This is the time of year when I begin to long for summer. I guess I have the winter blahs (having a cold to go with it doesn’t help!).

I can’t complain too much about this winter. It’s been rather spring like for the most part with only a few extremely cold days so far this year. For the most part we’ve had above average temperatures here in Toronto with rain rather than snow.

With some luck this weather will keep up and we’ll ease into spring and it won’t be all that long before I start seeing beautiful flowers like this Climbing Westerland rose growing in my garden again.

Do you have the winter blahs too?

I took this photo of my rose, Therese Bugnet, when it’s red branches were lightly dusted with snow and ice. I like the how the snow appears to have turned into crystals in the branch crevices.

Is your garden or some of it’s plants covered in snow? We had a Green Christmas here, but we just got some snow, so while I can’t complain that we’re buried in snow I can say that are garden looks quite a bit different than it did a few days ago.

We had a short spell of warm weather two weeks ago, and my roses, the ones that should be shutting down for winter, are putting out new blooms! I think they are confused! LOL … well, what can I expect when it’s been a bit warmer than it usually is at this time of year eh?

The rose above is called Lavender Dreams and I think I like it’s autumn blooms better than it’s blooms any other time of year. I think it’s because their lavender color is much richer in Autumn where as it’s spring and summer blooms are more of a light pink or light mauve.

Do you garden? If you do, do you have any roses or other plants that are still blooming?

This is a macro photo of one of the roses that I grow in my garden. It’s a Graham Thomas English rose.

Aren’t those petals just about perfect? I love the warm yellow color of the flower and how the petals, when you look at them closely have different shades of yellow within them. Lovely.

This rose is one of the stars of my garden. It only blooms every once in a while, unlike the rose that it replaced (Love and Peace) which bloomed it’s head off each and every summer until it’s demise.

No matter … it’s a pretty rose and I’m happy to see each and every one of it’s stingy blooms. LOL

These little beauties are called The Fairy rose. They’re small roses, maybe an inch in diameter, but the rose bush blooms prolifically and is absolutely covered with roses. Roses all summer long in fact.

The Fairy is a hardy rose and because it’s almost constantly in bloom it’s perfect for someone that wants an easy care garden.

This rose is called Climbing Westerland.

I don’t think it’s name reflects how truly beautiful this rose really is. It’s located in the back corner of my garden, but as you can see from the color of it’s blooms it’s not a rose that hides in the shadows!

It’s colors are gorgeous – like a sunset or sunrise … unforgettable once you’ve seen one of these roses.

This lovely rose is an English Rose. It’s called Graham Thomas and as you can see it has beautiful flowers … In fact, it blooms repeatedly throughout the growing season, so I can almost always enjoy the sight of it’s lovely flowers from mid-June through to late November or even early December.

Do you grow Roses?

This has been a funny summer here in Toronto. It’s cooler than normal so my plants are growing slower and blooming less frequently.

Still … when you have gems like this beautiful “Prince Napoleon Climbing Rose” you can put up with a colder than normal summer.

Fact … They say that this is the coldest summer we’ve had in Toronto in almost 20 years! I guess I should be happy that some of my plants are still blooming! It’s a big change from our extremely hot and humid summers that we normally have here in Toronto though!

I don’t have many yellow roses in my garden, but the few that I do have are absolutely gorgeous. Like this Graham Thomas English rose. Look at those beautiful, perfect, yellow petals.

I swear I could spend all day looking at lovely roses or pictures of roses like this one. Perfection in nature.