In the interests of posting more flower photos and sharing memories, I present to you some rose photos.

I have four lovely rose bushes at my house.  All but one was given to us.  One by our mum/mum-in-law — a treasured possession.  Friends gave us another (Homage to Barbara) when she (the mother-in-law, not the friend) died.  Ever practical, like the woman herself, the flower heads just drop off when they are done.  Barb would have appreciated the joke.  The third rose was also given to us by a friend.  It was one of the roses planted in the Rose Gardens at Old Parliament House (Canberra), but it was culled from the garden to make way for more healthy stock.  Their loss, our gain, don’t you think?

Homage to Barbara

Not perfect, exceptional
Me in my pink house dress

pink rose

You in brilliant red.

red rose

A rose given, a rose lost.

barbara

A heart not forsaken, not
Broken or withered on the stem

flower2

What was yours, now mine.
The world, my garden.

roses

Kind Regards
Tracy

Response to the Tuesday word prompt — Rose — from Frank at Dutch Goes the Photo.  Click on the link to join in.

49 thoughts on “Keepsake”

  3. My pomme soul comes to the fore in my love of roses, but roses do not like where I live. So I have to adore them from afar and admire them in blogland. Nice photos Tracy. Always special when they are gifts from friends

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    1. My mother has the same difficulty growing roses on her central Queensland property. I think she has now given up on them after all these years. They are special when they are gifts. That is why we still have them, Pauline. I don’t like to use toxins or fungicides so they have to survive without any mollycoddling.

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    1. Thanks Su. I’ve never had a rose die of blackspot yet. They might look a bit daggy towards the end of their flowering cycle, but it seems to be mostly cosmetic. 🙂 As for the aphids, I hose them off into a sieve and then squish em. 🙂

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  5. I love the line “rose given a rose lost” . This is beautiful. Your mother-in-law must have been very special, and I get the sense she had a good sense of humour!

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      1. Hi, Tracy! I am well, thanks for asking. Right now we are at the other extreme of temperatures compared to Australia; in my “mild” area of Southern Ontario, the wind chill will take temperatures down to -34C. I am sure to stay inside and cook; I hope the weather will allow you, too!

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  8. Gorgeous roses, Tracy! I miss having roses in the garden, although they never did that well but they were a reminder of home. My father grew some beautiful roses back in England. I gave up on mine last year and dug them all up as our granddaughter will soon be venturing into the garden and most of them had some wicked thorns.

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  11. The roses are lovely Tracy, and all with a special provenance. Your poem is so fitting. My roses are mostly looking like your withered pink one, I’m afraid: they have been savagely burnt by the sun.

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    1. Thank you, Jane. I think all the plants are suffering. The eremophila that I planted in the garden bed of death are about to keel over. As for the roses, these are not recent photos. The first red one in the post is on its second flush of flowering. It probably gets a bit too much shade. The second red one (Homage to Barbara) flowers nearly all year. It seems incredibly tough. Not a lot of scent on that one though, unlike the first red one whose name escapes me. The pink one is not flowering at the moment. It is in a tough spot.

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  12. All of the photos are beautiful Tracy, but I particularly like the shot of weathered rose. I don’t know why, probably you captured the beauty very well of the life after prime time. Thank you for sharing. 🙂

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  16. Pingback: Tuesday Photo Challenge – Round Up 145 – Dutch goes the Photo!

  18. Love your roses. Like you I like photographing roses in all stages from bud to decay. they get such interesting textures and colors as they age

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    1. I am the same with hydrangeas, Mary. I actually prefer them a bit beaten up, which is a good thing as they can’t really cope with our summer heat and the dry weather that we have in this part of the country. Still they are tough, so we have to pay tribute to them. 🙂

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      1. I’ve seen them around here too. they’re not blue and purple like I’ve seen in Japan though. More pale, almost white, here. Must be the soil. what color are they over there?

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