Sue, just lovely! I like the lilacs in there!

Happy Mothers Day to all moms out there. Even us moms with only four footed fur babies.

And, some of those four footers can be just as challenging as the 2 footers ! LOL

Calsurf73 said:And, some of those four footers can be just as challenging as the 2 footers ! LOL

Yes, but far less sassing back!

Apparently, you don't own a cat ! LOL

Yeah, the cats AND the siberian husky sass back all the time. Happy Mother's Day!

I guess I had mellow cats. Not much sassing back. Past Dogs knew I was the boss. Lily (my dog now) gets away with whatever by acting and being cute.

@sunnyvalley, those are Butterfly Bush (Buddleja 'Attraction') blooms, not lilacs.

I have two Summer Song bushes side by side, the one on the left was planted probably a year ago and it looks like it's tall branches weren't strong enough for the clusters of blooms plus the rain.


Brothers Grimm Fairy Tale is loaded with buds, you can barely make out the huge clusters here. My favorite alstromeria is growing through the branches as is a lily that will eventually be taller. There's even an iris bud peeking through


Iris Hope, 7+ ft tall

Sue ...

I've had juvenile roses put on too much growth too quickly and not have canes strong enough to carry the bloom clusters. Some of them learn from their mistakes as they mature ... as we do ...

As usual, beautiful photos. Thank you for sharing ...

Yes, the Summer Song on the right did it too the first year.

Sue, thanks for pointing that out - if I had looked more closely I would have recognised the Buddleja. I just assumed lilac because that is what is flowering here at the moment - have never had a Buddleja bloom in May here! Sometimes I forget that for some of you everything starts earlier, not just the roses!
Love that picture of IRISH HOPE - had to look it up! Pity not many nurseries carry it here in Europe.

Update on Irish Hope - On my wish list for my fall order! I found a nursery that has it

It's a great rose, really surprised me! Tall, very upright, healthy foliage. Glad I put it where it is, against a silvery eucalyptus tree. I was only expecting 4-5 ft tall but it easily gets 6-7 feet each year even when I cut it back by half. I will have to try further back this winter.

Our lilacs have been done for 6-8 weeks here.

I love the not-red-not-orange colour of Summer Song, and it has a lovely perfume. I now have four of them... We also have a hedge of Harlow Carr that flopped over a few years ago before the stems had got woody enough to hold up the blooms - in our case because I hadn't pruned it hard enough. It recovered immediately, though, when I gave it a hair cut.
Stunning garden, Sue - you and zuzu should do a joint 'open garden' event and charge people to visit...

Make it a benefit for cats at your local shelter! That would bring in cat and plant people! Win-win-win!

We've had more storms, and many of my peonies and roses have their faces in the mud now. It's a good year to see just which roses are resistant to blackspot. Neil Diamond is the worst. Most of my Palatine roses are pretty clean. I'm making a list.....
Mika, I never thought about cutting the Austins back to keep them from flopping. They are in an area where they have room to spread out. With the heavy rains and fast growth this spring, the canes are thin and weak. I think I'll wait until this flush is slowing down, then cut them back by at least a third.
Is there any reason not to do that?
Our just-for-fun rose expo was yesterday. I cut 48 different blooms, put them in little vases, and then decided not to go. Storms were rolling in, and I didn't want to be caught out in it. My windowsills are sure full!

Very pretty Cindi! My Mom did that one year with all her roses to test them and see which did the best in vases, what lasted the longest. It was such a pretty row of blooms! Especially cheerful with that kind of weather.

My most blackspot resistant roses are always the Kordes ones.

Gorgeous, Cindi! And all that color outside the window is beautiful too!

My first rose is opening, Morden's Blush. I haven't paid much attention to it and that was a surprise. I had 3 little own root plants here and there in the garden and none had gained any size in 5 years. Last year I dug them and planted all 3 together in a new, well amended spot. They're looking like they may decide to grow! At least with the 3 little guys together there are enough blooms to make some impact.

Lovely windowsill full of roses, Cindi. I don't think it will hurt to cut back your Austins by a third, although it may delay (not stop) the next flush of flowers. When our rose hedge fell down (it was really sad, lots of stems flat on the grass ) I phoned David Austin and was advised to cut them back by a half. It was my own fault for not pruning them hard enough - I was too keen for the hedge to grow and fill out. The blooms are quite heavy, especially so, as Sue says, when they get wet.
Now we prune all the Austins by around a third (some even more) every year; the only exception is where we're training them as climbers and they get tied in. We have three Generous Gardener growing up around a gazebo and they are now well over 12 feet tall. It's a wonderful spot to sit and smile - like being in an igloo made of roses.

Sounds absolutely divine Mika! Hope we get some photos here so we can see it too!