Something Beautiful - Create a pretty posy .. AT MY ROSE GARDEN

AT MY ROSE GARDEN, we have decided that every week this year we will do, see or create something beautiful. 

This week’s something beautiful:   

The Christmas and New Year season can often bring back memories of lost loved ones, along with feelings of loneliness and sadness.  Perhaps you know of someone who needs a little cheering up.   Gather fragrant garden roses and create a pretty posy, as a surprise gift.  (And by creating this posy, you cheer yourself up too!)  .. Something beautiful to do and create this week! 

   

Here's how we made our pretty posy:

Pick your roses in the cool of the evening the night before you plan to create your posy.  Each rose is different, but as a general rule of thumb, pick your roses when they are just about to open, or partially open.  Place roses in a container of cool water up to their necks in a dark place overnight.  This will condition the roses and help your posy stay fresh for longer.   

To add colour, extra fragrance and texture to your posy, gather sprigs of herbs and foliage.  We often include common herbs, such as lemon thyme, spearmint and rosemary, which all have a strong, spicy perfume.  These can be picked at any time of year as foliage, as well as when in flower.  The strong perfume from these herbs if stored with roses can induce them to open their blooms too soon.   For this reason, condition your sprigs of herbs and foliage in a separate container of water away from the roses. 

Heirloom, English rose

G. Nabonnand, Tea rose

Wife of Bath, English rose

For our posy, among the roses we picked was the pink, highly fragrant English Heirloom rose.  We added the softly fragrant Tea rose, G. Nabonnand, with soft peach/pink blooms.   And for a final touch of luxury, we added the myrrh scented English rose, Wife of Bath.  For hints of bright colour that contrast well with the soft pink roses, we inserted stems of purple salvia.  Pale pink flowering stems of spearmint added here and there throughout the posy gave a touch of spicy fragrance.   To finish off the posy tie with a pretty ribbon!

Now you have created ‘something beautiful’. 

Something Beautiful for 2015 - Heirloom Roses .. AT MY ROSE GARDEN

The New Year brings an anticipation of new and exciting things for 2015.  

With approximately 52 unblemished weeks in the year ahead, here AT MY ROSE GARDEN, we plan to see, do or create ‘something beautiful’ each week.   

And the unfurling of a new bud of the Tea rose, Triomphe de Luxembourg, depicts 'something beautiful' perfectly.    (Note - While this rose differs from the original rose of this name, it continues to be known as Triomphe de Luxembourg in Australia (Chapman, Drage, et al). 

Typical of many of the Tea roses that sulk if transplanted, our rose did not do well after being transplanted from an overcrowded position to a sunny, more open aspect.   Now, after 2 years of sulking, it is offering us forgiveness with its voluptuous, lilac pink, slightly perfumed roses.

The opening of the plump, pointed buds is a lovely sight and definitely ‘something beautiful ‘to see.  

Sepals are just parting to reveal the plump, pink bud.

    More of the bud is revealed as each of the sepals fold down.

Now that the sepals have opened, the lovely petals are revealed as they curl at the edges to form a plump, luscious bud.

The crimped and curled petals of the bud promise a glorious rose when in full bloom.

The pale petals fold back further to reveal more of its pink centre.

Now the rose bud is showing off with its folded petals revealing a lusciously plump, lilac pink centre.  Nearby buds at various stages of unfurling provide a lovely sight.  

And the full blown rose is something to behold, with pale, almost dusk petals revealing a lilac pink reverse, dusted with crystals.  Exquisite and definitely ‘something beautiful’ to see. 

We hope you too are inspired to see, do or create ‘something beautiful’ for each week of 2015.

Heirloom Roses - Summer's Blessing .. AT MY ROSE GARDEN

After a few parched years, rain at Christmas heralds a summer blessing this year.  Days of soft drizzle offer a gentle reprieve from the recent humidity and heat.   

The soft rain has generously endowed the mid-summer garden with lovely vignettes:

Brimming bird baths afloat with rose petals;

Luscious blooms of Red Pierre, a modern climbing Hybrid Tea reminiscent of old fashioned roses, decadently be-jeweled with rain drops;

Mrs B R Cant, a Tea rose, glorious in her lightly dusted mid-summer plumage;

Porcelain-like Tea roses, Safrano and  ...

G. Nabonnand, delicately lovely under their crystalline dusting of rain drops;

A splendidly plump bud of the modern shrub rose, Elina, luminous against dark rain clouds;

New plum-coloured growth of the Tea, Mrs Reynolds Hole, promising an abundance of crimson, richly perfumed late summer blooms;

Shy English Mary Rose peeps out, splendid with jewels, from under her shelter of feverfew;

And the exquisitely nodding heads of the rare Tea rose, Carlsruhe Maria Bruhn (purportedly the true Mlle de Sombrieul) are delicately pale and lovely under a drift of soft, summer rain.

Oh, and then there's the perfume of rain showers mingled with fragrant roses ... 
Summer's blessing at Christmas.  

A Christmas Wreath Workshop .. AT MY ROSE GARDEN

We love Christmas here AT MY ROSE GARDEN.   

One of our favourite Christmas traditions is making and decorating a Christmas wreath to herald in the season.  And the most satisfying way to do this is to gather (or forage with permission of course) locally grown natural materials.  

(NOTE:  Some plant materials have sap that may be an irritant to human skin, or the entire plant may be toxic, so ALWAYS check that your plant material is safe before you handle it.)

 

A wreath made with fresh greenery greets visitors with the wonderful fragrances of Christmas; Eucalyptus and lemon-scented Leptospermum softened with the mulled perfume of an Australian summer. 

 

 

 

Along the Sunshine Coast, Hibiscus bushes grow boisterously with long, flexible stems; perfect for wreath making.   At our Christmas wreath making workshops we used bundles of these stems, stripped of leaves and flowers.  We added supple summer shoots from our tropical ‘ice-cream bean’ tree.  Woven together they make lovely, textured natural wreath bases. 

 

 

 

And as each workshop progresses, an array of unique, beautiful wreaths begin to take shape, using fragrant leaves and flowers from our collection of locally gathered plant material.  Accents of juvenile silver wattle leaves, seed heads, rosemary, tiny bunches of thyme, and herb flowers are added to give texture and fragrance. 

 

Our own Christmas wreath, stuffed to overflowing with bunches of gathered green leaves and studded with fragrant herbs,  hangs country style on our front gate ... 

 

 

 

On Christmas morning I will sneak a quiet moment to tuck in a fresh rose bud  ... symbolising the birth of the Christ-babe.

 

 

 

 

 

Blessings and joy to all ...

 

Heirloom Roses - An Impossible Choice .. AT MY ROSE GARDEN

An impossible choice; deciding on a favourite rose.   

With so many heirloom roses taking their turn to offer exquisite blooms, it is impossible to choose just one;

Perhaps in the cool of the evening I might decide on a long-time favourite; Souvenir de St. Anne’s, circa 1917, reported to be a sport of the Bourbon rose, Souvenir de la Malmaison.  Discovered in a Country Estate garden near Dublin, she has pale pink blooms that appear as though shaped from the finest porcelain, until you snatch a sweet, cinnamon spiked perfume.  But don’t be fooled, Svnr de St.Anne’s is one tough rose, continuing to bloom through drought and heat.

Or perhaps the handsome 1894 French tea rose known in Australia as Francis Dubrueil. Richly perfumed to match his luxuriant velvet-like dark red roses, this is a surprising member of the usually less showy Tea rose family.  An aristocrat in the garden.  

Or in the early morning, just as the sun is spreading over the garden, a warm glow greets your eye.  Not strictly heirloom being an English rose, Benjamin Britten’s coral hues are a surprising blend of bright and warm reds, softly yellow at its base.  The full blooms are strongly perfumed, held tall on prickly limbs. 

  

A new favourite is one of the lesser known Hybrid Musks, Nur Mahal, released by Rev. Pemberton in 1923. 

A deep primrose pink, with a spicy perfume, Nur Mahal is as exotic and beautiful as the Indian Empress for whom she was named.  The influential wife of the early 17^th C Mughal Emperor Jahangir, Nur Mahal supported the cause of women in the Empire, providing land and dowries for orphan girls, even modifying women’s clothing to suit the hot climate.  Brilliantly clever, Nur Mahal used her intellect to promote culture and the arts, increase revenue from trade, influence architecture and create beautiful gardens.  These she opened up for the common population to enjoy.  Nur Mahal is also credited with discovering ‘attar of roses’ through observing fragrant oil floating on water strewn with rose petals. 

I love that three centuries later, in the early 20^th C, a Reverend from the United Kingdom acknowledged this extra-ordinary woman’s intellect and influence.  Had he not, I may never have heard of Nur Mahal’s incredible legacy. 

And so it is for her legacy brought to life through a visionary rosarian, that I planted Nur Mahal amid the heirloom roses.  The lovely semi-double blooms are exquisitely and vibrantly wrought; a worthy testament.

Aaaah, such choices ...

  

Vintage - Nostalgia in the Garden ... AT MY ROSE GARDEN

Heat, humidity and limited rainfall can reduce even the hardiest roses to producing overblown blooms that fade rapidly.  

This is the state of our rose garden in the last stages of Spring; a Spring that has ushered in the season of storms in sub-tropical SE Queensland.  

And although a traditional florist might faint at the sight of our faded and torn tissue-paper blooms as they appear just now, I think they are delectable ... 

The warm pink of Duchesse de Brabant is offset by the faded loveliness of Mrs R M Finch ... and the perfume is delicious!

Amid the transient beauty of the rose blooms, our vintage garden pieces come to life.  They add a touch of whimsy and nostalgia to the garden as it sighs its way through the bright, hot days.

 A patient basket bearer awaits the fall of sun-crisp rose petals.

 An angel’s wing, caught on a rustic trellis while a climbing rose catches its breath between blossoms.

 A spent rose, beautiful in its simplicity, echoes a rustic mirror.  

And throughout it all, Devoniensis continues to shower us with soft as silk, sun faded blossoms. 





Nostalgia at it's best  ...

Heirloom Roses - An early morning walk ... AT MY ROSE GARDEN

A cup of tea in hand (rosehip of course), stepping half awake around the garden to see what the night has brought, is one of the daily pleasures of having a garden.  

In our typically dry Spring on the Sunshine Coast hinterland it has been unseasonably hot, so an early morning inspection is necessary to see how the roses are coping, and which ones may need a little extra attention.  

Yet even in the midst of this routine walk, there are gorgeous surprises waiting to be discovered in the morning light.  

Altissimo, Delbart-Chabert,France,1966 - Modern Climber 

For many years I longed to have room to grow the modern climber, Altissimo, with her brilliantly red, single roses and had wistfully designed a country garden for a friend featuring this rose.   Now that I finally have two Altissimo roses growing on either side of a large arch, I find myself sometimes taking their hardiness and on-going rose display for granted ... until this morning when the vibrancy of their brilliant, unfading red blooms took my breath away.

Mrs Reynolds Hole, Nabonnand, France, 1900 - Tea

Sending out long arms to tangle with Altissimo’s spiky branches, Mrs Reynolds Hole has very double, dark pink blooms that have a surprisingly strong, real rose fragrance, unusual for a Tea rose.  She is one of the later Tea roses, named for the wife of the famous English clergyman, Dean Samuel Reynolds Hole.   Many rose books suggest this rose be planted with the long branches pegged to form a large rosette.  I prefer to allow this rose to grow freely, forming  a  very large bush. 

Gloire de Ducher, Ducher, France, 1853 - Hybrid Perpetual

Further along in a separate bed, Gloire de Ducher grows on a rustic pillar.  I believe this gorgeous rose deserves to be grown more often in Australian gardens.  In less than ideal conditions with minimal water, Gloire de Ducher offers a stunning display of quilled and buttoned crimson/purple blooms.  Exquisitely perfumed, the Spring display of this tough rose is worthy of any garden. 



Wife of Bath, Austin, UK, 1969 - English Roses 
Another tough rose in our garden is the gorgeous Wife of Bath.  One of David Austin’s earlier English roses, she is almost always covered in full, clear pink blooms, spiked with a strong myrrh fragrance.  The most exquisitely fat pink buds surround each of the cupped blooms.  Because of the enduring nature of this rose through drought and flood, she has become a firm favourite.  

Buff Beauty, Bentall, UK, 1839 - Hybrid Musk

Next is the lovely Buff Beauty, a favourite Hybrid Musk covered in sweetly perfumed, full blooms of soft apricot.  Always in bloom throughout the warmer months, this is one of the oldest roses in our garden, with lichens covering the grey trunk.  A deceptively tough rose that also survives our dry Springs with vigour and beauty. 

Each morning is a little journey into the unknown, wondering what lovely alchemy has brewed overnight ...  a gentle way to ease into the new day.