Today in the garden...

I strolled about my front garden this morning... to see what I could see... or couldn't… and I can see that the endless task of controlling the Algergian Ivy has been neglected for far too long!!!


It's time for a major hack and trim - the birdbath is almost swallowed up!

Nearby, the amazing "Frederic Mistral" (below) is also being consumed.
I used to like ivy, too. So green... so cool... but this variety (which came with the house) should probably not be used in most suburban gardens. There are other varieties that are much prettier and easier to control and which do the same job (ground cover and/or erosion control).

Then I made my way into the back garden. "White Delight", which I am so fond of that I've planted several of them here and there, is… well, a delight. Behind it, climbing gracefully on lattice, is the ever dependable and intensely fragrant Star Jasmine.

Next to this particular White Delight is "Fame" -

And now - to begin tackling the ivy removal project. I admit that I am not looking forward to this.

Romancing the Rose

"I haven't much time to be fond of anything. But when I have a moment's fondness to bestow, most times... the roses get it."
~ (William) Wilkie Collins ~

I can certainly understand why Mr. Collins said that! When we lived in Ireland, my husband put up outdoor floodlights for me so I could garden at night after we got home from work. Every spare moment I had was spent in the garden... or at the Phoenix Park Garden Centre just outside the park's Castleknock gate. The arthritis in my hands has limited me a bit now - but there are still very few things I'd rather do than play in my garden.

Here are a few of this year's first flush of the roses in my garden...

(click on each picture for a larger view)

Above is David Austin's "Hero" - (the original one, not the sport known as "Huntington's Hero") with "Gold Medal" - just outside the window of my breakfast room…

This is "Auguste Renoir"...


And these (below) are the remarkable "Color Magic" so named because it's color starts out as a lovely middle pink and progessively changes color until it finishes up as a deep red.



I read somewhere once that someone quite famous in the gardening world said that every garden should have peace... so - this is my "Peace" as it looked today...

The yellow rose behind it is "Graceland".

One of the year's first roses...

"What a pity flowers can utter no sound! -
A singing rose, a whispering violet, a murmuring honeysuckle, -
oh, what a rare and exquisite miracle would these be!"

- Henry Ward Beecher -


In spite of the definite pink color this year - this is "White Delight"… one of my all-time favorite hybrid tea roses.