RAINY DAYS AND SUNSHINE AND ROSES

For the last couple of days we have had so much rain that everything in the garden looks green and lush with dashes of colour from the seemingly everlasting winter-flowering violas, and, at last, the rosebuds that are beginning to open.  I seem to have been waiting forever for them.  The Arthur Bell floribundas, the yellow roses that I grow in a row at the front of my home, were the first to burst out in full bloom and that could well be because they get more sunny hours there.  This time last year, 22 June 2012, a day of windy weather smashed some of my roses so badly that I learned that lesson fast and now have my climbers tied in firmly to the fence.   In the back garden, it seems that the climbing Iceberg is going to be the first to bloom but every other rose I possess is doing well and despite the greenfly and blackspot attacks (controlled by spraying with RoseClear Ultra and FungusClear Ultra)  every rose looks healthy including the potentially problematic Zephirine Drouhin. 

My Climbing Iceberg, summer 2011

The other day I counted the roses that I have and it's a sad fact that, although I have quite a few, I cannot have all that I would wish for as there is not enough room in my garden and there wouldn't be if it were 10 times the size it is. 

I have:

Iceberg climber, and the Iceberg shrub
Golden Showers climber
Compassion climber
The Generous Gardener climber
Princess Alexandra of Kent
Arthur Bell
Mortimer Sackler
Sir John Betjeman
New Dawn
Zephirine Drouhin
Joie De Vivre
Champagne Moment
Margaret Merrill
Wild Eve
Aloha
Troika
Prima Ballerina
Patio Roses: Sweet Wishes, Ruby Ruby & Carefree Days

Worthy of note:   New Dawn, Aloha, Golden Showers, and Wild Eve all grow on a north-facing fence with limited sunshine.  While they do grow a bit more spindly than roses that grow on a south-facing fence, they have still reached the top of a 6ft fence and produce many flowers.  Roses, gotta love them.