Stop and Smell the Roses...

Here are some photos taken last week of the roses in our potager garden...

Above and Below: The view into the potager from the vineyard.

Below: The deep red Dublin Bay.

Below: In the pink - some old fashioned roses with wonderful perfume.

Below: A profusion of cream and white blooms...

Below: 'Sunset' and 'Wildfire'

Below: The pale mauve blooms of the roses at the end of the vines (they have gone over somewhat).

Potting Shed Progress...

Peter and my grandfather have been building the potting shed by themselves out of recycled materials, and they have almost finished. It looks amazing. They started off by building the base on tow-able skids. Then they built the framing for the walls...

The erected framing...

and then built the trusses in situ...

before putting on the galvanized roof ready for painting...

Next they put up the wooden cladding over the framing...

The rest of the cladding and the windows were put in this week... 

 More evidence of the drought. The large standard rose in front of the shed will bounce back we hope...

Soon it will be painted a lovely pale cream to match the Lutyens benches, with the door being painted a French Provence blue. We will complete it with ornate wrought iron ornamental Gothic hinges on the door.

The buxus is hanging on in there through the drought ready to be planted in the front entrance this winter, and also in the garden beds in front of the house and colonnade.

Meanwhile the Hibiscus seems to be thriving in the heat. This beautiful purple species is H. coelestrus. We are going to propagate another 6 plants from it this winter.

Update: Cyclone Lusi should put and end to the drought for now. I just hope it leaves the potting shed still standing!

The Roses and Fountains of Willowbrook..

As promised, here are a few pictures of some of the roses and fountains at Willowbrook. The roses are fairly early in the season, so not all are in bloom...

Above and Below: The Lion and Griffin fountain in the yellow rose border of the potager. Behind this hedge is the vineyard.

Below: The orange rose  Wildfire

Then there is the stunning climber, Zephirine Drouhin, in the pink border, which is trailing up the archway between the potager and the orchard...

 The beautiful deep pink Chartreuse de Parma Rose...

 Below: All the prunings we planted 18 months ago which have taken root...

 Above: Gertude Jekyll

Below: Loving Memory

 Below: The oversized bloom of Marie Dot

Below: The Dolphin Tap Fountain in the central Avenue of the Vineyard  It has just been placed there, hence it looking a little plonked, but as the grass establishes itself it should look great. It will be the focal point down a grassed aisle flanked on either side by rows of Pale dusty pink Bering Roses between the table grape and the wine making halves of the vineyard.

Thank you to all those new followers who have posted comments or emailed me, and to my old friends, I hope to get back to commenting on your wonderful blogs very soon. D.

... a rose by any other name would smell as sweet...

We have now planted all the roses around the border to the potager. The potager lies patient in hibernation, with the brown winter hornbeams and the bare-twigged rose bushes. Most are English roses, in particular David Austen varieties (although we are definitely not going for the one stop shop look). There are a few old fashioned and some French varieties and well as many China roses.

We took much inspiration from Austen's Shropshire rose garden, Albrighton...

The roses we chose were...

Pinks

Gertrude Jekyl

Rosa Centifolia Muscosa


Chatreuse de Parma


Wife of Bath


Heritage


Zephirine Drouhin Climber


Whites

Memoire


Avalanche


Princess of Wales


Purples

Lilac Rose


Blue Sky


Dioressence


Kathryn Mansfield


Yellows

Charlotte


Jude of Obscure


Molineux


Yellow Charles Austin


Oranges

Amber Flush


Tequilla Sunrise



Wild Fire



Mari Dot


Reds

Black Beauty


Lady in Red


Dublin Bay


Loving Memory


Greens

Rosa Chinensis var Viridiflora

(technically the above is a rose, but the flowerheads are made up of multiple septals instead of petals. It works great in white and green flower arrangements).

Some more Austen Roses...