Peony Petals and Rose in Bloom.

The first peony to release its petals is the big Festiva Maxima, one of the greatest of all peonies, a pure white double peony with carmine flecks on the tips of the petals. This is also the first to bloom closely followed by the pale pink Sarah Bernhardt.

I try to cut the peony heads before the petals fall. One bloom releaeses hundreds of petals which stick to the leaves and turn an unattractive brown. On the ground they create an unsightly brown mat. You can tell when the bloom is finished by gently pulling on a petal. It is comes away without effort the head is ready to cut.

I try to cup the blossom in one hand and snip with the other so as to catch as many petals as possible. After I have cut off the old blooms, I brush and shake the plant to get as many petals as possible off the leaves.

The beautiful rose, Winnipeg Parks, is now in full red bloom. The rose was developed at the Morden research Station in Manitoba. (Worth a visit if you are in the province.) It is one of the few tough Canadian roses with long buds like a hybrid tea (which are not hardy here).

My other Parkland Rose is Adelaide Hoodless, named after the founder of the Women’s Institute. This rose struggles to grow in my dry front yard. I wonder if it will even produce a bloom this year. In a better spot, this is a lovely floriferous red rose.

My two Explorer Roses, Jens Munk and William Baffin have burst into pink bloom. These are big bushes, very thorny and covered with blooms in July. They will both continue to produce flowers up to the frost. But they are tough guys to handle. I have to use goat skin gloves to prune them or tie them up. The smaller Explorer, Henry Hudson, seems to like the dry conditions in the front yard and responds with many double white flowers.

The Bugnet Roses are well on their way. I have two Teresa Bugnets, good sized bushes with pink pompom style flowers and a Marie Bugnet, with white blooms. Both are very hardy and need no winter covering. They are considered heritage roses as is the Hazeldean Rose, now sporting double yellow flowers.

My Morden roses did not do well. Winter killed the Morden Snowberry and the Morden Centenial is struggling.

The good old Hansa rose, a Thunder Bay favourite, will bloom from now to frost.