Drought or not, our flowers continue to bloom and thrive

Sharing the beauty of our garden / a Queen Elizabeth rose.

Springtime means new growth for our rose bushes -- drought or no drought. Our Queen Elizabeth rose bush has been an early bloomer this year. Ditto for our First Prize roses. It's also the season for our irises and rhododendrons to bloom and thrive.

Calla lily / few as lovely.

As a caretaker and devoted photographer of nine rose bushes that shine brilliantly throughout much of the year in our backyard garden, relying on rain and a few hours of weekly watering via a water drip system, my appreciation for roses has grown exponentially over the 15-plus years I have resided in the foothills above Oakland in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Irises / the time for them to
bloom is spring.

Plus, there are few flowers as lovely as the calla lily, and we're blessed to welcome dozens of them every year to our quiet, east side garden from winter to early summer.

Roses have become an everyday part of my life, and as an amateur gardener -- especially because of the ongoing drought taking place throughout California -- celebrating Earth Day has taken on a greater meaning for me.

First Prize / shining brightly.

Yet, in photographing our roses and other flowers in our gardens -- and sharing them with my friends via my Facebook page -- I have gained a new appreciation for their colorful beauty and their fragrance, too.

If our gardens are a form of autobiography, as the author and gardener Sydney Eddison once suggested, I am happy to say that our flowers keep getting more photogenic. They ask for so little and, yet, give us so much in return.

Indeed, as it has been said, a healthy garden is a reflection of a healthy soul.

All photographs by Michael Dickens © 2015.

The pleasure of our gardens: Welcoming the spring equinox to our backyard garden

Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose. ~ Gertrude Stein

How lovely a rose smells when left on its stem.

Spring's recent arrival in the Northern Hemisphere offers all of us a chance for reflection as we begin our break away from winter and welcome the new season.

Maybe it's just me, but it seems as if the sun's just a bit warmer and the flowers are a little brighter than they were just a week or two ago.

Speaking of flowers ...

Springtime means new growth for our rose bushes. Our First Prize rose bush has been an early bloomer this year and, at the time of this writing, we have five First Prize roses blooming.

As a caretaker and devoted photographer of nine rose bushes that shine brilliantly throughout much of the year in our backyard garden, my appreciation for roses has grown exponentially over the 14-plus years I have resided in the foothills above Oakland in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Roses have become an everyday part of my life, and in photographing and sharing them with my friends via my Facebook page, I have gained a new appreciation for their colorful beauty and their fragrance, too.

Remember, it's always about how lovely a rose smells when left on its stem.

Photograph of First Prize rose by Michael Dickens © 2014.

Love thou the rose, yet leave it on its stem

"Love thou the rose, yet leave it on its stem."
~ Edward Robert Bulwer Lytton, 19th century English poet and statesman, from A Night in Italy.

A rose is a rose is a rose ...

Being a caretaker and photographer of nine rose bushes that shine brilliantly in our backyard garden, my appreciation for roses has grown exponentially over the past 13 years we have resided in the foothills above Oakland in the San Francisco Bay Area. Roses have become an everyday part of my life.

In photographing our roses and sharing them with my friends via my Facebook page, I have gained a new appreciation for their colorful beauty and their fragrance, too. It's always about how lovely a rose smells when left on its stem.

As it happened, earlier this month while on holiday in Portland, Oregon, we spent one morning visiting the International Rose Test Garden in the City of Roses. Founded in 1917, it is the oldest official, continuously operated public rose test garden in the United States.

While the primary purpose of the International Rose Test Garden is to serve as a testing ground for new rose varieties, in the beginning, hybridists sent roses from around the world to the Portland garden for testing and to keep them safe from the destruction of the bombing that was taking place in Europe during World War I.

On the day of our visit, the sun shone brightly in the Portland sky overhead. The vista looking out from the hills where the International Rose Test Garden and its companion gardens reside was very inviting to us. Walking through the various gardens gave us an up-close view of many different hybrids of roses and a chance to study their color, form, foliage and fragrance. And, simply to admire all of the beautiful nature surrounding us.

A beautiful summer day at the Portland Rose Gardens.

Operated by the Parks and Recreation Department, Portland's Rose Gardens are open in the spring, summer and fall seasons and closed in winter from December 23 to March 12. Admission is free and photographing of the hundreds of beautiful roses is highly encouraged.

Photographs by Michael Dickens, copyright 2012. All rights reserved.