A Sun-Kissed Morning Begins a Beautiful Day

My young white trio: two Bradford pear trees and a Black Tartarian cherry tree glisten in the morning light and chill.

Mornings in my garden this week were bright and cold, with a kiss of color and sunlight brushing the flowering trees.

The cherry tree is brilliant against a clear, bright sky.

Afternoons breeze through, sometimes with dust; at other times the wind feels colder than the sunlight would suggest.

The warm spring allowed my young Burkwood viburnum to bloom. The fragrance is divine and I adore seeing the pink buds opening to pure white, simple blossoms.

I managed to get my little rosebushes from Heirloom Roses planted. My dear friend Sarah Z. treated me to three roses that I was anxious to have. 

My three new babies patiently await.

My previous experiment with Ebb Tide ended prematurely; I believe I planted it too early in the season. I am hoping that this time the roots will have a chance to grow and become well secured in their new home before the season is out. 

Ebb Tide has a roomy new home in front of a rather winter-ravaged Ambridge Rose and next to Cl. America.

I love Moonlight Scentsation so much that I chose another to keep it company.

Moonlight Scentsation poses before settling into a new home.

I ordered Jean Kenneally -- I am fascinated by the idea of growing the highest rated rose ever -- but they sent Cl. Jeanne Lajoie by mistake. I already have several Jeanne Lajoie; charming as she is, I don't need another. I did manage to find a spot for her, and the good, service-oriented folks at Heirloom Roses are graciously sending my Jean Kenneally along soon. 

Fragrant crabapple blossoms scent the afternoon.

Evening quietly closes another  happy spring day in the garden.

Miniature and Mini-Flora Roses That I Love

Sunny miniature roses are bright spots in our garden.

An unnamed yellow Parade mini

The first to begin blooming and the last of the season to quit, minis delight us anew each year. The series of late spring frosts has slowed down all the other roses in the garden, but the minis surge ahead and reward us with clusters of happy blossoms.

Flawless

Flawless is our new miniflora from Heirloom this spring. Already it is displaying its long pointed buds and breaking into fragrant, beautifully formed flowers. I adore the color. It is planted in front of Dream Weaver, which produces ruffled clusters of salmon pink roses to create a harmonious blending with Flawless.

Rugged minis in the front rock garden 

Grocery store minis from a decade or more ago

The grocery store minis above are as tough as the petrified wood lining their bed.

A chance seedling

I love the red flares on the chance seedling's flowers. I hope it becomes a robust, floriferous rose bush.

I was happy to note that our chance seedling made it through the winter and is about to bloom. It produced one or two pale yellow blooms last year. We'll see what this year brings.

White rose from last year's cutting project

The above white mini was planted last spring from the previous winter's cuttings. It made it through our nasty winter and is blooming away in its permanent garden home.

The mother of the white mini cuttings

The original is a grocery store plant from more than a decade ago. It's still healthy and productive in the front bed.

Moonlight Scentsation

Moonlight Scentsation is not as robust as Flawless yet. It is from the same spring Heirloom order. It's trying very hard to please!

Overnight Scentsation is fragrant and lovely. The two I planted from Heirloom this spring are now blooming.

They are in small round beds that are next to each other, along with dianthus, some burgundy minis from Trader Joes, and Starlight Express Oriental lilies. The fragrance is divine!

You may click to enlarge the above photos

Until the Roses Begin to Bloom

The color of morning in our garden offers a soothing refreshment. 

It seems a long wait for the first of the roses to bloom. Many blogs I follow have displayed tantalizing photos of full, glorious flushes. In the meantime, I am trying to keep out of the wind and dust, and content myself with what is.

Creeping phlox and candytuft are doing their mightiest to bloom before they are upstaged by the roses

April 10, 2011, the last of  the rooted cuttings are bravely inuring themselves to our capricious spring weather.

The last of the rooted cuttings are now in the ground. The minis rooted well. A family emergency in the middle of potting up the rooted cuttings resulted in carelessness on my part, and several  labels got lost. I know there are white and pink minis, and a Double Delight or two. 

A pink mini from a rooted cutting keeping the Pink Lemonade honeysuckle company.

Mystery, perhaps Double Delight?

The roses are all planted, even the ones ordered from Chamblees and Heirloom. All have had frost-nip several times, but are carrying on with grim determination.

Seminole Wind from Chamblees

Moonlight Scentsation, a fragrant miniflora from Heirloom

One of 3 Peggy Martin roses, from Chamblees.

Overnight Scentsation, a fragrant miniflora from Heirloom.

The tiny new growth on all the new roses is encouraging. Roses are miracle workers; from the smallest little stick will grow a new blooming bush, holding its own by the season's end. Eden means pleasure, and there certainly is Edenic pleasure in the humblest of gardens.

You may click to enlarge the above photos