English Garden, Flora, Photography

Roses…. Make a Garden

Rose-2

Rose we are told make the English garden…so I guess our garden is not typical as we only have two or three Roses. But this one is my favourite and is just coming into flower.  It is a Gallica shrub rose and called ‘Versicolour’. The flowers are multi cupped shaped,and a mix of pinks that are both blotched and striped so no two petals, nor any two flowers, look the same….but above all it has a beautiful scent that like many Roses is at its best in the evening.  The centre has at its dark heart a tight crown of yellow stamens that attract the pollen hungry Bees.  Roses and Bees perfect for any English garden.

Rose-3

16th June

© David Oakes 2014

12 thoughts on “Roses…. Make a Garden”

  1. Wonderful, David. Such colours! All my plants on the balcony are gone. We have a plague here of Otiorhynchus sulcatus. http://media.tuinieren.nl/m/m1fyav1q2n6u.jpg

    The larve are about an inch long, creamy coloured with a brown head and they eat the roots of the plants and the bit of the stem just underneath the surface of the soil.

    They come from the Alps according to several websites. The best way to get rid of them is the use of nematoids, tiny eels that come frozen in a tablet. Put it in water and then water your plants. The nematoids will hunt down the larve and kill them. Last year I was in time and got rit of all the soil, washed the root systems and put them in new soil. Also the pots were cleaned. This year they attacked my willow branches and oleander. Now all is dead. I will not start again. From the government nothing is done to stop it.Nor do they anything again this fellow: http://www.emmen.nl/typo3temp/pics/26d2afceae.jpg A silvery small butterfly with these caterpillats with extremely nasty hairs. Itching and a rash they cause. And I haven’t got the mony to buy the nematoids. For 4m2 you pay about 30 euro’s (25 Pounds). The other solutions are poisonous and kill bees and bumblebees. No option for me. I will keep enjoying your photos’ but no more plants.

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    1. That is not good. trouble is these days these ‘pests seem to be occurring at regular intervals. Sounding very selfish I know….but I hope this stops your side of the North Sea!! Only time will tell.

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    1. Some folk say that Roses are easy to grow…..well we too find it a touch difficult. In our garden and soil some do well, others just struggle others don’t even try. So when we find one that does well we are rather proud of it!!

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  4. Such a different rose, the leaves are not what I would call ‘rose like’ at all. All my roses have the serrated edges of the so called ‘English rose’ but I do like this Gallica shrub rose immensely, especially if it has a beautiful perfume. So many of the hibrids these days look good but lack the perfume. Lovely images.

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    1. Yesterday evening the scent drifted across the garden…if it had been warmer it would have been even better. Still the Bees were still able to harvest the pollen.

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  6. I remember I had a honeysuckle on the balcony long tome ago. I still lived in another town then. The scent was particularly strong at night. It was heavenly and lots of bees and bumble bees came to visit it. It died in a severe winter in spite of us trying to keep the pot frost free but with over 20 minus nothing survided. My neighbours and I enjoyed our honeysucles for 3 warm summers. The scent of night flowering flowers is stronger they say. Well, it’s a joy for us all. 😀

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