Monday, October 6, 2008

Rose Alert

A friend of mine called to say that her Dad's rose garden is having a party of its own. Beautiful blooming roses are unfurling and wafting the air with their perfume and I had better get over there to see them. As luck would have it my Sister was coming to town and she happens to love roses so I waited for her to arrive so we could tour Gary's Rose Garden together.

When you are looking at a rose smothered trellis like this you know you are in for some delightful treats. Now I apologize at the beginning because I don't remember the names of all of these gorgeous flowers. I hope you think of them as eye candy and delight in the color and form just as we did.This little orangy rose is the first rose that I saw when we pulled into the drive. It is a minature. This one below I remember the name of it because my Sister grabbed it and wanted to remember. It is Hot Cocoa. This picture doesn't do it justice but suffice it to say that even a non-chocoholic would crave this one.


I took the picture of this one from this angle in case you could see the perfume wafting from the center.
The rose below was so striking because this deep red velvety rose sat surrounded by dark red foilage. Yummy
Yellow is my personal favorite color of rose. I think it is because you don't see as many of them. He has two yellow roses in his garden. Wish I could remember the names of all of these lovelies. Each rose has its own tag so I have no excuse except that I was overwhelmed by all this beauty and fragrance.

Then he has this magical rose. The bud is this red and pale greenyellow.



Then when it begins to open it has a dark yellow with red edges.

Finally it becomes this huge pink rose with a pale yellow center.

Now if that isn't magic I don't know what would be.

I would have to be posting many more roses to even come close to showing you his collection. Not only does Gary grow these beauties he is a wealth of knowledge about roses. I want to take this opportunity to "Thank you Gary" for the tour and all the information you imparted to us. I know my Sister's christmas wish list was just expanded by seeing 'Iceberg' and 'Hot Cocoa'.

29 comments:

  1. Lisa, What zone are you in? Wow! Those roses are as healthy and beautiful as I've ever seen. He must "know his roses!" ;-) Thank you for the lovely tour. (And, yes, I think you could see the fragrance rising!) :-)

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  2. Too lovely! Alas, I have the propensity for killing rose bushes ... they never do well for me.

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  3. OMG!! such beautiful gorgeous roses! I drooled all over my screen. You MUST paint one of these. I have never painted a rose and now I may have to borrow a photo and try. Would you mind?

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  4. I'd love to see that last rose in time lapse photography - can you work on that for us?

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  5. Hi Lisa....what a beautiful garden....I could smell the fragrance of the roses....what a dream to visit a garden like that......

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  6. SG, I am in zone 6b. They are gorgeous and healthy. We just went through a cool spell and Gary says that he gave them a shot of water since it has been so dry here and they really responded.

    CS, I can't grow decent roses either. I think that is why I enjoy looking at Gary's and my Sister's roses so much.

    Teri, of course you can paint one of these roses. Take your pick.

    Jim, that would be fun to see that last rose in time lapse. I will work on that as soon as Santa brings me the equipment to record.

    Cheryl, we could have stayed and just looked and looked. You just can't get enough looking in when you are there.

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  7. Hi Lisa, I see that I need to add more roses to my garden. They are all perking up with the cooler temps now. Offspring Semi has Hot Cocoa, just the name alone is reason to buy it, but the color is so luscious. Gary has a wonderful collection and arbors with roses dripping from them are the best. Mmmmm.
    Frances
    http://fairegarden.wordpress.com/
    new url

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  8. I've always admired people who have the talent and fortitude to grow roses as they take a good bit of work many times. Gary's garden is just beautiful and, like you, I would have been so distracted by the beauty, I would have mentally blocked out everything else too!

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  9. Beautiful roses. You included my Mom's favorite Dainty Bess.
    Marnie

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  10. The roses have faded here but those shots bring back the fragrance and the promise of next year's blooms!

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  11. Beautiful, beautiful roses! Hot Cocoa - yummie!
    Katarina

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  12. these roses are lovely, especially the bud that was red, yellow, and
    light green. what a delight to see them.

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  13. Oh my! Such beauty! I am so glad T got to see them with you, although she is probably very envious now. I know I am. Roses are such gorgeous flowers but take oh so much care. I just don't have the energy for that any more. Thanks for sharing and tell your friend's dad he does a wonderful job with his roses.

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  14. I think I can smell the fragrance through the monitor, Lisa:) These roses are just beautiful; I love them, but I don't think I have the patience for all the work that goes into growing them. My compliments to your friend's father for such a lovely garden.

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  15. Dear Lisa,
    I really enjoyed this rose garden tour. My father grew roses. I miss his rose garden. I wish I had taken more pictures....
    He grew a peace rose last was huge...
    Beautiful roses.
    Sherry

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  16. I am glad you like them as much as I did Jayne.

    R&L I do remember that name on a tag. It's that little pink and white one isn't it.??

    Sherry, Gary has a 'Peace' rose but it wasn't blooming while we were there. If I am ever there when it is blooming I will send you the picture.

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  17. Lisa they are fantastic! How wonderful to have a Rose Parade this late in the season...or is it? I don't know roses!

    You mentioned perfume! Did they smell delicious?

    gail

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  18. Lisa,

    We are in deed blessed by great vistas where we live! Where do we live? In the central part of British Columbia called the Cariboo. We are on a part of the Cariboo Gold Rush Trail ... the trail that ended up in Barkerville. Barkerville is a ghost town now but maintained as a park and is quite a tourist attraction. I've enjoyed my time there when I have gone! Only open in summer, they have actors etc. We are near a place called 100 Mile House ... 100 miles on the gold rush trail ... the original one that is.

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  19. LIsa these roses are absolutely a Joy to see! I was on a photo shoot myself of our local parks and came upon a rose garden alive and doing oh so fine! Like Gary's garden of roses the air was filled with an intoxicating
    perfume!! I shall do that post next week!We never tire of seeing our roses!

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  20. I would have loved to have done that tour with you! I've got a couple of roses blooming well right now with a couple more with buds. I love the burgundy new foliage on that one. My 'Cinco de Mayo' looks like that right now.

    I've got 'Hot Cocoa' and if I had to recommend just one rose to grow, that would be it. It is on its own root and is a great performer in my garden. The color is unlike anything else!

    Thanks for sharing all these beautiful roses with us! Lucky you that you got to see them in person!

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  21. I can smell them all the way over here, Lisa! That red rose is beautiful.

    I have a few pinks still blooming but it won't be long before I hack away at them.

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  22. I only have luck with the Knockout and shrub roses. What a pity, because I adore roses.

    Your beautiful rose post is making me long to take pictures of roses too.

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  23. I love to visit Rose gardens because I'm not one of those gardeners who's willing to do all that hybrid teas require. I always think that repeat blooming Roses look better in autumn than in summer. The cooler temperatures & the light make them glow.

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  24. It always is a great pleasure to walk through rose gardens. And so it was when I read this post about the tour you made in your friends rose paradise. Here too, some roses are still blooming (but only with a few buds), but they do not look so "healthy" as the ones on your pictures. The rose season is definitely over here.

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  25. That looks very much like my kind of garden with roses galore! Simply gorgeous, wish we had scratch and sniff!

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  26. Definitely eye candy, Lisa, and that is what I enjoy most. There's nothing to compare to a garden full of roses... not for color, form, and fragrance. Thank you for sharing your tour. It is always a treat to visit another garden and join in another gardener's love for what they've nurtured.
    Beautiful.
    Meems

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  27. Oh wow... every time I see 'Hot Cocoa' I wonder why I've never purchased it. Love that dark chocolate-y red color. :)

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  28. What beautiful roses! I love roses and I have such terrible luck with them. I'm trying the antique ones now, we'll see how it goes.-Randy

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  29. Yum is right! What a wonderful tour you had in Gary's beautiful rose garden. I'd be so ecstatic to be able to grow roses like that. I'm chuckling about Jim's comment :)
    I noticed our new 'Social Climber' rose had dark leaves (lovely pink blooms). I love it!
    I've had some fun catching up with your posts tonight :)

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