Rose ‘Crépuscule’

Not that my garden comes anywhere near Nick Weber’s garden, but as I think I’ve mentioned, I have a rose or two growing here. This one is a fairly large climber, growing on a trellis on the south end of our house.

Rose ‘Crépuscule’ is a Noisette rose bred by Francis Dubreuil (France, 1904). The frame it’s growing on, which you can see the base of through the fence to the left of the buddleia, is twelve feet wide and ten feet high, not counting the two feet below it. As you can see, the rose is growing above the top of the frame and I have a feeling I could get it to cover a twenty foot frame.

The fragrance is strong and it will have flowers on it off and on all summer. The individual flowers are not perfect but in mass they are quite beautiful. There is another rose on this trellis, ‘Champneys’ Pink Cluster’, another Noisette rose, bred by Champneys (United States, circa 1811). That one isn’t nearly so impressive but it’s still a pretty little thing.

Rose ‘Blossomtime’

Rose ‘Cornelia’

As hinted at in yesterday’s post, I spent some time with roses today. Last year on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend I posted a photo of a rose from Nick’s annual open garden and mentioned that the roses had bloomed quite early so we were treated to the later blooming varieties. This year we got the other end of the spectrum. Many roses had not really fully opened yet and there were thousands of buds yet to open on many plants.

That’s not to say I was even slightly disappointed. The garden was wonderful and the weather was perfect. Most years we seem to have a heat wave around Memorial Day weekend but this year it was quite cool. When we arrived at 10:30 I didn’t even have my sleeves rolled up and some people were wearing jackets. Once the sun got a little higher in the sky it warmed up and was quite pleasant.

I took quite a few pictures and present two of them here. The first is a large-flowered climbing rose called ‘Blossomtime’, bred by Conrad C. O’Neal (United States, 1951). The second is a hybrid musk called ‘Cornelia’ bred by Rev. Joseph Hardwick Pemberton (United Kingdom, 1925). Two very different roses but both beautiful. Thanks again, Nick and Rosanne.

Rose ‘Zephirine Drouhin’ with Clematis

If all goes according to plan, this should be a pretty rosy weekend. Since I’m actually writing this on Monday, I know how it turned out, but I won’t spoil it for you. For now, just enjoy this rose growing in my brother and sister-in-law’s back garden. The rose is a Bourbon rose called ‘Zephirine Drouhin’ and it is growing here with a white Clematis, which suits it quite well. The name Bourbon in this case refers to Île Bourbon (now called Réunion) off the coast of Madagascar. This rose is thornless and has a wonderful scent and color. By fall it is pretty much defoliated by black spot around here but is such a vigorous grower that it never seems to mind.

Rosa Multiflora

These are everywhere and they can be something of a nuisance. They are often planted in highway medians and can become so impenetrable that they can stop cars. On May 12 of last year I posted a picture of a pink multiflora rose (well, it probably isn’t pure multiflora) that I have growing in my yard. Anyone who knows roses will tell you that’s daft, but there it is. This picture is of a regular multiflora rose growing along the edge of the woods behind my office. A nuisance but it’s still pretty.

‘Rose de Rescht’

This is a wonderful little rose. I’ve had it growing in a container for quite a few years now and really should get it into the ground. ‘Rose de Rescht’ is a bit of an enigma in terms of its origin and has been classified as a Damask Perpetual and as a Portland rose, a group named after the 2nd Duchess of Portland, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (11 February 1715 – 17 July 1785). Either way, it seems likely that it has both Rosa × damascena and Rosa gallica in its ancestry.

It’s a relatively small rose bush and when well cared for in a good location should give you at least a second flush of blooms later in the year and possibly an occasional flower at other times. Mine is a bit weak because it’s in a pot but the blooms are worth it. They are very strongly scented and quite lovely.

Iris ‘Eric the Red’

This is a little Siberian iris called ‘Eric the Red’ and it’s a lovely little thing. I brought this from our house in Gaithersburg when we moved seven years ago and it’s doing quite well in our front garden. It’s a little patch of purple that appears each spring.

If you are looking for a tough little survivor, this might be a good choice. It tolerates both drought and wet soil, which is pretty hand here. I’m thinking of putting in a small pool and bog garden and Siberian iris will definitely have a place in that.

Rose Number Two – Jaune Desprez

This is the second of our roses to start to bloom. It is called Jaune Desprez (jaune is yellow in French) or Desprez à Fleur Jaune. This one is a Noisette bred by Desprez in France in 1835. This is another really good repeat bloomer and another rose with a wonderful, intense fragrance. If you have a largish section of wall to grow it on, you could do worse than this one. The flowers are typical of the Noisette type and the bush is the second most vigorous one that I have (after Crépuscule, which is absolutely huge and should start blooming in a day or two).

First Rose of the Season — Perle d’Or

I usually only post once each day but those of you good enough to follow my little blog know that now and then I splurge and put a few pictures in a post or even put up multiple posts. I decided not to let the day go by without celebrating the first rose of the season.

This is a little China rose called Perle d’Or, bred by Joseph Rambaux in France in 1884. It’s right outside our front door and in a few weeks it will be absolutely covered with flowers. The flowers are not particularly large and they don’t have the huge petals of the hybrid tea roses but they have a wonderful fragrance and it blooms off and on all summer, with buds being killed by the first hard frost of winter.

The books all say it grows to four feet. It must really like its location here, because I pruned it back to about five feet this winter. I was at least eight feet tall by the end of last year. Still, I don’t mind a rose doing better than expected.

Chive Flowers

The chives growing in a container on our back patio are coming into full bloom. It’s nice having a few herbs growing right outside the back door. Especially this time of year I love to go out and snip off a handful to add to my cooking. The flowers are really nice chopped up and sprinkled on a wide variety of things from soup to steak. Their color is an added bonus to their mild, onion flavour.

Rhododendron Buds

I love my wife, I don’t mind telling you. There are plenty of things to love about her but the one that comes to mind on Mother’s Day is that she doesn’t care, particularly, about going out for a meal. Instead, we go to a garden center. In past years we’ve made the trek out to Thanksgiving Farms in Adamstown but this year we went to Stadler Nursery in Laytonsville, which is much closer. Dorothy and I wondered around for a little while and then sat on a bench while Cathy picked out a few things for the garden.

The photo for today is of flower buds on a rhododendron. I didn’t get the name of this one but I suspect it’s quite popular, based on how much of it they have. The deep color of the flowers is quite nice, so I can see why people would like it.

Hosta ‘June’

And what is so rare as a hosta named June? No, that doesn’t make much sense to me, either. My apologies to James Russell Lowell who wrote, in 1848, The Vision of Sir Launfal, which contains the following:

There is no price set on the lavish summer,
And June may be had by the poorest comer.

And what is so rare as a day in June?
Then, if ever, come perfect days;
Then Heaven tries the earth if it be in tune,
And over it softly her warm ear lays:
Whether we look, or whether we listen,
We hear life murmur, or see it glisten;

You can read the entire poem at the Rochester Library. This is a hosta variety called ‘June’ and it’s a pretty little thing. It isn’t as small as ‘Mouse Ears’ but it’s pretty small. I love the subtle coloring on the leaves.

Spanish Bluebells (Hyacinthoides hispanica)

I think it’s a little funny to call these bluebells when they are pink, but they are Hyacinthoides hispanica which are commonly called Spanish bluebells. Obviously this is a pink variety and I planted them in the fall of 2009 along with almost 300 other bulbs that I bought from McClure & Zimmerman (http://www.mzbulb.com/), whom I highly recommend for bulbs. These are planted on the side of our yard under the dying cherry tree. I really need more of these and should probably get them in blue as well as pink. As you can see, we now have forget-me-not growing here, as well.

Dandelion

I took a few pictures in the yard this afternoon. It was a beautiful day in the low 70s and I enjoyed lying in the grass for a little while, as I tend to do on nice spring days. I also took a few pictures of fern leaves and some coreopsis flowers but you’ll have to satisfy yourselves with this for now. This was taken without a tripod so I couldn’t stop down as far as I probably should. Maybe I’ll take more like this and see what I can come up with.