Romantic Roses, Malvern gardens, Worcestershire.

Roses are very much the traditional flower of the English country garden. Climbing, standard, bush and traditional forms, all are beautiful. They come in every colour and grow reliably. Dead head them once they bloom has passed it's best, and you prolong the number of flowers and length of flowering period. Enjoy these pictures of some of my roses.

Summerdays

Summerdays

Its beautiful here

Beneath the rose strewn arbour pink

Sit with me a while

And have an ice cool beer to drink.

We can talk for a time

About life and your dreams and the things you think.

Sky azure blue

Honeysuckle scents the air so heavy as to stink.

Enjoy this day

It will last when memories of cold ordinary ones do shrink.

Ephemeral summer

Retained in the heart as precious because it's over in a blink.

Relax, unwind and breathe.

The view is magical and accompanying glasses clink

Its beautiful here

Beneath the rose strewn arbour pink.

By Izzy Silver

Feeling sentimental, a poem.

An ode to a rose-tinted childhood

My childhood was not so long ago.

Outside all summer, collecting

Creepy crawlies, toads, butterflies and freckles.

Inside all winter by the fire reading a book.

(Children's hour on tv being just that, one hour)

Today childhood is all buttons and lights,

Whatever the weather watching tv,

On laptops and the very latest Galaxy i-lumiphone,

Collecting nothing but facebook friends and trolls,

(and clips of cat and dogs in clothes, and pranks gone wrong).

How I wish the only trolls they knew

Lived under bridges with an appetite for goats,

But at least unlike my great-great-greats

They know nothing of polio, cholera or TB,

(or war or rationing or teacher wielding canes)

And these days rose-tinted glasses are cheap

So we can have pink coloured days,

(But lets go outside and enjoy the sun,

and picnics, rain and puddles, wind and kites)

By Izzy  Silver

Brilliant bulbs, Great Malvern, Worcestershire.

Daffodils in Rose Bank Garden, Great Malvern

Crocus

 Bulbs are brilliant. No matter what you throw at them bulbs seem to flower regardless. The snow and record cold temperatures this country has suffered have not dimmed them. As the first brilliance in the year they are more valued than ever this year. A stroll around my garden this morning I found daffodils and crocus looking like fallen solid sunshine. The hyacinths are not quite there yet but soon they will not only be adding their bright sparkle, but perfuming the air around them with the sweetest of floral scents.

Hyacinth, almost open

In Great Malvern the early daffodil bed are also in standing in perfect brilliance. The later flowering examples are not quite there yet, but as they stand in front of a wide rhododendron bed I am rather hoping the two will flower together.

There are bulbs not just for spring, but for summer and autumn too. In my garden there are many tulips, allium and lilies. Although I have many brighter colour tulips, I find the deep purple of the variety Queen of the Night, the most long last flower and robust of the tulips. It combines in late spring and early summer, with my allium to look fantastic. I also love the sheer spectacular variety and deep intense perfume from the lillies that are datted around my garden. 

Purple Allium, (2012)

Never, however hot or cold and/or wet or dry a year has been, have any of these wonderful bulbs failed to put on a most beautiful display. 

Tulip Q of N (2012)

White Allium (2012)

Yellow Lily (2012)

Daffodils, not quite open, with rhododendrons behind.

Hellebore and Daffodils

Hellebore

The snow still hasn't gone. A blanket of four or five inches still covers everything.

On close inspection my hellebore and daffodils have still survived.

Hellebore are also called Christmas Roses, and come from the Balkan region of Europe and so are quite frost resistant.  Some purist prefer the white type, but I like a bit of colour so the brighter and more purple/red the better.

Daffodil, or Narcissus may seem very ordinary plants to us these days as the bulbs are so cheap to purchase an.d once planted flower reliably ever year. They once were prized for their great beauty, which is why they share name with the character Narcissus, from Greek mythology who was so obsessed with his own beauty that he drowned in a pool as he stared at his own reflection. For me though the cheery yellow of the common varieties reminds me of childhood and the scent is delightful. 

At least the cat's seem to have finally got used to going out in the snow.

Daffodil

My two cat's being brave.