I know I complain a lot on these blog posts. I feel like I sometimes go on and on about what goes wrong, but this time I really want to focus on what goes right – ROSES. Even though I only have three roses bushes in my yard, I get so excited when they start to bloom. To be honest, I used to HATE roses, or at least I thought I did. Before my whole “gardening adventure” started, I had only seen those red “valentines” florist roses. You know, the ones that never fully open and don’t have any fragrance at all. Weeeelllllllllllllllllll, actual garden roses were quite the awakening for me. 
One of the roses that I have is this ‘Queen of Sweden’ from David Austin. I believe that this is the third year since I planted it. The growing conditions are not great. It’s planted in what I would essentially consider “swampish” and it gets very little sunlight – but LOOK AT THOSE BLOOMS!
The other David Austin rose I have in the yard is ‘Lady of Shalott’. It’s a really dreamy kind of orange color. I’m not exactly sure why I picked out an orange rose, as I usually don’t pick orange flowers. Regardless of the reason, I’m glad that I did! This bush is planted in a location that drains better than the others, and as a result looks much healthier. 
Enough about roses. I almost forgot that I’m supposed to be making a post showing you what flower arrangement I made this week! Well, blooming flowers are still pretty hard to come by in the yard. However, these sweet william dianthus are putting on a very pretty show! Even though you can buy dianthus hybrids that will bloom the first year you plant them, I really love the open-pollinated biennial version. Not to mention that the open-pollinated version is much, much cheaper.
I decided to use roses in this flower arrangement specifically so that I could take more pictures of them. Notice how my stems are still really, really short? I probably should have just snipped these off, but the fragrance is so lovely. I had to put them in a vase! Since I didn’t have any flowers for “filler”, I decided to use some kale. The kale leaves wilted very fast, as it was about 94F outside. However, they did eventually recover (though somewhat bruised by my rough handling). 
Note to self – make a flower arrangement using only kale leaves and roses. So much potential.
I added some other stuff in here, too. I also added some columbine and wild fleabane. I think I liked the simple version of this better. What do you think? Did I add too much stuff?
Overall, arranging flowers is so much fun. However, always be sure to do your research before handling/arranging plant materials. Some stuff if toxic, so you’ve got to be careful. Safety first!
I now can’t believe anyone would want to buy a stiff red florist’s rose – I wish that David Austin roses were stocked more widely and then people would realise that roses are way more beautiful and have a scent! This is an excellent use for kale!!