The new roses have begun to bloom. Need I say more? So far only Crown Princess Margareta in the under-construction rose border and Wollerton Old Hall in the small garden itself have blooms for the showing, but these two are enough to take over the matter of garden fragrance!
Crown Princess Margareta bears flowers of a warm apricot. The actual colours have varied quite a bit, from fairly pale...
...to a rich tone with a bit more pink.
This is a very elegant rose. Blooms are carried in loose clusters on what is, so far, a rather spreading shrub. Rich fragrance.
Wollerton Old Hall bears tight clusters of beautifully rounded blooms. These are pale cream with a hint of apricot also.
The buds are more decidedly peach-toned.
The bush itself is nicely rounded and the flower clusters are delicate but sumptuous. Fragrance is clean rose scent. The overall habit looks to be just right for the garden.
It does, however, have a tendency to open its blooms facing the light, which means that the view from the patio, which it edges, looks like this. But I am not complaining!
As this is, after all, the Scent in the Garden meme
(with Wellywoman, who is hosting this wonderful theme), I will look at the other fragrant flowers in the garden at present. These include the last few blooms from Genista stenopetala, which had not yet opened its first for the March post. It has bloomed well since then with its strong, lemony fragrance wafting about the garden during the height of bloom.
Since last month, the chamomile (Matricaria recutita) has come into bloom. Nicely scented it is, though perhaps not what we usually think of when adding "fragrance" to the garden!
Lemon thyme simply keeps on blooming - an undoubtedly wonderful scent (and flavour!) and one which I would like to spread throughout the garden.
A couple of native plants are producing delightfully fragrant flowers just now. Berlandiera lyrata is still blooming heavily. Then there is the night-flowering, night-scented
Oenothera pallida "Innocence", again with a fragrance that seems to carry on the breeze.
On a more exotic note, Cistanthe grandiflora has a wonderful smell when presented directly to the nose - not too difficult as its blooms rise well above the foliage mound at their base.
And Duranta erecta (syn. D. repens) from the tropics, with a velvety fragrance in its velvety purple petals...
By next month the rest of the roses should be ready to bloom, I hope!
You have a wonderful rose collection, Amy. I love apricot and peach-colored blooms.
ReplyDeleteIt's curious that the roses in these colors flowered first... I think the D A hybrids in the apricot/peach range are very special :)
DeleteFab photos of the roses, in particular. I love the colours. Do you find the roses need lots of water? I bet you don't get black spot out there. ;) That is the bane of an English rose garden, with our tendency for damp summers. I've just bought some seeds of that evening primrose. I've never grown it before so I'm very much looking forward to smelling it. That Duranta is stunning. I've never come across it before - is it a succulent?
ReplyDeleteI'm loving the colours of these roses - and surprised at how much variation there is from one bloom to the next. I don't remember that on the older D A varieties I've grown, but it makes for a wonderful display! I'm waiting to find out just how much water as we planted these only last February, and they are still settling in. At present I'm watering every three days or so. I've seen a bit of black spot on the HT Sterling Silver, which I planted last winter, but nothing to really defoliate the plant. Mildew has appeared on a couple of container roses, and spider mites and aphids are the issue at present. But this is mostly for container-planted roses in the patio... Plants in the ground usually fare best with me. I hope you enjoy the evening primrose; the scent is fabulous, I think :) The Duranta is a tender evergreen shrub which I am growing in a pot. It is said to attain considerable size, but Kris assures me that hers has remained well within bounds as a container plant!
DeleteThe roses are just perfect! The blooms with apricot and peach colours are really lovely and so often shunned these days in the garden (which is a shame).
ReplyDeleteThe lovely Duranta is grown commonly in the Sydney area as a substitute for lilacs which don't do as well in that climate. While it is too tender where I live, I have seen it withstand frosts of about -5C/23F with almost no damage: as long as the day warms up above freezing reasonably quickly (say by 10-11am) after the frosts, it seems to be somewhat hardy - I believe USDA zone 8 is its limit
Wow, I really appreciate the information on the Duranta, Matt! I had been concerned it would not survive frost at all so it has been kept on the patio. But I'm fairly sure our winters would not give it anything worse than you are describing from Sydney, so I will keep open the option of planting it out eventually.
DeleteFor years I was wary of the apricot colours in roses, perhaps because there were so many of a rather flat tone - back in the 90s, wasn't it :P But "Ambridge Rose", as grown by my cousin, cured me! Superbly delicate colouring, with plenty of substance to it... So now I can enjoy these as I ought :)
Gorgeous roses and stunning photos.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much - so glad you enjoyed them, Chloris :)
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ReplyDeleteOops, I just deleted the repeat; does it show the removal?
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