Ingrid, you have one of those gardens that do not need roses to look gorgeous, but I'm sure glad it includes them. (I think I need Le Vesuve! Your photos have convinced me of that). The first photo with the bench and daylily's is especially nice. I love the placement of the two big shrubs, with silvery sage foliage, across the way, too. Are they butterfly bushes? They look stunning placed there. This garden of yours looks different every time I look at it. I'm always seeing something new here. That is why yours is one of the few gardens that gets shown here, that I always enjoy seeing again and again. Thank you, Ingrid darling!

Juliet

Your garden looks cool and serene. It's hard to imagine high heat.

Absolutely beautiful!!! It's easy to see that not only did an artist's eye plan and plant the garden, but framed every photograph just perfectly! Thank you. I really appreciate it.

Ingrid, your garden looks absolutely lovely even in the heat of summer. I adore the combination of the yellow day lilies together with the gray lamb's ears and the silver-gray green butterfly bushes in the background. Wonderful color combo! Note to myself: I have to plant more companion plants!

The roses that you are showing couldn't be prettier. Can't pick a favorite. I really envy you about Sister Elizabeth, mine is still mildewing so badly that the flowers are affected and stink, argh... My Le Vesuve is a lot more of a cherry red color, but I like your light pink one much better.

Thanks for taking the time to share pictures of your garden here!

Christina

Here is a link that might be useful: Organic Garden Dreams

Thank you so very much, Juliet, Inga, roselee and Christina. Your sincere appreciation means so much to me. In fact, I was so touched that I got a little teary-eyed. I am one lucky girl.

Ingrid

P.S. Inga, I achieved that "cool and serene" feel by taking these pictures at six o'clock in the morning!

Beautiful, Ingrid. Your roses and companion plants look charming together, wonderful mix of colors and textures.

Your Le Vesuve is much prettier than mine. What was your source?

Everything looks very beautiful, despite the heat. Here's hoping for a cooler-than-average summer...

Thank you so much, krista and hoovb. Your praise means a lot to me.

My Le Vesuve is from Vintage. I'm a little surprised that you feel yours is not as nice. I'm curious in what way it differs.

Ingrid

I'd love to sit awhile on that bench and contemplate your lovely gardens. So serene.

Kate

Your garden is so beautiful, even in challenging conditions. You've done a great job of mixing plants so that there is always something to look at and appreciate. Your roses are all so beautiful, and you've really captured them with the photos.

I particularly love the rose in the fourth photo, the dark red is a great contrast to the blue, (at first I thought the blue was a delphinium, but its not... is that statice?).

The third photo is really beautiful too, I love the column with the frog on it. Somehow, you've managed to create a "cottage" (I hope you don't mind the description) feel, but have achieved it with plants suited to the climate, I never managed to do that in California, I wish I had seen these photos 5 or 6 years ago, they're really inspiring.

Thanks for sharing these!
robert

Kate, you're welcome to visit any time and sit in my garden, which is true for anyone else who would like to do that. Part of the joy is in sharing with all of you.

Robert, I'm immensely flattered and gladdened by your comments. The part that really affected me is that you wish you had seen my garden when you were in California to inspire you. That's praise of the highest order. I've benefited a great deal by pictures in gardening books and on forums to inspire me, and I think we all need and want that kind of help. No matter what we "borrow", each garden will still have its individual, unique character. That's the beauty of it all, that our personalities are reflected in our gardens.

Ingrid

Ingrid, I meant it sincerely, I didn't really realise until just a few months before I left how very differently I would have liked to have grown my garden. I had always dreamed of the archetypical English Cottage Garden, and I found that I had a "beach cottage" in San Clemente that would work with the look.. so I filled the garden with all of the plants that I had read about for so many years... and it looked really great... but the water!!!! I was out watering almost every day to keep things alive, and that just wasn't ecologically (or economically) wise at all. I was trying to force the garden I wanted into an environment that really wasn't suited to it, and it could only survive via artificial means.

The last few months I was there I was really inspired by this site:
http://www.wildscaping.com/
When I started thinking about the wildlife that depended on the plants in the garden, and how the plants they needed were the same plants that would have done much better in my garden, I started to try to introduce more native plants into the garden and to really try to create a space that had the "look" I wanted, but used plants much more suitable to the climate and that would be beneficial to the birds and insects that I loved so dearly in my garden.

If I had it to do over again, I'd have grown more tea roses, a few of the English roses that I love so dearly, and a lot more companion plants that would have required a lot less water, withstood the heat, and benefited the wildlife more as well.

At least now I'm in the right place for the garden I always dreamed of, and I can grow as many English Roses as I'd like, but when we eventually move into a space (we're renting now) that I really want to "make my own", I'll be more conscious about the plants that I grow. Even now, I've been thinking this season that I need to get some of Austin's singles and semi-double roses, just for the bees who need the stamens so badly. I'd also like to incorporate more of the native wild plants that the birds rely on, and when I make choices about companions I'm thinking of not only how they look, but of the entire ecosystem that the garden will create.

So yes, I find your garden really inspiring, you've managed a really wonderful look that I find very attractive, but you've done it in a way that works with the environment and reduces the ecological stress. So I say... Bravo!

cheers!
robert

Ingrid, I would get up at 6am any day to enjoy the beauty of a garden like yours. What is the dark rose in the 4th photo, BTW? That's my favorite picture. :-)

Robert, I just want to say bravo for your concern about the environment and all the creatures that become a part of our gardens and our lives. Apart from the animals we see almost daily such as the quail, rabbits, squirrels, hummmingbirds, lizards and frogs, this last week we had a bobcat in the driveway, a beautiful Southern Pacific rattlesnake under a tree and a tarantula in the roses. I grow some large plants of marjoram that the bees are crazy about, and they also love the butterfly bushes and many of the roses. It just wouldn't be a real garden without all that life and activity! It goes without saying that I garden organically so that nothing gets hurt.

annececilia, it's so sweet of you to say that. The rose, by the way, is one of the few modern roses I have, other than some Austins. It's Burgundy Iceberg, which has been a great rose for me. It doesn't mind the heat and is pretty well disease-free. It blends well with the older roses and the color is beautiful.

Ingrid

Ingrid, you have an amazing garden and a real eye and talent for putting together beautiful vistas. And everything looks so clean and healthy and neat! Sigh, I wish my yard looked so appealing.

seil, you've really made my heart swell with pride (although I hope not my head). I think the hardscape, paths and stone wall help to give the garden structure so that all I've had to do is plop in plants in what to me are harmonious colors. I've found that repeating companion plants such as lamb's ears, day lilies and others lends an air of cohesiveness. I do envy "real" gardens with rose-draped pergolas, arches and tuteurs. So romantic.....

Ingrid

P.S. Would love to see your garden. I think we're always our worst critcs and I'm sure yours is lovely.

Ingrid

Ingrid, what a beautiful garden you have. I didn't get to see all the photos tonight but definitely enough to show me your brillant garden. Last night I wanted to very much see your post, but it wouldn't work fo me.
Thanks for showing us your super garden. Tomorrow I will try again and hopefully I might seem more of your photos.

rosemeadow_gardener, I'm so sorry you've had problems seeing all the photos. Computers can be so strange. I hope it works for you the next time. I so appreciate your kind comments about the garden. It's a work in progress, as all gardens are, and I hope to see improvement when my many young roses gain some maturity.

Ingrid

Ingrid. I am in the middle of my fortnightly watering and it is very hot outside. I have just come inside for a while to cool down. I thought that I would look at your photos again, because it is strange, that, you probably have one of the hottest gardens of us all, but your photos make it look so cool and serene.
I love your Hemerocallis. Do you know which one it is?
Does it flower for a long time?
Daisy

Really beautiful, Ingrid. Thanks for sharing your garden.

Daisy, my big secret is that I get up early to enjoy the garden before the sun comes up and that's why it looks cool.

I wish I knew the daylily's name but it's a generic one that's sold everywhere here because it does well in the heat, and the pots don't even have the name of the day lily on them. I would say it blooms three to four weeks in the spring/early summer.

Ingrid

Thank you for looking Maurizio, and your lovely complement. Since we both live in Mediterranean climates I think we do have very similar landscapes, even though geographically so far apart. I'm making note of your companion plants since no once makes better use of them than you do in your garden. I do have Dietes, which is very common around here since it blooms so often; it's a great plant for the very hot location I have it. I probably should have more than one. I'll look up your other suggestions that I'm not familiar with. I grew scented pelargoniums in another garden and loved the fragrance but they turned into monster plants; they were almost too happy!

Grazie,

Ingrid