Sunset by the Lake

Today was the national celebration day here in Luxembourg.

I stayed out of all the fuss and festivities and I only heard the midnight fireworks from the distance of my bedroom, but the sunset by my favourite lake ... this I did not miss.

Not today.

Happy anniversary, Luxembourg!

May life be always as peaceful and beautiful as this sunset reflected in this ancient lake.

Garden Beauties

Some photos I took this morning with my phone.
I never seem to be able to photograph it all - there is so much going on, but I thought I'd better post some rather than none :)

Gentle Hermione with delphinium

New rose - Boscobel

Jubilee Celebration

Lady Emma Hamilton with alium

Graham Thomas

Mock orange

Poppy with a visitor :)

Home to Plants, Playground to Children

Here's a piece of my garden as seen from the balcony.

There were celebrations over the last weekend and fun was had and gifts were bought ... and received by the birthday girl.
Now the view to my garden includes a big garden house for kids and for people as tall as I am (1.65m) who can actually stand inside :)

Roses of Early June

It's the time I'm waiting for all winter - the time when all the roses open their blooms and fill my garden and house with their pretiness.

 

These photos were taken in the beginning of June, but now they are still blooming profusely with new ones coming along.

 

So one day of early June I cut one stem from about each rose bush that was blooming at the time. Some were not, so these are just a part of my now 28 rose bushes.

 

I brought them all inside and I just had to have a photo shoot in my small and amateurish soft box :)

 

Here is the line-up:

Yellow - Graham Thomas and The Pilgrim

Lower pink - English Garden and Princess Alexandra of Kent

Middle pinks- Evelyn and Brother Cadfael

Top pinks - Garten Traume and Gentle Hermione

Dark red - Munstead Wood and Astrid Gräfin von Hardenberg

 

In this photo there is also the purple rose which might be Novalis by Kordes, but as I've stollen it (psst, don't tell anyone!), I'm not sure of its name.

 

There's also, at the very right end, another dark coloured rose, which I assume it's the Dark Lady by David Austin, this being the last mistery in my garden :)

A close-up of the roses now.

 

Astrid & Munstead

Princess Alexandra

Gentle Hermione

Garten Traume

Brother Cadfael - I loooooove this rose!

Evelyn - I love this one, too.

It looks a bit like a painting to me

English Garden

The Pilgrim

Graham Thomas

 

I enjoy June so much, now that I have a rose garden.

I only wish my garden were bigger so I could add more roses.

Itoh peony

I've got this peony as a gift...well, I got a "cheque cadeau" and I chose this beauty and an arch for the garden.
It is now in its fourth year and positioned in a rather dry sandy spot near the driveway of the house, but I've found it to be so carefree.
Itoh peonies are herbaceous, so they die back to the ground every year, but their foliage looks similar to a tree peony and the flowers are similar to those of tree peonies, too.
They stay in bloom for about a month because the flowers last for a long time and because there are several flowers on the same stem that are in various stages of development.
What's not to love about it?

Aquilegias

It's soon the end of May and I am leaving tomorrow for a week away from my garden.
The garden is mostly green right now and there are not too many blooms, but many-many buds.
These beauties are putting their delicate flowers in the middle of the lush green.

This is pink Nora Barlow.
It's so easy to keep in the garden as it will self seed and I needed to take some out and give them to other gardeners, there were so many of them!

 

Among those self-seeded babies, I had this new hybrid surprise :)

Isn't this any keen gardener's dream?

Notice the difference between the aquilegia above and the one below?

Yes, this newer one has little trumpets, while the mother-plant does not.

Also, notice the last-standing Angelique tulips in the background.

And this is black Nora Barlow (yes, I like this Barlow kind a lot!).

And here is its surprise baby - another hybrid, this time an aquilegia with a single row of petals.
I must confess I like the mother-plant better in this case.

And this is whom I suspect they crossed with - a single row of petals with trumpets:

Not only aquilegias are in bloom right now, but also these big alium heads.

They smell so nice, too!

Angelique

Tulip season is almost over, but I still have some beauties in my garden.

In fact, I am lucky enough to have a flower patch mostly in shade so everything there has a later blooming season. Among the flowers planted in there, there are the Angelique tulips.

Angelique, being among my favourite tulip, is planted in several spots around the garden and in front of the house so I have a very long period when I can enjoy its blooms.

It's such a beauty - from bud, to a fully open flower and in a bouquet.

Let's not forget its amazing fragrance!