Springtime!

After a very rainy winter, it’s finally dry enough to sit in my garden and enjoy the sunshine. It’s been a stunning spring week: clear, blue sky, a slight breeze and the sun’s rays feel just warm (not scorching yet!). My garden is simply bursting with life: The fish and the frogs in the pond are swimming around excitedly, hummingbirds, bees and bumblebees hoover over the flowers all day!

Another water lily has bloomed: Mayla, the first flowers are usually small with faint color.

Barbara Dobbins continues blooming.

Tillandsia Aeranthos on a Jacaranda.

The last Camellias.. I'll miss them

The flowering peach still has some blooms

Hibiscus Sinensis

Red Amarillys

I found this nest after the last storm

Magnolia grandiflora

Probably the last Iris bloom of the year

Pink Pelargonium

And Roses: undisputed Queens of the garden, now feeling/looking a bit better with sunny days.

Honoré de Balzac, I love this rose! She's so double that looks like a cabbage!

Unidentified rose

Unidentified rose

Unidentified rose

Parure d'Or, my favorite rose

Bonica 82

White Christmas

See you next time!

Roses

"A profusion of pink roses bending ragged in the rain speaks to me of all gentleness and its enduring".

William Cullen Bryant

That is certainly a beautiful quote but the truth is Roses don't like to be in the rain for a long time...I know this from bitter experience. This winter was extremly rainy and warm, then spring began with yet more rain and warmer days: the recipe for Rose disaster... rose rust, blackspot, powdery mildew and the most feared disease: Rose dieback.... I had to cut some roses to the ground because their stems turned black from the tip and the blackness almost reached the trunk.. I hope they survive but usually they don't. Growing roses in this climate is like tilting at windmills... a mug's game I can't win I have been trying to stablish a rose garden for more than 20 years and I still face the same failure every year..most of the time my roses look like a bunch of thorny branches with a few diseased leaves holding on for dear life, It's not that I am doing something bad or I ignore some trick because all roses in all gardens in this area look very bad (it's the climate stupid!) I should  give up on them but I love roses too much!  ¿why is it so hard to accept the limitations of the climate? I confess I live in severe zone denial. English and German books were my introduction to Gardening and defined my taste; I looked to English and Germans gardens as models of what my small suburban garden in central East Argentina should look like. I was defeated before I even began! please excuse my rant but I have this frustration gnawing at my gardener heart right now and needed to vent and clear it out ! Now some pictures of the survivors...

Honoré de Balzac, gorgeous with lovely perfume

 

Unidentified yellow Rose

Ena Harkness, very pretty but has a weak neck and blooms often hang down

Charles Aznavour

I was told that this hot pink might be Electron,, she is one of the toughest roses in my garden and withstand humid conditions and diseases better than others.

              

Unidentified rose

Unidentified rose (it turns orange after some days)

¿Electron? Since she is so resistant I have many of them, her cuttings root very easily.

Unidentified rose

Unidentified rose

Unidentified once-blooming climbing rose

Undentified rose (I was told she might be Landora)

Parure d'Or.. one of my all time favourites: lovely color, great fragrance and overall good resistance to almost all diseases.

Unidentified rose

Unidentified yellow climber rose

¿Electron? Again

Parure d'Or again

Unidentified rose

Unidentified rose.. a sentimental favourit of mine, the oldest rose in my garden, She's been with me for 22 years, very tough and never gets sick. My grandfather planted it, I love it so much.

Tourmaline, very pretty

Unidentified climbing rose, I call her granny's rose since she came from her house

Unidentified rose, another tough lady: she never gets sick.

Parure d'Or and unidentified rose

Unidentified yellow rose

yes it's ¿Electron? again..

Unidentified rose..

Eminence

Unidentified rose..I was told she might be "Kabuki" her tips turn orange after some days.

Tourmaline again

Eminence fully open

Climber Peace, I love her so much!

Snow Queen .. a well choosen name! she literally melts in the sun, the flower gets scorched very quickly.

My grandpa's rose again

Unidentified yellow rose

Bonica 82 a though Lady, she never gets sick

Parure D'or ... her flowers often look somewhat untidy

Undentified red rose, shy bloomer.

See you next time!