Now that's a Rose Garden!

Have you ever planted Iceberg Roses? I have. They grow about 50 cm high and have six lovely white blossoms that droop forward to such a degree that I've been known to double check them for a fungal/viral/bug infection. The six blossoms are spread out over the summer season and, much to my delight I have discovered that they stand out against the branches that have been completely denuded of leaves sometime around July or so. This plant just begs you to slow down, crawl on all fours and focus on each flower's individual beauty.

So why, I've asked does this Iceberg Rose always figure so high in rose lovers' lists? Well, I've figured it out - they have all visited the Portland Rose Garden - were greeted by this fabulous wall of white Iceberg roses and fell in love right then and there. From that moment on, this rose became legend.

Look at this - now I understand - this splashy white hedge is about 1.5 meters high - and I can assure you it bears no relation to any Iceberg rose I've seen growing within a 1,000 kilometer radius of Oakville.

Here are a few more photos of this enchanted place. It truly was rose heaven -a massive garden of the most beautiful roses - the scent was overwhelming. I held my camera over my head and snapped away, just hoping I could capture some of it. I ran from flower to flower wanting to photograph everything, but decided I'd only take photos of those flowers with the rosiest scents.

Two that were absolutely remarkable were Lagerfeld - the eery white/mauve number with the dark foliage and Leann Rimes the stunning pink. Not only were the blooms enormous, but the plants were too. Goodness knows what would happen to them here - I've learned my lesson from my poor little Icebergs & I'm not going to even try!