The Mystery Roses

I mentioned before that we hadn't seen blooms on some of the rose bushes in our garden -- particularly those formerly buried in the shadows of the surrounding foliage. Here are some of the new flowers.

This velvety red rose was once so far back in the hedge that it not only hadn't flowered, it didn't even have leaves! When we removed all the overgrowth it sent out new shoots and finally, last week, offered up this amazing deep red blossom.

This one, near Dave's firespikes, came up from the roots -- a little pink tea rose.

This one might be our favorite. It's a bright orange-red, with a simple blossom (a single, I suppose, as opposed to a double or triple). It's out in the middle of the yard but only recently worked up the energy to bloom.

And finally, we have a white one. This one was blooming when we first moved in, so I knew it was white, but then one of the branches got knocked off during our big yard cleanup. It regrew and sent out new flowers last week, like bright surveyor's flags near ground level.

All these bushes are in need of pruning and shaping. We still haven't heard any more from the landlord about sending a gardener to do the work. I suppose I should check on that.

I haven't seen any more of the large rose sawfly caterpillars that completely denuded one of our bushes and part of a few others. I killed those little devils by hand (thank god for gardening gloves) and they have not returned.

I've never been a huge fan of roses, which always seemed fussy and overdramatic to me. I'd much rather have some simple wildflowers. But now that we have them in our yard I've come to appreciate them more! And of course England has the stereotypically rose-friendly climate -- we don't have to do much to them. They just grow and do their thing.