A Collection of Alba Roses
Hello everyone, so sorry for my brief absence! You know how it goes…life and all that. Right now, we’re getting our first snowfall of the season and I’m enjoying the quiet beauty, especially since tomorrow is my birthday and we make a tradition out of beginning our Christmas festivities on that day. How perfect for there to be a bit of snow when we’re strolling through town looking at the tree and the lights!
It’s also easy to enjoy the snow from the coziness of my warm bed, with a kitty at my feet and photos of June roses on my computer screen. This is a small collection of Alba roses we have growing in our garden. Do you grow Albas? I think they are one of the easiest of all roses to cultivate as they rarely seem bothered by pests and diseases and are tolerant of less sunshine than most roses.
A collection of Alba roses waiting to be photographed. From left to right: Petite Lisette, Mme Plantier, Félicité Parmentier, Celestial. How I long for another gorgeous June afternoon like this one spent photographing roses in the garden. Can you think of anything more delightful?
Apologies for the photo quality of some of these as they were taken with my cell phone. Here’s the thing with Félcité…while I love her to pieces and would probably still plant her in a future garden, her blooms ball up terribly if there is a string of rainy days which is a very common occurrence here in Pennsylvania. Oh well. Don’t her blooms remind you a bit of Souvenir de la Malmaison?
Here we have Mme Plantier. Now, let me tell you about this gal. She is an amazing rose. Amazing! Don’t let the fact I can’t ever seem to get a decent photo sway you from growing this one. In our garden, Mme Plantier is never bothered by disease or pests and blooms beautifully even in a partly shady location. In fact, this is one that will get HUGE, so make sure to give her lots of room to shine.
A close-up of Celestial (also known as Céleste), pretty in pink with lovely glaucous leaves. Celestial doesn’t mind her semi-shady location, either, but I do need to move her as she is in the path of a particularly naughty family of groundhogs who keep digging up her roots to make a doorway to their home.
Petite Lisette…possibly one of my favorite roses in our garden. Unlike my other Albas she grows in full sun and seems quite happy, don’t you think? This rose is near perfection. I only wish her blooms would last longer in vases but they shatter quickly. Best enjoyed in the garden, planted along a path where one can enjoy her daily.
A final photo of 3 out of 4 of the Albas in our garden. Hope you enjoyed this bit of June sunshine on this chilly November day!
lovely!
I ws excited to hear about roses that are shade tolerant as I have lots of that but sadly the sprinklers with probably make them ball up…
Great info on the Albas! and Happy Birthday!
Such good information about roses – especially about the shade. As always beautiful pictures! Have a wonderful birthday today!
… Enchanting!!! I wonder if any of these Alba Roses can be grown in pots? I would love to have one in my terrace, but there’s only a place in partial shade left. Furthermore I’d be happy to grow a desease resistant rose! I long for your suggestions!
Thank you all for the comments (and for the birthday wishes!)
Cristina, you might be better off planting a smaller, modern shrub rose for a container. I love David Austins for just such an arrangement. Give ‘The Mayflower’ a try if you live in a drier climate…she is very disease resistant and has a habit much like an old garden rose (in my opinion.) However, if you live in a climate with much rain and humidity, she will ball up and you won’t get many open flowers, so in that case, a few other favorite David Austins of mine are ‘Munstead Wood’, ‘Princess Alexandra of Kent’ and ‘Lady of Shalott’. 🙂
Lovely photos and great info. I hope you had a wonderful birthday!
Thank you Louise! It was very nice. 🙂
Lovely. I would love a June afternoon spent photographing roses, or just puttering in the garden. I seem to be going through garden withdrawal lately. Thanks for giving me a rose fix!
I hope you had a very happy birthday. And now I understand a little better why you don’t like Thanksgiving! Matthias’ birthday is Christmas Eve and he hates Christmas (working in retail contributed to that, too).
Thank you for the birthday wishes! It’s true, when I was younger I didn’t like sharing Thanksgiving with my birthday so tell Matthias I feel for him. Nowadays, though, we decided as a family to not celebrate it for political and personal reasons but I’m sure that nobody wants me to get on my soapbox about that. 😉 I’m glad you enjoyed the roses! I find on days like today, where it seems the sun never comes out, looking at garden photos are the best way to cheer up. 🙂
I grow all of them in 5acres of Latvian land .A few very hardy climbers too. It was my passion from childhood to have Edwardian art and craft gardens of my very own . I had to leave England to find a place that had hot summers hard winters and found it . Cheap to live here and no rates in country parts out of city living. Forests and lakes. Nearly ruined by herd of deer using garden layout and hedges as salad bar. Tall wire fences cost me a pile of cash but now can garden without hurt. It took 6 years to arrive here in gardens just as my mind had drawn . Hedges rooms wide borders of flowers in avenue and allee pergola gazebo and statues fountains ponds water garden and woodland walk Big lawn rose gardens 200 plants and borders of mainly ground cover . Tall stately roses and smaller ones under them around them and all work well together. Folly and outer kitchen brick oven for entertaining when all is done and dusted .Vine trellises and roof over table and chairs to light up in late summer for my many friends to enjoy. Hedges of Yew ,Boxus, Forsythia and Privet .With rise hedging and a nice Hydrangea penelata hedge to an allee up to postern gate out into lake On my own it was hard enjoyable work taht took up each waking hour of 7 days a week . The bare bones made I went shopping for plants or blacksmith with my designs for Monet bridge over water lily pond or park benches .
That sounds so dreamy! Thank you so much for sharing your garden with us. 😀