Sherry, that sounds lovely. I like to go outside when the sun is going down... it's peaceful. I can imagine your after-rain breeze even though we seldom have that here.

I don't very often go outside after dark because of the many coyotes and the mountain lions up the road, but like aimee I love the sunset hours. The roses really glow in the evening light.

Ingrid

Here what you find at night with a flashlight is snails.
:( But the rose buds sound better.

I went outside early one morning in my pjs and pink fuzzy slippers to take a milk jug to the recycle bin and came face-to-face with a coyote. I don't do that any more!

Golly! It's still the wild, wild west, I guess. So glad we don't them here. Wonder what I'll do when I come face to face with an armadillo. Uh, hoovb, what did you do with that coyote in front of you?

Sherry

Mountain lions down the road sounds so exotic.

Over here we have only one kind of "wild animal", human asocialicus. :D But I remember back in the parents place, our garden was close to the woods, so we had wild pigs and other creatures visiting occasionally.

Here I had only a buzzard perching in our back yard occasionally on the climber racks. Someone nearby is keeping post pigeons, so it is airdynamic buzzard attractor, something like bird version of microwave dinner. x)

The worst I've encountered at night or early morning is deer chomping on my buds (GRRRR) or opossums. I've seen foxes, but not recently.

I always wanted an all white 'night garden'. I think they looks stunning. But I'll try the flashlight method.

I love the garden at dusk----the white flowers are so pretty---We have a Dogwood right outside our FR and during the twilight hours it looks like a beautiful snowstorm---(sure wish I had Joe's ability with the camera---

WOW when I hear about these wild critters I guess I shouldn't complain about Deer---bunnies--groundhogs and skeeters---

Florence

I might brave lions and tigers and bears to go out at night.....but here, the mosquitos keep me in!

Sherry, my Red Cascade is completely covered also...mine is in a large pot and I cut it back to about a foot and it is (currently) nice and bushy. I can't believe the number of little buds on it.

Lynn

It is lovely to be familiar with your place after dark. During the winter Michael and I walked up our driveway(1/2 mile) every night with flash lights. Perched as it is the garden is sort of trecherous at night.

hoovb- AGH. I HATE SNAILS. I decimate an army and they come back 3 days later. At first I was like "aww... cute!" Not so cute anymore!!

Uh, hoovb, what did you do with that coyote in front of you?

We both turned around and ran the other way. I wish I had it on video. It would have been a youtube hit, especially the scream I produced. I think "Wile E." was as startled as I was.

Snails, I just squash them. Keep on squashin', aimeekitty! They'll thin out eventually--mine have.

elemire, When you say "buzzard" I suspect you mean what we Americans call a "hawk": a Buteo, right? In the U.S. I always heard the name "buzzard" attached to vultures. Your terms are correct in British English.

I didn't see any of the few tulips I risked planting out in the big garden come up, and suspect the wild boars got them all. We have a good deal of wildlife here, and no doubt I'd see more of it if I were out in the garden early or late. One morning I went down around 5 a.m. and found a badger rooting around in the mulched beds.

I was talking with a friend from Kenya, who was visiting us. I was complaining to him about the deer and the damage they do. He laughed and said the biggest problem his parents have in their garden is ELEPHANTS! Yikes! That would do a little bit of damage.

The Australian tea authors from Perth described kangaroos as a rose garden pest. Even after they surrounded the public garden with roo-proof fence, they hopped in the main gate along with the visitors - and happily munched on roses. What a funny image!

Baldo (many of you know him as a bug guy and rose care expert) advised me to go out with a flashlight at night in my garden and see what was munching on my plants. Quite disheartening. Not just snails, but katydids and other unnamed insects, singing and eating away, probably just as happily as the roos.

I splurged on professionally-installed lighting for my garden a couple of years ago and it's made it seem magical at night. I've got a little bamboo stand and it's especially wonderful with a spotlight trained on it. Secret Garden Musk Climber is on a trellis, with a spot on it, and just looks fabulous at night. There are still dark spots in the garden - the designer said you need to keep areas of mystery so the place doesn't look like Disneyland - and I think that I need to get a flashlight and go explore!
Anita

Melissa, yes indeed it is what Americans call hawk and in Europe it is known as common buzzard. I have no idea what sub-species exactly ours are, but they are quite common around, big brownish birds. We also get grey herons around, also huge birds, they come to snack on pond fishes and generally love to hang around the ditches.

I am definitely glad NOT to have elephants pestering our garden. Or roos for that matter. :)