It’s Time to Stop and Smell the Roses

Flowers, Gardening, Prayer Garrden, Reflections, Roses

If there is any time of year to literally stop and smell the roses it’s now while the wild roses are blossoming.

Wild roses, unlike their domestic counterparts, give off a lovely fragrance that will even at times drift in he breeze.

Technology, at least to my knowledge, does not allow me to share the that fragrance with you through my blog.

So the best I can do is share some photos.

Our domestic roses, which really don’t have a fragrance, are doing well this year also. This small bush (above) is one of 4 bushes my husband rescued from the nursery/landscape company he worked for two years ago. Had he not brought them home they would have faced certain death.

This larger rose bush (above) has struggled over the years. It was a Mother’s Day gift from my daughters several years ago. It first produced yellow blossoms. After being severely damaged by weather and critters I pruned it way down. It then began producing red flowers. Apparently the yellow rose had been grafted on a red rose bush and it was only the original red rose that survived. This year it is producing more flowers than ever before.

Next to that is a low growing rose bush that I have had to keep pruned because it wants to spread everywhere. I don’t know the name of this type of rose but it is very hardy. It too is loaded with red buds and blossoms.

Low growing mini rose bush (above).

My peony began to blossom last week. I think it was the most beautiful peony I have ever seen.

It may have been the stark contrast of the bold pink flowers set against all of the purples and greens that made it look so beautiful, or it may have been that I planted this peony in 2019 in memory of my Aunt Shirley who passed away that year and this was the first time it has blossomed since it was planted.

It has brought back many fond memories of her.

I had read that deer normally won’t eat peonies so I felt that it was safe to leave it uncaged. I guess the deer in our neighborhood are not normal.

Those bright pink globe-like flowers were apparently irresistible to them. There are still two small buds that have yet to open so the peony will remain caged until it is done blossoming.

While the irises are finished blossoming the thyme and salvia are both in full bloom and attracting the bees and other pollinators. The lavender is getting ready to open. I expect by this time next week it will be in full bloom.

We added some creeping phlox along the new rock boarder. We chose three different shades of pink . They have already begun to spread so hopefully by next spring they will have filled in much of that area.

Not everything gets planted in the prayer garden though. I planted four chamomile plants amongst some wild flowers and they seem quite happy.

While their flowers look similar to chamomile these are wild daisies that have made their home amongst my marshmallow plants this year.

Last but least I’d like to introduce you to Mari the pig. I’m not exactly sure how Mari came to live on our farm. My husband picked her up somewhere in his travels and she fits in quite well at the farm.

I can, however, tell you how Mari got her name. Several weeks ago when I went to plant our porch pots I discovered a plant had started growing in one of the pots. It looked like a petunia so I figured a petunia from last year had dropped a seed there and it sprouted. Since I needed to work that soil in order to put in the plants that I had bought I decided to plant the petunia in the pig planter. I then named the pig Petunia.

Over the weeks we have been watering the petunia and watching it grow while waiting for it to begin to blossom. Last week while looking at it I told my husband that it was looking more like calendula, also know as pot marigold, than a petunia. A few days ago when I took the above photo I noticed that a calendula bud was beginning to form on the plant. I told my husband that I was renaming the pig Mari(gold).

Thanks for visiting and remember to make it a great day! 🙂

19 thoughts on “It’s Time to Stop and Smell the Roses”

  2. Wow, the pictures are beautiful. I have been adding to our landscaping little by little. It’s a challenge to have a new environment to figure out what will grow ( and what won’t get eaten by critters) but it is fun to plant things I have never tried before. Yesterday I put in some Calla Lily and I hope they do well. The wild roses on the mountain have been very fragrant this year, and so has the honeysuckle vine. My daily walks have been filled with wonder at the beautiful sights and smells of my new home.

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      1. Yes, I planted one last fall. It came up well and is a pretty little first year plant. ( I didn’t know that there were yellow ones until my friend in Michigan posted pictures of hers)

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  4. Gorgeous pictures Ruth! What are those tall white flowers in the background of the peony photo? I love the color of your peony. I told the nursery I wanted that color but when the one they sold me bloomed it was a very pale pink/white? I stopped buying at that nursery, as they also sold me coral roses one year instead of pink. I’ve also experienced that red/yellow color graft thing occasionally. A pink climber was pink the first year and the next few it had one red rose on it and that was it, no more pink and always just one bloom.

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    1. Thanks Joni. The tallest flowers in the background are irises. They are a light purple but the ones that look white are the ones that the blossoms have died.
      In 2019 when I told my sister that I wanted to plant a peony she told me to divide some of hers. She had three different colors and I could divide any or all if I wanted. I couldn’t remember which color I chose until it blossomed this year.
      I think I would stop shopping at that nursey too.

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      1. It looks so pretty – very English border! I have purple iris but a darker color, but it did not do well this year with the yo-yo weather. I’ve heard the best time to plant/divide peonies is fall so I plan on visiting someone who has lots of that brighter color.

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  5. You described those roses so well that I feel like I am sniffing them Ruth. 🙂 They are beautiful Ruth as is the rest of your gardens. I have had more luck with shrub roses and I bought one shrub rose many years ago at Frank’s Nursery for $1.00. It’s name was “Dream Cloud” and it was a no-brand rose and looked half dead just like you described yours. It has rallied back after a couple of Polar Vortexes and was well worth that buck!

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  7. I enjoyed your narrative and all the photos.

    I haven’t smelled our wild roses, although I’ve been close to them. Our two rose bushes in the garden do produce blooms with a lovely aroma. I liked the story about the gift of the yellow rose bush that was really red. True love — true colors??

    Wild daisies took over our garden during Lise’s five-week visit. I’m enjoying the blooms this year, and I may never pulled them up again. They look far prettier than the normal weeds that creep in.

    I liked the story of Petunia’s name change to Mari.

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    1. Thanks Anne.
      In past year I have tried to keep weeds down around the marshmallow plants but this year I decided that the daisies should stay.
      I wonder what it is about roses that make some aromatic and other not. Might have to do some research.

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