Are you tired of hearing about weather yet? We are getting almost constant rain! The garden is drenched but so green. This reminds me of 2019 when my good friend Connie Hilker came to visit and she spent her time walking in the garden under an umbrella wearing boots – the pathways were flooded. She would find the same thing today…
Here are some beauties BRAVING THE STORMS this week…

KAZANLIK is an amazingly fragrant Damask from the Bulgaria / Turkey region since before 1600s. I just had to have her and many of her cousins after visiting Turkey and learning more about their significance in the rose oil trade. Wonderful to use in potpourris! I purchased her from High Country Roses and you can too … here.
ABOVE AND BEYOND is going above and beyond, as usual, to make a big splash in the garden. Rain or shine! Thank you Dr. David Zlesak for such an amazing rose!
CLEMATIS AND LADY ASHE
The clematis is moving in a bit faster but Lady Ashe is primed and ready to take center stage. What a fabulous rose! Lady Ashe is a beautiful, well-behaved, fragrant climber from English rose growers at Peter Beale’s Roses.
OTHERS DOING WELL REGARDLESS OF THE CONDITIONS…










ROSE CHAT
Want company while you’re working in the garden? Access the list of most recent podcasts below…

GARDENS OF THE NORTHEAST – Rose Chat Podcast
ROSEFEST / SAT, JUNE 11, 9 – 3 pm
If you’re local, the Indianapolis Rose Society and Hamilton Country Master Gardeners have teamed up to bring a beautiful day of roses. Roses for sale, demonstrations, garden tour, great speakers, and free Proven Winner’s beautiful roses to the first 40 guests! For all the details, read on here…
Grateful
In these tumultuous times, weather as a problem is not even on the scale. More than ever I appreciate the beauty and love around me.
Luke 12: Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. He’s not just in control of flowers, He’s in control of us.
Until next week…. may your time in the garden give you comfort and beauty.
I hope you are having a nice and safe Memorial Day today. Perhaps NO rain in your beautiful garden today. I so enjoyed seeing all of your rose photos and other flower photos, too. I have still been pruning, and I really hated to prune my Lady Banks yellow rose, but I know pruning stimulates growth and flowers. She only blooms once in early spring. I almost got all of my bedding plants planted yesterday. They are so pretty planted in mainly decorative flower pots. I have Hawaii Blue ageratum (powder puff), and I have some small double yellow dahlias in bloom. I tell everyone that I will think of Elvis in “Blue Hawaii.” Ha! I always plant parsley for the butterflies plus having a lavender butterfly bush, and I planted Sweet Basil for my delicious spaghetti sauce. I have managed to prune four of my roses that have already bloomed. I have the double white Meidiland rose which I dearly love, and it is so pretty at night. I will send a few pics now as you must see my tomatoes! Thank you for the Biblical verse and for your blog. You inspire me.
I wanted to share a very good tip with you if you plant some of your roses in plastic pots. Get Mr. G to drill several holes around and near the bottoms of the containers to allow good drainage. And you may already know this, but if you have barefoot roses, you must hydrate the roots in water for at least 24 hours before planting them. Very important!