Welcome to The City of Desire.

Home-grown Tamora., a photo by Leenechan on Flickr.

When I got this rose in May she came with three little beaten-up buds that miraculously opened up into three decent-looking, great-smelling flowers.

Here is our first home-grown Tamora blossom. Compared to the earlier flowers it's big and luminous. Tamora hadn't bloomed in so long that I had almost forgotten about her...not any more!

More Margareta., a photo by Leenechan on Flickr.

I guess that if you start with a 3 gallon Austin rose you're going to get the real deal with the first flower!

David Austin English Rose "Claire Austin.", a photo by Leenechan on Flickr.

She spots badly in the rain, but she's a pretty, delicate thing with many petals.

Wow!, a photo by Leenechan on Flickr.

The latest bloom from Simon Estes measures 5 inches across! What a rose!

First Chapeau de Napoleon!, a photo by Leenechan on Flickr.

Chapeau de Napoleon has been suffering from our excessive rainfall more than the other roses. One of his buds has botrytis, and his first flower would have balled if I hadn't broken open the outer petals. The flowers are bigger and puffier than they were last year. I wonder how many of his flowers I'm going to have to help along? It's too bad, because there are so many of them. I hate to see them spoiled by fungus.

"Madame Hardy.", a photo by Leenechan on Flickr.

That's how I feel about my other white roses now that Madame Hardy has bloomed for the first time.

Yeah, the flower is a little misshapen. But there are more to come! That flower is blooming at the top of a fifty-one inch cane, and I had to bend it way down to get a picture. Mme. Hardy has mean thorns but they aren't as mean as Polareis'!

It's hard to tell because it's been raining so much, but even though I think that Mme. Hardy is more beautiful than Mme. Plantier, Mme. Plantier has a better fragrance.

Guess Who!, a photo by Leenechan on Flickr.

This is the first of Evelyn's 17 buds to open, and it's one of the smaller ones! The color seems a lot more orange and less pink this year. Oh, me and my orange roses...

I cut this one for a vase right away, because we're supposed to get Big Rain again tomorrow. Since we haven't been getting the ridiculously hot temperatures so far this year, Evelyn's new canes are growing in thicker and straight up rather than flopping around like an octopus' tentacles. We have her tied to a fan trellis now. It's hard to believe that this is only her second year.

Two Carding Mills., a photo by Leenechan on Flickr.

If you all haven't figured it out already!

Carding Mill keeps popping out flowers, and I love the fragrance more than anything. I'm not sure why helpmefind has it listed as "myrrh" when it's a fruity, peach scent. I'm not sure what class of rose that comes from, or if only modern roses can come with a fruit rather than floral scent. I love it! It's a real pick-me-up and doesn't give me a headache like the tea fragrance.

If you could only see what I see..., a photo by Leenechan on Flickr.

Rose gardening can be frustrating, especially in the Northeastern US, where you have to deal with blackspot, powdery mildew, rabbits and bugs, bugs, bugs all the time. If you persist, however, you will sometimes find yourself rewarded with something truly glorious.

So here's Carding Mill today, looking glorious.