A rose is a rose..............

.............its beauty never fails to delight the eye,

and the nose shares in the soft yet powerful perfume.....used for centuries to enhance water, food, and perfume.

This Spring my stunning Peace rose is doing so well, maybe the best ever.  Everything, including two large hydrangea shrubs, was severely pruned back last Autumn in order to paint the exterior of the house.  The only losses from pruning, plus perhaps the unusually cold Winter here were, sadly, our Confederate Jasmines on each end of the porch..........which I'm in the process of replacing with healthy new plants.

Fortunately the terrible tornado of last Saturday did not destroy our garden........other than damage to the azalea bushes already in full bloom.

This month, everything is blooming beautifully.........besides the roses in this front bed, there are peonies, pansies, bluebells, alliums, clematis...........and I've added geraniums in pots.  My dining room window looks out to this bed, and here I sit at the table enjoying the blooms as I write my blog! In the far bed in front of the master bedroom bay window there is another Peace rose with many buds starting to open. 

Yesterday, after an early morning shower, the first blooms were fully open, the delicate perfume filled the air........such gorgeous flowers, and several more buds starting to plump up.  Looks like my roses will be lovely for another week or so. Very happy to be enjoying them prior to leaving for the UK.