Olivia Austin

Peach Lemonade

Orchid Romance

Beautiful, Chris!! Your first 3 are tugging at my heart. :) :)

Ooohhh!! I love Orchard Romance

Chris,

Chris, your Orchid Romance is exceptional. I really like it. It's a Radler rose, isn't it? How is it for black spot resistance?Orchid Romance is exceptional. I really like it. It's a Radler rose, isn't it? How is it for black spot resistance?

Moses

@Kristine LeGault 8a pnw orchid romance seems like a terrific rose. I only got it last year. It's in a pot, but has grown well, flowers a lot and is very healthy. The blooms fade to a more orchid pink.

Queen of Sweden is starting to open too.

Moses, it has been exceptionally bs resistant for me.

Can you tell me about your Indigo Seedlings? I planted an Indigo last year and I'd love to try to raise some roses from seed.

I SOOO look forward to your garden pictures every year, Chris!! Your roses and the whole garden—layout, color composition and accents—-are pure perfection! I’m going to chime in with OGR soulmate Mischievious Magpie and ask about your Indigo seedling. It’s beautiful! Do tell us more please! Carol

The Indigo seedling is gorgeous!

Chris, Love your garden photos esp. Orchid Romance-gorgeous color of bloom & deep dark leaves! ORomance does well in a pit! I just planted my Orchid Romance & had one bloom-live that rose! and Indigo, Olivia, Queen of Sweden, and Peach Lemonade. Nice bird bath & decorations in your garden! The green ball is lovely!!!

Chris - I really love your 2nd picture...your rose has soooo many blooms!!

Thank you all so much. You're all too kind.

@rosecanadian Peach Lemonade was an end of season, clearance item I purchased last year. I've been very happy with it so far.

My Indigo seedling came from a batch of open pollinated Indigo seeds I winter-sowed a few years ago. There's a post kicking around showing some of the sister seedlings, but this is the nicest. I really enjoy it. So far it has only gotten to about 2' x 2', but is extremely bushy and healthy. I'm still waiting to see if it will do much repeat blooming. It did produce a late season bloom once.

-Chris

Indigo seedling

More QoS

Perle d'Or

Windermere

Pretty! Thanks for posting.

We had more rain today. I know the plants need it but my irises and peonies look pretty frightful now. The roses are holding up better.

Imogen

Olivia with Susan Williams-Ellis to the right

Some pre- rain pics from last week.

Really lovely Chris!!

Chris - your Indigo seedling looks like a winner!! I love how much it blooms and the color is wonderful! I'm impressed! :) :) It looks like a gorgeous OGR. :) I have those purple and white irises too...although they're not blooming yet.

Thanks for all the pictures!

That 'Indigo' seedling looks quite respectable! I hope it matures into a good plant. Kudos!

@rosecanadian thank you and can't wait to see pics of your garden soon!

@User thanks so much! It's certainly been fun to watch grow. You're a big inspiration so I appreciate your opinion.

A few more pics from today

Windermere- one of my very favorite rose fragrances

Desdemona

Viking Queen

Cream Veranda - not a great grower for me on its own roots but can produce some beautiful blooms.

Cup of Gold - Not sure if I like this rose as I don't care for orange. I thought it would be more yellow. Perhaps in the warmer months it will fade more. I enjoy the bloom form and don't hate this sort of sherbert orange tone. We'll see what happens.

I've been really impressed with Imogen this year.

And Olivia!

Chris - that is a ginormous Olivia Rose!!! And there are soooo many gorgeous roses on it!! That's heavenly!! I love your first shot of Cup of Gold...looks like an orange Evelyn. :)

Wow, your garden is dazzling, Chris! I am so excited for your ‘Indigo’ creation!! Is your purple and white iris by any chance called ’Wabash’ (c. 1930s)? Carol

@rosecanadian it's done really well this year after my neighbor finally topped their Leyland hedge. It's such an easy and rewarding rose.

@portlandmysteryrose thanks so much! One of the irises is wabash. The other, along the path, is a newer variety with similar color. It came mislabeled so don't know what it is.

Some of my apricots today

Ghislaine de Felogonde

Perle d'Or

Mel's Heritage - it's getting huge!

Bathsheba - first bloom and already love it

Marianne

Cream Veranda

Mel's Heritage up close

Chris - thanks for all of the rose beauty!! I think my absolute fave is your Cream Veranda...sooo beautiful!! Second would be Bathsheba!! :) :)

Your Mel’s Heritage is breathtaking—the full Mel, the close-ups,… Thank you for sharing such inspiring photos! I love the way MH just becomes one with his arches and arbors. You and Jeri must grow two of the best trained MHs in the rose world! Could you share your pruning routine with Mel? How much and how often do you snip him to keep him happily blooming on and confined to your arbor? Carol

PS Is your Wabash scented? (Aplogies for all the questions!)

Carol, I have to do a big springtime tying and trimming to keep him in bounds. Then after the spring flush I do a smaller tidying up, which is going to definitely be needed soon. My main goal is to keep the gateway usable.

@portlandmysteryrose I forgot to answer your question about Wabash. Honestly, I don't recall it being fragrant. It's done blooming or else I'd go out and check. Is yours fragrant?

Thanks for the MH info, Chris! I am debating whether he’ll be too substantial for one of my archways in a tight entry. I can see that staying on top of Mel’s vigorous growth is a must! No slacking around that big boy! Lisa’s MH is awe inspiring…and a bit daunting. Heh, heh.

I don’t grow Wabash but am thinking of ordering it from Old House Gardens. The combo of royal purple and winter white is almost painfully pretty! But I do like scent in the garden, too. Carol

The backside of Mel where he's actually planted.

Loads of blooms!

Veilchenblau- one of my favorites

Oh, WOW, WOW, WOW!! Thank you for those shots of MH and Veilchenblau! The one of MH is not only spectacular it reveals more about how you train this big boy. Maybe just maybe I can squeeze him on the arch over the walkway…. 🤞Is he very thorny in your opinion? This first flush is incredible! Thousands of blooms! How do you find his remontacy? I wish I could smell his perfume! Oh, and one last question. How does MH handle strong pruning in your opinion? Apologies for SO many questions! I am working hard for this rose squeeze.

And speaking of all things big, your Veilchenblau is heavenly! Does yours smell like violets? I love the grape to lavender-grey bloom fade. It gives me goosebumps!

I have such an itty bitty garden that I tore both M Plantier and Veilchenblau away from myself and gifted them to new gardeners. Both had rooted from trailing canes, unbeknownst to me until this spring when I spotted purple and white blooms cropping up in the mass of garden foliage. Now that I’ve seen your photo, I want to keep Veilchenblau all over again! 😂

Those are sooooo beautiful! That's what I dream of when I buy climbers. I mean, mine won't ever do that lol, but I very much enjoy these photos.

@portlandmysteryrose A very fragrant and beautiful iris that I grow is "Dreaming of Rio". It has a very strong, heady fragrance that is so rich and hangs thick in the air. It's a very sexy fragrance.

Another iris I grow with the same level of fragrance, but it came with the house and I have no clue what it's called.

If you ever want, I can share some rhizomes with you.

@chris209 (LI, NY Z7a) Your 'Mel's Heritage' is magnificent. It seems to thrive anywhere, and its certainly thriving in your garden. Who needs 'Cecile Brunner', eh?!

Wow!!! Chris!!! Your Mel's Heritage is phenomenal!!! It must be the world's most perfect rose!! Your V is a stunner too!

@rosecanadian Thank you!

@portlandmysteryrose Carol, my Wabash is from Old House gardens, which is a vendor you turned me on to. I love it. There's another iris called Helen Collingwood that's on my list with a similar 2 tone effect that's really beautiful. That's too funny about your Veilchenblau and M Plantier. I had to remove my Belle de Crecy because it was taking over the world, but now there are a couple popping up again and I don't have the heart to pull them yet.

I'm not sure how Mel would take hard pruning. I haven't had to do that yet. I have a feeling he'd be fine since it's such a vigorous plant. Repeat in my garden reminds me of some of the hybrid musks where you have a big spring and fall flush, and scattered in between. Thorns aren't bad and yes, the fragrance is wonderful. Maybe others can comment too because I'm definitely no expert!

@User it really is a fantastic rose! How is the original plant doing?

@Mischievous Magpie (CO 5b) Your irises are beautiful! I live for the fragrance of irises in the spring. I took my dog for a walk during a break in the weather and sniffed every single bloom in the neighborhood. My husband, daughter and I do smell tests. There’s a 3-3.5‘ tall one in a neighbor’s h3ll strip planting that knocks our socks off. I’m looking around my garden for swap offers before I approach the home owner. :-) I am researching DofR. I wish iPads could simulate scents. I’d love a rhizome or two of your mystery iris if you have some to spare! It sounds like the color is as rich as the perfume! Maybe we can do a swap as soon as I am sure on those Allegra IDs? (Standing in my pot nursery tapping my foot.)

@User Mel’s Heritage leaves me speechless! (So much lovelier than brown Cecile buds and blooms.) I am ordering more rose arches and getting ready to contact Burling. So much for downsizing! I do attribute near full blame to you and Chris for my growing rose jungle! 😂

@chris209 (LI, NY Z7a) That’s so great that you got Wabash from OHG! I’m happy to have introduced you to that wonderful, historical nursery. You probably mentioned this before, but my brain is mushier than the old blooms on my weather beaten Botzaris! I think I’m going to order Wabash, too. I have been eyeing it for years!

I grew a lot of iris varieties at my last garden, but its taken 20 years to really get started here. Too busy collecting roses! 😂 I’ll have to check out Helen Collingwood. Bearded types I currently grow: the ancient Iris germanica, antique grape scented Caprice, buttery Iris flavescens, Iris pallida, antique Monsignor, a modern light blue neighbor pass along and two smaller, older purple neighbor pass alongs. My sister and I are lusting for Hollywood Nights. It’s a modern but looks all darkly mysterious and ruffled velvet, and it’s very fragrant according to the description.

Thank you so much for the Mel pruning and thorn info, etc.! I’m going to try him! It will be an experiment. I have managed to grow some big roses in my tiny but cooler climate PNW garden by keeping them whacked back and in check. My Multiflora ramblers are kinda like big sprawling shrubs. Lady Banks is about to get her annual hard pruning. Time will tell who wins this battle, the ramblers or the gardener! 😂

Belle de Crecy pleads, ”I am so lovely, so fragrant and such a heart tuggingly rich mauve purple. I’m so perfect, so historical and the kind of classic that no gardener should be without. Keep me in a BIG pot, but keep me close, and I will reward your consternation and frustration with so many breathtaking blooms like only lil ol’ Gallica me can provide! Merci!”

@portlandmysteryrose I'd be happy to share some of my irises with you, Allegra or no. The fragrance of the two I showed is STRONG. Heavenly, really, probably the best scent in my entire garden, above the roses and lilac.

These are some irises I snapped a photo of at the Botanical Gardens a week or so ago, it smelled so lovely even from a distance. Bonus rose in the background of the photo! Hehe.

Thank you! If I could, I’d move into the botanical garden!

Beautiful pictures Chris. Rain drops and Roses are two of the most beautiful things from mother nature.

I have to say, I am captivated by the irises. I have never grown them and they look stunning.

@jjpeace (zone 5b Canada) they only bloom for a short time but if you get the fragrant kind, OH MY goodness it's worth it. Plus they multiply over time.