In The Philippines, I have tried to take care of my sister’s roses. She likes them so much that she keeps buying them, big and small, regardless of obscene prices, totally ignoring the fact that they will surely die in two months or so despite our best efforts.
I wish she could have seen the roses at Steinfurth – red, coral, pink, white, sunset, and gold blooms in every shape and form imaginable. The scent was so thick in the air I could almost see and taste it. At every turn, I stood in the middle of a rose ocean, beautiful, vibrant, and celebratory; very much unlike our decrepit roses back home.
I wonder how old these roses were? Some had trunks and branches so thick they would pass as trees; their enormous blooms heart-stopping. They are so pretty. I can’t think of anything comparable in The Philippines. The boiling heat is too much for the roses.
There were also other flowers – annuals, I guess, but I am unfamiliar with the names That’s okay, I still think they are so cute. We brought home a few small pots of blooms, lavender, and hydrangea, plus an orange dawn climbing rose. It reminds me of the sunset from the tiny house and it smells so nice!
We also found the cutest cafe and restaurant set-up! Very Alice in Wonderland. Dreamy and cozy, the main structure looks like a greenhouse with wood, brick, and iron details. The seats outside were surrounded by greens and roses and I am so in love with the large wooden table. Consider the entire concept stolen.
Now all the plants we have bought have been living in our backyard for almost a week now and I think they are okay. I am surely hoping so! The bees are very happy and so am I.
How is your garden looking?
Markus + Micah 
Beautiful! Like us, your sister can enjoy the pictures and let her imagination go!
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I really hope she visits soon and gets to enjoy all this for herself. She would really like it.
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Aww 🙂
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gorgeous roses you guys.. so beautiful
1 💖💖
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What flowers grow on your garden, Cindy?
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lavender, roses, gardinias, salvia, dahlias, hmmm too many to mention.. 💖🌹😂
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I can smell them from here!
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oh very cool!! 💖💖
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I was sure I had commented here the other day, but I don’t see it now! So, a gorgeous post with beautiful photos. Until today (4th June) it has remained cool and windy so it was lovely to see a couple of butterflies back in our little garden. 💐😊🙋♂️
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Thank you for the dedication. You make my heart smile. I am not very fast with the blog now because like you, I am working on something that I have always wanted to do for a long time! I have just started and can’t wait to share it with you all soon.
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How beautiful! It is true that there are a lot of rose or flower gardens here in Europe and this one reminds me a lot of the Floralia flower show that I went to back in April, even though it was with tulips and not a lot of roses! I love that you took a flower plant home that reminds you of the sunset in the tiny house!
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I really want to see the tulips in Belgium. Thank you for always inspiring me. It is such a joy to enjoy these flowers this side of the world. I am grateful to experience them. And yes, the rose is doing well and gave us a flower that totally opened here in the garden. The color was deeper than the ones it already had from the garden center. I guess that is normal?
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Oh that seems beautiful! I think that the colours of flowers are stronger when they are “young” and fade a bit as the days pass, but I might be completely wrong! Also maybe you just got lucky with a flower more beautiful than the others!
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We will find out soon! So far, I am enjoying all the roses around. It is like nothing I have ever seen. Last year, I was here at a later time and have seen roses everywhere too, but I feel like there is even more this time and I have the brain to appreciate them.
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It’s been fun for me this spring to see what flowering plants appear in the garden of my new home in Vermont.
So far, a couple daffodils; lots of bearded irises just started blooming; bleeding hearts; wild violets; day lilies soon; a purple lilac tree, which I LOVE for it’s scent and because I’ve never had one before; and soon the blueberries and raspberries that ripened soon after I arrived here last July. There are hostas everywhere; they’ll bloom later but their big, broad leaves are showy in the meantime.
I’m also enjoying finding and learning about all sorts of wildflowers that are new to me.
And last week I bought an assortment of annuals for six deck pots – geraniums, lobelia, and some new-to-me plants because I like experimenting each year.
I’m so glad you’re enjoying gardening in Germany. I’ve never been too into it because one of my childhood chores was to weed our yard/garden, a chore I still dislike today! Plus I’m afraid I’ll pull something that isn’t a weed! Seeing the healthy plants and their blooms is so rewarding, annuals and perennials.
Roses, though? I’ve always considered them too challenging for my low-level gardening skills. I like tossing out wildflower seeds into my home garden and letting them do their thing with little assistance from me!
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Wow, thank you for this thoughtful comment. I can vividly imagine everything, you in your new home, cozy with the dogs, all these flowers, and the discoveries that are about to come up. I loved the daffodils here early Spring – I wish they stayed longer! And thanks for the tip with the wild flower seeds, might try that next time. Or is it fine to do it now as we come into the Summer? I hope your coming days be filled with blooms! And no allergies.
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A gorgeous post! So colourful and filled with sunshine! It’s obviously warm too! Here in the middle of Northern Ireland (“on the shores of the Atlantic” 🤣😉) it is still so cold, and wet! Even so, we have managed to do some gardening in our tiny yard, sorry courtyard 🤣.
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We have sunny days, not enough if you ask me. What is on your garden atm? I am new at this – so much easier in The Ph!
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Our back garden (very private) is very shallow, no more than 20ft in depth surrounded by fences to the sides and an 8ft mixed hedge. All paved except for 2 borders filled with a couple of small fir trees, euonymus, choysia, a wiggily hazel, lavendars, campanula just about to flower, several small hydrangea, scabious, salvias and lots of pots. Pots: clematis, skimias, pyracanthus, dwarf buddlea, more salvias and as many hardy geraniums as I can fit in. We LOVE our little garden. 💐😊🙋♂️
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I’ve sent you a photo 🙋♂️
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I love your garden! Thank you so much for the photo – made my day. Really cool how lush it is and I appreciate the privacy. I can imagine doing yoga there actually, and it will be so peaceful and calming surrounded by green.
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Do you have mulch around your roses? I waa told it can cause the roots to steam/boil in hot climates. A coworker removed all her mulch and her roses cheered up immediately. It gets hot here and most rose varieties love it.
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No mulch in The Ph. Honestly, I had no clue what to do with our roses. I just try to water them and dead-head them. They really did not last long despite our best efforts.
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My garlic is doing well. One plumeria has tiny blooms. The fake honeysuckle & russian sage are keeping the 3 hummingbirds, and some bees, happy. I found a tomato, possibly a green variety, on Sunday. By compleye fluke, today I learned the name of the dark, nearly black, rose that looks like it’s velvet (but it’s on my work pc). I loooved that rose plant and hope to finally replace it.
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Wow, you have a nearly black rose? That’s super cool. What is it called? Love your hummingbirds and bees. Here, I see more bees in the backyard since we placed the plants there. I am so happy to see them everytime!
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I had them. Something came through and wiped them out several years ago. Google Black Bacarra Red Rose
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Wow, that’s amazing. Thank you for showing it to me. Now that is a red I can get behind. Stunning. I will be on the lookout for these!
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I found some etsy sites taking orders for delivery in Sep-Oct.
They legit look like deep red velvet. Mine never opened much, which I loved.
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They are so pretty and dramatic. Like the flowers Morticia Adams would get.
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Well, that’s fitting… I envy Morticia!
I once had black pansies that were GORGEOUS. True black with bright blue and yellow in the centers.
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I looked up black pansies and whoa, they are so cool. I see a lot of these here but in different colors. You have the best flower recommendations.
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Nah, I just like black and nearly black flowers!
In the otog series, Morticia’s pet pkant was a bromeliad. Ican’t keeo them alive!
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I do, too. I was unaware of black flowers so thank you very much for highlighting these!
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You’re welcome! Back when I first moved to this house, I went on a very focused quest for black flowers! The roses were a lucky find at a high end nursery. I don’t usually like roses so I’m glad I bought them instead of talking myself out of it!
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I LOVE all these pictures!!! The roses are stunning! Flowers make me so happy 😊 We have azaleas (pink, purple, and red) as well as peonies that just finished blooming. Our hydrangeas should be starting to bloom within the next month and I am so excited for that!
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I really did not think I am into roses until I saw them here, all pretty and surviving. Haha! Many thanks, it was fun to share all these with you. I hope your hydrangeas give you the largest flowers this year! We only have one and it has white flowers atm. It is really pretty. I hope it grows big and lush fast.
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You’re back in the Philippines!!!! Back to the heat!
I love that you’ve brought back inspiration from your stay in Germany … looking forward to watching your garden grow!
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Still in Germany. Otherwise, these roses would be impossible. I really hope to return to the sun soon though!
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Your photos are gorgeous. I could almost smell the roses.
We have two pitiful rose bushes, both currently showing their first blooms of the season. The lilac bush had wonderful blooms this year. That was unusual. The Wicked Wisteria refused to bloom at all — normal for that awful vine at our house. There will be a pause until the next round of bloomers shine. As usual, I loved your enthusiasm.
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I love how full of character your flowering plants are. I imagine you in a scene that is Alice in Wonderland-esque. It is a lovely thought. Your roses are also giving you a hard time? I hope the ones we have here behave well because I honestly have no clue what to do with them. We have lots of lavender, too. The scent is crazy good! They do not grow in The Ph so I will enjoy them here.
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The non-flowering Wicked Wisteria is THREATENING! It could cover our house in a month and try to get in windows and doors. Yes, I do exaggerate.
The roses always struggle and like to complain. I hope your remain healthy.
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Haha. I feel like a child being told a fairytale. Thanks for that. I see plants like this around here and I find them, like I said, fairytale-like. Though I understand how it can be a pain to manage them. I imagine you have to be really committed to have these kinds of plants.
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Having a Wicked Wisteria means you are committed to basic defense of your homeland. It came with the house and has become more threatening with each passing year.
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I see plenty of Wisteria here actually and they look great. I suppose some people have time to tame them. But I can imagine how quickly they can take over a space when left alone.
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NEVER leave a Wicked Wisteria alone!
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I will remember this advice!
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Remember and laugh with me. You are enthusiastic, and I am goofy.
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Perfect.
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My wife is happy with me buying her roses from the Bengali guy near home…3€ each. Good deal….
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You are the sweetest. Do you get her red roses or?
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Wow these roses are so pretty! We don’t grow any at our apartment, but Portland, Oregon is known as “Rose City” and they have beautiful rose bushes along the freeway downtown that we get to enjoy. 🌹
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Wow, Rose City? That sounds awesome. And I guess enjoying the rose bushes around is a clever way to lift your spirits without having to fuss over taking care of the roses. Now I will look up photos of roses in Portland, Oregon. Thank you for sharing that!
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Yes! Did you find any photos of Portland?🌹I bet caring for roses is a lot of work, especially to cut them back each year so they can grow fuller the following year, which I’ve heard is part of rose care. 😆
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Yes, it’s so beautiful. I am excited to see how these roses do. Along the streets, they thrive without much care, I assume, so I am hoping for the best with the ones we have at home. We’ll see! Have you cooked or baked with roses, like petals or scents or whatever form is possible?
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My in-laws are from the Middle East so they introduced me to using rose water! It smells so amazing and I recently added it into cheesecake for a light, floral taste. I want to find more ways to use it though!
Have you baked/cooked with roses?
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That cheesecake sounds fairytale-esque, wow. I have not been exposed to rosewater actually and I did not really think much of roses until they are all around me here in Germany.
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It seems to be a very good year for our roses. We have blooms all over the garden and they are very welcomed by all of the bees, butterflies, and other creatures.
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Your garden must be wonderful! Have you been growing your flowers for a long time?
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We’ve been here nearly 30 years so it has had many iterations!
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The stories your garden can tell!
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What beautiful flowers! When we moved into our house there were several rose bushes in our front garden. They are long gone. I don’t think roses do well with our extreme climate in Canada.
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Do you still have other flowers in your garden? I thought roses like the cold?
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Yes. We still have tulips and daffodils and a few other flowers. Roses tend to like cooler climates with lots of rain—that’s why they do well in England. Here in Canada, we have extremely cold winters, and extremely hot, dry summers. Not good growing conditions for roses, unfortunately.
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I won’t complain about tulips and daffodils! And I have not been to England but I can imagine all these cozy cabins crawling with roses – stunning!
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Woah! Beautiful flowers!!! I’m sure your garden must look beautiful too. Our flowers aren’t doing too well in the sveltering Delhi heat.
I love the wooden table concept too. If I had a big backyard, I’d have gotten one of those for outdoor family meals when the weather permitted.
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What flowers do you have? I am just starting into gardening because I am all about houseplants in the Ph. In Germany, that is hard – I have never seen so much pests! And yes, the table is awesome. I have sent it to my father and he will make it happen.
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