"One of the most delightful things about a garden is the anticipation it brings."

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Roses and a Butterfly.

The roses have begun to bloom.  I don't have many roses, but four decided to bloom on the same day.  I always enjoy seeing them as they first bloom.  Luckily we don't have too many problems with black spot and rust, and as of right now they are all looking healthy.  I've had to blast the aphids off a couple of times with the hose, but otherwise things are looking good now.  

This is an unknown pink rose that was in our back yard when we bought the house.  It was getting too much shade and grew reaching sideways to the sun.  I moved it to the front yard and now it reaches straight up instead.  It gets to be at least 5 feet tall and covered with these beautiful pink roses, which have a very good fragrance.  If anyone knows anything about what type this is I'd love to know.

'Honey Perfume' is just starting to bloom.  It has an almost green undertone right now, maybe it's just the lighting outside.  It does have a nice smell, but not that strong.  Maybe as it opens more it will be stronger.  Last year it didn't bloom much so I can't remember the scent.

'Iceberg' is about as easy as roses get, at least for me.  It grows and blooms all summer.  It does have a nice scent too.  If it rains when it's in full bloom it begins to tip over so I'm usually out there staking it up for a little support.  It does get a little black spot, but not bad.

'Abraham Darby' is my newest addition.  I just planted it about a month ago.  It's color is gorgeous and it has the best fragrance of all the roses so far.  I think this might be my favorite!

Here's the butterfly, but it doesn't fly.  This is a butterfly koi.  It's fins are longer than a traditional koi.  It almost looks like it's flying as it swims.  People spend many thousands of dollars for one koi, but we've only ever bought our fish at pet stores for very small amounts of money, about $3 - $10.  I would love to be able to have a huge pond full of very fancy koi, but for now one or two is plenty.

 Hope everyone has a nice weekend with perfect gardening weather.  I'm hoping to get out there and work sometime this weekend.
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23 comments:

  1. Mornin' Catherine, another wonderful cooler day to go outside. Your roses are beautiful. As you might figure we don't do well with roses because of the deer. I have one that isn't even like it was originally because they have chewed it so much. Someone explained how it probably reverted back to - uh - something. LoL Anyway I told Bob the other day maybe we should just dig it up and pitch it. He does have some climbers and he rescued one and put it in a pot on the deck to save it from you know who and I'll be darned if they didn't chew it from the rail where it sat the other day so we moved it in farther. Maybe it'll stay like it's suppose to.
    I really like Koi after visiting my sis and seeing hers. They seem so friendly coming up and sucking on her fingers. I've heard other people say their Koi do that too. I'll bet your girls would get a kick out of that.

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  2. Catherine I love your roses especially the first one. The fish looks fun too.

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  3. You have beautiful roses. I like the diverse collection of color. I just planted a cheap grade of the Iceberg rose as yours looks like it is a better grade than mine. I am ready to take my fish out today to their outside tank. A few at a time, goldfish first. We are having a rainy weekend. I hope you have a good weekend.

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  4. If that isn't the prettiest pink I've ever seen- my favorite shade!

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  5. Abraham Derby is perfect.

    I grow an Austin rose called a Shropshire Lad, equally stunning.

    I bet it's heaven in your yard.

    Rob

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  6. All the roses are beautiful, but the David Austins are show-stoppers. I hate to spend the $$$, but they are so worth it. ~Brooke

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  7. Absolutely beautiful... my favorite rose is the Honey Perfume, and that Koi is stunningly gorgeous as well. I've done several Koi tiles, and rose ones as well, now that I think about it.

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  8. The roses look great! I love their fragrance so much. I always am reminded of Avon's rose perfumed cream. Do you remember this? Long time ago. Enjoy your garden weekend too. I'm inside for a bit but did do a garden tour and talk. It is splendid here and I hope there too!

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  9. Wish I could take a tour of your garden with you and smell those lovely roses. That's a pretty fish too. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

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  10. Hi Catherine,

    All these roses are beautiful. I couldn't pick a favorite. Although that yellow with green undertones is pretty.

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  11. love the Honey Perfume.....it matches your fish! Do you have a pond to put the fish in? I would love to have one, but my dogs would be swimming & coming back thru the doggie door every 5 minutes!

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  12. Linda - Those deer just don't leave anything alone do they? I hope you got your repellant out to keep them away. We saw some great koi today, and I'm going to post about them tomorrow. I wish I could have a huge koi pond.

    Joanne - I'd love to know what it is, it is covered in buds now.

    L.D. Burgus - This 'Iceberg' was a mail order years ago and I don't think I paid much for it. I'll be looking for a post with your pond and fish!

    Tessa - It's just the perfect color of baby pink!

    Rob - I'm going to look your rose up. I wish I had room for a real rose garden, but at least I have some. It's beginning to look really pretty now with so much in bloom.

    Brooke - On some things it's worth spending the money, none of these were really that expensive. I like to stretch my plant budget as far as possible.

    David - I checked the Honey Perfume today and now that it's open more I could really smell it's sweet perfume.
    Koi are beautiful inspiration for art I think.

    Tina - I do remember that cream. I used to think it smelled so good!
    I'm glad you're having a nice weekend! I'm going to get out a bit tomorrow, I can't wait!

    Mildred - Wouldn't that be nice? That new koi is already at home swimming with the rest of the fish.

    Susie - The coloring on Honey Perfume really is pretty, it still has that look today and it sure smells good now that it has opened more.

    susie - We do have a pond, mostly with goldfish in it. Our dog is used to it and she doesn't go in. I know my sister is afraid to bring her lab over because she said he'd jump right in. It would be a mess having wet dogs in and out the doggie door!

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  13. Hi Catherine. How pretty it must be in your yard now with the roses blooming too. I love Abraham Darby. It's one of my favorites even tho I don't have it in my garden. You have a nice variety of colors, I almost always end up with pink. Imagine that! and what a beautiful koi. I bought five teeny goldfish for my pond two nights ago. It's exciting just having them even tho they are still terrified of their surroundings and we hardly see them! Maybe if all goes well with these cheapie fish, we'll try a koi. Didn't you say you had raccoons?? Don't they eat your fish?? I was worried to buy anything too expensive because we have them around from time to time too (and the herons!)

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  14. That is a beautiful koi! I love the flowing fins and tail.

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  15. Love roses and yours are beautiful. Your fish is beautiful. Our pond has what is known as "feeder goldfish" -- but they seem happy and it's nice to see gold flit in the water.

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  16. Fun to see your beautiful roses. Roses always seem to have delightful names. I grow only shrub roses and I'd have to check my notes to see if I even have the names. I like your "butterfly".

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  17. Your roses are so gorgeous!

    Your butterfly koi is a beauty. I'd love to have koi, but our water feature (a moving stream and waterfall) isn't deep enough. Also, Harold, the Great Blue Heron, would love for us to have koi. We're down to one goldfish right now.

    When I saw "Butterfly" in your post, I was expecting a butterfly! I didn't know about the koi.

    Our first Monarch butterfly showed up yesterday. The Japanese beetles also showed up to attack my KO roses.

    Cameron

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  18. Hi Catherine - your roses are lovely and the butterfly koi is very sweet. I'm going to have fish in my pond once the tea house is up - but they'll be ordinary goldfish because of the local heron!

    As for the 'perfect gardening weather' this weekend ....I've had to come in out of the downpour, have a shower to warm up AND put the central heating on! in June, for heaven's sake!!! Brrr!

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  19. Kathleen - Pink roses are probably my favorite. In fact I'm looking to find a new pink one to replace one that died this winter.
    Your little fish will get brave, sometimes it can take awhile. I hope the raccoons leave them alone. We do get raccoons, but they mostly just mess up the plants. I don't think they've caught many fish, at least it hasn't been noticeable so far.

    Sylvana - I love watching them swim and the way it looks like they are flying.

    Martha - We have "feeder fish" in our little watergarden and they are very happy. They still can grow big and I agree just seeing them swim around is nice.

    Donna - I think all roses are beautiful, there's so much variety. I don't have tags for many of my plants, they tend to disappear. :)

    Cameron - I've only seen a heron once in our pond. My friend down the road has them all the time and they eat of their fish. Maybe that's why they don't take ours.
    How lucky to see Monarchs, we don't get them here. I hope the beetles leave your roses alone!

    Nutty Gnome - There are lots of very pretty goldfish, that's mostly what we've only had. I had no idea how many colors there were.
    I hope your weather improves. It's overcast and cool today, but I'm still going to try and get out there.

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  20. Your roses are beautiful! I think you could add a couple more don't you? :-) They are addicting. I love your butterfly koi also.

    Have a lovely day today and a great week.

    FlowerLady

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  21. Lovely! And do you know that this month's photo contest at Gardening Gone Wild is photos of roses? I expect they'll have a handsome prize... (I don't grow roses, so I don't need to feel as if I'm encouraging the competition...)

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  22. How pleasant to watch these roses! I never knew there were so many kinds that were fragrant! We get only two fragrant roses here, or at least that's what I think, may be it's time to go shopping.

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