January Blooms Day

This has been a cold January for us here in Northern California with temperatures dipping below freezing for many successive nights. But even with the freezing temperatures some of my plants are thriving, especially the ones that usually bloom this time of year anyway and the ones that are under the overhang of the house and are protected from frost.

I should be thinking of pruning back the roses, but I have a hard time when a few of them are still in bloom albeit showing a little worse for wear.

My azalea, 'Happy Days,' is blooming lovely right now.

I love primroses this time of year because their faces are so bright and colorful against the winter landscape.

This little cyclamen in a pot on the back patio is slowing coming back.

To see what's blooming in other gardens on this Garden Bloggers' Blooms Day, visit May Dreams Gardens for the links.

A Book of Roses

When I was antiquing recently, I came across this small 1939 Penguin book on roses that includes 16 color rose plates. I was drawn to the tattered, well-worn cover with its old, dusty rose shade of pink. When I picked it up and saw that some of the pages were browning with age it made me wonder about the book's owner or owners and how much this little book must have been used and loved. 

The book is a short history of the beloved rose and includes color plate illustrations by Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1759 - 1840) from his folio Les Roses. These are just a few.

Cabbage Rose (left) and Damask Rose (right)

Rosa nitida (left) and Sulphur Rose (right)

Rosa gallica

I have always loved botanical prints and I would like to try to enlarge some of these plates on a color copier and mount and frame them. I think they would look beautiful grouped together on the wall of the family room or even along the hall, don't you?