I know from past years that I won't be able to keep up with this because literally hundreds more are starting to bloom each week, but here are most of the roses that started blooming in the first week of May.

The bloom on the left is About Face, a very tall grandiflora with huge flowers. They get so heavy that some, like this one, hang upside down. The bloom on the right is Abracadabra, the Warriner hybrid tea, not the striped Kordes one.



Alchymist is a once-blooming climber. I usually avoid once-bloomers because space is in short supply in my garden, but I would always make an exception for this one.



All a Twitter, on the left, is one of the new minis I bought from Edmunds' this year. Ambiance, on the right, is a new mini I just bought at Lowe's.



Here are just a few of the different-looking blooms on my Aloha climber (the Kordes one, in contrast to the Boerner one, which hasn't started blooming yet):





Amy Vanderbilt, on the left, is a floribunda, and Antique Caramel, on the right, is a hybrid tea with an interesting color scheme: sometimes it's yellow, sometimes it's cream-colored, and sometimes it has a dash of pink.



Harlekin is a gorgeous climber. (Edited to correct this name from Antike to Harlekin)



Apricot Nectar, on the left, is a floribunda, and Autumn Sunset, on the right, is a shrub or climber. I grow one as a climber and one as a shrub.



That's all the A's, so I'll move on to a new post.

Here are two photos of Baron Girod de l'Ain, a hybrid perpetual.



Beaute, on the left, is a hybrid tea that's sometimes apricot and sometimes yellow. Berries 'n' Cream, on the right, is a climber.



Black Cherry, on the left, is a floribunda, and Blaze, on the right, is a climber.



Blue Boy, on the left, is a shrub rose, and Blue Skies, on the right, is a Buck rose, but a hybrid tea rather than one of his usual shrub roses. Blue Skies starts out lavender-blue and fades to lavender-gray. (Correction: This is planted next to Blue Skies, but is most probably my Royal Amethyst, which I moved in a great hurry last year when the gophers were circling.)



Blueberry Hill is a floribunda.



Blumenschmidt, on the left, is a tea rose, and Borderer, on the right, is a floribunda.



Bronze Sunset, on the left, is a hybrid tea, and Brown Study, on the right, is a floribunda.



Brown Velvet is a floribunda.



Butterfly Wings, on the left, is a floribunda, and Butterscotch, on the right, is a hybrid tea. There's another Butterscotch that's russet tan, but it's a climber.



That's the B's. On to the next post.

Look at these wonderful buds on Cardinal Richelieu. They're usually riddled with holes because of the curculio weevils, which love gallicas. Last year I brought out the big guns (Spectracide) and I think I broke the cycle.



Caramella, on the left, is a Kordes fairy tale shrub, and Carding Mill, on the right, is an Austin shrub.



Caribia, on the left, is a hybrid tea sporting an interesting magenta and yellow color combination. Champagne Cocktail, on the right, is a floribunda.



Chanelle, on the left, and Chic, on the right, are both floribundas.



Christopher Marlowe, on the left, is an Austin rose, and Cinnabar, on the right, is a floribunda.



Circus, on the left, is a floribunda, and Citrus Splash, on the right, is a shrub.



Cocktail, on the left, is a floribunda, and Columbus Queen, on the right, is a hybrid tea.



Concerto, on the left, is a shrub, and Constance Finn, on the right, is a floribunda.



Cottage Rose, on the left, is an Austin shrub, and Courtoisie, on the right, is a floribunda.



Crazy Dottie, on the left, is a miniature rose that sometimes blooms in coral, and sometimes in pink.
Crepuscule, on the right, is a climbing noisette.

Daily Sketch, on the left, is a floribunda, and so is Day Breaker, on the right.



Dark Night is a hybrid tea with a bizarre color scheme. The photo on the left is in the sun and the one on the right is under some shade I created.



Darling Annabelle (a hybrid tea), half-open and fully open.



Deb's Delight, a Legrice floribunda, from the top and from the side.



Denver's Dream, on the left, is a mini. The blooms range from orange to apricot with pink undertones. Distant Drums, on the right, is a Buck rose.



Dixieland Linda, on the left, is a climbing hybrid tea, and Double Feature, on the right, is a grandiflora.



Easter Basket, on the left, is a floribunda, and so is Easy Does It, on the right.



Eclipse, on the left, is a huge floribunda, and Emanuel, on the right, is an Austin shrub.



Estelle, on the left, is a hybrid tea, and Fair Bianca, on the right, is an Austin shrub.



Federico Casas, on the left, is a hybrid tea, and Felicia, on the right, is a hybrid musk.



Feu Joseph Looymans, on the left, is a Pernetiana hybrid tea, and Fifi, on the right, is a floribunda.



Flirtatious, on the left, is a floribunda, and Florence Delattre, on the right, is a Generosa shrub.



Frank's Climber, on the left, is a climber, and so is Full Moon Rising, on the right.



I'll start on the G's tomorrow. I'm sick of sitting.

Wow, so many I have missed seeing! Many are my favorites too.

You haven't missed them, Sue. They just started blooming in the past week. They're just five minutes away from you.

Wow. What an embarrassment of riches.

It's the first photo of Cardinal Richelieu that made me think that rose might actually be worth having in a garden. I've been impressed by it, but have never liked it much. The same thing goes for Baron Girod de l'Ain. Each year you and Sue photograph Alchymist and I kick myself for not rushing out and planting it somewhere in the garden. So too this year. I keep being tempted to dig up my Chic, which is still the same two inches tall as it was when I planted it last year, or the year before. But your photo has persuaded me to give it a couple more years. Maybe it's just busy putting down deep roots.

Does Berries and Cream positively cover itself in roses? It seems like the kind of rose that should reward you in precisely that way. Fragrance? Not raspberries and vanilla?

The only time I've seen the other Butterscotch (JACtan) its blooms were exactly the color of your Butterscotch's. It wasn't trained as a climber but as a kind of big, open shrub that kind of leaned up against the corner of a fence, filling up a 6'x 6' x 6' cube in a very lax, open way. JACtan was on my list this year and it is now in the garden. It would appear to be just setting new leaves. And in maybe six years it will be clambering across a big boulder in a semi-shrub/semi-climber way. Maybe blooming, too. Stay tuned.

Cocktail, if memory serves me correctly, makes reddish flowers with a yellow center that fades to dark pink as the flower ages. Do you have any photos of the plant with lots of flowers with yellow eyes? Or is this stage just too ephemeral to capture on film? I have been tempted to buy Cocktail, but I really wanted assurances about those eyes first.

Chanelle is on its way here from VG later this May. OOOh I can hardly wait.

Again, wow. And thanks.

There are a lot of photos of the Cocktail eyes in our database. My picture of the whole bush in this thread is deceptive because it was taken at too far a distance and the colors sort of melted together.

Rose (Rosa 'Cocktail')

Jactan's blooms are always beige in my garden.

Rose (Rosa 'Butterscotch')

Berries 'n' Cream does bloom profusely, but the scent doesn't match the name, unfortunately. I do have a couple of old irises that have that combination berries-and-vanilla scent, but no rose here has it.

Stay tuned. I've only done A-F so far.

To save ink, I'll stop saying "on the left" and "on the right." If there are two names, the first one's on the left. If there's only one name, both photos are of that one rose.

I edited one of the posts above because I mistakenly identified Royal Amethyst as Blue Skies.

Garden Party is a hybrid tea and Geisha is a Pernetiana hybrid tea.



Gee Whiz is a Buck shrub rose.



General Gallieni, a climbing tea, was a tiny little plant (from Rogue Valley Roses) for four or five years. Last year it suddenly started growing and climbing up the Autumn Sunset next to it. They look great together.



Georgetown Tea is a tea rose and Gertrude Jekyll is an Austin shrub rose.



Givenchy is a hybrid tea and Gold Medal is a grandiflora.



Goldelse is a floribunda and Golden Zest is a shrub rose.



Grace is an Austin shrub and Gracie Allen is a floribunda.



Grand Siecle (more commonly known as Great Century) is a hybrid tea and Gruss an Aachen has been described by different sources as a hybrid tea, a floribunda, and a polyantha, but the current consensus is that it was the first floribunda.

Heartbeat is a floribunda and Helen Hayes is a hybrid tea.



Honey Perfume is a floribunda.



Honeysweet is a Buck shrub and Hot Cocoa is a floribunda.



Hot Romance is a hybrid tea and Hula Hoop is a floribunda.



Iced Ginger, a floribunda, from the top and from the side.



Iobelle is a Buck hybrid tea and J.C. Thornton is also a hybrid tea.



Janet is one of my favorite Austins.



Jardins de Viels Maisons is a Generosa shrub and Jeanne Lajoie is a climbing miniature.



Johnnie Walker is a hybrid tea and Julie Andrews is a floribunda.

Mmmmm, all pretties but I am partial to the full blooms of Gruss an Aachen, Honey Perfume and Golden Zest.

I have just a few blooming, two of my favorite roses:

Aloha, I planted clematis Rooguchi with it.


Molineux

Lady Luck is a hybrid tea and Leander is an Austin shrub.



Leersum 700 is a floribunda and so is Lilac Dawn.



Lilian Austin is an Austin shrub and Liv Tyler is a hybrid tea.



Lovestruck is a floribunda and Luscious is a hybrid tea.



Magic Carrousel is a mini and Malaguena is a Buck shrub.



Marchenland is a floribunda.



Marie Curie is a floribunda.



Marinette is an Austin shrub, and so is Mary Rose.



Michele Meilland is a hybrid tea and Mighty Mouse is a floribunda.



Miss Ada is a floribunda and Misty Veil is a shrub rose.



Here are some that are out of alphabetical order because I used abbreviations in the photo caption (Mlle and Mme). These are Mademoiselle Franziska Kruger, a tea, and Madame Alfred Carriere, a noisette.



Madame Paule Massad is a Generosa shrub and Modern Art is a hybrid tea.



More tomorrow.

Sue, my Molineux shrubs have put out a couple of blooms each, but they haven't been particularly photogenic -- just plain butter yellow, with no hint of color gradation. I'll wait until later in the year to photograph them. Yours looks luscious!

Most of them have been the butter yellow but I spotted that one with the apricot touches in the lower right of the shrub, love those!
I especially love, love, love your Mademoiselle Franziska Kruger, Madame Paule Massad and Madame Alfred Carriere shots!! So romantic looking!

Stunning!

This is taking a ridiculously long time. By the time I finish posting the first week's photos, it'll be the second or third week of May.

Molly McGredy is a floribunda and Monsieur Tillier is a tea rose.



Mrs. Lovell Swisher is a hybrid tea and Mrs. Robinson is a floribunda.



Mrs. Sam McGredy, Cl. is a climbing Pernetiana hybrid tea.



These are two mystery roses. One was sent to me by Cliff as Chamois Dore, which is supposed to be a small apricot blend rose. I planted it in the middle of a rose bed, because it was supposed to be small. Well, it's a great big orange-pink grandiflora instead. Cliff had mislabeled four of the roses he dug out of his garden for me in his closing sale, but 4 out of 118 is a pretty good record. Imagine if it had been Rogue Valley. I might have had 50 mislabeled ones out of 118. And speaking of Rogue Valley, the second mystery rose came from there, labeled Tipu's Flame -- a red blend. This is a pink rose, possibly a climber because it's arching like crazy.



Nimbus is a floribunda and Ohl is a gallica.



Old master is a floribunda and Operetta is a hybrid tea.



Orange Ruffels is a hybrid tea and Oshun is a shrub rose.

Wipes chin WOW They are all sooooo Beautiful

Voles ate alot of mine Please keep the pictures flowing

Lovely. It's such fun to look at your photos, Zuzu, because you have so many roses that caught my eye when I was buying large format rose photo books in the late eighties and early nineties. Roses that seem to have just about fallen off the map. Butterscotch and Cocktail are two of them. Helen Hayes, Grand Siecle and Johnny Walker are others. And there are a lot of ones introduced since then that I've been tempted by: Janet, Leander & Grace. And a few that have failed in my garden like Mons. Tillier.

There are also delightful surprises: roses with the same name but in a different class. There's a pink floribunda also named Geisha, and there's a yellow hybrid tea also named Madame Curie. So I had to do a couple double-takes as I looked at the photos above. And read the captions carefully.

Sue, your photos are lovely, too. Is there a special lighting technique you use to get the foliage to photograph so dark? It really makes the roses pop.

Shannon said: Wipes chin WOW They are all sooooo Beautiful

Zuzu - well, if you didn't have 2000+ roses, then it wouldn't take so long to post like pathetics like me.

Shannon - watch your front doorstep. That's all I'm gonna say.

I love both of you Californians' photos. I used to have quite a number of those roses before I realized that I really shouldn't try to grow Hybrid teas. It is nice to see what they should have looked like!