Monday, September 19, 2011





When I left for Lillooet on Friday mid afternoon there were only two roses in bloom in my garden. One was the English Rose,  Rosa ‘Fair Bianca and the other was the hybrid perpetual Rosa ‘Baron Girod de l’Ain’ which had come back after having disappeared from my garden for a year. As I drove off I wondered if they would be there when I returned.


That was not to be. Baron Girod de l’Ain had a remnant of two petals but Fair Bianca, in spite of the three days was there with all its myrrh scent but looking not quite at its best.

Today Tuesday when I am posting this blog I decided to tour the garden to see who was out. Besides Fair Bianca (white) there were three blooms, al but one spent, of the English Rose, Rosa ‘Spirit of Freedom’ (it is pink and in the centre of the scanned image) there was one English Rose, Rosa ‘William Shakespeare 2000’ (deep, dark red) and one nice English Rose,  Rosa ‘Brother Cadfael’ (deep pink).The little pink blooms are from the always late blooming Rosa ‘The Fairy’.

While touring the garden I wore a light green cotton sweater given to me by Ale in Lillooet. The coldness is in the air and these could be some of the last roses of the season. Unless we are lucky enough that the sun comes out for an Indian Summer.

I have tried to not look at the sky behind the mountains of North Vancouver. It is about now when the blue sky turns an icy photographic cyan and I know, that Indian Summer or not, winter is almost here.