ABOVE– The abundant toys of a garden in May.

BELOW– One thing led to another.

 

The photographer quickly tired of the blue background.

She often prefers white, and was inspired by a number of different compositions.

The green box provides one more look for the hardworking roses.

Good art is art that allows you to enter it from a variety of angles and to emerge with a variety of views.

~ Mary Schmich

I'm not so sure the above is art, but the process seems like art to me. It's kind of a personal immersion with roses trying to show them at their best, not settling for the first try, and hoping I'm doing something a teeny bit different than last time.

 

Belle Isis, Village Maid, De Meaux, Heritage, Macrantha, Mme Caroline Testout, Common Moss and a couple other roses appear with Limemound spirea, aquilegia, nemesia, and a little furry grey thing I don't know the name of.

I told you yesterday, I would show you my Albertine bouquet today. It's not as simple as it sounds though, because other famous roses made guest appearances, and must be introduced–– Henri Martin is at the top, then comes Albertine, followed by  Glendora, Ispahan, and Kathleen.

 

Roses relish each other's company-- crowding is never a problem-- and divas don't seem to exist in the Rose world.

Usually when I feature a rose, I try my best to photograph the shrub in all its perfection, before I cut stems for an arrangement. For 'Albertine' I did the opposite, because I needed long stems for the bouquet display at the Celebration.

The day after back at home, I had to keep from swooning as I photographed individual blooms in the bouquet. This is the most photogenic (and fragrant) creature-- I really wanted to show you at least nine close-ups, but the photo editor gets the last word.

Then this morning (another rainy one), I went out to see what-was-what for the shrub picture.

The 3-year-old Rambler looks pretty good after all that cutting. It's climbing up a wire stake that keeps our telephone pole in place. I didn't want to show the wire, but then how would you see the scale of the rose?

I wondered if I should show the telephone pole and the road signs, and wished instead that I had a little friend to pose with the rose.

And then along came Abby and Sophie Conner on their way to school. (Abby is a teacher at the school.)