If there’s one thing that’s guaranteed to get me up with the dawn when I don’t have to, it’s the chance to photograph roses at the peak of bloom in soft morning light. Continue reading “Roses Laced With Morning Dew”
Rosa Chinensis ‘Viridiflora’: The Green Rose
Rosa chinensis ‘Viridiflora’, the green rose, is a curiosity that has small whorls of bracts in place of flowers. The bracts are like tiny leaves, with jagged edges and reddish tips and/or streaks. These examples were photographed at The Antique Rose Emporium, and are neater in form than some others I’ve seen. While never showy, the rose repeats well and has a light, peppery, spicy scent.
As it lacks true flowers, Rosa chinensis ‘Viridiflora’ is sterile. The rose has been traced back to 1845, but may be much earlier than that. Since the first chance mutation was noticed and admired enough to multiply, it has been kept in circulation by rooting or grafting.
Famously described as a little monstrosity when it was first exhibited in Paris, it is mostly grown by rosarians and used by florists.
Wordless Wednesday: Carolyn Knight Rose
Shrub Roses As Companion Plants
To accentuate the beauty of a shrub rose, allow it to mingle with other plants, while indulging its desire to be the star of the show. Companion planting has a practical purpose as well as a creative one. Foliage of other plants can help to cover the bare soil and gnarled branches often found at the base of roses, and any mixed planting always attracts a broader range of beneficial insects, helping to keep the rose healthy. Continue reading “Shrub Roses As Companion Plants”
Romance, Roses And Twelfth Night
This is one of my favourite rose pictures. I find it extra romantic, though it’s hard to say why. The clustering roses themselves, or the small detail of them being tied to their support? Perhaps; we don’t need poets to tell us that love binds where it frees. The leafy, bower-like setting helps and the pensive, shadowy statue in the background is casting her influence too. She seems to be waiting for someone rather than just admiring the view. Continue reading “Romance, Roses And Twelfth Night”
February: Monochrome | Roses With Many Petals
I’m fascinated by many petalled roses so I’m indulging myself by sharing these square crops of their floral hearts for HeyJude’s February Challenge: Monochrome.
I think the first one is my favourite – the colours are so dreamy. Jude quotes the line ‘Earth laughs in flowers’ which surely makes each unfurling petal a giggle… or at least a perceptible relaxing of the lips. Continue reading “February: Monochrome | Roses With Many Petals”
Do you think faded roses are beautiful?
A few years ago, I would not have considered this picture to convey beauty simply because the roses are a day or so (plus a rain shower) past their prime. The flowers are over, spent, no longer worthy subjects. I wouldn’t have taken the picture, let alone posted it on my blog.
Learning to see like a photographer has loosened me up. Continue reading “Do you think faded roses are beautiful?”
Susan Rushton 