Roses and flower play

I haven't spent much time in the garden lately - there was no time or no nice weather or no energy in me. The short visits to the garden were mere inspections and a minimal cleaning. For these same reasons, I did not use my camera to take the photos, but the mobile phone, so the quality is not brilliant. I did however enjoy the fact that some roses started to bloom, especially since there were either old roses that I came with the house and whose flowers I had never seen or it was one of my new roses - Leonardo da Vinci. What I did, in order to really enjoy them, was to take their first open blooms indoors. Here is Leo - pretty, not extraordinary and not fragrant :( At the front of the house, there are several old roses and one that caught my eye because of its shape and most delicate color (sort of a blush that turns into white) is this one: I made a small bouquet with those two plus a branch of sweet pea, which was perfect for the new coffee/tea space I am trying to arrange on the balcony (still work in progress) Among the old roses, there are two bushes of this red rose. Elegant bud and beautiful colour, alas, not fragrant. The prettiest of the old surprise roses in the front of the house was this fuschia rose with a great peony-like shape. It has a faint fragrance, too. Here it is: A nice surprise was given to me by the sweet peas, which DO smell, unlike what I said in a previous post. I had bought a pot of sweet peas that had no open blooms and the description was mixed colours, so I had no idea what to expect and I dreaded some weird/gaudy mix on the fence they were climbing. But no! They chose to bloom in mauve (almost blue), liliac and white - a great combination for me. Here is a bouquet of them with a bit of lavender and a twig of rosemary While not in my garden, I cannot help but admire the flowers I see wherever I walk and one rainy morning, on my way to the hospital where my daughter will be born soon, I passed by this fabulous white rose bush and had to smell it - I fell in love! The smell was at least as fabulous as the perfect white roses and, on my way back, I could not help myself from stealing one. Yes, I know it's not a nice thing to do, but I sooooo wanted it and I am a pregnant woman :-) and these are the last days when I can use this excuse. At home, I looked it up in Le Petit Robert des Roses and found that it is a most appreciated rose, a Damask rose - Mme Hardy. I read that Mme. Hardy's only flaw is that it does not repeat its flowering. Still, it made me want to have her in my collection. Oh, I love it when it's roses time!