a rose bush for myself.  I loved my single David Austin rose so much, that I have quite a few of his other roses on my wishlist.  Where will I have room to plant them?  I have no idea!

Anywho! On to the point, which is I bought myself another David Austin rose called Jude the Obscure (link is to Google images).  Sometimes the names of these roses intrigue me almost as much as the plant itself.  I have read wonderful things about the scent the flowers on Jude produce, so I am most anxious to smell them for myself.  Luckily for me, there is already a bud on my bushling!!

(Sorry for the incredibly crummy photo.  I couldn't get my stinkin' iPad to focus on the plant.  The bud is the yellowish-green blob towards the center of the photograph.)

I just potted this little beauty, though, so it may or may not survive.  Time will tell, I guess.

Not really, it's actually a very new tradition.  A "tradition", implemented by yours truly, of my Man buying a rose bush for me every Mother's Day.  We're on the second year of that "tradition". ;P  Last year, David purchased the beautiful Abraham Darby bred by David Austin  for me.  Here are some of its gorgeous blooms:


This year I got sucked down the rabbit hole of old-fashioned roses.  I find myself drawn to the challenge of taking care of roses that are a little bit on the fussy side.  I may find it not worth the time later on, but for now it calls to me.  This year I picked out a rose that was bred back in the 1890's.  I was just so fascinated by growing a rose with that sort of lengthy heritage.  Her name is Mme. E. Veryat Hermanos.


I haven't been able to find a whole lot of information on her, but I also haven't done much more than a scratch-the-surface search.  I fell in love with the look of the bloom this bush produces, which to me looks like an antique flower: here's a link to a Google Images search of the rose I picked.  My bush is tiny and hasn't bloomed yet, so I don't have any bloom pictures of my own to share.

I do, however, have pictures of the ridiculously large raised box I made for her!


I know, right?! She looks so tiny, and all alone.  Mme. Hermanos is said to be in the "house-eater" category of climbing roses, though, so I built a box to accommodate her future potential. I can't wait!!! I've always wanted a great big stonking rose bush!

And don't worry Madame isn't alone anymore; I gave her some spicy friends to keep her company! Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme.  Just kidding! LtR it's: Sweet Basil, Thai Basil, Lemon Thyme (it's hard to see 'cause it's kinda twiggy right now), Chocolate Mint, Chives, and Italian Parsley.