Your partial bush shot looks good! Blooms have a nice color to them.

Hi Carol R. gallica Officinalis has about 20 to possibly 30 petals. It is not a single, but it is not full either. Further, it is dark pink/almost purple. I bumped up June 1 photos with a closeup and a distance shot of parent bush r. gallica Offic. A rosarian friend said this sport/hybrid has a lighter color and it has so many petals, he did not think it was a sport - but perhaps a naturally pollinated hybrid from Compte de Chambord (nearby bush) and r. gallica Officinalis. There are so many suckering canes from r. gallica Officinalis, it is difficult to see if it is a separate bush - need to dig them up and untangle the roots? I probably won't do that for a while. Kathy

Unfortunately we even have to be extremely careful at our vacation home in upstate PA. If we go out during hunting season we make sure we wear bright orange and even talk louder than normal - just to alert anyone who might be hunting on our land illegally. Our land is posted but that doesn't stop some hunters. One morning around 5:30 we woke up when we saw a man drive up our driveway and park next to an outbuilding. He was wearing camo and as he got out of the car he picked up a bow in a case with a quiver strapped to the side. DH opened the door and asked him if he knew this was private property. The man said he didn't think anyone lived there because he didn't see any cars. DH told him the cars were in the garage and that his wife was calling the police. The guy hopped back into his car and left before the police arrived. It was too far to his plate. We've also heard rifle shots in the middle of the night - occasionally when there's a full moon from poachers. We hired a landscaper to do some work around the yard and he asked if we would let him hunt. We told him no, that we only allow family members to hunt there. A few weeks later a neighbor called to tell us that he saw the landscaper and 3 others in camo heading up our driveway and he called the police. When the officer arrived our landscaper told him that we had given him permission - so the officer let him go with a warning. It certainly isn't all hunters but there are always a few individuals who think rules are for others.

I was deadheading the roses when I photographed the last bloom on the Duchesse de Montebello, which was particularly luminescent (China heritage?). Phone can't really capture. Here she is in her glory -- Kathleen in background The pretty duchesse was the wife of the young & dashing General Jean Lannes, Napoleon's favorite general, who was given the victory title of Duke of Montebello after his victory in a battle of that name in Lombardy, Italy, in 1800. (Unlike his predecessors, Napoleon, whatever his faults, believed in rewarding people on the basis of merit, rather than birth, and he also instituted half-pay pensions for the military. This made him a favorite with liberals, including some breeders of roses.) Marechal Lannes died in battle in 1809. Below, his widow with their five children. (Please excuse my pedantry) .