Stop and Smell the Roses

Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

When you call your florist or FTD for a big bouquet of roses, you are probably looking for the beautiful red rosebuds pushing forth from green foilage and floating in a cloud of gypsophelia or babies breath. to show someone your love. Much of the florist trade in roses is carried out in early to mid-February.

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Or maybe you are looking in a nursery for a special rose with a special name to plant in your garden, for instance the Maria Shriver, a lovely white rose named to honor a celebrity. Maria is the wife of California governor Schwarzenegger

Some roses are planted in spring and some in fall depending on your climate. Stir a cup of bone meal and a cup of cottonseed meal into the soil when you plant and give them another cup of each annually when they get ready to bloom.

Red, yellow, gold, white and bicolors are all popular roses among flower buyers and growers.

Roses are also popular with people who carry cameras like this lovely bicolor rose with its enticing aroma...

or these golden roses gleaming in the sun, drawing you closer to their fiery glow

Have you ever visited the Rose Parade in Pasadena, CA? Or watched it on television? This annual parade began in 1890 when the Valley Hunt Club decorated their horses and buggies with roses and flowers then in bloom. Instead of a football game the first parade was followed by a jousting tournament with riders on horseback. It was patterned after the Nice, France tourney. The historic mansion that houses the tournament activities year round, and its rose garden is open for tours on Thursdays from 2 to 4 pm part of the year. This is a beautiful place to visit if you are in the area. You can check for updates on their website.

In Pasadena roses are not usually trimmed back until after the 1st of January because of local weather patterns. Even so, most of the flowers used in the Rose Parade are imported from other countries.

We visited the Portland International Rose Gardens and strolled through the vast park. Many of these pictures were taken in that park. Others are from private gardens and parks we have visited. Even when you are traveling, sometimes you just have to stop and smell the roses. But it pays to watch where you put your nose. Even a spider appreciates this rose.

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