Welcome to the last Friday of May. Crikey…how in the world did we zip through May so quickly? I mean we’re nearly half way through 2025. {Head shaking} It must be done with sorcery or with some help from Hogwarts. Both Mum and I have been scratching our heads trying to understanding how we got here.
So it’s been kinda cool this week, temperature wise. And get this…we’ve had rain showers on several days. With temps hovering around 46ºF (7ºC) when we take our morning walks, a chap has to warm up before he goes out. Oh don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining about the cool temps. Both Mum and I are enjoying them and the gentle rain has really brought out the curls in the Floof. To top it off, the rain has made gardens look pretty amazing.
We all know that May is a great season for blooming peonies and irises but today we’re going to showcase another favorite flower…the common rose, which also loves to bloom in May.
Wilson: What’s that old Shakespeare’ saying? “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Guess ole William didn’t figure on genetics affected that once familiar scent. You may have noticed that roses don’t smell like they used to years ago. So why don’t roses have that luscious fragrance anymore, Mum?
The Mum: It all boils down to 3 words-economics and disease resistance, House Pony. Many years ago, as the floral industry realized they could import roses from other countries cheaper than growing them in the US, they teamed up with genetic science. Growing overseas would require sufficient time to ship cut flowers back to US consumers who demanded longer lasting roses and roses with large blooms were especially sought after. Enter Ecuador whose roses boast the largest blooms in the world and are thus some of the most sought after because of their size. Crossing breeding efforts to achieve those larger blooms, longer thornless stems, increased petal count, and disease resistance unfortunately replaced the gene which removed that beautiful fragrance. We may enjoy bouquets longer, but the price is those bouquets no longer have the fragrance that we all know and love, unless the rose happens to be one of the David Austin varieties. Apparently the two genes are incompatible. But all is not lost. Science is working on a solution by breeding compact fragrant roses that are healthy and have a lovely perfume as well. The bad news is that in order to create fragrant cut roses that are durable may take as long as 10 years to develop a fragrant, disease resistant rose but work on that continues. Once that happens, that Shakespeare quote won’t need to be changed. In the meantime, let’s take a look around our neighborhood to see some of the beauties that have been blooming.
Wilson: Just goes to show life isn’t perfect but there’s always going to be someone who’s willing to try to build a better mousetrap, Mum.
The Mum: That’s quite true. I felt lucky to capture most of these roses after a little shower so there are still droplets on the blooms and leaves that I think add to their beauty.
Wilson: I think my favorite color are the pinks. They manage to look the best longer than some of the other colors whose petals get a bit ragged looking around the edges. Still all these beauties looked so lovely when we saw them on our walks and the good news is that most of them (with proper deadheading), will continue to bloom throughout summer.
The Mum: Right you are, Floof. The ‘show’ will go on, presuming summer heat doesn’t impact them too much. I’m willing to keep my eyes on them. How about you?
Wilson: Oh yes, it’s always good to look forward to beauty when and wherever nature provides it, be it on rose blooms or other flowers. So, do you have any plans to welcome the month of June? I think we’re probably just going to catch up on garden chores after all the rain that fell has fertilized weeds like crazy. After over a week of cool temps, the weather will start warming up and weeds are popping up everywhere, just waiting for Mum’s hoe. I’ll be sure to snoopervise her from the shade of the covered patio. One must practice their keen ‘quality control’ skills to make sure the human doesn’t slack off, don’t you think? We hope you have a splendid weekend and are able to get outdoors to enjoy a spot of sunshine or find some beautiful flowers in bloom along a walk. Enjoy…whatever you choose to do.
Live, love, bark! 🐾
WOWSERSS!!! THE rosess are so beeuteefull…. wee love them all…..THE rain has REELLY made grass green an flowerss brite this Spring. Wilsn an Miss Monika wee can not beeleeve it iss end of May eether. Wehre did THE tiem go?
***nose bopss*** BellaDharma an ((hugss)) BellaSita Mum
So glad you liked those beautiful roses. The rained really to their beauty.
THE rosess colorss are xtra vibrant fore sure!!!
Such beautiful roses Monika, so lovely you caught them with the raindrops too! 💖✨️ xxx
Many thanks, Xenia. Because rain is always in short supply, it was especially a fortuitous capture. Glad you enjoyed them.
There is nothing so beautiful as the smell of roses in the rain. It’s one of the most vivid memories from my childhood when I used to visit my grandmother’s garden. Sadly, the hybrid varieties no longer have that gorgeous perfume. I worked at a wholesale florist several years ago and although the place was filled with roses, there wasn’t the slightest hint of fragrance.
I totally feel the same way…that beautiful scent of roses from yesteryear are deeply imprinted on my brain and it’s always so disappointing to lean down to sniff a rose and zilch. Sigh.
Gorgeous flowers!
That’s very kind of you to say. Thank you.
The rose
Sweet rose
So delightful for the nose!
We have noticed that many roses no longer have that delightful scent and we miss that.
Hugs, Pam and Teddy
Boy do I know what you mean. I especially miss that beautiful fragrance in a bouquet. Who wants a scentless bouquet on their dining room table? Not me!
P.S. Love your little poem.
Java Bean: “Ayyy, do you really think Hogwarts might be involved? Because if so, Dada says he has a list of items he would like to request from the Room of Requirement …”
You can just never be sure when you’re going to end up when you line up at from Platform 9-3/4th.
Something good about being older, we remember the sweet smell of roses. I miss that delightful scent but revel in the beauty the new varieties share. I especially love peace roses.
This time of year, I especially miss the beautiful roses Mom planted in her flower beds when we were kids. She had some real beauties; their intoxicating scent is burnished in my brain. Have a great weekend. 🥰
Beautiful roses….always loved the scent of a rose!
Thanks! That beautiful scent is what makes roses so iconic. A rose just isn’t a rose without the scent. Have a great weekend.
Beautiful roses. We have some pink ones and they smell pretty. Have a nice weekend. XO
Thank you, Ellen. You’re lucky you have some that still have their fragrance. I find there are less and less of them but it could be because we have such little humidity here. Enjoy a wonderful weekend.
WOW Wilson, that is one big bunch of beautiful flowers! You win the blooming season award!
Thanks, Terry. An award? For big ole me-I’m very pleased to hear that. Going to have to let Mum know I got an award. She thinks I’m not as prudctive as I should be. 😆
Monika, you always take the most beautiful pictures of flowers – roses in particular – that I’ve ever had the pleasure to see. I, too, miss the scent that I smelled in my childhood – but that also attracted so many bees!
Aww, you’re too kind, Amy. Thank you! I’m so glad you liked them (thank goodness for cell phone cameras, right?). Have a wonderful weekend. Ear rubs to everyone in the pack.
I’m partial to the coral colored ones – so pretty. But I’m with you, and I miss the scent.
Those peachy hued ones are so pretty…too bad there’s no scent whatsoever with any of the featured photos. And I check them every time I walk past on the off chance environmental conditions impact it. I’ve noticed a lot of flowers seem to have had their scent diminished. Sigh. Have a great weekend, Debra. Ear rubs to Gracie & Ace.
And Ear Rubs back to Wilson too!
Delivered and he was most grateful. Thanks.
Love roses. We have them growing in the back. I do miss the fragrance, but love the sight of them. A great walk today, Monika and Wilson.
Thanks, John. With all the things science can do, I wish we could have the beauty as well as the scent. It was an indelible memory from childhood sniffing at them in my mom’s rose garden.
Lovely, lovely and did I say lovely!!
Yes, those water droplets sure do add to the pop when you take pics of flowers. It’s actually known that some photographers will take a spray bottle to get the same effect.
Thank you for such high praise. Glad you liked the roses. Spray bottles, eh? I guess if it works but yeesh…one more thing to carry…umm, no thanks. Have a great weekend!
cooler with cloud cover, but now up into high 80’s which I do not like much. Your photos are always so good, they make me want to try to paint them.
wilson always great to hear your perspective, as the weather affects your walks.
LeeAnna
Yeah, we rather enjoyed the nice cool temps all week. I think it’s going to be a hot summer, something I’m not looking forward to either. We’ll just soldier along as best as we can. Mostly we’ll do our walks at dawn. Have a lovely weekend.
Love the beautiful roses, especially the peach ones. They stood out to me as a color you don’t see as often. Thanks for explaining about the fragrance. I had wondered about it.
Oh Wilson, you have a hard job being your Mom’s supervisor, don’t exhaust yourseld as you watch from the covered patio. 😉
Wishing you both a wonderful weekend!! 💕
Thank you for your comment. The peach colored ones are truly striking. Mum has been trying to paint some and so far, she’s not been even remotely close to Mother Nature’s versions. Go figure.
Yes, it’s a hard job (even if I’m prone while watching). Mums can be so erratic…you just never know what they’ll do next. But I’ll keep a close eye on her (she’ll probably trip over me at some point so I have to snooze with one eye open to avoid being trampled-and she calls me an ox 🤣). Have a great weekend.
Your fur-iend,
Wilson 🐾
Brought back so many memories of my Dad, he loved his roses and growing them, often during (the northern Indiana) winters, tenderly caring for and nurturing his seedlings in the warmth of our basement, getting them ready for spring planting. A few of his “crossbred” efforts were entered in local competitions, he treasured the colors and the fragrance both. Even in his later years, when moving to “independent living” he chose a place with a small patio so he would not have to give up on a small garden for his roses …
Oh gosh, that recollection made me smile…inside and out. Thank you! Wishing you and June a lovely weekend. Hopefully it’ll be dry.
Such beautiful roses. I agree that roses are best scented. TY David Austin!
Amen. Those DA roses are the best thing to happen to the rose world-beauty and fragrance-doesn’t get much better. Unfortunately the floral industry decided to put visual profits before olfactory pleasure. Have a great weekend walking in your beautiful landscape, Eliza.
Thank you, same to you!
Wow, beautiful rose pictures, I especially love the peachy colored ones!
Thanks. Roses manage to touch a special place in our hearts. Those peach colored ones are my neighbors. He has some real beauties. Have a great weekend!
Beautiful roses with the raindrops on the petals. We have not met a rose with no fragrance yet and we really don’t want to meet one. It was cold here all week with some drizzly rain too. Now it is supposed to be a sauna for the weekend but the haze from the Canadian wildfires may keep the heat down a bit. Happy Friday.
Thank you. Most of the new bushes you see for sale don’t have the fragrance they once had which makes us sad. It was always great sniffing roses along our walks, now there’s nothing there to sniff. But they sure are pretty to look at, so there’s at least that. Hope you have a great weekend despite the smoke from the Canadian fires. We saw photos the other day and it was heartbreaking.
My mother had a row of rose bushes that were wonderful. They are touchy here with most succumbing to blackspot way too soon. We’ve even had issues with the hardy knockout varieties. Currently I don’t have any roses in my yard. Miss them!
Trying to grow roses is a lot like an exercise in heartbreak. The bushes can be so tempermental with a lot that can (and usually does) go wrong. When my mom was alive she grew beautiful hybrid teas and floribundas. I never knew how they always managed to look amazing. I have one Canadian shrub rose which is practically like a weed. I wish its thorns weren’t so doggone willing to attack but it does provide some nice color after all the spring plants finish. I need to wear armour to trim it and every year swear I’m ripping it out. Then I realize those thorns and say maybe next year. 😆 Sure do miss the fragrance of roses though.
That’s what my mom had, hybrid teas. The only rose I had any luck with was Mr. Lincoln, a beautiful red but I didn’t take him along with me. Every other rose turns black when I touch them. 🙂
Mom had one of the Mr. Lincoln and it was a real showstopper but yes, hybrid teas are challenging to say the least. And I think the reds are the fussiest.
I miss my old fashioned roses with their gorgeous scent…….
I miss that sweet fragrance too, Helen. Another incident where economics aren’t the end all, be all thing in life. That fabulous rose scent caught on a breeze is one of the loveliest childhood memories I have. Sigh. Have a good weekend, Helen and give the Thugs loads of ear rubs from me.