Wow, you have an absolutely beautiful garden. I can't seem to grow a rose that doesn't mold and rust, no matter how much fungicide I spray all over it. I am new to irises and am having good results so those might stick, but lordy...put all together like that it looks like it belongs in a magazine.

And is that absolutely perfect looking lawn in the background yours too? Stunning!! What's your secret?

Oh my gosh, Renee! How luscious. You did very well recovering from our exceeding wet winter. Tell us what the silver plant is in the foreground as well as the tiny little white flowers. My gosh, it looks like the cover of a magazine! So glad I just bought 9 Julia Child roses for my yard! Please keep showing us more photos, Renee, very lovely.

Patty S.

Beautiful! I see the Lambs Ears have grown taller since the shot you previously posted. The little white daisy-like flowers (I can't remember their name) always catch my eye at the nursery, and I often consider getting them but don't know where to put them. Are they easy care?

Absolutely stunning photo. I believe Renee's little white flowers are chrysanthemum paludosum. I just started combining them with roses this year. (No idea what took me so long to do that.) So far they're blooming their little daisy brains out. Dunno how they'll fare when we get into the summer heat.

onederw is correct- the little white daisies are annual paludosum daisies. They only last a few months- pretty good for an annual, and they reseed. Here in the heat of the valley they start to croak by the end of May, and I have to pull them all out. They are very easy-care. Plant and water. Collect flower heads when they are finished, and throw the seed out late next fall and they come up everywhere.

Loribee, that grass is volunteer St. Augustine- pretty good stuff if you want to lower your water bill, pretty nasty stuff if you value your flower beds, because it has runners. It goes dormant in the winter so you don't have to water it.

As far as rose culture goes, my secret is the Rose Forum. With their help I have chosen roses that are relatively disease-free, so I don't spray. I pull off all of the leaves in January, and use compost for fertilizer in the early spring when they start to leaf out. Anything that gets rust or too much mildew goes into my neighbor's garden, where they are totally neglected and bloom like mad just to get even with me.

Patty, as Jenn said the silver plant is Lamb's ears. Another pain-in-the-butt, since they have to be divided just about every year or they get bald spots. Patty, unlike NorCal, we did not have a wet winter here- it was pretty dry compared to last year.

Good gawd, have I bored you all to tears yet? Thanks for the compliments, it means a lot to me and justifies the water bill.

Renee

No Renee, nobody's bored, honest. When you pull up your paludosums, what do you replace them with? My roses all tend to really need some "shoes and socks."

Kay

I'm happy with your Floribundas, too. They look wonderful!

Kay, that's the problem with the sweet little daisies. I try to find enough white vincas to fill in when they are done, but the vincas are not in the big box stores soon enough to do much good. That means lots of bare dirt. I have been planting more permanent ground covers, like gazanias, woolly thyme, sage, and true geraniums. But then there's less room in the spring for daisies!
Renee

I hear you loud and clear, Renee. My problem precisely. And vincas never quite spread the way the paludosums do. I've given up entirely on petunias. Maybe white Profusion or Sahara "daisy inspired" zinnias?

K

Anything that gets rust or too much mildew goes into my neighbor's garden, where they are totally neglected and bloom like mad just to get even with me.

LOL - funny!!! Do you sneak into your neighbor's garden during the night and plant the rejects? I've read some of the funniest comments about their roses in the Roses forum.

Beautiful garden!!

No, Jenn, but I do sneak over there and weed when they go on vacation. Sometimes I plant leftover ponypack annuals. Last year I got one purple petunia and didn't want it, planted it when I went over to feed their goats, and you should see that thing this year. Not only did it live through the winter, it's three feet around and covered with flowers.

GORGEOUS! I have an 'Electric Blanket' shrub rose that is a harsh pink and I never thought of combining it with something peachy-ivory - stunning combination!