Well this has been a strange spring. We are in the last day of June and I still have paeonies blooming together with roses, a first for me! Normally the paeonies come first with their ephemeral but glorious blooms then I get to enjoy the first wave of roses before the japanese beetles hit! Now I have both but no beetles (fingers and toes crossed)

The roses are out in full flush and I have both heritage and new shrub rose varieties. There is something to be said for the old roses, one glorious flush for a month then gently fading into the background as mostly large leggy shrubs, and you don’ have to deal with japanese beetles eating your roses for the rest of the summer. Pair them with summer blooming perennials and ornamental grasses to hide the base as I’ve done here with my more modern rose garden.

Paths can be any material. In my garden I have stone and inadvertently grass which I keep making smaller every year much the chagrin of my husband 🙂

Although roses are the star this week, all the rain we have had has spurred a rush of growth from everyone. For a tropical look, the massive leaves of the hosta Empress Wu can’t be beat!

Beautiful pairings:

Glorious roses:

This lovely and very hardy rose is a rugosa hybrid. John Davis grows as a large arching shrub and can be used as a climber to zone to at least zone 4 without any protection. Unfortunately it is my canary in the coal mine: the japanese beetles hit it first so I check it everyday.

Now back to the garden….enjoy 🙂

Garden Graces Plantscapes