Climbing Rouletii ... Blooming Its Brains Out

Despite the weeds and my current lack of a decent camera lens for close-up work, I ventured out to try to capture the beautiful spectacle that is Climbing Rouletii in full bloom.  (I ordered my new lens online yesterday morning, and I was notified yesterday evening that it has shipped ... so I won't be lens-less for a whole lot longer.)

I bought this rose four years ago, as a small rooted cutting.  I grow it on one of the arches in the Rose Field, and it is one of the largest and most vigorous roses in my whole garden. 

Climbing Rouletii is almost always the first rose to bloom here.  It starts with a few tiny pink flowers here and there.  Within a few days, the entire bush is covered with flowers ... there has to be at least a thousand of them right now.  Each flower is only about an inch and a half in diameter, but the effect of hundreds of clusters of them is amazing!

Climbing Rouletii is in a part of the Rose Field that is really bad shape right now ... honestly, it's one of the contributing factors in the awful appearance of that area.  I didn't get around to pruning it last year, and it's escaped from its arch and is flopping all over the paths and its neighboring roses.  While it is blooming, I will forgive Climbing Rouletii's wandering nature, because it is beautiful beyond belief ... even in this condition.

Climbing Rouletii is a rose that only blooms once per year.  I love roses like this, because they put all of their energy into one huge show every spring, then they recede into the background and gather strength to do it all again next year.  This rose has the extra added feature of its unusual, lacy foliage ... which is wonderful as filler in arrangements throughout the year.

When the flowers have faded, I will have to do some major surgery to get Climbing Rouletii back on its arch.  The canes I remove won't go to waste, however.  They will be a beautiful element in the flower arrangements that we plan to make for the tables for our daughter's wedding reception ... and propagation material for new roses for the nursery next year.

It's a beautiful, sunny, cool morning ... perfect for working in the garden.