At last our long wait is over! The royal first flush of rose blooms has begun.

In my gardens, some of the first to bloom are big, sweet hybrid rugosas. ‘Magnifica’ is a big shrub that was hybridized in 1901. She is tall and boasts 4″ magenta blooms. She has 18-20 petals and her fragrance wafts on the breeze on to my screened-in porch. From there, the perfume travels to my parlor and my dining room. I love to cut a few and float the blossoms in an antique cut-glass bowl so I can lean over it and drink in the fragrance.

My big, grey tom cat, Rahjah, loves this, too. More often than once I have caught him on the table drinking the rose water! Raj doesn’t discriminate, though… if I float a big Nikko Blue hydrangea mophead, he’ll drink that water as well!

Old Fashioned Rose Garden

‘Blanc Double de Coubert‘ is a white rugosa in my ‘Old Fashioned Garden’ that has a lighter fragrance. It reminds me of rose-water soap. She is next to ‘Mme Pierre Ogee,’ a Bourbon rose from 1878. The soft-pink sport of ‘La Reine Victoria.’ Her blossoms are cupped and on the small side, but the petals look like a collection of fine shells and her fragrance is high and sweet. She blooms by the hundreds and after a short rest will begin again.

By her side is ‘Souvenir de President Lincoln,’ a French-hybridized rose from 1865. ‘President Lincoln’s fragrance is heady and rich rose. You can almost taste it. He will put out a bunch of second growth off last year’s canes with many blooms, but he also puts up huge, impressive basals that can be disbudded to a single bloom. His blossom is dark but stops short of red. He is also a reblooming Bourbon rose.

‘Rose de Rescht’ also resides in the Old Fashioned Garden. She is a Portland rose, hybridized before 1900. Rose is a little bush that bears almost purple magenta blossoms that are highly fragrant, too. Ah, heaven!

Plant Mini Roses for a Constant Color Display

But wait! Other beauties are popping! All the mini roses in my Neighborhood Garden out near the street are blooming like crazy! If you need something that is almost always in bloom you should grow minis. It’s important to me that there be a lot of color in this particular garden because I planted it for my neighbors who walk and drive by.

Minis, after being deadheaded, bounce back very quickly and within a couple of weeks will be putting on another fabulous display. Also in the Neighborhood Garden are Memorial Roses. Here reside ‘Nicole Carol Miller'(air-brushed lavender hybrid tea, named after a flight attendant on 9/11), ‘Eternal Flame'(a lovely, soft yellow-with-cream-edged petals), and ‘Bronze Star’ (pictured above). They are all lovely, and readily available to plant in your own garden.

I find that if I am home, I need to go out and check on my lovelies often! I am thankful for the longer days of June so I can visit them more often, and I’m off to do that now. Don’t be afraid to dote on your roses. They will love you for it!