Everything sublime is as difficult as it is rare. Baruch Spinoza

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Days of Wine and Roses

and peonies.
 I waited three years for this rose to bloom. This is "Allegra", a Paul Barden rose named for my friend, Allegra Smith. This rose is as lovely as her namesake and well worth the wait.
 Beautiful and vigorous, Baronne Prevost. 
 I do love peonies.

 This is another Paul Barden rose, Gallicandy. It also took three years to bloom, but it has gone wild this year. Very vigorous.

 Pretty in Pink


 I planted this rose twenty years ago and it bloomed happily for about ten years and then stopped. I left it because I was so busy I couldn't deal with it and basically ignored it. Two weeks ago I told Mark I wanted to put a chain around it and pull it out. When I walked over to it, there were buds. Could have knocked me over! I love the large, peony-like blooms of this old timer.
Summer is in full-swing, I'm busy on the farm chasing my tail. Hopefully the sun is shining where you are.

10 comments:

A.Smith said...

While your gorgeous roses are in bloom some of ours are decimated by three weeks of rain where botrytis have made a mess of things and Allegra is hiding under a mass of green leaves (the rose, not me)

I love your roses and your peonies! and the idea of having horses around - and their "gifts" that indeed contribute, although some may not know this, to their exquisite beauty - as you well know, this is my idea of heaven.

Thank you, love. This is a true gift of friendship, the sharing of our joy seeing what things we can help grow and the hope that we learned something about patience due to their "the first year they sleep, the second year they creep, and the third year they leap!".

PS: another sign of true friendship is that I would put up with marigolds just because you like them :)

jarvenpa said...

Love your fashion quote, your visit to my blog, and the roses and peonies. I can't seem to get peonies to bloom for me here in Northern California, but roses are very willing. Like you, I treasure the old fashioned ones.

Ganeida said...

En~vi~ous....It is bitter here just now ~ & wet. Intermitently. Ick.

Lorac said...

Lovely Sandra! Today we have sun and it is supposed to warm up as it has been on the cool side. We just had several days of much needed rain though.The results of that rain is my grass is overgrown and requires immediate cutting. I did enjoy it when it was brown and crisp. lol

Sandra said...

Allegra, I'm really sorry it is raining so much. I always thought the PNW had a moderate climate and that the rainy season was in the winter.

I have learned much from you, not just cooking & gardening. Marigolds smell, but they are bright and cheery. : )

Sandra said...

jarvenpa, I have no idea why peonies wouldn't like Northern CA. It would seem if they can thrive here, they would really like it there. I envy the moderate climate for the ability to grow roses I can only dream about. Some of those gorgeous old roses that cannot survive this climate taunt me when I look online.

Sandra said...

Ganeida, The thing with Oz is, the weather changes quickly. At least this is my impression from knowing you for a few years.

Sandra said...

Lorac, we could use some rain. It's not too dry yet, but it doesn't take long. I do some of my deepest thinking on my mower. Sometimes I even remember it!

Lorac said...

Sandra look to the left in the picture of the garbage. To the left and and about the mid line. Lol I too took a long time to find it. It is black and white.

Sandra said...

I found it, but I can't believe I spent so much time looking at garbage! You'd think I had nothing better to do!