​Whatever your plans are to celebrate across the festive season, take time for relaxation, fun and of course, don’t forget to smell …… the ROSES.
 
Stay well & travel safe
DC

Being able to and fill the sink with enough blooms to create a spectacular bouquet, is certainly worth the effort that goes into gardening. 
 
Maybe I am showing off a little, but I do love to share the end results, whether it is giving a bunch of roses to someone or by sharing these pictures.
 
“Do not watch the petals fall from the rose with sadness, know that, like life, things sometimes must fade, before they can bloom again”. (Quote: unknown)

​Stay well & travel safe
DC

According to the font of all knowledge [that is, the internet] …..
 
“Yellow roses are often given to loved ones as a way to bring joy and cheer. Due to the yellow rose's bright colour, many attribute it to the warmth of a sunny day, and rightfully so. It's an absolute beauty to behold, bringing happiness to all who receive it. Furthermore, yellow roses are said to symbolize friendship”.
 
I feel like I have neglected to represent the yellow and orange Roses, that are indeed many here at PCH.  So today I offer the humble, yet at the same time  glorious, Yellow Banksia creeper.
 

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DC

“Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose,” (Quote: Gertrude Stein)
 
Sometimes it can be difficult to find yet another expressive adjective to describe a bloom you find yourself gazing at.
 
This particular Rose is a bit like that.  That is why I rather fancy  this Gertrude Stein quote above, to describe this one.

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DC

When I was a little girl, I would visit my grandfather and there were many things to be in awe of.  His really old vintage car, his boot making skills, his incredible hothouse where he grew dozens of orchids, his Tynee-Tips tea bags that included the bird cards he collected and his Cecile Brunner Rose bushes.  They were absolutely incredible. I first recall being conscious of them,  when I was about 6 or 7 years old.
 
All these years later I have also grown Cecile Brunner Rose bushes.  Everything about them is “little” even though the bushes grow to tall heights.  The stems are super fine – the blooms are not much bigger than a 20 cent piece - the pink is so soft - the buds are super tiny.  It takes a lot of pickings to make a small posy to place in an old fashioned vintage vase.
 
They make me think of Pop Wood.
 
“I should own up that for me, growing roses is all about creating a cheap supply of fabulous, favourite blooms. I’m no Martha Stewart; I just love cutting flowers and bringing them into the house where I can focus on their beauty” (Quote: .Jane Eastoe)
 

Cecile Brunner Roses 

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DC
 

“I don't know whether nice people tend to grow roses or growing roses makes people nice”. Roland A. Browne

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DC

Marketing experts, florists, promoters, and restaurants appear to have promoted the single Rose as the ultimate symbol of romance/true love. Maybe I am a tad cynical about that concept, but a single rose to me looks a bit lonely.  I don’t deny the beauty, but if one rose can be so magnificent, surely when there are many, the beauty is intensified. 
 
“The rose is a flower of love. The world has acclaimed it for centuries. Pink roses are for love hopeful and expectant. White roses are for love dead or forsaken, but the red roses, ah the red roses are for love triumphant”. (Quote: unknown)
 
The mother earth blessings at PCH are plentiful, as it is rare for only a single rose to appear.
 

The single Red Rose

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DC

“Roses are older than we are, but younger than the dinosaurs”. (Quote: Jane Eastoe)
 
Some Roses I know nothing about. With no idea of their classification, type, variety or name, I just see them bloom in the garden and think they are so pretty. They are their own bloom and at the same time add an extra dimension to a bouquet or vase.  
 
This pink rose was transplanted for terry’s mother’s garden in Echuca about 15 years ago. We moved quite a few of her old roses for her home there to PCH.  Many of them had been previously moved from the farm in Patho to the house in Echuca.  SO …  the journey of this pink Rose may be quite a long one.  We don’t know, but here and now we enjoy the pretty in pink.

Pink Rose 

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DC

Roses can inspire art, music, poetry, love and life. Like every person, each rose is unique and announces its own existence. Put a whole bunch together in the kitchen sink and all the colour, perfume and individuality make an incredible bouquet. The gift of that beautiful bunch of flowers is then shared with another.
 

​Stay well & travel safe
DC

Most days white Roses are my favourite. Every so often another bloom captures my attention and the look, the colour, the perfume, or the light just makes me think – “oh, you are my fave Rose!”  But I soon return to white Roses. I can’t explain why – there is just something really pure and indefinable about white roses.  I have several varieties in the garden, and I love to mix them up.
 
Quite a long while ago I had a boyfriend who I only partnered with for a short time. He was a tattooed, fiery, redheaded, wild Scotsman and we had had some fun!!  But my heart did not feel the right vibe and I told him it was not a long-term plan.  Apparently, I broke his heart. A short while after I dumped him, he sent me 60 white long stemmed white Roses in a truly magnificent bouquet. One rose for every day we were together, the card read! The story goes, I told him at some point in our “Scottish affair” that white Roses were my favourite.  He remembered!
 
“Do not watch the petals fall from the rose with sadness. Know that like life, things sometimes must fade before they can bloom again”. (Anonymous).

Mixed white Roses

A twitter comment I saw recently stated that the writer had observed the blooming of a Crepuscule Rose at dusk and “It was very self-aware, for a flower”.
 
I always think of them as the creeping rose that can always be counted on. In Rose catalogues it is described as a ‘reliable, strong rose’ of the Old Garden category. Perhaps that is why it is such favourite at Flemington Racecourse. It always makes its appearance in time for the Spring racing carnival. Reliable, strong and such a gorgeous apricot colour with a sweet musky fragrance.
 
In the PCH garden it always blooms in time for my birthday in early November. 

Crepuscule 

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DC

It has been a while since I have done the 12 days of Festivities.
 
Feeling so fortunate to have the ability to toil the soil in the PCH garden and the bounty it reaps, I would like to share it with others.  
 
This year I thought I would share some of the gifts we receive from the PCG Rose Garden.
 .

Pierre de Ronsard

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DC