Stop to smell the roses

[Tess (Tassie D)]

Well guess who didn't get time to trim their roses back in winter.  :wow: This is my David Austin rose, of which I have several bushes from cuttings. This one rose bush has branches? on it about 10 feet long in every direction as you can see. The aroma from it is so strong thats all you can smell in our patio area. The blooms, when fully open are the size of your hand.

I'd love to see some garden shots from everyone else.

[glennab]

Tess, what an exquisite rose.  You must have one heck of a green thumb (which, at least in Florida, means you work your butt off to keep your plants beautiful) or great soil conditions.  I thought at first that I was looking at a peony.

I've been thinking about going out and getting a shot of the lemon crop.  They're smaller than usual this year, but the tree is full.  Guess it's time to get out the juicer and make more lemon ice cubes!

My sister just sent me the most gorgeous photo of her Christmas cactus, in full bloom, inside in chilly overcast Maine.  Mine, on the other hand, are rotting away, and since I haven't had the energy to fertilize and baby them as I usually do, they look pretty sad.

Something interesting we discovered last weekend is that our dutch elm tree is absolutely full of mistletoe, much of it at eye level and some way in the top.  Lon swears it doesn't  hurt the tree, but it's very strange to see it growing directly out of the branches of the elm.

I also noticed that our volunteer nasturtiums are beginning to break ground, so we should have another field of them out back this year.

I want to see others' photos, too.  I promise I'll get out this weekend and see if there's anything worth shooting.  (besides me!)

Enjoy your wonderful roses!

Hugs

GK

[Tess (Tassie D)]

Glenna my garden seems to thrive on neglect so it has to be the rich soil here. You put it in the ground, it grows. If I fertilised everything I'd need a chainsaw to trim it back. The ferns growing amongst the rose are houseplants that I stuck in the garden.  ::)
Here's a fully open bloom with my hand holding it. As you can see they are definitely large roses.

[Mhayes]

Tess, what a beautiful rose and how wonderful that it is so large and fragrant. So many of the new roses are without any fragrance, which I think cancels out their beauty! I am so envious that you are going into spring and we are in fall with several state already getting snow.

Margie

[klassylady25]

So Pretty!!

[schen]

Tess,

You upside-down people are so funny.  For those who live much closer to the north pole, here is how my garden and backyard look now.

I do have a rose bush planted against the south side of the house and it is struggling to survive the sub-freezing temperatures every night.   

[Tess (Tassie D)]

Wow schen, that is a winter garden. That poor rose bush is doing a mighty job to still have buds on it. Being close to the sea here our gardens are always green except for the deciduous trees.

[Hannie]

Tess, your roses look absolutely gorgeous!  I love those yellow roses with just a hint of pink coloring.  You are so lucky that they even smell like roses.

I would love to post some photos myself, but it is hard for me to do.  Firstly it is winter here so everything looks kinda bare, hardly any flowers left and all the leaves are falling, much like Shujen's photos. 
Secondly, I don't have a garden!  (apartment dweller) ;D

Instead I will share with you my pretty red tree photo, I took it in October in Houlton, Maine.

Hannie

[schen]

A week ago before the leaf drop:

[glennab]

Shujen, it's great to see you posting again.  I love your golden tree.  What is it?

Your earlier photos remind me of why I love Florida.  Even though it's year-round maintenance, seldom do we see a pitiful patch of posies like the ones in your yard.  I'm amazed that the beautiful little rose bud is hanging in.

Another advantage you northerners have over Floridians: we can grow roses, but they're so susceptible to bugs and mold.  Most of the people here who have beautiful roses are either retired with plenty of time to garden, or rich enough to have their own gardeners.  Unfortunately I fit into neither category, or I'd have a yard full.  Tess, the beauty of your David Austin is absolutely breathtaking.  The color and size are phenomenal!

Hannie, the Maine tree is as gorgeous as the ones we went crazy over when we visited Mom in October 2001.   They're so spectacular that they don't look real.  The trees and the wild coast are two of the things about Maine that I love most. When we took that trip we were still in shock from the Trade Center attacks (those were a couple of scary plane rides!), and I remember two things that helped us get through that time was seeing the lovely fall Maine landscape and the American flags flying absolutely everywhere.

I'll try to get some shots of some of my outdoor treasures.  The bougainvillaea is covered with blossoms (unusual), I have some pretties still hanging in out back, and the lemon tree is filled with ripe fruit.

GK

[schen]

Glenna,

That is a Ginkgo biloba.  Twenty some years ago, I paid big bucks to special order it for my front yard.  It is a very hardy but very slow growing tree.  The popularity of ginkgo seemed to increase in recent years.  I have seen many of them planted by the cities on the parkways and center islands of the major roads around here.

When in college and on a field trip to the university experimental forest, I first saw a golden ginkgo forest.  The second day we made it back, all the leaves were gone.  The phenomenon intrigued me and was one of the reasons I planted one.  The one of pictures above was taken a week before last Friday.  Few leaves dropped three days later when I went to work in the morning.  By evening when I returned home, there was not a single leaf on the branches!

This is a close-up of a little visitor to my ginkgo this summer.

[klassylady25]

That's not a mature bird is it?  It looks like a young one the way the feathers are.

[glennab]

Shujen, I've never seen a ginko tree before.  The leaves are so unsual (I've seen photos of them), and the speed with which it loses it's leaves is fascinating.  Olympic-class deciduous!

I'm going to attach a few shots I got earlier today.  The orchid was given to me on my birthday about 5 years ago.  It never gets watered or fed, and it's always beautiful.  The lemons are ready to harvest.  There have to be over 100 in the tree, so we'll probably donate most of them to a shelter.  I still have lemon ice cubes from 3 years ago. The last photo is of a "mutant" pencil cactus.  It was in a 3-inch pot when a friend gave it to me.  After 15 years, I have this monster that's taller than the house, Lon demolished one in the back of the yard that was nearly as large, and I have one outside the fence to "dress up" the garbage can area.  They live through frosts, heat, drought – you name it – and for some reason everyone loves them.  Probably because they're so exotic looking.

Orchid:



Lemons!


Monster mutant pencil cactus!


Drat, I forgot to get a shot of our mega mistletoe.  Will do that another time.

GK

[Tess (Tassie D)]

Wow Glenna thats a healthy looking Oncidium Orchid. They are beautiful arent they. Schen you have orchids as well? My parents have hundreds of varieties being in the local Orchid Society.
It's hard to believe a Ginkgo tree will loose their leaves that fast. It must be fascinating to watch.

Hannie that reminds me 'where are all your holiday photos'???

[Hannie]

Beautiful orchids, they just seem to live of the air!
Tess, during my stay I did not really have the opportunity to shoot photos much, hubby being ill and all.  I promise I will pick a few shots that I did make and post the link here this week!

:hug:

Hannie