But you do take it "seriously," Eden - in that if you just look to see what all projects you've done this garden season alone - it's truly amazing in retrospect.... what a magical place; I agree w/ Woody - you likely will have inspired several future gardeners. Just fantastical.... I think I'm most taken by the fairy invasion of your property. --Cindy

Hi Christina, good news, I had a couple of later blooms of The Wedgewood Rose that did indeed keep from nodding, so I suspect that as the plant ages it builds up stronger stems. Juliet, there is a slight purple cast to the flowers, but nothing as strong as many other roses. What makes Princess Anne so wonderful is how the colours fade as the flower ages. I really like this rose. Renee, I'm very, very pleased with Wollerton Old Hall. I think this may be one of Austin's best roses in years. The colour is great, the shape is great, the fragrance is intense and it just keeps putting out flowers. Fantastic so far. Hi Ingrid, The Wedgewood Rose has an old fashioned delicacy that I really like. I think of my mom when I see it, and know that she would have found it irresistible. It's soft, and frilly and delicate. Birdwing, St Cecilia is one of my absolute favourite roses. I love everything about it, but especially the scent, it's wonderful. Meredith, I would recommend growing The Wedgewood Rose as a climber, even if the stems do build up some more strength, this is a rose that just screams for a trellis. Hi Krista, I'm glad you're enjoying your Wedgewood too! Kate, thanks for the nice words on the photos. I'm adding a few more photos here, including another of the Lady, and I think I like this one even more. Hi Seil, thanks for the kind thoughts, and here are a few more photos from the past few weeks. The entire gallery can be found on my site linked below. Wollerton Old Hall Princess Anne Sharifa Asma Lady Emma Hamilton Spirit of Freedom The Wedgewood Rose Alan Titchmarsh Here is a link that might be useful: More from this set of photos...

I'm coveting your camellias, Bill. ;-) I was in Japan a couple of weeks ago and got to see not only the cherry blossoms in peak bloom, but camellias too! They were absolutely everywhere - lining the roads, in gardens, they were stunning. Most were pruned into a barrel-like shape, just loaded with flowers. I came home and immediately looked to see which ones might grow in my garden - if I had a spot for one. Which I don't. :( Here's a pic of one I took at the Buddhist temple in Narita Is the pink flower an aquilegia? If so, I can't believe how much further along yours is compared to mine - I have 6 leprechauns and I doubt I'll see flowers before next week at the earliest. Anyway your garden is so lovely! Mine is new - we had the overgrown mess that was here when we bought the house almost completely ripped out and redone last spring, so I have a while before it's filled in.

Ahhh you guys are lucky ducks with no real regular frost! We have anywhere between a few light freezes to several 20's F depending on the year One winter since I've lived here, we had a few nights in the upper teens. That was the year a tree limb fell on my gh and I lost a lot of stuff grrr. Our day temps usually bounce back up to 60's to 80'sF in the winter. tropicbreeze my 3 sausage trees were started from seed 7yrs or so ago now. No 'sausages' here yet either. I have to cut them back to get them in the gh. I started bending the tops over instead of cuttimg last winter to hopefully encourage flowering. They lose the leaves in yhe winter so idk if they will ever flower here. One year one grew into the ground and broke out the pot. So I tried to dig up the root and there way no way to get it so I just kinda cut it off at the bottom of the pot which was really the bottom tree trunk. Well it grew new roots just fine and even tho it was a cold winter here, with 20'sF temps, the roots left in the ground started growing a new tree in the spring!! I never thought they were that hardy lol. ~Sjn