Our roses during the month of May

During the month of May, our roses put on a beautiful show. And I thought it was about time I shared some of my best photos of them. We have quite a variety, yet most of their proper names are a mystery to me. The majority of our roses are in our front yard which has a southern exposure. We have four others on the east side of our house, and only a couple of them are located between our workshop/shed and the back of our house. These roses that are between the two buildings get early morning sun and late afternoon sun. They are also "protected" by a bunch of my cannas. And the mixture of colors is kind of funny. Our house and shed have a New Mexico adobe type of color, our cannas are the bright neon orange, and the roses are a vivid pink, as you can see in this photo below. The cannas are missing from this photo, but you'll have to use your imagination for that color.

This miniature rose is located by our front pathway. It's a bright salmony color, and is quite prolific when it's in bloom.

This one is called Golden Showers. It is supposed to be a climber, but it does better as a "bush." We used to have it in a pot near our front patio, but it never did very well once it was pot-bound. So, my husband planted it in the ground between our front pathway and our crape myrtle tree, and it is flourishing.

This beautiful rose is a floribunda named Princess of Wales. I got it "free" as a gift for purchasing other plants through Garden.com. This was also in a pot for quite a few years, and is now in the ground in our front yard and seems to be a bit happier. I really like its white blossoms with dots of pink on the undersides of its petals.

This is one of our three hybrid teas that are grouped together just outside our large kitchen window. In the front yard it's located between our driveway and our crape myrtle tree. This is a perfect location for them, a southerly exposure and a great place to see these beauties first thing in the morning when I go out to the kitchen to feed our kitties.

This is another miniature rose, I think it's called Candy Stripe. I've had this one for many years, and again, one that was in a pot for years until we were able to landscape our front yard about 6-7 years ago. Gosh, I can't believe it's been that long ago we put in the pavers and landscaped with a drip irrigation system.

And back to our trio of hybrid teas outside the big kitchen window. This one is called Mojave. Its color looks so much like a Mojave or southwestern sunset.

This pink rose was here when we bought the house, and it looked like it had been there for quite a few years. I love how this rose first opens up with the dark petals on the outer edges and the inner section a lighter shade of pink. This rose has a very nice fragrance. The bush itself (the main trunk) looks terrible. It looks like somebody had taken a hatchet to it. But, it was most likely damaged in a storm and/or a tree branch may have fallen on it when it was much younger. Anyway, this rose is located on the east side of our yard, and we've been fixing up the side yard, which means we are thinking of disposing of it. But first I want to try to get some cuttings and see if I can root them. I'd love to have another one of these roses, and I have no idea what its name would be.

This is the third rose of our trio of hybrid teas (front yard). This one is called Desert Peace. I love its multi-colored petals. It seems to be appropriately named since the colors could possibly make one think of the beautiful southwest desert (especially in the spring when the desert is in full bloom).

This is what the month of May brought us in the form of roses. I hope you liked seeing the beautiful colors we enjoyed.

Some beauties from our front yard

I took these photos about two weeks ago. That was when this azalea was in its prime. And then last week's high temps did it in. It definitely does not look like this anymore. I guess it will be another year before I will see this plant in full bloom again.

Meanwhile, the roses were doing fine, and still are. This photo is an ideal blossom from one of our miniature roses. I love this coral color; it's so different from most roses. And the leaves on this plant are such a beautiful dark green. I'm sure it helps that my husband fertilizes these plants.
Here is another beautiful mini rose. Not exactly coral like the one above, but not really pink either. This was the first year I've seen so many blossoms on it at the same time.

Now here is another mini rose that is different. I love those stripes in each of the petals. Doesn't it look like a piece of candy?

And since I mentioned candy - I think this one is called candy striper, or something like that.

And this beauty reminds of some dahlias.

Another one with such beautiful colors. I love this two-toned "sunburst."

Can you believe all of these roses did a better job tolerating the heat we endured last week. Temps yesterday and today were more normal for the season. Yay!

Colors to brighten your day

For those who are in a funk or depressed from all the winter weather, I wanted to share some color with you. Some of these photos were taken in mid-December; and others were taken on the 23rd of December. So that means all these photos are more than a month old. But this is the time of year when all of us, including those of us who live in California, are lacking color around us. So it's time to brighten everyone's day!

This is one of our miniature roses in our front yard, taken in mid-December, and on a day the sun was shining.

You not only get to see our newly painted house, but also get to see one of our grasses - miscanthus sinensis - in its beautiful full blossom. This was also taken mid-December, before all the storms had hit.

This is one of our heath shrubs in full bloom. Again, mid-December.

Cancun rose, taken mid-December.

Cancun rose, taken December 23rd.

This is our navel orange tree (back yard), mid-December.

Orange tree, December 23rd. Anyone hungry for a sweet and juicy orange, freshly picked from your own tree?

Miniature roses from our front yard

This year seems to be a banner year for our roses. My husband has been the gardener of late since he is retired. He apparently fertilized at the right time, and now we are reaping the benefits. We have miniature roses along the front pathway. I'll have to take a picture of the front yard one of these days so everyone can get the proper perspective of the pathway and the distribution of the miniature roses.