'Moonstone' bred by Tom Carruth Former Director of Research & Marketing, Weeks Roses is as at home in a garden setting as Queen of the Rose Show. #roseshows #gardenchat #rosechat #rosepicoftheday
'Moonstone' bred by Tom Carruth Former Director of Research & Marketing, Weeks Roses is as at home in a garden setting as Queen of the Rose Show. #roseshows #gardenchat #rosechat #rosepicoftheday
‘Moonstone’ bred by Tom Carruth Former Director of Research & Marketing, Weeks Roses is as at home in a garden setting as Queen of the Rose Show. #roseshows #gardenchat #rosechat #rosepicoftheday #weeksroses #Carruth #moonstone #barns #rural

Memory lane is strewn with magnificent roses in central Illinois this summer.

Double Delight with Morning Dew #nofilter #rosepicoftheday
‘Double Delight’ lit by sunlight glistening with Morning Dew #nofilter #rosepicoftheday

Dew glistening on petals of roses appears as ice crystals when lit by the first rays of dawn.

Illinois crops and vegetable gardens are bountiful with enough rain to sustain the corn and soybeans until harvest. Every day reminds me of why I love Illinois summers.

A Gaga's Garden View in July
A Gaga’s Garden View in July. This is the basket I planted for the P. Allen Smith Garden2Blog Event that Proven Winners sponsored. Petunia lovers, can you believe the petunias still look like this through the heat of summer? I used the #Jobes Organics Soil and Fertilizer they sent, as they requested and of course I’ve watered plenty and kept the spent blooms dead-headed.#landsacping #containergardening #G2B14 #ProvenWinners #companionplants

The stages of adding Illinois rose gardens continue. Last fall we planted Dr. David Zlezak’s test roses and Proven Winners winter hardy Oso Easy® Series of Roses. The fall of 2013 is the first time we’ve ever planted roses in the fall.

Proven Winner Series Two Oso® Easy Rose 'Pink Cupcake' bred by Chris Warner, UK
Proven Winner Series Two Oso® Easy Rose ‘Pink Cupcake’ bred by Chris Warner, UK

Last winter then went on to be the 3rd coldest winter in Illinois recorded history. The roses that survived can truly be considered winter hardy. This year has been one of the most beautiful years I’ve seen for the rose garden bloom cycles. I’ve chosen some beautiful pictures to share with you.

A Spray of 'Europeana'
A Spray of ‘Europeana’

Starting over is always a challenge. Yet who could imagine starting first with the floribunda rose garden in 2011 we could have come this far with the stages of the rose gardens. Here are the gardens that we have added since grandfathering our Texas Rose Garden of over 200 roses in 2011 and moving back to Illinois.

'Sugar Moon' by Weeks Roses Christian Bédard will "bull doze you down with its powerful cold cream fragrance"
‘Sugar Moon’ by Weeks Roses Christian Bédard will “bull doze you down with its powerful cold cream fragrance”

 

Floribunda Rose Garden Spring 2012

Elevated Hybrid Tea Garden Spring 2013

Vegetable Garden Summer 2013

Walkway Grandiflora, HT Summer 2013

Dr. Zlezak ‘Oso Happy’ Rose Garden Fall 2013

 

Europeana and Monarch Grande Rose (G14) by Dr. David Zlezak
Europeana and Monarch Grande Rose (G14) by Dr. David Zlezak
for sale by wholesaler Plant Peddler, Iowa

Dr. David Zlezak sent ageratum that he has been breeding for over a decade and I planted them as companion plantings around the rose garden. I thought you would especially enjoy seeing it next to ‘Europeana’.

 

'Neil Diamond'
‘Neil Diamond’

My family is coming to visit from Texas with all four kids, their black Labrador and two cats. Watch for pictures of boating action. I plan on teaching the kids how to deadhead roses. All righty then I have a plan for keeping them out of trouble.

Cherry Parfait Grandiflora Rose, Gagasgarden
Cherry Parfait Grandiflora Rose, Gagasgarden