This week many of the roses are blooming machines and rosemania in the garden has begun. The potting shed has never looked better as it is now covered in beautiful Ghislaine de Feligonde roses. The bourbons, damasks, portlands and other old garden favs are trying to see who can have more flowers or more fragrance!
Madam Hardy 
Madam Hardy 
Queen of Bourbon #1 
The Faun 
Ghislaine de Feligonde 
Above and Beyond 
Above and Beyond 
Queen of Bourbon #2 
Bathsheba 
Bathsheba 
The veriest back from afar 
Francis E Lester getting started 
Rugosas 
Ghislaine de Felgonde 
Winter Sunset 
At Last 
First bokay.
WEEDMANIA
My word. We have so many weeds. SERIOUSLY SO MANY.
OXALIS: She tries to woo me with her cute little leaves that look like good luck charms and her sweet little yellow blooms, but she is simply taking over.
CLEAVERS: Galim Aparine … I don’t ever remember seeing this in my garden before but it’s here now. Sticky, clingy, and good at hiding. Luckily they are easy to pull!
THISTLE: We can grow some award-winning thistle around here and I just found a 2′ thistle hiding in the rhododendron.
WILD STRAWBERRY: The cutest of them all but she was not invited. I don’t remember ever seeing much of this lovely before but this year just may be the “year of the wild strawberry.”
Is it a weedy year for you? Who will be your weed of the year?
NATIONAL ROSE MONTH
June is National Rose Month. Isn’t it great that roses have their own month and it coincides with brides/ wedding month.
Roses have such a rich history and becoming the National Floral Emblem is part of that rich history. I did a post on the details a few years back. You can read it here.
There is a reason that June is bride’s month … June gets its name from Juno, the Roman goddess of marriage. So, the thought was that if you were married in June you would be blessed with prosperity and happiness. Who doesn’t want that blessing!
NEW TOYS
There are three products I purchased this season that I am just loving.
Jute covered twist tie. I love anything that vines, so I am always tying up something. I have a plethora of products that I use but this is absolutely fabulous. It looks so natural! And is holding up well. I found this at a garden center in England and so far I have not seen it locally. Hope we can find it! I’ll need more!
Pot Feet! I bought two different kinds. Love them both. Many of our large pots are on rolling trays but for other containers these are great! Both of these came from Amazon.
JOY OF THE SEASON
We had our first real dinner in the garden this week. Mr. G grilled steaks. It was a real feast as we not only had steaks, we had fresh whipped cream on our berries. 😉 Yes, the food was wonderful and so was my view … Mr. G, of course, … and the garden.
Until next time….be well, be safe, and enjoy your view!
awww the beautiful ghislain de felgonde, I love mine, they are so pretty now since I got chickens my roses would get hammered by beetles, and something eating at the roots, and since I have had chickens nothing is harming my roses at all. right now they are blooming their heads off. lol yours are very beautiful,
That is so wonderful about your chickens!!!
I have to say your gislaine is growing very tall. mine are growing more bushy because I have not gotten a trellis yet to tie them too, so I end up pruning them to keep from grabbing people as they walk by,lol. I love the others too, maybe some day I will get some of them but right now I have my hands full with my other plants, chickens, and yard.
Your roses are just beautiful. I had ghislaine de feligonde (spelling?) in my old garden and I loved it. I know the names of all my roses (18) except one which is an unusual (to me) shade of gold and orange. I’m on the search to find out its name. It is a lovely surprise.
Your roses are absolutely beautiful! How romantic your dinner must have been in your very own rose garden. I love the candlelight, too. “Heaven on Earth” is what you have. I, too, had my Waldorf Apple Salad for lunch in my garden today. The sky above with the huge beautiful clouds were spectacular! I did find my first Japanese Beetle on my wisteria. My Peace and Tiffany roses have been blooming and my Peach Drift rose shrub. So many roses on that one. I have the Bridal Pink rose that had 40 or more beautiful blooms on it when it bloomed a lot earlier here in VA. Gorgeous! Btw, I love the song, “At Last,” and I use to play it and listen to it all of the time. Sung by Etta James if I recall correctly. I did not know there was a rose by that name. Enjoyed your blog very much. Thank you!
My weed of the year is Poison Ivy. With all the rain we have had the PI is livin’ the life! You didn’t ask but our ‘bug’ of the year is the 17 year Cicada. OH WOW! They are so noisy and in abundance. They have been here for about a month and with the even more rain we have had the last few day they have quited down. Their days above ground are about over. My ears will celebrate with silence! So love Bloom Thyme ♥