aimeekitty

TODAY IS A BEAUTIFUL DAY!

I had an appointment in Pasadena, so on the way back, I stopped by Descanso Gardens to see how the rose gardens looked a few weeks later. For reference, this is what they looked like about 3 weeks ago.

Also, I wanted to study more what types of companion plants they planted around the roses. I'm considering planting a butterfly bush or a california lilac or a vitex tree... it was fun to see that they had some of these in the middle of the rose beds. I hadn't noticed them before because they weren't blooming yet. So as the once-blooming roses are dying down, these companion plants are coming up and other roses are blooming.

ALSO, for Doctor Who nerds, I do feel somewhat attached to the VITEX tree. hurhurhur

It was nice, too, to see some plants I'd already planted in my garden looking so beautiful mature at Descanso... like guara, lamb's ear, chinese foxglove, salvia, etc.

This lady was painting in the gardens. I thought she was charming.

Some general shots and shots of companion plantings:

Does anyone know what these charming plants are? Someone told me they might be some sort of speedwell or veronica.

More guara (I LOVE GUARA)

I liked this large daisy put in with the roses.

huge bank of guara backed with butterfly bushes

lamb's ear

detail on one of the harlequin butterfly bushes. They had several large butterfly bushes in the middle of some of the rose beds. Here it's in the old tea section with rosette delizy.

a large Swany Rose

carefree delight rose and others with gladiolas growing right out of the midst of them (love this!)

More Carefree Delight

Bishop Darlington

a bench so covered in roses that you can hardly see the arbor or the bench.

Hollyhocks among the roses

still really like Crocus Rose

a gorgeous bloom on Maman Cochet cl.

chinese foxglove with roses

a mix of yarrow and other things

What Francoise Juranville looks like later in it's bloom cycle

similar shot of Marchesa Boccella. It seems like a lot of Hybrid Perpetuals, old Teas and wichurana rambler blooms don't shatter, but instead turn brown on the bush. We'll see if I get used to that or not.