Tuesday, May 31, 2011

May Roses

May is a great month for roses here in Southern California. They all bloom so well that I didn't know, which pictures to post. Here is a small selection of roses that were flowering in my garden in this glorious month.

(you can click on the photos to enlarge)


Starting with 'Sister Elizabeth' one of the smaller David Austin roses. Just coming into her own from the small band that arrived at my door step, she was one of my favorites this month to bloom. Unfortunately the rose is struggling with powdery mildew, but I have hopes that she will grow out of it. Her blooms have become bigger and the rose is able to hold the canes a little bit more upright, so that the flowers can be appreciated better, than when the rose was younger.  



 'Mary Rose'. Always delivering perfectly formed blooms. A very lovely no-brainer rose here.





'Marie-Jeanne'. One of the more rare polyantha roses. I got this one from my dear friend Ingrid quite a while ago, but for a long time the roses was suffering from transplanting shock. This is the first really nice spray that it produced for me and I have to say I am very impressed. Thank you Ingrid, for your generous gift!




'Salet'. The one and only moss rose that I grow. She is doing well in my yard and I love to gently rub the mossed buds or the foliage of the rose and smell the typical spicy moss rose fragrance.


 

'Reine des Violettes' is one of my absolute favorites right now. With her beautiful unusual color she simply stands out of all my roses, demanding the attention that a queen deserves. Sorry for the chicken wire in the photo, but it is still a small plant and I am protecting her with chicken wire against rose loving rodents.



Rain drenched 'Iceberg' roses. Even though they are so common here in Southern California, I will always love my Icebergs.



'Sutter's Gold' an older hybrid tea rose, which is not that often seen anymore, with an absolutely wonderful fragrance. The coloration of this rose is also quite fascinating and always changing. If you are a lover of orange/yellow colored roses, this one might be an interesting one for you.



'Mme. Ernest Calvat'. I am truly in love with this bourbon rose for the fragrance and the lovely subtle color of her flowers. This year the rose is very sickly, suffering form blackspot. Last year she was relatively healthy and it seems to be the case that she just needs warmer weather to thrive. Well summer will come eventually!



Another of the perfect blooms of 'Pretty Jessica'. I am not exaggerating when I am saying that this rose is only producing perfect blooms with a wonderful strong fragrance and is very healthy in my garden. I think that 'Pretty Jessica' is underrated and deserves much more attention. I just planted mine finally into the ground last weekend and I can't wait to see more lovely blooms of her in the front yard.



'Mme. Isaac Periere', the sister of 'Mme. Ernest Calvat'. Surprisingly this rose is more healthy than 'Mme. Ernest Calvat' this year and I have no idea why. I love her sumptuous blooms with a strong pleasant perfume. 



Close-up of 'Marie Pavie', which usually blooms in clusters of many flowers and you rarely get a single blooms like shown in my photo.  I just love her neatly formed blooms in a delicate porcelain color. This is actually a very charming rose, which I just planted in the front yard. Can't wait to see how she is doing there. So far she has already started to grow tremendously and I expect a lot of blooms form her soon.



I have chosen 'William Shakespeare 2000' to finish my post about roses that bloomed in the month of May in my garden, because I consider this rose one of David Austin's finest creations so far. My rose is still small and only growing in a 2 gallon pot, but I am expecting great things from her, ones it will be planted into the ground. 

See you in the garden!

Christina

13 comments:

  1. I am in love with all of your roses. Wonderful photography.

    FlowerLady

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  2. Beautiful photos. I have to say I am suprised to see sutters gold in your gardem. If it would just warm up enough to kill the powdery mildew and rust.

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  3. Flowerlady, thank you very much! I have to admit that I am in love with my roses, too :-)!

    Thanks, Dani!

    Thank you, Stephanie! I got Sutter's Gold as a cutting from a dear friend, that is how it was ending up in my garden. As much as I love all my cool colored roses I have to say that I am longing for some yellow ones right now ;-).

    Christina

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  4. Thank you for all the wonderful pictures. Your garden must be filled with fragrance. Ouch for the leaves of Mme. Ernest Calvat, I hope it does better for you when (if?) the weather warms up. Here we had rain yesterday, and blackspot is everywhere :). I have to say too that other than a spot of mildew, my Mme Isaac Pereire is pretty healthy.

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  5. Beautiful roses! I can't seem to pick a favorite. They are all lovely. The picture of Sister Elizabeth is stunning!

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  6. I just loved seeing all these beautiful roses! I love the pink ones. Some of my roses look close to blooming, we just need a little more sun.

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  7. Christina, your roses are just amazing and what a gorgeous collection you have blooming. I have 5 different roses on my property from the previous owner, I hope to learn more about them this year so I'm sure I'll be back for words of wisdom ;)
    Thanks also for stopping by my wisteria post, I am always so happy to meet new bloggers and appreciate the visit!! Looking forward to following your posts (and maybe put names to my nameless roses!) Cheers Julia

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  8. So lovely, Christina, what a great collection of great roses. Only 'Mary Rose' and 'Marie-Jeanne' could possibly do well in my garden. I've been wanting 'Mary Rose'. Where, oh where, can I find her?

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  9. Beautiful pictures of your roses. Marie Pavie really caught my eye. Such a lovely rose. I grow Mary Rose here in Alabama. It does very well. Great repeat bloom...

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  10. Masha, thanks for leaving a comment! That is very interesting that Mme. Isaac Pereire is relatively healthy for you, since this rose truly has a reputation of being disease ridden. Your experience with Mme. Isaac Pereire also gives me hope for mine long term. If I can't grow Mme. Ernest Calvat in the long run, because she is too sickly maybe I at least can grow her sister successfully.

    Thanks Holley, the photo of Sister Elizabeth is also my favorite from the standpoint of photography in this post.

    Catherine, thanks for visiting again! Wishing you lots and lots of sun shine so that your roses are opening nicely. Roses really do need sun to look splendid!

    Julia, so nice that you stopped by, again. I am glad that you liked my roses. I am also very happy "to meet" new bloggers. The whole blogging thing and the possibilities that come with it is still so exciting for me. Thanks for becoming a follower of my blog!

    Sherry, thanks, your comments are always so nice! I actually got my Mary Rose from Heirloom Roses as an own root plant. It is doing very well. Maybe that would be an option for you to order it from, too?

    Thank you, Redneck Rosarian! Marie Pavie truly seems to be a great rose. I have seen some gorgeous specimen here in SoCa. I am sure I will post more pictures of mine in the future, now that she is in the ground and can really get going. I am happy to hear that Mary Rose is doing well for you, too, in Alabama. That it repeats quickly is an additional plus!

    Christina

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  11. Thru Masha's pages I discovered also these your's and I must say they are wonderful! Thanks for sharing!

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  12. Hi Jana, welcome to my blog, I am glad that you like it!

    Christina

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