Roses

Its June and the roses are blooming. We have an old pergola that is completely overgrown with roses. Not only do they festoon the pergola they are deeply entangled with the apple trees next to it. Over three of four weeks their presence dominates the garden and we walk out frequently to look at them. The beauty of the pergola is that we can walk under and amongst them as well as enjoy their presence from the outside. Not only are they beautiful and generous flowers but they support many insects that feed on them and off their nectar and these in turn help pollinate them.  Pollination involves the movement of pollen from one flower to the next, or between the sexual organs of the same flower. I noticed that, although I have several types of rose, the bees seemed to prefer one type - the pale yellow or white roses on the end of the pergola -  seeming to ignore the other larger and more colourful roses. I needn't have worried - less than a week later the bees were tucking in to the pink roses.. it was just a matter of timing and the bees were better than me at judging when a flower was ready for them.