Striped rose. Oranges and lemons. Scented beauty.

Just one photograph, of a magnificent striped rose in my garden, called Oranges and Lemons. It's not at all robust, sends up about three weedy stems every year, and has two or three sprays of flowers. But what flowers! I  really do gasp when I come out into the garden and the first flower is there.

It's fantastic. I took the photograph with my phone, and will keep it there, to find and look at when I need reminding of good things.
My dream is to have a garden entirely filled with striped roses. I must work on making the dream a reality!

Rosa Mundi the striped beauty

Rosa Mundi is the most beautiful of roses with its striped petals and golden heart. It only flowers for about six weeks, which I think makes the pleasure more intense as its such a limited time.

Reputedly named after the Fair Rosamund, who was the mistress of Henry II, its Latin name is rosa gallica versicolor, proclaiming it as a sport of rosa gallica. 

Now, rosa gallica is also known as the Red Rose of Lancaster. Remember the famous story of the noblemen from the Houses of York and Lancaster plucking roses to show  their allegiance? The Yorkists plucked rosa alba, the lovely scented white rose, and the Lancastrians plucked - well, a frankly rather gorgeous pink rose! It's the same pink as the darker pink you see in the stripes of rosa mundi.

These photos were taken in my Mother's garden a few days ago, and she told me that they are her favourite flower. Mind you, she says that about snowdrops and fritillaries. She's a woman of very good taste!
Happy summer.

Morning Glory. Celestial blue flowers.

While I've been rushing about, and not paying any attention to my garden, the pot of Morning Glory on my patio has finally decided to flower.

I planted the seeds in the spring, and the plants produced lots of leaves and tiny buds that stood still.

At last, some have flowered. Morning Glory opens as it gets light, blooms in the day, and is gone by night fall. 

I don't think they will all flower, but these splashes of celestial blue have quietly reminded me to stop. And look.

Bold colour in the garden. Orange.

Orange is a great colour for the garden. It's bold and bright and beautiful. Encouraged by Christopher Lloyd's wonderful book Colour for Adventurous Gardeners, I use it a lot in planting my small garden.

I am really enjoying the orange flowers today, as I sit outside, writing copy for a  local business's new website. 

It's amazing where the skills  learned in writing poetry come in useful - brutal self editing, striving to find exactly the right words - oh, and search engine optimisation as well of course!

Here are million bells

Wonderful snapdragons

achillea

a rather lovely pale rose, with a very decorative snail sitting on a petal

a tangle of roses and million bells

and the first nasturtium of summer.

poem. making time.

making time
I stand at the back door
whenever I can and
gaze at the garden,

at six in the morning
a minute or two to spare
as I drink my tea,

in the afternoon instead of
doing something else,

in the dusk as
the garden takes a breath,

or last thing at night

I stand at the back door
whenever I can and
gaze


It's the perfect antidote to feeling as though there is too much to do and too little time. I have lots of mirrors in my small garden, and this is the view of the looking glass garden through one of them.