
Continue reading “From Bud to Bloom to Hip: How a Wild Rose Sets Seed”

Celebrating gardens, photography and a creative life

Continue reading “From Bud to Bloom to Hip: How a Wild Rose Sets Seed”

Some rose diseases are so easily spread and devastating that I have a horror of them (rose rosette disease or crown gall of roses, for example). On seeing these mossy galls, despite the overactive alarm message, ‘Do not touch!’ flashing at the forefront of my mind, I did get close enough to take pictures. I vaguely remembered what these fuzzy growths were but needed to look them up to be sure.
I need not have been so alarmed: Rose bedeguar gall, known as Robin’s pin cushion or mossy rose gall, is neither a disease nor as harmful to the rose as might appear. Continue reading “Rose Bedeguar Gall (Robin’s Pin Cushion)”

Companion plants will bring out the best characteristics of roses – especially shrub roses – and help to make up for any weaknesses. While they’ll mingle around, above or below the roses, they should not compete too aggressively for food, water or space. Continue reading “Great Companion Plants for a Cottage Garden: Roses”

I took this colourful picture a few years ago during an event at the Antique Rose Emporium in Texas. The creamy-white flower is a form of hibiscus. Continue reading “Retro Floral With Peonies and Roses”

“There is something quite special about white roses… they are all purity and light.” – David Austin
I’m sharing pictures of white shrub roses and rambling roses in eager anticipation of the peak flowering season for roses which is a couple of weeks or so away in my part of the world. As my sweetheart would say, bring it on! Meanwhile, I’ll let the roses do their own talking.
