When I did my quick ramble when we got home on Tuesday evening it was the roses that I noticed most – there may have been a handful open before we left but it was if the Rose Fairy had flitted round the garden in our absence and sprinkled her special dust on all the roses in her charge. Clockwise from top left are: Danse de Feu (next to the paved area), Guinée (rose garden), dog rose (in the hedge), Pink Perpetué (outside front door), Munstead Wood (pot on paved area, cleverly disguised by the ivy-leaved geraniums so I didn’t notice it till this morning), Zephérine Drouhin (rose garden), Rambling Rector (rose arbour on left of paved area, and by the masses of buds to open in due course clearly none the worse for its recent overhaul), Pardirektor Riggers (right hand hot border), Queen Mother (pots next to main herbaceous borders) and Mme. Alfred Carriére (either side of the ‘bus shelter’). What can I say? They have of course only just begun, and apart from the dog rose and Rambling Rector will continue to flower for several months, so the Rose Fairy will be active for some time yet, keeping tabs on them and the others which have not yet started their display.
Meanwhile, when not absorbing the scent of these beauties I braved the heat yesterday and attacked the grass next to the stream, the Tête-a-Tête leaves having died down, and managed to escape with all digits just about intact after using a sickle to make a start and then using kitchen scissors to cut it to a length that the mower could cope with. Why didn’t I use a strimmer? Well, they always seem more trouble than they are worth and anyway we had no petrol to put in ours. It looks a right mess now, of course, but as we were due rain overnight I wanted to get it done then to give it more of a chance to green up. I’m sure it will be fine!
The other outstanding job involved a bit of restraint – propping up lax geraniums, tying in roses and everlasting sweet peas, trimming overhanging leaves where appropriate and generally showing the garden who’s Boss. A start was made with weeding too, but there is plenty more of that to do tomorrow, alas (no surprises there!).
Rambling in the Garden 
I think from now on you won’t need a fairy anymore 😉 …how nice to see your roses and we have quite a few in common (coincidence?). I’m dying to see Munstead Wood and hope Rudolf will keep staying away so that I can enjoy myself to bits. He even left a couple of my dear William Lobb…put my nose in very deep this evening – ah, can’t imagine anything sweeter 🙂
It doesn’t seem long since I had no roses at all (other than the Rambling Rector that came with the garden) – and it says something that the ones I do have are almost exclusively climbers. I put my nose into Munstead Rose today and it is such a distinctive fragrance isn’t it? And I checked William Lobb in my Peter Beales catalogue – he is very handsome.
Your roses are beautiful and you must take excellent care of them in order for them to look that beautiful.
I think the Rose Fairy has a lot to do with it, Judy – although I did feed them last year for the first time! Admittedly, they have impressed me too.
June = roses. Even my sad rugosas are flowering away and producing a heavenly perfume. You have a lovely collection which contains some of my favourites. Do you think you could squeeze in Albertine in a corner, just for me, please?
I will look into it – and see if I have got a corner! Last year was the first time I was really aware of the dominance of roses in June – and how pervasive the perfume can be.
You are a truly dedicated gardener if you are cutting grass with a kitchen scissors. You have lovely roses, I especially like the white ones on the top and bottom rows – I am partial to white or semi-double white roses.
It wasn’t a big area – and it was more hacking than cutting, like a bad haircut! It was the easiest option – honest – when the grass was as long and as wet as this was!