Roses and Clematis

We're going to have a visitor this week, so I thought I'd share the blooms from the last couple days before I got too busy.

My Etiolle Violette Clematis was at peek earlier week. This was my

The Floribundas are growing on me! Here's Distant Drums:

Hot Cocoa

Rusty

This is my first bloom on Mary Rose, a David Austin rose I picked up bare root this spring for around $7. I love her, but she's still awful small. Patience is not my strong suit.

Toulouse Lautrec, a nice lemony scented rose part of the Meidland Romantica Series.

Fragrant Cloud still pushing out pretties.

Happy gardening everyone!

A new favorite rose.

I purchased this Windermere English/Austin rose this spring at a local nursery. I spotted it on a day I intended to take home new roses, and it just leapt into my cart, shoving aside some others I'd had on my wishlist. The full and still dainty blooms were the reason I liked the rose. The whole bloom is about the size of a golfball. It's color is a blush creamy white with a pale pink tone to it. At the time of purchase it was finishing a bloom period, and it was full of these:

I smelled it, and knew right away I had to have it. The best smelling rose I've ever smelled. Hands down. Sweet, intense fragrance.

It's opening up again right now, filled with over 50 blooms! All of these pictures are from the last few days. I can't take my nose out of it! Incredible. No competition from any of my other smelly roses (Kordes Perfecta, Mr. Lincoln, Double Delight).



Now, we'll just have to see how winter hardy it is. I'm hoping for the best, but I have a 1-year guarantee on it. I like this rose so much I'd re-buy it as annual each year if I had to!

Boerner Botanical Garden- Peonies

I like peonies. I think they make a nice statement in the garden once they are established. I love that they are easy to take care of. A little staking, dividing every few years, and they reliably come back over and over. I would not say I love peonies... but I was undoubtedly impressed when I walked into the Boerner Botanical Garden and saw this sea of peonies. I might even say I loved a few of them. I had to share my journey.

I did my best to get identities of many of the peonies I got in close to, but some are not labeled. Just FYI: I post the names above the pictures, not below. You can see the labels in some pictures if you click the picture to enlarge it.


Here's a peony I could learn to love, Bartzella:


Choral Charm:

Carolyn Mae Nelson (another favorite):

Pink Lemonade (this one I might love):

Thanks for walking with me!

Boerner Botanical Garden- Roses

Last Thursday my husband took a day off of work to take me to Boerner Botanical Gardens in Milwaukee, (Hale's Corner), Wisconsin. I found this garden in the 2007 David Austin catalog list of gardens to view DA roses in the US. I knew the roses would be at peak bloom, so I was so excited to walk around and touch and smell a wide variety of roses. The garden is located in the far nothern part of zone 5, so these are all some pretty hardy roses!

I did my best to photograph the labels of the roses. Some of the roses were not labeled, and some of the labels were buried by other roses. In some cases I just got distracted by the next rose, and forgot to snap the picture, LOL. But, for the most part you'll be able to tell which rose is which. Enjoy my walk through the rose section of the garden.

I label my photos above the photo, not before. Just so your able to follow.

Linda Campbell:

Golden Unicorn:

Brass Band (the first rose I saw at the gardens that called out to me "Buy me" The roses were talking, I swear!

Unknown, but a bright beauty.

Another unknown, unusual.

Chorale:

Elle:

Unknown, but I think an Austin:

Stretch Johnson:

Artistry:

Henry Kelsey:

Labeled "Winchester Cathedral" but isn't?:

Seven Sisters:

Lousie Odier:

Bayse's Blueberry (smelled incredible! Wishlist!):

Marie Curie:

memory, I believe this one was George Burns:

No idea, but a beauty:

Another Beauty:

? Pretty though.

Amber Queen (definately added to my wishlist!)

Mardi Gras:

Apricot Nectar:

Traviata:

Love and Peace (also a new wishlister!):

A whole bed of Betty Boop:

Eureka:

Isabel Renaissance:

Seven Sisters:

Hugh Watson:

Barone Prevost

A sampling of the whole rose garden!

After I had been through what I thought was the entire rose garden I browsed the rest of the gardens. In the end, I asked my husband and boys to wait while I took one more walk through the rose garden. I passed behind a hedge of trees and stumbled upon an area packed with David Austin roses. How could I have missed it before? I was pleasantly surprised to find them nestled here on their own.

English Garden:

A mix of different Austin blooms:

Constance Spry is obviously very hardy here, as its seize was much larger than most of the other roses in this area.

Constance Spry and Mary Rose are toward the right back here.

Bredon rose is down front.

This one was labeled "The Fisherman"

Lillian Austin was filled with blooms.

A mix of pink DA blooms.

After finding the DA roses I took one more stroll around the row of largest roses there.

P. Connell?

Alexander Mackenzie:

Lillian Gibson:

Queen's Knight:

Hope you all enjoyed my walk through the rose gardens in Milwaukee!