It’s that time of year, when the roses bloom. I love my garden in May and June and, as happens most years, I’ll share a glimpse of it with you.

The irises and poppies were beautiful this spring, but I didn’t get out there with my camera. The peonies took the rain hard, but were very prolific this year. Now, we’re on to roses! My roses are mostly old varieties. Here, for example, is the Apothecary Rose, which was grown in France in the Middle Ages. (Yes, they made medicine from these roses, mostly from the rose hips but also from the petals.) That’s cranesbill growing underneath the roses. It’s gone a bit wild, but I like how the blue looks with the pink roses.

And here’s the Rosamunde rose, a striped variant of the Apothecary rose, named for the mistress of Henry II of England.

These rose varieties are a little newer. Here’s a Rose de Rescht. I took this shot late in the day, so the colour isn’t as dark. In the morning, when they first open, they’re almost burgundy.:

Here’s my Great Maiden’s Blush – again, the colour is more vivid in the morning and has faded a bit. The leaves on this one are a bit of a grey-blue which really complements the pale pink. It’s a big shrub, taller than me, and sways like a fountain in the wind.

David Austen is a rose breeder who has created a number of new varieties that look like old roses. I have a few of his roses including Graham Thomas:

And Leander, which is quite shrimpy when it opens then softens to a pale pink during the day. One of my late peonies photobombed the second shot.

And here’s shrub rose, which looks really good behind the golden sage.

Finally, a very nice token in my post office box this week from Romance Writers of America.

50 books published! Actually, I’m well past the 50 but the next milestone is 75. I’m not quite there yet. 🙂