Sheila: were these taken today? “Still going” suggests today, but “random photos I may not have posted yet” suggests not today.

Hi Sheila,

Gorgeous winter images of your home and roses. I am amazed that you still have blooms, it is just below freezing here now with 5 cm, 2 inches of snow on the ground and roses are long done for the winter. I had my first day of cross country skiing today, my winter passion here. Never the less, your garden and your roses are an inspiration just before the winter solstice.

Joyeux Noel to you and your family. May the peace that surpasses all understanding be with you and may your garden bloom and provide you with solace, peace and beauty next rose season.

Cheers, Rick

I love it when you post pictures of your wonderful garden. Thank you.

Your garden looks great Sheila! Here in Seattle the only remaining blooms on my roses are looking really ratty and rained on. Happy holidays!

Thank you all. Yes, this is right now. I was just in SF and noted a redbud tree with half of the leaves still on there. Things are really reduced in blooming here, but it is such a joy to see some plants still trying. The really hardy plants have already shut down.

Rick, you are a trooper. Are you the Okanagan Canadian Rick? If so, I love my Cressida and St Cecilia.

When I saw on the home page that you had posted your garden, I was thinking "gotta check this out"! Your roses are all so lovely, I was hoping to get a glimpse of Franziska!

Rick I agree and I am glad that you preserving and sharing what you can! That's awesome!

Shelia, I love the pictures of your garden before it goes to rest! So beautiful and will very much look forward to Spring pictures!

I don't know if you recall the Tea bed I was telling you I was adding up front, but it happened! I did a small austin bed close to it, with some I got from Linda, I hope they all do well where they are at!

Sheila of course I loved all your pictures but I was really hoping to see a response from Ingrid. Hopefully she’s just busy with th holiday season....

Rick I agree. Why wouldn't they want to preserve all the great early roses of David Austin? I know its money but still, it baffles me. Ok, so there are a few bad ones but its still part of his history and life's work. There's plenty of good ones like Belle Story that could be gone in ten years from the mass market if more nurseries don't preserve them.

In a time in history of natural disasters like, fires, blizzards, floods, hurricanes, tornados, or even plant diseases, etc- it only takes one good 'disaster' to lose precious varieties of roses (or other plants) unless they are widely dispersed throught the country and even other countries.

Nola, here is my last photo of MFranziska Kruger. It is 11/19/19. I can't wait for all your Spring photos. Alana, so glad the Teas are in.

Sheila that is really beautiful! I have a baby one but it hasnt bloomed much at all yet? How often does your bloom?

Sultry, this rose is perfect here and constantly blooming. The foliage is the best, healthy looking too. I am so glad to have this one. I bet yours is going to show off soon. Mine was from ARE. My plant is better than any reviews I read of it. Who knows why sometimes?

Sheila, she is just stunning! she takes your breath away as soon as you see it! I looked it up and it’s zone6b, so I doubt I’d be able to make it work but id sure like to try. Thank you for posting these lovely pictures! A girl can dream right? :)

rideauroselad said:
"their resistance to preserving his early work and what I feel are important historical roses with respect to his legacy as a truly great rose hybridizer."

***** I couldn't agree more.
Someday, people will look for those roses, and wish they'd not been let to disappear.

Looking wonderful, Sheila! It seems you have more blooms than I do right now. I have started a little pruning, so that has taken some blooms out of the picture for a while. I love seeing your garden.

I heard from Ingrid a few days ago. It’s difficult for her to watch TV or be online. It bothers her head. She says she’s as well as can be expected. Lisa

Thank you, Lisa, I was worried. I am sorry Ingrid is experiencing these difficulties. We all enjoy Ingrid's and your postings so much. Why do the loveliest people have to endure these problems, I don't know.

Advanced melanoma has some new miraculous treatments coming out. I so hope your wonderful niece can benefit.

Shelia, your rose perfumed property looks beautiful! Love the entrance gates. I remember you have a big garden, how many acres do you have? You must have room for a couple thousands of roses.

I hope Ingrid is doing well, is she sick?

Thank you summers. I have 5 acres and plenty of room, but maybe 250 roses. I fall behind as it is. Yes, Ingrid has had some health challenges and I know we are all pulling for her and Cecil. I know she will be back here. She has such a beautiful property and roses and I am so grateful she inspired me to try Tea roses. I had gardened since childhood, but only lived cold until 5 years ago. I am so thrilled to be gardening with these treasures I could never grow before I moved South.

Sorry to hear that Ingrid is dealing with health issues. She is in my prayer for quick recovery and coming back here soon. There are also Nik, Daisy, kittymoonbean, father Jeremy, Michael G......haven’t heard from them for a while. Hope everyone is going strong and have a wonderful holiday season.

Wow! 5 acres! You have room for 5,000+ roses, keep collecting! :-) Is your property all fenced in? That’s super nice for roses! I was shocked by the fencing prices last week. For a 4’ tall chainlink fence about 80’ long, cost $4,000! I thought I was in a dream, didn’t know fencing could make that huge profit ........

i am wishing for stability and recovery for Ingrid. Shelia you have such a beautiful winter garden. I was just outside amazed at the beauty of senescence. Leaves with colors of purple on the edges, the chill in the air, feels like winter even though only 55F outside. Leaves on Valentine. Madame Alfred Carriere never stops blooming.

Summers, the property is completely fenced, thankfully. I bought it that way. Deer are ever present here and it would be heartbreaking to grow roses without the fence. I had a moose charge me in Alaska when I was trying to get it out of my garden and I'm glad I survived that.

Stephanie, I too see the beauty of senescence and agree with you.

You were lucky didn’t get hurt by a huge moose! What a great find with 5 acres all fenced in! Our country property is completely open to the wild animals. Right now the deer has been checking out the roses next to the patio, the only thing keeps them away is a thin fishing line, I found that out from security cameras. Lol Have to find a backup plan for the roses. Might install electric wires next year around rose gardens.

Keep posting more your lovely photos. They are so cheerful to look at.

This is one of my garden now covered under snow, there won’t be any blooms until June. Can you see the fishing line ? :-)

Great idea, summers, with the fishing line. I really do not see it but I'm sure it helps.

I use the fishing line too! This last summer was my first time and it seemed to help deter them.

Their path seems to be to come into my yard from my neighbors on the left. After they demolished hosta, roses and some hydrangea I knew I had to try something. We can’t encompass the whole yard but I hoped if I at least threw up something to discourage an “easy” snack plus sprayed deer repellant it would help.

We put up about 48ft in length to block their favorite path. They can certainly go around but at least for last year they seemed to turn around and go back out of the cul de sac.

Now I also have wire netting around the roses cause the bunnies are snacking...

It will be interesting to see what happens this spring and summer

Please elaborate on the fishing line. It actually stops deer from eating roses? How far out from the roses, and how high?

Yes the fishing line works! I use it too for my garden up front and will be adding it for the roses. I do two strands, one around 4 to five feet and one at 2 feet or so, So both the adult and the younger deer get deterred by it.

We tried the fishing line, too. We used the fishing line to string between posts that surrounded our garden to form a fence of a sort. The theory is that the deer will feel but not see it and be spooked, discouraging them from going into the garden area. We put up several levels so that deer, whether small or large. would hit a line if they tried to walk through, crawl under or jump. For a couple weeks it did seem to stop them but within a month the deer had it figured out and had no problem going under, over or through. This summer was long and hot and we did have a drought. This added to the pressure already there from habitat destruction due to a construction boom from people moving here from out of state. If the deer could find plenty of food and water elsewhere it might have been more effective.

Kes throw them a bag of corn as far away from your garden as possible. We feed our too, for hunting purposes..but if you feed them alittle, and corn from the mill is only 6$ I think cob may be more not sure, but worth a shot.