gone, but not forgotten

The petals may have fallen, but their memory still warms my heart. Honestly, is there anything prettier than pink roses in an old, green jug? Despite the number of rose bushes in our garden I'm always reluctant to cut them for vases. I'll always wait till they need to be pruned first. But these little beauties are from what has to be the most magnificent rose on the block - Duchess de Brabant. She's a grand old dame, born around 1852 I believe, but serves us well all year round with delicately-scented, nodding pink blooms. Plus, despite living only a few blocks from the ocean, she's never blighted with black spot or scale (touching wood frantically as I type!) and flowers nearly all year round.

She makes me happy...