How sweet it would be to channel a pre-Raphaelite beauty who limits her demands to exquisite color and intoxicating fragrance. All her needs would be met by a small rose garden. Mine is a coarser world that requires brute manual labor in order to yield flowers whose ethereal beauty is a thing of a day.
I enjoy this wealth of roses, peonies, irises and poppies as much as I the heavy clay soul I have been amending for twenty years. I have made a garden in a meadow where cows used to graze a couple of centuries ago. The cows are gone and so is the miller whose land this was long before my village earned its place on a map. On this land I have grown roses that once graced a mandarin's garden. I have also grown peas, potatoes and huge crops of weeds, of which creeping charlie, the most detestable pest, came to the New World as a medicinal plant. Creeping charlie leeches the soil from water and nutrients better mannered plants badly need. I fight it with a crusading zeal and it fights back with such panache I want to come back in my next life as an invasive weed.
Yesterday, I issued a fatwa on another imported--the accursed and inaptly named tree of heaven. There was shock and awe in the garden while I battled these foul fiends. Now I can finish planting beans and potatoes. I have peppers and tomato seedlings to be brought out of the cold frame; there are new clematis and roses in need of borders. I will continue the good fight. My sidekick will help. Eventually, the weeds will return. Such is life.

The first Sombreuil rose of the season glimmers in the rain.

Peony Coral Charm after a rain shower.

Coral Charm in softer light.

Sir Thomas Lipton continues to dazzle.

Yellow rugosa's scent

earns it a sunny place in the garden.




Cecile Brunner explodes into color.

Rain drenched Cecile Brunner.

A better shot of the windowsill project.

Cecile Brunner yet again.

Fortuniana rose is a joy to behold.

William Baffin rose bud.

Equisetum hyemalis will join a white waterlily and blue flag in my small water garden. The hollow stems of this ancient plant can be made into baskets. I chose for its eye candy appeal rather than for its utilitarian qualities.





On another topic-- I note with dismay that many members are the garden forum I joined recently are hellbent on displacing the local fauna whenever it interferes with their plans. While gardening entails altering the environment to some extent, I tend to take a less radical approach than the that of gardeners determine to keep out blue herons, woodpeckers and the like out of their properties. Whatever happened to the idealistic folks who dreamed that gardening in harmony with nature is not an idiotic proposition? Why must every urban be forbidden territory for birds and other wildlife? So the heron ate my koi fish. Big deal. Koi do not belong in a garden bounded by the Potomac river. Herons do.

Below, climbing miniature roses Jeanne Lajoie rose and Hesperis matronalis. 10 May 2008.

Below, pink impatiens, coleus and lobelia.

Climber Cecile Brunner.

The ubiquitous climber Dr. Huey and variegated euonymus.




Oriental poppy and ninebark.

HELP MYANMAR



http://www.jewishkansascity.com/
" NEW YORK, May 5, 2008 — The UJC/Jewish Federation overseas partner, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), has opened an emergency mailbox to collect funds for relief efforts following May 3rd’s Cyclone Nargis, which devastated portions of Myanmar. Funds are being collected on a non-sectarian basis to aid the estimated several hundred thousand cyclone victims without shelter and safe drinking water. The efforts are part of JDC’s International Development Program (IDP) which responds to natural and manmade disasters, providing immediate relief and long term assistance....
JDC, which is funded in part through the UJC/Federation system, has launched non-sectarian efforts to aid those affected by the cyclone in Bangladesh; the earthquake in Peru; the Tsunami in South Asia; the floods in Haiti and the Dominican Republic; the victims of terror in Turkey; the earthquakes in El Salvador, India, Morocco, and Turkey; the displaced people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo following the eruption of the Mt. Nyiragongo volcano; and the war-torn communities in Kosovo.
Donations may be made directly to the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City, with a note earmarking the donation for JDC's relief efforts in Myanmar. Click here to donate to Myanmar via the Jewish Federation, or send a check, payable to the Jewish Federation, to 5801 W. 115th Street, Suite 201, Overland Park, KS 66211."

Mannerly Pixwell gooseberry is suitable for container gardening.

Terapene carolina carolina, aka Common Box Turtle, is a frequent visitor to our garden. Today's guest was way too early for a fish in the lily pool. It can wait. Its lifespan can stretch out to a century.

Photo from Wikipedia.

Hesperis matronalis, sweet rocket, The Rogue's Gilliflower. a an edible, scented member of the brassica family blooms alongside Aquilegia coerulea.

The wisteria puts on its annual show.



Above, Tatarian honeysuckle after a rain shower.





Tricksy viola odorata confuses the nose with ketones. I challenge you to describe its scent.




Rosa rugosa Sir Thomas Lipton never disappoints.

Sir Thomas Lipton up close.