The end of July and early August are tricky moments in my garden. Many of the roses have done their best stuff and a lot of my perennials need cutting back The garden is a little dry and over the years I’ve actively looked for solutions to remedy the lack of colour.
Enter the Polka rose!   This is now a firm favourite in my garden. It buds yellow, opens to apricot orange and gently fades to a soft pale pink!  Added to that it is a spectacular repeat flower-er and I have now planted three of them at different points in the garden.
And when they flower at the same time as the Café au Lait dahlias that sometimes come up pink instead of beige, then I am doubly happy!
39 comments
Love these colours – so feminine and so sophisticated – think I will use them in my own interior colour scheme. Thank you for sharing the photos.
Sophie
Lovely colors….lovely flowers. Understand how welcome they must be.
Orange roses make me happy too!
Thanks for these lovely photos to brighten a Monday morning!
Your flowers are stunning!! I too love an apricot rose as does Ina Garten, one of my favorite people. The last two summers I worked part-time at a garden center and this is where I discovered a rose called “Just Joey”. You might want to check it out if you love apricot roses. Gorgeous apricot color that opens to a large rose with ruffled petals and just the tiniest bit of scent. It is just beyond. Over the years I’ve had trouble growing roses, but two of these rose plants have survived under my care for a year now. Usually once they get a good year under their belt I find they will generally survive. Thank you for sharing your lovely flowers and photos. x
I love orange roses too! So beautiful! I really like your combination of Rose with Dahlias. Happy Monday.
Thank you for sharing ,Sharon. Our roses in Phoenix,Az. have had a difficult summer
with the extreme heat. They will make a come back in Sept. And by Oct should be
Beautiful until January when we cut them back and remove all the leaves to ready them for a short rest before they bloom again in the Spring. The apricot shade is beautiful.
The heat affects the color of our roses. The true shades are in the Spring and later Fall,
when the colors are more intense.
So are these orange roses more resistant to heat and dryness? My roses were flowering voluptuously all spring, but they seem to be suffering with heat and lack of rain (and restrictions on watering). I love that color, too.
I hadn’t considered apricot roses before. Now, I might have to reconsider. Absolutely lovely pictures! And the dahlias! Beautiful garden.
Nancy
wildoakdesigns.blogspot.com
Beautiful. Our garden is severely lacking colour now, the lawn is brown and crunchy underfoot and we haven’t had any rain for weeks on end. Hibiscus, hollyhocks and Mirabilis now are the only things providing any colour and which seem oblivious to the dry conditions!
I can’t believe that, your garden is so beautiful. Here in Brisbane my iceberg roses are being swamped by rogue cherry tomato plants but the purple iris are out in bloom under the olive trees.
Love, love, love your flower arrangements!! So natural and beautiful colors!
So very pretty…there is something about roses that capture the heart!
Those are just what I am looking for! Beautiful! That photo should be on the cover of one of your books. Today is my birthday and you just made my day a little brighter with that picture. Thank you for that!
Happy Birthday, Marla!!!
Well thank you very much Bebe! How thoughtful and kind of you! Hope you are having a wonderful day!
Beautiful photos! We also have this rose and it performs exceptionally well.
Did you ever find a ‘sentimental’ that suited? 🙂
Love the combination of dahlia and roses… our gardens are suffering from the heat this year as well, and I find that this time of year all I can count on are hydrangeas and gladiolas, odd combo, but lovely colours, come September, the roses will have a last flush of bloom! Thanks for sharing, always a treat!
Wow ! Love this wonderful Meilland’s Polka ! Those “salmon colored” roses e,lighten gardens even if weather is cloudy.
You might like climbing “Papi Delbard” (delaby) from Delbard which is floriferous et scented.
Is your Polka rose a climber? That is the only one I could find. I plan to use this in the landscaping of our new home.
love your roses – but find roses are a lot of trouble. Such beautiful colors and nice arrangements – you are very talented.
Such beautiful flowers, Sharon. You’re so lucky to have such a lovely garden!
How gorgeous Sharon! That rose does look like it’s dancing the polka! I’ve never heard of that type & I must explore now. My favorite of all I must say!
I just love this delicious combination. If I had the yard space and the proper exposure, I’d be trying to work them into my landscape!
Dear Sharon
You have a beautiful garden.
Can you tell me the name of the white daisies in the pitchers on the windowsil in your previous post please.
Regards
Sarah
Never thought of orange roses – they are so heartwarming!
Hi Sharon
This rose is beautiful and just what I’m looking for for the same reasons as you – that in between time when the others have done their best. Could you tell me is it a climbing rose and where might I get it in the UK? Any ideas? I’d be most grateful for some information if you could.
Gorgeous! I do love roses in my garden, especially the pinks and peaches.
I have never been fond of orange, but that is so lovely with its shade-to-pinkness.
The Lord and my body willing, I’ll be doing a new garden by Fall. Glad I did nothing this Spring as we have been having brutal heat and we too have stringent watering restrictions (while in Northern California they have had to dump water from overflowing reservoirs!).
Will save your photo in the meantime. Stunning. You do have an eye, Sharon…
Just exquisite! What a pleasure to see…thank you for sharing them with us!
Me too Sharon my favorite is just my Joey
I have a polka climber and just love it. It is such a healthy vigorous rose. so glad it is getting more known.
Hi Judith. Are you in the UK? I would love to buy this rose, but I’m having great difficulty finding one! Thanks.
Beautiful photos! Your flowers are wonderful, the colors…!
Beautiful! I have a Polka rose here in Brussels which I love as well and flowers all summer long.Very fond of the gorgeous and vigourous Ghislaine de FĂ©ligonde which starts apricot and fades to cream.
For late summer through fall try Autumn Joy it’s a wonderful plant not much care always looks great fills in nicely and comes in many colors of autumn. Outstanding for pollenators and flower arrangements
Just in case anyone is interested, I’ve discovered that the Polka rose is called Lord Byron in the UK and is available from Styles Roses. I’ll be ordering one to plant this autumn. Thanks for introducing it Sharon.
Breathtakingly beautiful! Thank you for sharing for our enjoyment. I love your blog!
How beautiful….and those dahlias!!! Cannot wait for mine to open!