Gathering Roses

Gathering life's roses is something that most of us don't do often enough. We're too busy with our jobs and other things to just stop and smell the roses and then gather them. We at Bliss try to gather as much roses as possible, as life is too short as it is and we feel that we have to make the best of it while we can.

Today I'm literally gathering roses at Bliss. Remember this rose? It's Moonlight and it started flowering half April.

Now a lot of its blossoms are spent so it's time for a spot of pruning. I love to prune my roses as it brings me into close proximity with them and that's no hardship as all of them are wonderfully fragrant. And, of course, I like to surround myself with good tools and preferably of the stylish kind too.
So out came my trusty basket, one of a set of three, thick gloves and my favorite pair of very sharp secateurs.
After 10 minutes of merrily pruning away at Moonlight while breathing in her lovely scent, my basket was overflowing with spent flowers. I emptied it and started snipping away again.
While I was pruning away for Queen and Country with gay abandon I almost literally stumbled across this person. Hello, hello, who's this then, sunbathing in my front garden and basking in all its rosy glory? Well, all will be revealed, but not just yet.

Rosa Moonlight is planted in a bed edged with box and under planted with Stachys byzantina and the white allium Neapolitanum that is in flower at the moment. It's a lovely combination, don't you think? Love that soft velvety look and feel of the Lamb's Ear with the dainty white allium flowers poking through its velvety, broad grey leaves. Earlier in Spring, tulipa Queen of Night was flowering here to brighten up our days with her beauty.

Now that Moonlight is taking a breather, another rose has taken pride of place; it's Guirlande d'Amour a white climbing rose that flowers profusely for months on end and has a wonderful fragrance too. For me, this is one of the very best climbers. It has flowers from top to bottom, none of that nonsense of just some flowers very high up where you're unable to admire or smell them.

And here she is and not even at her peak yet. Absolutely marvellous this rose and it would be perfect but for one tiny little thing, it has thorns and lots of it. That's why I wear my sturdy gloves when I prune this rose or gather roses from it. It's only with this rose and rosa Blanc Double de Coubert that I wear gloves, with the others it's not necessary as they have very little thorns.
Here's another look at that glorious Guirlande d'Amour, its name meaning garlands of love, and what a lovely name it is! In the foreground are the snapdragons, Royal Bride, flowering their little hearts out, bless them! They also exude a wonderful fragrance because we at Bliss want the air that we breathe to be perfumed with lots of wonderful scents.

One of the many perks of roses that flower so profusely is that you can pick its flowers to your heart's delight and this is exactly what I did, I gathered roses and lots of it!
I then took the little darlings inside and put them in a vase. For roses I always use warm water and a special liquid flower feed. I trim away most of the leaves and cut the stems diagonally before I put them in the water. The vase needs to be squeaky clean, that way your roses will last a long time. Within half an hour the living room was filled with the wonderful fragrance of Guirlande d'Amour. Mmmmmmm, bliss!
And how about you, have you gathered your roses yet? If not, what is stopping you? Go on, you know you want to! And you don't have to limit yourself to white because roses come in many different colours. Here's a look at just a few of the choices that are available in the rose colour department.

Soft pink.
Voluptuous apricot!

Shocking pink, moss roses this time.
Cheerful Calypso that's white with splashes of pink or is it pink with splashes of white? I'm not exactly sure, but who cares anyway? Just look at it, isn't it totally gloat worthy?

See what I mean? No two roses are the same. Colour is painted on these little beauties with wild abandon in splashes, stripes and dots. How's that for an all singing and all dancing rose and it has a bit of a scent too!

And look who's come to join the party; it's Magenta a very fragrant and old-fashioned looking rose, a classic beauty if I ever saw one. She has opened her first flower today and this is what we at Bliss are looking forward to soon.
There are 2 Magenta roses here, both of them standards which is great because all its flowers are on nose height, ready to have its truly wonderful fragrance deeply inhaled. After smelling these roses you just have to sit down rather quickly as its scent goes to your head, making you dizzy with delight. As luck would have it, there are 2 nice seating area's close by. Yes, we have thought of everything. :-)
You love the roses - so do I. I wish
The sky would rain down roses, as they rain
From the shaken bush. Why will it not?
Then all the valley would be pink and white
And soft to tread on. They would fall as light
As feathers, smelling sweet: and it would be
Like sleeping and yet waking, all at once.
George Eliot