I notice a lot of recent posts have been about David Austin roses. That's fine, we're a broad church here, but I though I would mention, name dropping, a few of the once-flowering, seemingly unfashionable old roses that are currently in bloom in my garden.

Along the edge of the Small Orto, a rose-laden mountain of 'Maiden's Blush', suckering out on one side and smothering a forsythia on the other. That's quite a feat. We'd already constructed a little pergola to keep it off the path, and will extend it for the suckering bits. I need to thin it--it hasn't been pruned for a few years--and get it off the forsythia, which I appreciate for its early spring blast of yellow and general courage. In the bottom of the Small Orto, 'De la Maitre-Ecole', five or six feet tall and wide, suckering out. It has mildew, which doesn't particularly bother it, but the blooms, pink-magenta-lilac-purple-gray, large and loose, are wonderful. A wonderful rose, with no thorns to speak of. Next to it, crawling around on the ground, is 'Tuscany' or 'Tuscany Superb' or 'Haddington'. I received it as 'Tuscany' but think that's wrong, or, at least, it looks identical to my 'Tuscany Superb'. Great color, but I should have cut out old canes. It's tangling with a peony or two, hellebores, bulbs, geraniums.

Continuing on from 'De la Maitre-Ecole' is 'Blanc de Vibert'. This was planted in a dank, dark corner way back around 2004 and has never bloomed well: it has a reputation as a difficult variety. I let it go up and up in its attempt to reach the sun, caging it a couple of years ago so we could walk around and under it: it forms a nice arch beneath which we walk, ducking slightly, to reach the door of the ambitiously named Tea House. 'Blanc de Vibert', at about ten feet by twelve, in spite of the usual large portion of aborted buds, this year is blooming rather nicely. Perhaps it's happy at last. Behind it, in an even darker and danker corner, is 'Celestial', another rose that has also has never done well here. It, too, has struggled up to the light; suckered, too, and pops up its soft pink blooms here and there, looking for a favorable spot to grow.

Out in the big garden, close to the road and the group of Leyland cypresses that DH came home with years ago and insisted on planting, are the group of 'Orpheline de Juillet' a thorny mound studded with purple blooms, 'Rote Krimrose', taller and stiffer than its neighbor, about which I wrote possibly libelous (or is it slanderous?) negative comments on this forum a year or two ago, but which is now looking tolerably like an acceptable old rose. Then R. hemisphaerica and its soft yellow blooms, contrasting nicely with the pink and purple of its neighbors. I wish it would put out some new growth. More roses going down the line, but the big group is at the bottom of the slope where water find its way: some Albas, 'Paul Ricault', which I find coarse but which is pretty overwhelming in bloom, a tall Damask ('Celsiana'?? I forget), and others. There are way too many puny varieties, and there are varieties that aren't puny but are hidden in the grass. The ones at the top are favored, I believe, by having trees close by and being less exposed to the elements.

The grass has been utterly overwhelming this year. DH, now eighty-seven, has been heroically mowing it down, which at least allows me to see these roses, though even mown we're oh so far! from velvet cut grass. Everything is messy, everywhere. We're in the grass phase of development of our land, good for fertility but inconvenient, and I hope one day we'll move on to shrubs and trees. I would like to add that seeing a rose called July's Orphan in bloom in May is not cheering. We're a month ahead of schedule. I fear it's going to be a long summer.