Here's what Myriam looked like this evening after the sun went down. I was able to take a photo of it head-on because I didn't have to create a shadow by looming. I love the petals. It reminds me of the blooms on the smaller David Austin bushes, like Grace and Janet.

It is just lovely, makes me want to stick my nose in all those pretty ruffles!

Overcast and cool this morning, makes for wonderful rich colors! I really should be out there working in the garden with this weather, instead, I play with the camera!

First, a few roses of course.


and a few other blooms

Well, with blooms like those, I'd be playing with the camera too! All my blooms are just fried crispy things.. yuck.

Fabulous! What a pretty Verbascum. I'm always drawn to them and buy them, but then they always look more boring than I expect them to. Yours isn't boring at all.

I have overcome enough of my disdain for Heirloom Nursery to place an occasional order, but take a look at what arrived in the mail today. The big box that the cats are on contains one rose from Eurodesert. The small box in front contains six roses from Heirloom, and their prices per rose are pretty close.

Zuzu - I got in 2 boxes from Cliff myself today. I got Blue Heaven in a humungo box like yours & a smaller box that had Claire de Lune in it. That's why I won't buy Heirloom... I need robust roses that'll survive my incompetence & my winters!

I had one heirloom box like that with 2 roses. Cliff has you spoiled for any other orders from here on out!!
By the way, yes, I do need more boxes after all, the ones I wanted to reuse started falling apart when I tried to move them and I still have plenty of weeds to suppress.

That Verbascum is a tiny thing, I thought it would be a bigger plant. Of course, it's still in a pot.

I did finally get outside to do some work in the yard, planted an abutilon, a shrub, an iris and a euphorbia and then agonized what rose to plant near them all and it got too cool and windy so I left that for another day.

Oh, good. I'm glad I didn't discard them. I have at least 10 more for you (and more arriving all the time).

Do you want a nice golden-chartreuse Spiraea? I can't remember its name, but it looks really good with purple stuff planted around it (until it spreads and suffocates all of the purple stuff). Actually, it's fairly short, so I think it's easy to keep within bounds.

The Heirloom box turned out to contain only four roses. The others are now in back-order hell. The main ones did arrive, however: Star of the Nile, September Song, Tom Brown, and The Impressionist. This is the second time I've ordered The Impressionist from Heirloom and the little baby they sent me today is actually taller than the one I've been trying to grow since 2008.

Tom Brown is also a duplicate. The one I have from Vintage is still tiny after five years. Maybe I'll have better luck with the Heirloom baby. September Song is also a duplicate -- well, sort of. I bought one from Great Lakes Roses, but it's pale pink, which has no connection to the "real" September Song rose (and nothing to do with the month of September in general).

I'm a little worried about September Song. The Heirloom Website calls it an apricot blend, but their photo of it looks pink. Roses Unlimited supposedly has it and calls it an apricot blend, but their photo of it is pale pink. I can't help suspecting that Heirloom, RU, and Great Lakes all took cuttings off the same mislabeled rose.

Sure I'll take the chartreuse Spiraea! It's probably the same one I just planted, love that color. I had a second one and accidentally let it dry out in the heat in it's 1 gallon pot. Brad said just toss it but I moved it in the shade and started watering it again and it's sent out all new leaves.

That does sound worrisome about September Song! I'll wait to see if you got the real one before I consider ordering it, I really do think I need it, it's one of my favorite roses to photograph at the San Jose Heritage Rose Gardens, in case you can't tell!
http://www.helpmefind.com/rose...

I know, Sue. Those are the pictures that give me hope and make me keep ordering it. But here's the one in my garden from Great Lakes Roses:



And here's the one on the Roses Unlimited site:

The chartreuse spirea is probably goldmound or goldflame. Does it have super thin leaves or slightly more thicker looking leaves?

And those don't look apricot except with a really good imagination.

- A very pleasant pink, however. I wonder what they are.

Well let's hope this Heirloom one is the correct September Song. No photo on Vintage but the description sounds right. Too bad they are only custom root though.

Good idea with the sticky...miss the catagories like cubits has.

SUE! ALL GORGEOUS AS USUAL!

E. Veyrat Hermanos...ummm, GORGEOUS!!!

P.S.
forgot my news from around here...I got the icecream maker attachment for my Kitchenaid Mixer!
Aren't you jealous?

YES!! Extremely jealous! I am going off to Google info.

Oh, you lucky duck! I want to make ice cream.

Back to the Eurodesert/Heirloom comparison. This is probably the most ludicrous part of it. Take another look at the relative sizes of the boxes they sent. Here's a link in case you don't want to scroll up:

http://garden.org/thread/view_...

Eurodesert's shipping charge for the huge box is $11.61. Heirloom charged me $26.20 for shipping the teeny-tiny box.

Well, it seems clear that one should be preferred over the other through the consumer's point of view. Eurodesert has it over Heirloom hands down! Now you just need to convince Eurodesert to carry the plants you can only get from Heirloom... (Of course, I'm new to this and have no idea of what I am talking about, just the consumer's perspective...)

Edited: Oh yes, and a couple of glasses of wine too!