This isn't my rose. This is the one I saw at Balboa Park. This pink ruffly version is what first caught my eye.
But then I saw this blossom and liked it even more. This is still at Balboa Park.
Close up of that last picture.
This one is my plant! Its first flower. I'm probably going to have all kinds of trouble describing the colors of this rose. Buds are also all over it, and this is the one opening up first.
Only one day later than the last photo.... Fwoosh, this one opened up a lot this morning! It's so pretty in the morning light. Smells good, too. :D Distant Drums isn't supposed to have a strong smell - it's one I got just for looks - but I won't quibble with scent.
I took this less than an hour after the last photo. It's opening up fast!
Also less than an hour after the earlier one.
I went back out a little over an hour after the last two and the flower has fully opened.
Pulling back to show the setting. They're in pots on the deck, on the other side of the rail from three roses that came with the house, Princess de Monaco, French Perfume, and Pristine.
Can see the gardenia in the background there.
Once I opened myself up to the idea of roses in pots... I went a little nuts. There are currently 13 potted roses on the deck.
The other pots are random: a collection of succulents, tomatoes, a leftover osteopermum, a grevillea, and a small mock orange. There are a couple of empty pots there, too. I filled up the long one today with lettuce.
The roses in the corner are listed off in another photo, but the ones on the left are Distant Drums, Chrysler Imperial, Julie Newmar, George Burns, and Windermere. Pristine is visible above the rail (looking very purple with the new leaves).
My orange tree is behind Pristine and next to the vertical beam.
I like when opening roses hit this stage... where the center gets all ruffly.
Chrysler Imperial is in the foreground, Distant Drums in the background.
New flush! Second one of the season.
At long last, another flower on Distant Drums. I'd gotten quite worried about this rose... it got attacked by a disease and lost almost all of its leaves. But there is suddenly a lot of new growth, so it looks like she's going to try and leaf out again... and there's this one flower!
At long last, another flower on Distant Drums. I'd gotten quite worried about this rose... it got attacked by a disease and lost almost all of its leaves. But there is suddenly a lot of new growth, so it looks like she's going to try and leaf out again... and there's this one flower!
There's lots of new growth on this plant, and this is the first bud to open.
Distant Drums, now open for beesnis. Sorry for the pun. This is the same flower I photographed yesterday afternoon, now fully open.
Shadows and light.
Sunny side up.
I love the face on this bee. It's not perfectly in focus, but it cracked me up.
I like how you can kind of see three stages here... the bud, the recently opened flower with the more peachy-copper middle, and the older bloom in the back that's mostly pale pink.
