Back in my garden again

A riot of color
A little haphazard perhaps
It's survival of the fittest out here.

I've ignored my garden for so long
flowers long forgotten stretch to the sunshine and nod their heads at me
'yes, I'm still here'
the weeds have taken over
but at least they're green.

Honeysuckle mingles with the surviving climbing roses and fills the evening and morning air with it's heady fragrance.

I once had 17 climbing roses and too many shrub roses to count. The blooms are perfection, the scent heavenly, filling bouquets. But black spot won out, only a handful of roses left - I refused to spray and our wet springs did them in. But those that survived fill my cup every spring.

Rosa Rubia naturally resistant to disease. The flowers are tiny, but I love this climber for its red stems, grey green leaves and large rose hips that feed birds all winter.