Kitty, I use a repellent I buy on Amazon, and it's the highest rated among the many they sell. For years I've used Deer Out in 32 oz concentrate, which you dilute with water. Then I use a small pump sprayer (not attached to a hose or anything), and start spraying, primarily the roses in back. This sfuff works pretty well, and I've tried a lot of repellents and soap, cat pee balls, you name it. Rotten eggs is the primary ingredient of all deer repellents, and Deer Out also contains oil of peppermint, and oil of white pepper. It smells, but the peppermint oil helps cover the smell, and the deer don't like it. This is organic and I also spray it on my tomato plants, and it would work on any plant. I've never had a problem with taste on tomatoes, and the scent dissipates quickly. Roses keep their scent fine. You really need one of those wire cages big enough to hold humans which you can enter through a wire door. Diane

Susan, I wish it was a moth but it was clearly a wasp. I do get those sphinx moths, they love the Gaura. I didn’t see ithe wasp today but I did have a nightmare about it last night!

Diane, here’s day 2 of BMS

It does have a beautiful scent. I’m terrible at describing them but I could detect tea and a sweet, kind of a citrusy perfume scent. whatever it is it smells good!

Diane, such a spectacular pic of the hawk moth on your nasturtium! I tried to get a pic when they were here last year without success... I hope they come back this year. And Magpie, that looks like the same guy on your arm! AllSass, yeah upon reading further posts, I figured we were talking about different critters, since you mentioned stings :-D

Echo, I've only seen a Polyphemus Moth once, and it felt luckier than seeing a shooting star, I was so happy. What a beauty they are in this world. I'm covered in tattoos of flowers and creatures, I can't help myself! Maybe I need a Polyphemus Moth tattoo as well lol. I also have bees, a sheep, a fox, a rabbit, 3 magpies, a lizard, and a raven.

Magpie, I saw this on IG and thought it was so cool, nature inspired. Apparently Rose is a polyphemous moth host plant. My butterfly garden started after my daughter found the polyphemous moth. it sparked our interest in host plants. We have varieties of milkweed for the monarchs, passion vine for the gulf fritillary and variegated fritillary butterflies, rue for black swallowtails and giant swallowtails. I tried planting a wild cherry tree for tiger swallowtails but it died. Tried planting dutchmans pipe vine for pipevine swallowtails but my seeds didnt take. I think at last count we had 53 types of butterflies and skippers visit our garden. The most exciting for me was a Mexican Silverspot butterfly which was outside of its normal habitat (too far north). lots and lots of running outside insanely with a camera and ID’ing on iNaturalist. What seems to bring the most butterflies are lantanas, zinnias, and butterfly bush in my garden, despite the many native plants we have. The hardcore native plants purists would have you believe otherwise. I find most of my native plants bring a TON of bees.

since we are on a rose forum I will also post the bloom of the day: My Grand Dame from Heirloom roses finally bloomed. Love the scent.

Well I am amazed at the fragrance of ‘At Last’ …. Also impressed with the next flush of flowers despite all being blown by from the rain. I have decided to give her a chance. Most of the blooms start out a beautiful peach shade and fade to a pale yellow.

So lovely Romans. gorgeous color

Allsass, your BMS almost has a Juliet appearance to me when Juliet looks orange versus sometimes that cream pink look . If i had a promise mine would exactly like your BMS I would have ordered it yesterday 😜

AllSaas, GORGEOUS BMS rose! Golden Dream! Bring On to Me those Sunshine photos! Hee, Her! Love seeing her oerform! Mibe is bareroot, soaking…. just a stubby bare root now-Lol! Someday for me-gorgeous , too!

Ok, researching yesterday Magnolias & Cafe Latte rose! I have been wating a Nagnolia for many years !!!! I had one 30 years ago in CA! So I ordered for front yard-the pink small Jane Magnolia tree (10-13 feet will grow only!) To put on side front yard by fence.

Jane Magnolia Tree, Pixie Gardens

And decided it time to add a ”coffe rose,” So I ordered…

Cafe Latte rose, Kate Roses photo

Vintage mauve color

Diane, What type of magnolia do you have?

GRACE ROSE FARM SHIPPING!!!!!!!

And Grace Rose Farm shipping niw my 4 roses and ROUGE ROYAL!!!! Woohoo!!!!!

Diane, Thank you! I will order your deer repell.! Great! Love hearing it works!

Kitty, good luck with the stuff. It's not 100 per cent effective because only high fences and cages have that kind of effectiveness. I checked out cages for you, and there are a zillion types on Amazon and other online sellers. The sizes and prices range from modest to expensive. I still haven't heard from Greedy Grace. I'm so disheartened by all the problems with sketchy online sellers that I hope to never read about Grace again. But, of course, I get a promotional mailing from them everyday. Today was about new stock they had and I noticed prices were lower. Remember, until you have those four roses in your little hands, it's all pie in the sky.....We've had our magnolia for about 20 years, and I don't know its name. It looks a lot like the first pic above you show. Of course, you didn't get the icky weather, and cold in California the way we do, so every year our magnolia has lots of brown mixed with the pink. I hate that. This year it had a tremendous number of buds and about three fourths of them ended up partially brown. Be careful in your climate about magnolias.

AllSass, thank you for more gorgeous photos of Bring Me Sunshine. I had convinced myself I wanted a Golden Zest instead (check out Ben's GZ and pics on HMF) and I'm on a J&P waiting list for this very hard to find rose. But your BMS is so beautiful, I may have to have one, probably next year. In a few days, I pick up my 5 gallon Angel Face from Edwards. It's my second one, and I love this classic rose, and its scent, too. Diane

Angel Face with Friend and neighbor Young Lycidas

86 degrees F here today again...Tomorrow will be the 80's...THEN a funny thing happens

Saturday the high will only be 58 degrees.. F....lol ...Then we bounce up and down like a yo yo with temps for awhile with lots of rain showers... Usually by June 1, it stays more steady...

Enjoying all the photos! :-)

Jim, we're doing the yo yo thing, though we haven't had nearly as hot temps as you have. Now we're going to have rain, which is not frequent in May, usually. Still, I'm happy with they way things are looking and growing. I'm beginning to think Pennsylvania has become part of the Hawaiian Islands--86! Nanadoll

LOL Nanadoll... me too...lol

I read in that other thread you hardly have insect problems or disease on roses...Wonder why that is??? It so bad here in PA that I thought of building a plastic bubble over my property...lol

Diane,

Have fun shopping & picking up the fabulous Angel Face! Must be fun to just go pick-up a rose you really wanted. No place for me to do that-I must order. Edwards will be a blast! Bet you will come hime with a big haul!

Thank you, again! They are planning to build a fence , to keep deer out, for the larger community garden at my job campus and refurbish a sm greenhouse. . For the ladies’ flower beds beside their home, I will spray the tomatoes, squash, petunias, & beans for deer. They already bought these olants & I will order the deer spray for them. The petunias are sitting outside-wonder if the deer will eat them before I get a spray? Oops! Lol! I am taking ladies shopping for flowers tomorrow & ordering Magenta Chiffon 2 ROS that they picked out! They have new beds with a few flowers-so we need to water w/ hose daily now!

76F tomorrow-it is warm spring now! Veryvsunny!

Sorry about your Magnolia, but at least you see it bloom a little. I watch every spring many neighbors have Magnolias here. They seem to do well! Yheyvare soooo oretty now!

And the Kwanzan Cherry trees are now blooming in the community, the giants if cherry trees, & my Kwanzan, too! My K tree is about 20 ft tall, 4years old-it’s headed to be taller than my home maybe in 10 years, Lol! They can be 40+ft. . My home is 3 stories, not counting basement. K tree reaches 2nd story now. Maybe trim in fall. Cherry blossom photos tomorrow!

Jim, That’s ” WACHO WEATHER!” My ranunculus would not like it, Lol! You have chosen olants wisely to weather those temps! I can’t have 86F now-it would do me in! I am just starting spring planting time! Btw Btw, Loved your photos of Gracie & friend! Oh Oh, Idaho is a dry desertt and you & I have a humid climate. Bugs love our humidity beat the ocean! We have more bugs attracted to this humidity than anywhete I have lived. CA & Idaho being dry, may have kess bugs. But we each have bugs to deal with! Roaches & tarantulas in deserty CA near San Diego and not sure what bugs Diane gets? No mosquitos in Los Angelos-vlear bug free skies at night. Our summer evenings-watch out for mosquitos and all sorts of bugs!!!!! I dont stay outside in our summer evenings in NY! Ouch!

DREAMING……

I think I will dream of bathing in the shade of my Magnolia! And sipping my Caramel Frappe while looking at my new Cafe Latte rose! Awwwwww….(Spray the garden w/ dish soao & almost no bugs for a day.) And eating home-made Strawberry Shortcake wearing my southern sun hat! Niceeeeeeee! And don’t forget the southern bell sun-dress! One afternoon I can be a ”Southern Bell!” under my Magnolia tree, ( in NY, ) Lol!

Jim, as Kitty wrote, this is a semiarid desert, and normally it's pretty dry all year. This year has been an extra wet year, and the plants love it. Remember that irrigation is required here because of lack of rainfall, and that is a downside, and I have already started irrigating with the drip system. Our rain is not the kind of big rain that occurs in so many other areas. But it hasn't been especially warm here this spring, which is pretty normal. It will suddenly heat up, and last summer stayed between 95-100+ for months without a speck of rain. Haha about the plastic bubble, which you would bake in if you had our summer temps. In general, the Northeast US is black spot country (too dry here).

Kitty, no roaches (yech) here in Idaho, but I remember them in certain places in California, the worst being in graduate student housing at Stanford. Awful. I made the housing office bring in the exterminators to spray for roaches, but every unit had them, so it was hopeless. No tarantulas here that I know of. Zilch for mosquitos, which don't like me much, anyway. Skeeters are in town, though. We have two crabapples that are huge, and one smaller one. But no cherry trees. I don't think deer like petunias, so I wouldn't spray them because it might ruin those wimpy petunia blooms. See what happens. There are many plants deer hate, so I like to grow those, but roses are by far the deer's favorite, naturally. I don't think deer care for Rose of Sharon. Wait and see on that. Deer hate boxwood, lavender, and plants like salvia and Russian sage. They hate penstemon, and don't like snaps, either, or hardy geraniums (cranesbill, brunnera, Jupiter's Beard, coneflower, and rudbeckia. Lots more they hate. They do like some veggies and always left teeth marks in my pumpkins in a futile attempt to munch on punkns. Diane

Oh my gosh. So many of my roses that are newer to me (2 years and 3 years old) are forming buds and this will be the first time ever that I'll be seeing the blooms on them. I'm so excited but also so worried that the buds will never become blooms. Last year I should have seen many of these blooms for the first time but they were either prevented from forming or growing due to hail, or eaten before they even fully opened by squirrels who have finally discovered my garden. So hopefully this year! Such a mixture of anxiety and hope over it all!

These roses include: Himmelsauge, Isabella Skinner, Henri Fouquier, Hippolyte, Paul Ricault, Alchemist, William Lobb, Indigo, Ruby Voodoo.

Diane,

I love crab apples blooms! ! My CA grew bent over so I had it removed ladt fall. Neihbors have ine- they are soooooo beautiful! Is your CA blooming? I may need to get another in future.

Yes! The deer love a beautiful garden platter of veggies! Soray time! They love oansies, too! So I will spray! I chose ROS & many of the plants you suggest for the home garden bed-so deer will leave them alone, also! I am told that even with a fence the chipmunks & squirrels will eat the veggies in the community garden. Maybe cages is a good idea! Thank you!

Magpie,

Soooooo exciting! Your new roses will bloom! I am especially excited anout Indigo! Yhe others sound wonderful, too! Can’t wait to see it bloom!

A stroll in the garden…..bulbs are being tainted by sun…. but still blooming….76F today!

My Kwanzan Cherry tree, My fav!

It is only 2 stories tall-that photo shows attic, but tree is not that tall yet.

Winchester Daffs
My fav because they smell like gardenia!

Japanese Iris sprouted, 3 pots-looks good!

Ranunculus, I grew from corms

Tulips

Apple Blossoms

Kitty, Oh that cherry tree is simply stunning, and has grown so large in such a short time. I love the Winchester daffodils, too. Really unusual. Those typos about the iris are pretty challenging--haha. Or maybe you were really calling them poop. Our winds seem to destroy the blooms on our ornamental trees so quickly. The crabapple I like lease lasts about an hour, then drops everything which collects in damp piles in all my front flower beds. Then for the third time, I have to go out and clean up the blasted beds. Our yard is just too small for so many trees that get big I think your more gentle weather is great for flowering trees.....Back to the community garden where you work. I've read that you need to sink fence protection some to keep out the burrowing pests. That could be a lot of work. I wonder if the deer repellent would keep away squirrels. I know there are squirrel repellents out there, but have never had a squirrel problem. Powdered garlic sprinkled on plants rabbits are after does work some. I've used it. It's cheap, and easy to use, and might work on veggies, too.

How wonderful to see those buds, Magpie. Do you think squirrel repellent would work to protect them? I think I remember you telling us about the hail storm. I'm sure that was totally random and won't occur again this year. At least not at the crucial bud time. Diane

Diane, Ha Ha, ha ha, ha ha, ha ha, haaaaaaaa…. I corrected asap…. but Houzz has it’s own spelling for Japanese Iris!!! Lol! Thank you about my Kwanzan-She’s a beauty & tall! Garlic powder sounds good, too! I think I’ll try it today and spray eventually, too too, the home bed zi wotk in. When they dig the community garden-we will see what we all do to fix the deer & pests!!! We have ground hogs, too! Campus is next to woods & lake-gorgeous view! Wonder what other animals are in there? Hee, hee! The dafgs are unusual to me…, I olants along ”all my beds front, back back, side ysrds…, they bloom the latest when other faffs are done.

Diane, I was contemplating squirrel deterrent all yesterday morning. I'm not sure what I'll do just yet. A big issue is that there are large cottonwood trees right outside my property and a long fence line that I share with a neighbor where the squirrels love to dart along and sample all the rose blooms reachable from it on my side. Last year several of the clematis along that same fence had bites taken out of the buds as they formed so the blooms only had half the petals! 😒 I'll be observing closely this year and considering how to proceed. If blooms need to be cut to be enjoyed inside for a while, so be it, I'd prefer they stayed on the bush outside but if they get eaten the morning they open, what good is leaving them outside anyway. It's one thing to lose a few blooms here and there, and quite another to lose them all as they open every morning. I know you know the feeling (with deer).

Spring photo, I do love my pulmonaria.

Lady of Shalott

Lady of Shalott

Darcy Bussel

Kristine, Your Darcy is really doing well! Beautiful plump full roseymosey-wine blooms! Yummy! My Darcy is leafing out-looks more full this year. Yout garden is in rosey full bloom! Woohoo! How are your dahlias now ? I received this morning my last 2 ordered dahlias from Swan Island. Swan Island really does well-labeling-sending tubers w/ eyes, has a guarantee & grow booklet! They stamp tuber w/name then give you plastic labels to use when potted-impressed w/ them! I potted my 2 tubers quck this mirning & popped them under kitchen grow lights.

Carol, If you are there….. Romance Gardens is shipping my 3 fushia today! Woohoo! Will you receive your fushia soon, too? And my Magnolia tree will be delivered Sat-tomorrow! And 3 out of my 5 ordered rosrs from GRF are shipped: Bl Baccara, Rouge Royale, and Mother of Pearl. Yipee!

Thanks Nanadoll..... Remember baby band OSO Easy Double Red I planted just last June! Its big already and full of flower buds... :-) Hopefully Orange Dude follows like baby Oso...

First blooms!

Silas Mariner

Golden celebration

Ebb

Golden celebration

lady of shallot

Cosmic cloud! Smells like banana laffy taffy to me

Ebb tide

Midas touch

Life of the Party

such a fun time eight now!!! these are all in year two!

Kristine it‘s so interesting to see the colors on your LoS!!! yours is so much more orangey. I love it😍

Sophia, what a great display of gorgeous roses. You are far ahead of us. Love the dark purple Ebb Tide bloom, but my favorite of all is the gorgeous big fat bloom of Lady of Shalott. It looks about 7 inches across, and the coloring of the center is stunning. Beautiful Golden Celebration, too. It's one of my favorite roses. I hope he performs well for you, too. What conditions do you garden in? Hot, humid, dry? And are you pretty far south? I was going to make some filler perennial suggestions you mentioned needing on another thread, but I can't tell what your conditions are. We have no trees here, just dry brush, some natives, and dry wild grasses. Drainage is great, and I'm at the top of a hill, so that helps, too. I mentioned lavender, and mine grow on the beginning of a downward slope and love it. Our soil is fairly alkaline, and they love that, too.

Jim, Oso Easy Double Red looks great and ready for blooming. And a weed wouldn't dare grow in your neat and tidy flower beds. And here's to a great blooming season for Orange Dude, and your coneflowers. Weather was perfect today and I got a lot of chores done, but we have three days of rain coming up and yo yo temperatures. So everything comes to a halt as far as garden tasks go. But our predictions have been pretty bad, too, so I don't trust the weather men/women.

Kristine, Darcey Bussell is just stunning. What big, dark,and luscious blooms. She likes your garden. And your Lady of Shalott is gorgeous, a stupendous orange, which I love. I need to see some orange and purple together. You're inspiring me. Well, it's past bedtime, even for me. It sounds like a big windstorm outside. Oh, goody. Diane

Thanks Diane ☺️ I am in Southern maryland zone 7b. Super hot and humid in the summer (like i lived/ grew up in Naples, FL right by the gulf and i swear its more humid here). I dont have irrigation yet so i have to water by hand and rain comes either all week or not for weeks (literally the worst because my plants are either thirsty or drowning in this acidic clay. How do you space things? its so hard to figure out how large a small little rose is going to get to plant something next to it? i love love love your cottage garden design. Did you start with anything to work with or was it a blank slate when you moved there?

Sophia, Beautiful roses! Loving Ebb Tide, my fav! That Burgandy-purple! Delicious! LoSh is vibrant, too!

Jim, It’s wonderful seeing OSO Easy DR thriving and filling out w/ leaves leaves! And are thise Kodiacs next to him? Sooooo beautiful greening-up! They like your 86F! Lol! Nice summer weather! Lol!

For me-it’s definitely spring and RAIN, again!

Raining a tad in next couple hours, then over night and tomorrow. I looked at May forecast and we have 2 weeks now of half raining days & some rain 5 days in a row. Swimming time for my roses!!!!!! I wonder if they know the back stroke? I taught them the ”Froggy-breast stroke!” The frogs love it!

I am putting almost all my new medium potted Japanese roses on my kitchen porch-20+ pots & a few new potted seedlings that are hardening off-more like ”swimming off.” This is ridiculous-sooooo much rain!

A couple of these NEW sm potted roses got BS-so keeping them as dry as possible. The newer potted baby roses are not strong & they pick up BS more than my older stronger garden roses. My hundreds of older roses in ground so far all have healthy leaves. Lots of leaves on most roses.

A couple bouquets in dining room…

Keanzan Cherry Blossoms

Kitty, the dahlua that I bought locally will go in the ground next week when the rain goes away. One in a pit from last year is popping out of the soul. The two new ones are under grow lights. On sunny days they go outside. Looks like rain until Wed,

Sophia, you have some really stunning roses. I have never seen an Ebb Tide so dark ir a LOS so pinky. Sounds like you have some challenging growing conditions sonit makes your roses even more impressive

Happy Darcy

On another post I said that this was Darcy, its actually my new Jalbert Rose Frilly Lilly

Kristine, Very Happy Darcy! Niceeeeeee!

What are your temps now day/night? Ideal Dahlia growing temps are 64+ nights/60-80F day. I am sooo excited that your dahlia came back from last year! Below 35F is supposed to kill them. Your dahlia must have been warm last winter & not rotted in rainy damp ground-Very Cool! And you have your 2 newbies under grow lights-are they griwing well?

My dahlias sure do well in the house w/ grow lamps. However, mine are growing into monster tall sizes in house & must wait until late May when warmer/less rain for me to put them outside.

ANEMONE & BULBS

Today 64F & rain later. My anemonie pre-soaked & potted 1 1/2 weeks ago, have roots & 3 have green sprouts! They are my newest exciting ADVENTURE!!!! I expect to see more green stems sprout in next few days….. They are growing in kitchen under g-lights. Photos tomorrow! Sooooo exciting growing corms-soring bulbs!

I still need plant my lily/glad bulbs! This weekend!!!!!!

Get your Ascot on eBay now. It's up to $84 on the bid with 2 hours to go. Longago Roses is the seller, and she ships only to certain states. Maybe I should sell my Ascots--ha.

Kristine, you're tempting me with that gorgeous Darcey. I'd never really considered her before I saw your rose. I should put her where the phantom Ashley was to go. Bah humbug.

Kitty, your cherry blossom bouquet is exquisite. I'd never thought of making a crabapple blossom bouquet and now it's almost too late for that. Perfect tulip. I got some nasturtium seeds potted and out as well as chives. Lots more to go. The hot peppers won't be for sale until May 11, and I'll be growing 12 pots of them for the insatiable heat freak, my son in law.

Sophia, thanks for your growing info. Since your conditions are so different from mine, I'm not sure of how much help I can be, but I'll get back to you later. Lavender may not be a good choice--ha. Diane

After all those 80's todays high is only 55 degrees F. KittyNYz6 ....lol

Next 10 days looks mild also...60's and 70's F... 50's at night

Wow what lovely and constrasting lady if shallots in the above posts! And such a lovely Darcey Bussel with the button eye! just gorgeous!

Well, Ascot just sold for 102.50--pretty good, especially since she doesn't ship to half the country, so that really cuts down on bidders. Diane

Ascot

Diane,

Maybe you should go into the Ascot business. I followed that auction too, also saw William Morris went for $87 as well.

My post to you disappeared. Houzz get your act together.

Ben, Maybe so, given all the great cuttings I take during pruning. I've really got my Ascots whacked and they look good and are really to roll. I do have to have my son in law saw off tree trunk sized canes every year, which I don't like. You have a zillion roses you could sell for big bucks, and I can supply a list to you of what I want if you ever decide to go into business. I think I should sell Evelyn, too. Just kidding. Diane

These photos were taken by my granddaughter, Clare, in 2012 when she was in junior high.

Ascot and Ebb Tide bouquet

Diane, you kid but Evelyn is my bucket list rose!

Diane, Romans

You could call your business Evelyn & Ascot, sounds more prim than Crabtree & Evelyn. Even before my Evelyns root they are already spoken for by friends. I probably root more of Evelyn than any other variety, yet there is never enough. It seems all the small vendors are also rooting her, yet they are never available. Some time ago I predicted an Evelyn glut since so many of the trimmings are getting rooted, but I guess It hasn’t happened.

Ben, I love your suggestion, plus Evelyn is a family name, as well as Clare. My first Evelyn was purchased in honor of Clare Evelyn. I'm not experienced in rooting roses, plus it's difficult to get to town and mail anything off. I do think that the big E needs to be grafted for max performance, and I don't think anyone is grafting her. Elvis's nickname was the big E from Tennessee. We rose gardeners have the Big E from DavidA. I am so ridiculous and bored. Weather is awful today. Thanks for your interesting conversation. Diane

This is an oldie, taken also by Clare when she was in junior high. I like the proliferation. I think there is a Sarah Bernhardt or two at the back.

Gigantic apricot Evelyn

She really was gigantic.

Diane, let me know if you think of anything! especially about spacing. i planted one lavender( it hasnt died so i guess thats good LOL) but i have heard it doesnt do well here. i love your ascot. I had looked into it after you posted it, but it looks like it may suffer from disease easily. Would still be worth a try if it wasn't $102 😝😝😝

Thanks Kitty!!! Its normally a lot more magenta but spring seems to help!

this was last year mid summer. I love seeing the variations in color for roses. Keeps you excited ans guessing!! My great grandmother had a josephs coat and it was always fun to see the different colors

Kristine, your frilly lily is so cute and happy!!!! what an adorable name too! Thank you! i think LoS only bloomed once last year and it was like orange peach not pink at all like it is this spring. I way prefer your deeper orange or the pink! How have your temps been this spring?? Your Darcy looks so happy! I haven't seen that much info on him. What are your thoughts on him? He seems to perform very well for you

Sophia, I'm sorry I got sidetracked, and didn't help you much. I went back up to where you show your rose garden in progress. It looks like you have a nice circle of roses with some other roses across the back of the area. I really don't plan much, and my garden has a totally different layout from yours. But if I were you, I'd work from the center out. You need a fountain or birdbath, or maybe some kind of garden statuary at the center of the circle to focus the eye; then the eye meanders outward. Oops, I see after a second good look, you have a rose planted in the center. It needs an arbor over it, maybe, with some clematis growing on the arbor. As you mentioned, you need some filler plants between your roses. My favorites are things like Jupiter's Beard, echinacea, penstemon, snapdragons, campanulas, rudbeckia, and certain annuals like poppies, which are short lived but great in spring. Alyssum is good growing in scattered spots. I direct seed and don't plant alyssum plants. I like cranesbill, too particular Rozanne, which is sterile and blooms for months. In spring, I like to have some peonies in various spots. When they quit blooming, their mound of green leaves make a nice filler. In mid summer, I like to see some hardy hibiscus in random spots. but they may grow too large for planting between roses. Once you've started filling in, you need to leave room and plan for some kind of path around your rose garden. Is that beautiful apricot rose in the front of the circle The Lady of Shalott? I would say she needs some support and would be lovely on a tuteur, but that might distract from your central focal point rose and arbor. This is getting long, so I can come back after you tell me more of your plans and what you want. Diane

Diane I just adore the way you displayed your Evelyn roses. Absolutely stunning. My husband asked me what I wanted from David A for Mother’s Day- he must be catching on to my love language ha ha. I jokingly said find my Evelyn. Poor guy 🤣

Here’s Don Juan ft raindrops. I actually love the dark tint that the surrounding petals have. It adds dimension. Such a vibrant red!

Sophia, Frilly Lilly was new last year from Palatine and she will be a shortie, Less than 2 ft. She is exploding in blooms which are pretty large compared to how short she is and petal packed..

Darcy Bussel is One of the first to bloom and the always the last. She id never without blooms and super healthy

Roman, your Don Juan is absolutely fabulous

Romans, I love the "blacking" on your Don Juan! I'm a total sucker for painting and veining on roses. Here's a pic of my Orange Splash with nice painting/blacking:

And a pic of Jean Giono with nice veining:

Thanks, Romans. And I love the darker outer petals on your velvety Don Juan. Beautiful photos. I hope you get your Evelyn.

Kristine, your Darcey is so lovely, and she looks like a Valentine in your photo. I wish my roses would hurry already. They all have buds and lots of nice leaves, but it just takes time for it all to happen.

Susan, you have the most unusual roses. And the coloring is spectacular on both Orange Splash and Jean Giono. Got to look up both. I've never seen a photo of either rose before. Diane