Rose Garden

There are a lot of pictures here, so settle in and probably use wifi. I didn't really put a lot of effort into great photography and unique angles (so bear with me on all the similar closeups), I just wanted to try to show you all of the loveliness that I saw on Sunday.




But, you weren't there in the much-needed cooler temps and sporadic rain showers. (And lightning! It's pretty rare here, so it's a treat for everyone.) So these won't have the impact of the experience, and you can't smell them or wander around, or get caught in spider webs when you're going around the gazebo. You're missing out!

I was the only one there most of the time, though several people were out jogging around the path that goes around Bush Park. It was peaceful and relaxing and definitely the highlight of my weekend.


I don't know a lot about roses or when which varieties are blooming, so it's easy to miss some or be too early for others when I visit. And I was maybe a little late this day, since so many were at their fullest point, but I think I got a pretty good show of sooooo many varieties.



Sometimes, when I'm looking at beautiful things...


I get this feeling in me like I want to do something more to take in their greatness.


Eat them? Crush them in my hand? Pull them all up out of the ground? I don't know.


Sometimes taking pictures is not enough.


Especially since photos rarely capture what I actually saw--the color, texture and lighting doesn't quite translate--and certainly they don't capture what I felt.


There are other things in life like that. There's no way to re-experience the feeling, beauty, etc. even if you took HD video. You just have to absorb whatever you can right when it's happening.

I apologize if these seem too saturated to you. Some colors are particularly susceptible to looking overly saturated when I photograph them, but I also noticed that once I uploaded them into the online gallery, they seemed to change from how they looked in Photoshop. :/ Oh wells. Although, they were vivid and the grass was very green in real life.

This seems like a (smallish) peony, but I don't know enough about peonies--do they also have thorns on the bushes? Or are there roses that are peony-ish? Or all they all related? I can Google this, but sometimes it's nice to just ask people.

This bee has the right idea. Once I perfect my shrinking potion, I'm going to sleep in petal folds.

And yeah, I took several closeup bug photos that I'll share in another post sometime. I figured this one was harmless enough.

What the heck is going on in the center of this rose? Crazytown.

Look at the pink edges on those. So pretty!!

Calm down, red. You're so red.

One lone black and white.

Yes, these are definitely more saturated than how I intended them to look. Kind of frustrating. Also, I'm using the Picasa gallery now, so maybe it does something weird.

This one on the left looks like saltwater taffy. Soooo smooth and creamylicious.

Here's a better look.

The gardener.


Roses, you are trying to be my favorite, aren't you! It might happen.