Take Time to Smell the Roses

Today it has been misting rain here, and our rose bush is covered with pink roses.  Not to be dramatic, but it seems as if it burst into bloom overnight.  We cut some of the blooms (and a few buds) to put in the house because we're sort of expecting more rain, and the rain tends to beat up the delicate petals on the roses.

This is our David Austin rose, "Gertrude Jekyll."  Regular readers of my blog know that I adore these roses, but for those of you who are new here, we planted this rose bush several years ago for our anniversary.  It's a climbing rose, and it usually has a flowering in the spring and another in the fall.  It is described in "The English Rose" by David Austin, as "a magnificent rose and a fitting tribute to Britain's greatest woman gardener.  Gertrude Jekyll has large, rich pink flowers and a well-balanced Old Rose perfume, described as the quintessential rose fragrance."  Hal and I can certainly attest to the fragrance part.  They smell like the best kind of old-fashioned roses -- heavenly.

"And she was as fair as is the rose in May." ~ Geoffrey Chaucer

"But he that dares not grasp the thorn, should never crave the rose." ~ Anne Brontë.

"You may break, you may shatter the vase, if you will
                         But the scent of the roses will hang round it still." ~ Thomas Moore

"But the rose leaves herself upon the brier, For winds to kiss and grateful bees to feed." ~ John Keats

"...nor will in fading silks compose, faintly the inimitable rose." ~ Anne Finch, Lady Winchilsea

"Some people grumble that roses have thorns; I am grateful that thorns have roses." ~ Alphonse Karr

"She bathed with roses red and violets blew, and all the sweetest flowres, that in the forrest grew." ~ Edmund Spenser, from The Faerie Queene

"That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet." ~William Shakespeare

"And I will make thee beds of roses
                                     And a thousand fragrant posies." ~ Christopher Marlowe

"Take time to smell the roses." ~ Proverb

Do you have any roses blooming where you are?  If so, I hope you're enjoying their beauty and fragrance.  Thank you for your visit and have a wonderful weekend!

Today, I'm linking this post to "Thoughts of Home on Thursday," a weekly party hosted by four very nice bloggers.  I hope you'll stop by for a visit and join in the party!  

Denise