Pink Rose Memories

 

Imagine an adventurous and hot day in the glorious Sacramento Old City Cemetery Rose Garden shooting hundreds of pictures (this was in April 2015), and then a seventy mile drive home with two best flower friends. It must have been about 5:00 pm when Susan and I dropped Mary at her doorstep. Mary cheerily invited us to hop out of the car and take a tour of  her garden. 

Spring-Blossoms-&-Roses

Weary me was less than enthusiastic, though I did pause long enough to shoot Mary's pretty side yard on our way to the rosebeds in the back garden.

 

Small-pink-single-roses

But then I perked right up when I saw this powder pink rambler by the back gate.

 

Sparrieshoop-rose

And when the perfect blooms of Sparrieshoop, in the same color palette, presented herself I was at full attention with my camera. The opportunity to frame these blooms on a patch of lime feverfew was good too.

 

Christopher-Marlowe

Then the joy of zooming in on the button center of Christopher Marlowe . . .

 

Color-magic-rose

only to find Color Magic was waiting for me, a few yards away.

 

 

Blush-Peony

 

Mary has a number of (hard to grow where we live) peonies. Don't you love the blush on this one?

 

Spent-peony

And how about this graceful farewell? I relish catching shots like this.

Thanks so much for the tour Mary and the fabulous photo op!

 

BACK AT HOME 


Pink-Zinnia

The pretty pinks followed me . . .

 

Elephant-and-Pink-Rose

even into the house.

 

Pink-knitting-yarn

 

I just loved all these pictures when I first saw them and looked forward to making a post here. It was amazing to get so many good shots in such a short time (especially after a day of intensive shooting in Sacramento). It's almost been a year and hopefully its never too late. Let me know what you think. That is my daughter Anna's knitting with yarn she purchased at the amazing Webster's in Ashland, Oregon.

 

Pink-Rose-Blog-Post 


Signs of Spring in My California Garden 2016

 

It was the fresh new rose leaves that lured me outside last Sunday. I'd been away for six days and the miracle of spring growth had worked overtime!

Grandmother's-hat-rose-leaves

Rose leaf admiration is a favorite pastime– do any of you feel the same way? Just look at the elegant slant of the newest leaves on Hybrid Perpetual, Grandmother's Hat. Heritage roses often have distinctive even unique leaves.

 

Red-rose-leaves

The varied color of new leaves is also swoon worthy, and is why I grabbed my camera. I thought it would be fun to focus on one leaf color and use the opposite color as a blurred background.

 

Panorama-carolyn-parker-garden

Then I thought 'dare I shoot the garden?' I tried without success until I remembered the panorama feature on my iPhone.

 

Panorama2

These shots border the lawn at the front of our house. The pruned shape of the bushes is still evident, but before long continued growth will hide the ground and the fencing.

 

Rose-leaves-on-trellis

Crepuscule and her companion abutilon look so tidy and contained – a study of trimmed texture. Later these two will look like this in a magazine layout.

Flowernotes-magazine-page

 

 

Spirea-&-rose-leaves

I turned away from Crepuscule and the bright yellow leaves of Spirea said, "Come on, enough about rose leaves."

 

Pink-lorapetalum
  The lorapetalum chimed in, "I mean really."

 

Pink-camellia

 

White-hellebore

 

Clematis-armandii

 

Brunnera-flowers

Camellias, hellebores, clematis armandii, brunnera and many more garden 

treats are daily celebrating their return.

 

How does your garden grow? I'd love to hear from you.

 

 

 


Perle d'Or – an A+ Rose

The Perle d'Or roses were looking so gorgeous – I thought they might look nice in new container, courtesy of Castlevetrano olives.

Last_perle_d'or

I liked the graceful, oversized jar the olives came in.

 

Perle-d'or

I tried them this way and that . . . and added a sprig of Jeanne La Joie roses.

 

Peach-pink-roses

Little did I know that this would be my last rose bouquet of 2015! A few days later we had an early freeze and the roses made their farewell.

 

Perle-d'or-rose-shrub copy

Perle d'Or is a Polyantha rose that blooms and blooms in carefree beauty. The shrub will grow up to 6 feet or more and is without disease in my California garden.

 

Perle-d'or-rose-bloom