****WARNING – This post is going to be VERY picture heavy****

A few weeks ago I was blogging about my yard and how behind I was in getting everything done. At that time I believe I mentioned that I had sixteen rose bushes. Well, I miscounted and am actually up to eighteen now. I received another one for my birthday from a good friend. I had to add onto my corner rose garden, but I managed to fit it in.

Two weeks ago my rose bushes really started to come to life. Let me show you!

In May my giant rose bush looked quite sad and barren. Now it looks like this:

This is the rose bush that I had to threaten about four years ago. The first two summers that I lived here it didn’t do anything. I told it that if it didn’t do anything by the third summer I was going to rip it out. As you can see, it took my threat to heart! The only bad thing is that once the blooms are done I have to dead-head this entire bush.

Last year when Jay’s grandma passed away his mom and aunt asked the florist to get two yellow rose bushes so that we could remember her that way. Well, she passed away in the second half of August, so roses were a bit slim for the picking. They weren’t blooming when we got them, but as soon as they started to I realized that they weren’t yellow roses. I was also worried about planting it so late in the summer. I like the rose bushes to get themselves somewhat established before winter comes around. Luckily, this one made it through quite well.

In this same garden I have a rose bush that I bought about three years ago. I call it Boogart’s Rose bush because the flowers look almost like apple blossoms (we had apple blossoms painted on her urn). This rose bush is quite robust, too, so it definitely fits her!

Aren’t they so pretty?

I used a special filter on my camera that makes the colors pop.

The last rose bush in this row is a little peach bush that is very productive, too.

As you can see, it likes to hang out on the other side of my fence.

The front yard is where I have the majority of my roses. We’ll start in the corner garden.

Starting in the front we have my only yellow rose bush.

This bush is VERY hardy and VERY fragrant. I was standing on the other end of the garden and could smell it. It’s so heavenly!

Sitting behind this one is a newer one, Top Gun.

One of the blooms was already on the way out when I snapped this picture.

I have another climbing rose bush in here that I think must be related to my monster in the other garden.

This one was originally by the corner of my porch, but I didn’t think it would get enough sun there so I moved it. I think that maybe the previous owners had planted it.

I have another climber in here, Don Juan, but he hasn’t done very well the past couple of years.

You can’t really see him because he’s nestled down in with the corner climber’s canes. (the neighborhood brats kicked my fence last winter and broke it so now we have to fix it… GRRRR)

Next to my Naval Aviator plant I have Peace.

Isn’t she beautiful? So soft! So delicate!

Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to introduce the newest member of the Corner Rose Garden: Double Delight!

She was my birthday present.

Let’s wander over and take a look at the miniature roses.

This is what they looked like about a month ago or so. Remember I said that I was going to put my Mary statue in here?

What do you think?

I chose to paint her all in white because I like how classic it looks and I also wanted her to really contrast with the red roses.

How beautiful is she?! Love it!

The last rose garden contains five rose bushes, but I don’t have pictures of all of them.

Wait a minute! What do we have here??

We have an interloper? Do you see the chipmunk at the edge of the grass? As I was trying to take Mary’s picture I heard this rustling. To my left, within 18″ of where I was sitting, is a hydrangea bush and that’s where this critter was rustling. He just came walking out quite unconcerned that I was there. It’s not good when they lose their fear of man!

Anyway, back to my roses…

I have two more climbers, but only pictures of one of them.

The red buds belong to the climber. I know for a fact that he’s a relative of the climber in my corner garden. I know this because he sprung up in the spot where the old one had resided prior to being transplanted. I tried moving it a few times (which is how I managed to get a second climber in front of the porch), but this one kept coming back. Since he’s so stubborn I let him stay. I wasn’t going to fight him anymore.

The yellow bud is actually from another birthday rose bush. It’s called White Licorice. Even though it looks yellow, when it actually blooms it will be white with a bit of a greenish tinge. It’s actually quite pretty!

The last picture that I have is of my Purple Rose bush.

It wasn’t in bloom at the time, but when it did completely open they were gorgeous. This is the cousin of the rose bush that I thought was dead, but really wasn’t. The cousins now sit side-by-side. In fact, the “Dead”  rose bush (now named Lazarus) had a very big and beautiful bloom.

I hope you enjoyed looking at my beautiful roses. As soon as they invent the scratch-and-sniff version of blogs I’ll be sure to add the fragrance. It’s divine!

Until then I’m just going to sit on my front porch swing and enjoy the view of my roses.

Apparently somebody else beat me to it. He was just hanging out on the porch swing, chilling and relaxing. I can’t really blame him. I want to just sit and look at the roses, too!