More on Roses

I mentioned Rosa 'Windrush' in my previous post and managed to take some nice pictures to illustrate the point. (The backdrop is Cornus controversa 'Variegata')


And some detail ....

Roses - Round II

This is the time of year when we get a good second flush of our many roses.
While some roses like Rosa 'Graham Thomas' and Rosa 'Emma Hamilton' go on producing flowers throughout the summer and autumn, some flower in flushes.

A notable cultivar is Rosa 'Windrush'
It has beautiful almost single white flowers, which are quite large, and are produced in flushes over a month or so. The first round this year was at the beginning of June. The second one is just starting. A hard prune after the first flush of flowers results in a second one that's almost as good.

One of my favorites, is a new rose I planted last year - A fairly new David Austin introduction, Rosa 'Lady of Shalott'. It has been slow to get going, probably because it's planted close to a mature Wisteria, but the flowers are lovely, specially when back lit by the evening sun.

White Lavender

One of our cats, Trixy, had a car accident and it was not clear if she would survive, so updating the blog was the least of my worries. She is now out of danger and I can resume following the garden more closely.

Trixy enjoying the garden

The plant that stood out most in the last week is the white lavender. I grow a few blue lavenders, mostly inherited with the garden, and they all finished flowering a few weeks ago.
I was not really aware of white lavenders until I saw them at Hampton Court Flower Show last year. I promptly bought a few from one of the show gardens selling them off.

I found it is not as tolerant of dry soil as the blue ones (I have to admit I have no idea which cultivar it is, though I suspect it is Lavandula angustifolia 'Alba'), but it remains in flower for much longer, the flowers opening slowly along the short spire


Unlike the blue lavenders where all the flowers open at once, more impressive perhaps, not so sure.