisfying about sharing rose recommendations among us, especially when it turns out to be a success. I wish the photos did P&M justice, but it truly is more beautiful in real life. With the coming heat wave that may change, but there are always the memories!

The way you have managed your hardscape and landscape with all your plants is incredible.

I'm a huge fan of the way you've made it all so perfectly cohesive.

I can't believe that squirrel let you get so close!

Ingrid, beautiful roses. I always love your landscape and furry animals. Love the pink. You have always inspired me as well. Thank you !

I post my bouquet in my thread. This time it is carmine color and it has never been that pink but it was soo pink but lighter as they just bloom . Could not get the color on my phone camera properly. My Maggie :)

jin, have not seen you post for a while. Hope you're summer is starting nicely!

JC, i am here most of the time. Just been busy with gardening and chores. Resuming work next week and hope all goes well with the virus going on and on and on.

Sending you well wishes and a great Summer !

Sheila, I swear your post was not there or I would have mentioned you by name. So weird. It's not difficult to have a cohesive scheme when only about five roses are blooming at any one time. Still, I'm not much for bright-colored roses which keeps me out of trouble. Jin, your Maggie is beautiful, although lighter than I usually see it. I love the purple container! JC, thanks so much, I'm fortunate that the hardscape was already there, so all we had to do was rip out the grass, which was practically all that was there, and plant roses instead.

Really lovely, Ingrid. I'm glad you went to the trouble to share them with us. I love your last photo especially. Being able to look out and see that lovely vignette would make my day.

I think the last picture is my favorite...it has the wildness of the hills and the softness of the roses filling in the spaces. Lovely!!

I'm really just chiming in at this point, Ingrid, but I had to say that I also absolutely love the colors in your garden and the way the palette blends so perfectly with your natural environment. You have created a Mediterranean cottage garden in CA, beautifully planned and executed while still allowing for your collector's preferences to have their say. A wonderful balance! And although it is not visible in this series of photos, your interior blends seamlessly with your exterior, too, so that every vase of roses looks as much at home on your dining table as it does in your garden. Carol

You are all such kindred spirits, and I can't tell you how much that means. Your sensitive appreciation of a garden that to me is just a shadow of its former self makes me want to carry on no matter what. And the roses cooperate, by growing ever taller while their lower parts are being eaten, so that right now there are plenty of buds to signal a second flush, mostly of the roses that have afternoon shade.

There was a baby gopher snake just outside the front door, and a whole passel of coyotes in the back yard a few minutes ago setting up an unearthly racket. That's in addition to the rattlesnake we spotted yesterday and last week. He's still here today and I'm afraid he may decide to stay in light of the abundant food supply in our garden. I suspect the abundant late rains have caused a population explosion, with some parts more desirable than others. We'll definitely watch where we put our hands and feet!