More on Favorite Roses – A Lovely Lady of Arcadia

With autumn’s stride lengthening as the days shorten, and the waning of the year well underway, this post might be most untimely. But here, sunlight still bathes the trees and lawns, the maples have only the merest touch of color and the roses are bursting with abundant blooms. The forecast calls for summer warmth – nearly 70 degrees – and although I have plenty of autumnal images I could include from years past (just to appear in the swing of things), I think I’ll take my cue from the billowing petals of the rose bushes and savor a few last days of the garden’s lush offerings before they have faded away.

Recent thoughts on my favorite rose, Lady Emma Hamilton, caused me some slight feelings of guilt and worry that I may have been premature in my absolute declaration. Alas, another beauty has emerged in delicious profusion from the lower front garden and now I am torn.

The Shepherdess, a David Austin rose named for a character in Philip Sidney’s Arcadia, and the star in all these images, covers her graceful stems with voluptuous blooms of cream and blush. Extravagantly fragrant, they exude the scent of myrrh, vanilla and almond and hold their scalloped petals for luxurious days on end – a marvel of perfect form!

And so, I am as yet undecided as to my favorite and feel this needs a resolution! After all, these things are important, aren’t they? Knowing unequivocally one’s favorite color, or season, or rose?

Perhaps it is too early to decide. The garden may yet have even more lovely inhabitants to reveal before winter’s mantle tucks them away from sight.

Flowers Have Autumn Color, Too!

LIke these Helenium and Dahlias!

Although our garden is bursting with new roses as we continue with summery weather.

! – g

E Q U I = N O X

On the first day of autumn, we awoke to one of the clearest days we can remember. The complete dearth of clouds, and so little moisture of any type in the sky, caused the usually lingering sunrise to enter and exit quickly as a pale peachy smudge behind the Cascade range. On the day when we experience near equal amounts of daylight and darkness (sunrise 6:57 am, sunset 7:07 pm), temperatures belied the autumnal date, reaching nearly 90!

Our roses now carry more buds than I’ve seen all summer and the merest handful of leaves have begun to turn color on our property. Made it challenging to get into the swing of fall, or fall into the swing of autumn, or…something…

But in defiance of the thermometer, I conjured autumn colors, stoked the oven and roasted red, yellow and orange peppers with red onions until they were caramelized, rich and dark, while baking panko-breaked tilapia, drizzled with fine, dark Vermont maple syrup. Delicious! (I come from a family of great chefs but please don’t get the idea I’m a cook, or chef, or foodie. I have a very small repertoire that I trot out on special occasions and thankfully, a very undemanding husband. Otherwise, it’s fresh fruit and veg for us most of the time.)

We ate outside, as we do all meals in warm weather, while the dipping sun bronzed the tops of the tall firs that surround us.

Too brief, today, I’m afraid. A big adventure is afoot…

To paraphrase John Muir, may the winds blow their own freshness into you, and your cares drop away from you like the leaves of autumn. :)

How did you mark the first day of Fall?

– g