Now, it is time for the promised post on Ruston’s Roses and the Renmark Rose Festival! David Ruston is a big name in the rose world! He has been President of the World Federation of Rose Societies and has been awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for services to floriculture (1984) and England’s highest rose award, the Dean Hole Medal, given to him by the Royal National Rose Society in 1994. He is held in such high regard that there is even a statue of him in Renmark! Having heard about him for years, it was wonderful to finally visit his garden in Renmark, South Australia, in the 3rd week of October, 2014, during the Renmark Rose Festival, as part of our Old Rose holiday.
Ruston’s Roses
70 Moorna St. Renmark, South Australia
Open 7 days a week from 9 am to 5 pm, except for Good Friday and Christmas Day
Just 5 km from the centre of town and covering 27 acres (11 ha), Ruston’s Roses is Australia’s largest rose garden with 50, 000 bushes of 4000 different rose varieties, including Species Roses; Rugosas; Old European Roses – the Gallicas, Damasks, Centifolias and Mosses; Bourbons; Teas; Noisettes; Hybrid Musks; Hybrid Perpetuals; Hybrid Teas; Floribundas; Miniatures and Ground Covers; and David Austin and Delbard Roses.
Since October 2005, it has been home to the National Rose Collection and also has a large collection of Tea Roses, perfectly suited to the warm dry climate of the Riverland region. The first two photos below show the native vegetation along the Murray River in this area and the 3rd photo was taken adjacent to Ruston’s Roses.
Renmark is situated on the Murray River and while much of the Mallee vegetation is scrubby and dry (see above photos), the abundance of irrigation from the Murray allows lush productive gardens, not just for roses, but also citrus, grapes and almonds.
Here is a map of the location of Ruston’s Roses taken from their official brochure:
David’s father, Cuthbert Sowersby Ruston, was a soldier-settler from England, who bought 30 acres of land in the Riverland with a friend in 1919 and proceeded to develop a commercial fruit orchard, which supported the two families.
In 1924, he planted roses around the family home, as well as Lombardy Poplars, Melias, a Norfolk Island Pine and a Lemon-Scented Gum, all of which still shade the house.
In the late 1920s, he planted more roses: Mme Jules Bouché, Lady Hillingdon (photo below), Rosa laevigata and Hybrid Tea, Constance, for David’s grandmother, Constance.
In all, his father grew 300 rose bushes, including many Teas: Devoniensis; General Gallieni; Hugo Roller; Lorraine Lee; Mrs B Cant; Mrs Herbert Stevens (photo below) and White Maman Cochet.
David was born in 1930. He worked on the family property and started to plant roses along the open irrigation channels, in fact anywhere he could find a spare bit of land!
Gradually, he removed vines, established trees as backdrops and windbreaks for the roses and planted more roses for the cut flower trade.
He started Ruston’s Roses in 1968. By the mid 1970s, the entire 11 ha had been converted to roses within a garden setting with large trees and shrubs and hundreds of iris (700 varieties from Bearded Iris to Louisiana Iris and the largest collection of Spuria irises in Australia), as well as daylilies, watsonias, criniums, agapanthus and clivias. 
The 1990s were a particularly busy time with the cut flower trade, but the drought and increased competition from West Africa and South America greatly affected the business at the time. Looking to retire, David sold the business to his niece and daughter of his twin brother, Anne Ruston, and her husband, Richard Fewster in 2003. They instigated a modernization program of the horticultural practices and in 2004, introduced a ‘No-Till’ regime, along with state-of-the-art computerised irrigation and fertigation systems to replace the prior flood irrigation. All pruning is now done by machine.
In 2005, the Ruston’s Roses Visitor Centre was opened and now caters for over 10 000 visitors from around the world each year!
It includes: A fully licensed café for morning and afternoon teas, lunches and dinners, and functions for up to 200 people, including weddings and conferences;
An information desk; a wonderful gift shop with lots of rose-related merchandise from books, beauty products and gifts (photo of the beautiful rose cake plate and cake fork set we bought from there) to local gourmet produce and arts and crafts like Dudley Siviour’s corrugated iron sculptures (last photo below of a kangaroo and sheep); 
Floristry and cut flowers for sale; and for the men:
AClassic Car display of vintage and historic racing cars, including MGs (4th photo, yellow), a Citroen (3rd photo, yellow), an Amilcar (a rare grand Sport Surbaisse, seen in 2nd photo below, red), a Ford, a Zeta (one of only 28 ever made), a Bradfield, a Scootamota (the first motor scooter), a Lotus Mk VI 1955, a Lotus Eleven 1958 and a Lotus Elite 1961. See: http://www.the-lowdown.com/ruston-roses-private-collection/ and http://www.rustonsroses.com/images/BarossaVisitsRustons.pdf.
Outside is a brightly painted Massey tractor (the first vehicle my husband ever drove at 8 years old, though his tractor certainly wasn’t as pretty!!!);
A rusty old horse-drawn lucerne mower for making hay;
And some delightful rose-coloured glasses, through which to view the garden! This delightful artwork was made by Helen Burgemeister and is titled ‘Looking at the World Through Rose Coloured Glasses’. 
I loved the Climbing Graham Thomas (1st photo below on the left of the walk) and Troilus (2nd photo below) in the David Austin Walk, a tribute to the many David Austin Roses planted for their cut flower trade.
In fact, Ruston’s was the largest cut flower grower of David Austin Roses in Australia! Each year, the property supplies 50 000 dozen roses (600 000 stems) to florists in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane, as well as 400 000 buds of grafting wood to Australia’s nursery industry.
We had a wonderful day exploring all seven rose patches of the garden, as seen in the map above from the official brochure. We started at the old homestead, where David still lived when we visited in October 2014. I loved the entrance path!
Here, the garden is delightfully informal, blowsy and overgrown, with lots of colour and areas of sunshine and dappled shade.
I love the way he grew annuals in pots to provide instant mobile colour in bare patches.
The old packing shed beside the house was covered with a native frangipani in full bloom on the left and rampant honeysuckle on the right of the photo below.
We were able to get an excellent overview of the property by climbing the lookout tower.
There are six flushes of blooms each year, with a nine-month flowering season from early September to the following Winter. This lovely golden rose is the Polyantha Rose, Lavinia Evans.
It would be a beautiful venue for a wedding (1st photo below)! The beautiful metal sculpture near the wedding lawn in the 2nd photo below is titled ‘Lifeless Planets Surround Us. Let’s Not Make Earth Another One’ and was made by Tony Hanes.
I particularly loved the National Tea-Noisette-China Collection with lots of old favourites (like Noisette rose, Alister Stella Grey in the photo below) as well as many different types of Tea Roses, which were new to me.
Here is a list of the roses held in this section: http://www.heritage.rose.org.au/hriai-tea-noisette-china-collection and http://heritage.rose.org.au/sites/default/files/Renmark%20Tea%20bed.pdf and http://www.heritage.rose.org.au/sites/default/files/Renmark_Plant_List_by_Class_.pdf. You can read more about this wonderful rosarian and his garden in his book: ‘A Life with Roses’ by David Ruston 2011. See: http://www.heritage.rose.org.au/publication/life-roses.
Renmark Rose Festival
Renmark is known as Australia’s rose capital! There is even a Renmark Rose, which can be found in front of the fountain and is featured on the Rose Drive pamphlett.
The Renmark-Paringa Council has compiled a list of its 53 public rose gardens, which form the Renmark Rose Drive and Walk. Each bed is mainly planted with a single variety of rose, the name of which is noted, along with its family, in the brochure. The council maintains over 3500 rose bushes at a watering cost of $100 000, though recycled water is used for the majority of beds. The Renmark Rose Festival was the brainchild of Eithne Sidhu, who collaborated with David Ruston, to run the first Rose Week in 1994 to attract tourists to the region. They were certainly successful! Now in its 23rd year, it has become a major regional event in South Australia and the largest festival of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, attracting thousands of visitors and contributing significantly to the region’s economy. Held over 10 days in the 3rd week of October each year, it includes numerous activities in both Renmark and surrounding areas like Loxton. It is a very interesting area. Founded in 1887, Renmark is Australia’s first and oldest irrigation settlement, had the first houseboats on the Murray and the first community hotel in the British Commonwealth (The Renmark Hotel 1897), still operating as a community hotel today.
Festival activities include: tours of the historic Olivewood Homestead; river cruises on the Murray on the steamer PS Industry 1911 (photos below); a fair, market stalls and a ball; champagne breakfasts, suppers and high teas; visits to wineries and breweries; a scarecrow competition; a mystery bus tour; art trails, displays and workshops by local quilters, woodworkers and egg shell carvers; floral displays and flower arranging workshops and a lantern festival on Nardoo Lagoon at the end.
There are also a large number of private gardens, open to the public over the festival. We visited three wonderful gardens, all totally different! The first was owned by Donna and Danny Hoffman, who had a vast horticultural knowledge and a superb one acre formal garden over 20 years old.
He grew Hybrid Teas, Floribundas, Miniatures, David Austins and other old-fashioned roses, along with a wide variety of salvias, succulents, established trees and conifers.
I loved the driveway edged with mature climbing roses.
The next garden belonged to Alan and Fleur Carthew, who developed a one acre informal garden on a sand ridge bound by citrus and avocado trees (background of 1st photo).
The garden is 55 years old and has only had 2 gardeners. The Sprekelia (Jacobean Lilies) and Alstroemeria (Peruvian Lilies) at the front entrance were a picture (photo 1). I also loved the exuberant display of modern Shrub Rose, Sally Holmes, beside the white statue of the reflective girl.
It contains large established trees, an orchard, chooks, exotics and natives, including Kangaroo Paw (photo 1), Leucospermum (photo 2), Grevilleas (photo 4), Callistemon (also known as bottlebrush, surrounding the metal goat sculptures in the 3rd photo), Banksias, and many roses.
I have already discussed our final garden, Bed Rock, developed by Chris and Raelene Schultz on the site of the old drive-in in Loxton. See: https://candeloblooms.com/2016/11/08/favourite-private-specialty-gardens-part-2-dry-climate-sustainable-and-small-gardens/.
Loxton and Surrounds
We thoroughly enjoyed exploring this area! Here are some of the places we visited en route to Bed Rock.
Bella Lavender Estate
19 Dalziel Rd Glossop
Open Monday 10 am to 4 pm; Wednesday to Sunday 10 am to 8 pm; Cloed Good Friday; Christmas Day and Riverland Fire Ban days
https://www.bellalavender.com.au/
A wonderful spot for lavender-lovers!
2500 plants of twenty different varieties are grown on the property, their essential oil distilled and incorporated in a range of their own beauty products: soap, hand and body lotion, shower gel, shampoo and conditioner, floral water, massage oil, arthritis cream, insect repellent and lip balm, which are sold in the shop along with wheat-bags, sachets and other gifts like lavender mugs and china.
They have a fully licensed café, where we ate wood-fired pizza for lunch overlooking the farm. There is also mini-golf and a playground.
We drove down to the river, where Daisy Bates camped for four years from 1936 to 1940;
And we visited Wilabalangaloo, a lovely old property donated to National Trust as a Flora and Fauna Reserve by Janet A Reiners (1895 – 1990). Here is a map of its location from the official brochure and photos of the entrance and the old sandstone house with Aleppo Pines (Pinus halepensis) and Lemon-Scented Gums (Corymbia citriodora).
Wilabalangaloo Nature Reserve
Old Sturt Highway, 4 km NE Berri
Open Dawn to Dusk. Closed on Riverland Fire Ban Days. Free.
https://www.nationaltrust.org.au/places/wilabalangaloo-reserve/
Situated on the western bank of the Murray River and covering 92 ha of mallee country, it’s a fascinating landscape with a 1 km stretch of 30 metre high sandstone cliffs 3 to 6 Million year old, known as the Loxton-Parilla Sands.
Oxidation of iron over the centuries has produced the red, yellow and brown ochres, which give the property its aboriginal name Wilabalangaloo, meaning ‘Place of Red, Yellow and Brown Stones’. Its a perfect home for Welcome Swallows.
There is a self-guided interpretive nature trail and a clifftop viewing platform. See: https://www.nationaltrust.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Wilabalangaloo-Nature-Trail.pdf.
There are over 80 indigenous plant species and a huge variety of wildlife, especially birds. We took lots of photos, including:
Sacred Kingfishers surveying their kingdom;
Zebra Finches, who were diving in and out of their huge nest;
Whistling Kites, soaring overhead, the air filled with their plaintive cry;
Rainbow Bee-Eaters, looking for insects;
Shelducks dabbling;
Pelicans cruising;
And Stumpy-Tails (also known as Shinglebacks or Two-Headed Lizards) sunbaking!
I just loved the colours of the vegetation and landscape: the reds and ochres; the blue-leafed mallee and old River Red Gums; the silvers of the saltbush and bluebush; and all the coloured lichens.
It is well worth a visit if you are in the area. Next week, we return to the last of the posts about garden books: Garden Books: Inspirational Gardens and Stories Part Three, after which the book posts will start exploring our natural history library.
I was nominated by Sophie, who writes a lovely blog: 
My Answers to Sophie’s Questions
Hybridization of these two roses with Dwarf Chinas, Bourbons and Noisettes produced a new race of Teas, with a wide colour range (red, pink, blush, white, yellow and pale orange) and a bud with a high pointed centre, different to other roses of the day. Crossing Parks’ Yellow Tea-Scented China with Fortune’s Double Yellow (R. odorata pseudoindica), another old Chinese garden rose with few thorns, dark green glossy foliage and loosely-formed double, buff-yellow fragrant blooms with tints of orange (photos below), produced the early yellow Teas of the 20th Century.
Originally called Tea-Scented Chinas, the name of these new roses was abbreviated to Tea Roses. There is much conjecture over the fragrance and origin of the name – some say these roses have the faint fragrance of fresh China tea, while others attribute the name to the fact that the roses were stored with the wooden tea containers during their voyage from China to Europe in the tea clippers of the East India Company. Despite their slender weak stalks and tenderness in the cooler climate, they quickly became popular with Victorians, who wore the blooms in their buttonholes. In cooler climates, most Teas were grown in greenhouses or against a warm, sheltered wall, but they thrived in the warmer climates of the Mediterranean areas; South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and warmer parts of America like California. Their heyday was from 1882 to 1910, with over 250 Tea Roses introduced between 1830 and 1840. Many were produced by French breeders like Gilbert Nabonnand (1829-1903), based at Golfe Juan on the Cote d’Azur, who specialized in breeding Chinas and Teas, producing 78 Teas between 1872 and 1903. Tea Roses remained popular through the Edwardian Era, but the outbreak of the First World War meant that there was no longer the time, money or staff to maintain these tender roses in heated glass-houses. The new Hybrid Teas, as well as climbers, ramblers and Polyanthas were gaining in popularity and competed for space in gardens. Sadly, most of the Tea varieties, known to the Victorians, are now extinct, many killed off by severe frosts in Britain.
While we are lucky to still be able to appreciate their nodding slightly fragrant blooms here in Australia, their big claim to fame in Europe is their major role in the development of the modern rose, being one of the parents (the other being Hybrid Perpetuals) of Hybrid Teas.
Large single primrose blooms 7 – 14 cm across, fading to white, in Summer.
Adam
Plentiful large dark green leaves and large, fully double, often quartered when fully open, blooms of buff, amber and apricot with pink tints deep in the centre.
I love the warm colours of this beautiful rose and am growing it on the northern end of the main pergola, where it flowers well throughout the season.
Safrano (Aimé Plantier)
Its high-centred buds open out flat to large, semi-double, fragrant, apricot-yellow to saffron blooms. Very floriferous, it has plentiful mid-green foliage and will grow to 2 metres tall in a warm climate.
Triomphe de Luxembourg 
Less than 1 metre tall, with dark green foliage and clusters of fully double salmon-pink blooms, fading to pinkish-buff with age.
Devoniensis (the Magnolia Rose)
One of my favourite Teas, I am growing it opposite Adam on the northern end of our main pergola. I first saw it over an arched pergola at Walter Duncan’s Heritage Garden, where its beautiful nodding heads were shown off to perfection.
Souvenir d’Un Ami
A vigorous bush with a branching habit, rich green foliage and fully double, cupped, very fragrant rose-pink and salmon blooms.
Duchesse de Brabant (also known as Comtesse de Labarthe; Comtesse Ouwaroff; and in Australia, Countess Bertha)
Very hardy and disease-resistant, it is one of the Earth-Kind Roses (see: 
Said to be a favourite of Teddy Roosevelt’s, it is certainly one of mine. I first grew it as a cutting, taken from an old garden belonging to Ross’s uncle, which has since formed part of the Gold Coast Botanical Gardens. I grew the climbing form in my old Armidale garden and now have the bush form here in Candelo, though it is still a bit of a weedy specimen and needs to pull it socks up!
Catherine Mermet
Marie Van Houtte
A vigorous plant with a sprawling habit, this rose has rich green foliage and is very free-flowering. Large pointed buds open out to very fragrant, cream nodding flowers, tinged with carmine pink, with a buff colour at the base of the petals. Will reach 2 metres on a warm wall.
Anna Oliver
A vigorous branching bush with good, mid-green foliage and shapely, high-centred, fragrant, flesh- pink blooms.
Mme Lombard
A vigorous bush with dark green foliage and very double, full, fragrant, salmon blooms.
A very useful rose, with compact well-foliated growth and very double copper-red and cherry-red blooms, which open out flat.
Mlle Franziska Krüger 
Monsieur Tillier
Tall, lax, vigorous growth with large, loosely-double, blood-red flowers with violet smudges and very little scent. Repeat-flowers well.
It repeat-flowers well, the colour of the blooms varying with temperature, the petals a mixture of pink, purple, orange and russet, with tints of yellow and gold in the centre.
My rose (above and below) was sold to me as Archiduc Joseph, but could well be Monsieur Tillier!
Here is a site exploring the differences: 
White Maman Cochet is a sport, bred by Cook, USA, 1896 (photo above). It has both bush and climbing forms and repeat-flowers well with creamy-white, fragrant, shapely, high-centred blooms, with a lemon centre and cherry-pink outer petals.
Very resistant to blackspot, it is also an Earth-Kind rose. See: 
Rosette Delizy
A branching bush, which has good foliage and repeat-flowers well with large full blooms of a lovely combination of rose-pink, buff and apricot and a fruity scent.
Will reach 1.8 metres on a wall.
Portlands
Their growth, stems and flowers tend to follow one or other of the parents:
Because of their ability to flower a second time, pruning became increasingly important. Side shoots should be pruned to three eyes and the strong main shoots reduced by a third. Aged and dead wood should be removed. Roses should be liberally mulched with manure and compost and rose fertiliser applied in Spring and after the first crop of flowers. Immediate deadheading is also important. Unfortunately, while their growth is robust, they have poor resistance to black spot.
At his Heritage Garden in Clare, rosarian Walter Duncan grows the climbing form over 20 decorative arches, 4 metres apart, forming a magnificent bridal tunnel in the Spring.
The foliage is modern in appearance, but the flowers are the Old rose type : large, 12 cm wide, cupped and quartered, blush-pink flowers, which open flat and pale slightly with age. They have a fragrance like a Tea rose.
They are reliable repeat-flowerers, but are susceptible to fungal attack and their blooms tend to ball and not open in the rain, so good air circulation is essential, as well as adequate water and fertilising to maintain optimal health.
For this reason, I have planted my climber in the middle of our main pergola, so a few balled flowers won’t ruin the overall display.
It is such a beautiful rose that this minor deficiency can be overlooked and I could not be without it!
Souvenir de St. Anne 1950
Its large 12 cm wide cupped deep fuchsia-pink and magenta blooms open out flat and quartered with a button eye, its petals fading and rolling back at the edges with age.
It flowers well into Autumn, which is when it often produces its best blooms.
It is a vigorous shrub, up to 2.5 metres high with long arching canes and large thick green foliage. I grew it along our front picket fence in Armidale.
Another rose I could not do without, I took a cutting from the old rose and now grow it on the shed fence here in Candelo!
La Reine Victoria J Schwartz France 1872
The medium chalice-shaped blooms are lilac-pink on the outside and paler within and have a good scent.
The petals incurve towards the centre, giving an enclosed effect.
The rose flowers repeatedly throughout Summer. Unfortunately, it does have a tendency to black spot.
Bourbon Queen (Queen of Bourbons and Reine des Iles Bourbon) Mauget France 1834
Variegata di Bologna A. Bonfiglioi Italy 1909
Paul Neyron Levet France 1869
Next week, I will be discussing Tea roses, another rose variety hailing from the Orient, which grows so well in our warmer Australian climate.
Autumn vies with Spring in my affections. The weather is much more stable, though is tempered by the knowledge of the impending Winter, only to be assuaged by the parade of brilliant deciduous colour, as each tree prepares for its Winter dormancy.
The verandah is such a vantage point, the backdrop changing daily.
The zinnias and dahlias lasted well into late May, having been touched up by a few early frosts, and Ross has finally put them to bed with a good layer of protective mulch.
The roses have taken centre stage again with a wonderful Autumn flush. These photos were all taken this Autumn. I have organised them into their separate beds:
We have just dug up either side of the shed garden path, so the shed roses are now in garden beds and we planted out many of the potted cuttings, which we took from my sister’s garden at Glenrock. All are doing well!
We also made two arches out of old gate weld mesh, one leading into the future chook yard and supporting Cornelia (photo 2) and Sombreuil (photo 3);
and the other on the corner of the shed, with Reve d’Or (photo 3) and Alister Stella Grey (photo 4) either side.
Ross defined the edges of the vegetable beds with old recycled fence palings and planted out young vegetable seedlings, which he then mulched. We are really enjoying their Winter crop in our salads at lunchtime.
From front to back in the photos below: red and green mignonette lettuce; spring onions; broccoli; spinach; cos lettuce and kale. 
We harvested the pumpkins, which again engulfed the compost heap, zinnia bed and maple tree, as well as the last of the tomatoes, making 3 bottles of green tomato chutney.
We also have plenty of late Autumn fruit, now that the bats have gone, though I suspect our citrus is fairly safe anyway! Unfortunately, the figs did not ripen in time, but the Golden Hornet crabapples have lasted well on the tree.
All the new citrus are growing madly and bearing fruit – the lime (photo 1) has a particularly fine crop and the lemonade (photo 2) is also bearing well.
The cumquats have been an absolute picture, both in full blossom and fruit.
We picked 6 Kg of fruit to make into cumquat marmalade and there was still fruit left!
The loquat trees were in full bloom for weeks,
attracting huge noisy parties of rainbow lorikeets,
which then went on to eat the Duranta berries, along with the Crimson Rosellas
and huge flocks of King Parrots.
Up until early May, we had even larger flocks of screeching Little Corellas in the thousands, gathering in the trees, recently vacated by the bats,
then flying off en masse right on dark to their roosting trees to the north,
occasionally accompanied by the odd Galah!
We have enjoyed flyovers by the local Gang-Gangs (photos below) and Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoos. We even had a rare flypass by a Red-Tailed Black Cockatoo, en route to the local mountain forests. 
Other exciting glimpses included three Dollar Birds (photos 1 and 2) and a Figbird (photo 3), both Summer migrants, normally found further north.
Other larger birds in our garden at the moment include very quiet Australian Magpies (photo 6), a pair of courting Australian Ravens (photo 2), a Grey Butcherbird (photo 3), Pied Currawongs (photo 5), Spotted Turtle Doves (photo 4) and our Blackbirds (photo 1), which have been on holiday and have just returned.
And our littlies: the Eastern Spinebills (photos 1 and 2), Silvereyes (photo 3) and Double-barred Finches (photo 4).
all of whom do a stirling job keeping the bugs in check.
We found this delightful Grey Fantail nest in our old camellia tree at the front door.
The slightly cooler weather has been wonderful for pursuing creative tasks from cooking to sewing, embroidery and paper crafts. I made my son a delicious carrot cake, using a recipe from 
and hot cross buns for Easter Friday, using a recipe from 
My friend Heather, who visited us during the Candelo Arts Festival and is the Melbourne agent for Saori (
I gave my friends Rae, Brooklin and Kirsten, a hand embroidery lesson, inspiring Rae’s wonderful exhibit. I was so impressed!
I made embroidery rolls for their birthdays,
as well as a pair of felt appliqué cushions for my sister’s bed.
And another decoupage floral card and a paper owl, assembled from a German kit, which was given to me by my daughter in Berlin.
And finally, there were the bouquets from the garden! Masses of colourful zinnias…
and bright dahlias;
Scented roses;
And wonderful mixtures of colourful blooms!
How I love arranging flowers!
And finally, we had some wonderful days out, exploring new spots and revisiting old haunts. The Bendethera day in March was rather inclement and while we could not reach our final destination due to the amount of water in the final creek, we did ascertain that our vehicle could manage the 4WD tracks for a future camping trip and despite the rain and constant cloud, it was still a lovely day out.
We had much better April weather for our Monaro drive to Delegate, Jindabyne (including the wonderful Wildbrumby Scnapps Distillery in photo 2) and Thredbo (the Kosciuszko chair lift in photo 3) and discovered a wonderful birdwatching and trout fishing venue, Black Lake, near Cathcart, on our way home (photo 5), where we saw six elegant Black-Winged Stilts (photo 6).
We introduced friends to Bay Cliff and Greenglades (also see: 
and Aragunnu (also see: 
as well as revisiting Nunnock Swamp and Alexander’s Hut (also see: 
And we went canoeing on Back Lake at Merimbula, where we photographed a beautiful Azure Kingfisher, as well as a teenage cygnet and white egrets.
We are so lucky to have such easy access to these beautiful unspoilt natural areas! Next week, I am returning to our dreamy roses!
The early Chinas or the four Stud Chinas, as they became known, were:
Species: 
Hume’s Blush Teascented China R. indica odorata
Cécile Brünner is only short (120 cm tall and 60 cm wide) with spindly, thornless, compact growth; sparse, semi-glossy, dark-green foliage; and perfectly scrolled, delicate soft pink blooms in clusters in Summer. The blooms are popular with florists for use in corsages and buttonholes.
There is a white form, as well as a climbing sport, Climbing Cécile Brünner, which is much more vigorous, reaching 7.5 metres tall and 6 metres wide, growing into trees and scrambling over arches. It is tolerant of most soils and is well-endowed with dense, dark-green foliage, which often hides the tiny shell-pink flowers. The photo below is our Climbing Cécile Brünner over the arch leading to our old guest cottage in Armidale. We have planted another specimen in our new garden at Candelo over the entrance arch on the lane, leading to our front door, and already it has covered one side of the arch totally.
Perle d’Or (Yellow Cécile Brünner ) Dubreuil, France, 1884
Hermosa (Armosa)
Mutabilis (Tipo Ideale)
Copper-yellow pointed buds open to single copper-yellow flowers, which turn to pink then crimson with age.
A dense twiggy plant, with plum-red shoots and glossy dark green leaves (juvenile leaves are bronze), British descriptions of this rose claim its measurements as 90 cm tall by 60 cm wide, though David Austin has seen 2.5 metre high shrubs against a warm sheltered wall. It performs very well in the warmer climate of Australia, reaching over 3 metres in Walter Duncan’s Heritage Garden in Clare, South Australia. La Landriana, a garden created by Marchesa Lavinia Taverna at Ardea, near Rome, has over 300 specimens of this beautiful rose, covering two acres. See: 
While we were there in early Summer and we also have seen my daughter’s photographs of Giverny in Spring with the tulips in full bloom, it is wonderful to be able to see photographs of the garden in other seasons as well. The photos in this book are absolutely stunning and well do justice to Monet’s vision! Here is our photo of the Summer roses in full bloom in 1994: