The "Best" and "Worst" of May, 2012

Once again we are joining Angela, who blogs at Bumble Lush, for her new monthly meme where she posts the "best" and "worst" things in her garden during the previous month.

The strange weather has continued. May, usually sunny, warm, and filled with lilacs and tulips, magnolias and other spring blossoms, has been cool and rainy.

Aphids cover the blossoms of the honeysuckle.

The rain has made it hard to spray and as a result, the aphids have descended on the roses and honeysuckle, earning the award for "worst" for May. ( Click on the photograph for a close-up view of these tiny vultures.)

We hit them hard with blasts of water (forceful spray from the hose) and that cleared them away for a couple of days.  But unfortunately, they came back all too quickly.

Finally, this past week we had a couple of days without precipitation and I was able to spray with our sure fire aphid formula - water with canola and soap.  That helped enormously, so hopefully,  now we are on the right path.

This month's best has to be the fragrant roses, the Rosa rugosa rubra, as well as Zephirine Drouhin and Scentimental, which have perfumed our yard from several vantage points.   

Zephirine Drouhin is a Bourbon climber introduced in 1868 that has a most exquisite perfume.

Scentimental is a modern floribunda bred by Tom Carruth and introduced in 1997.  The blossoms feature cream and burgundy swirled stripes and a strong damask perfume that has similar notes to the fragrance of Zephirine Drouhin, which is probably why we enjoy it so much.

The rugosa roses, the omnipresent "Beach Roses" here on the seacoast, are old garden roses that grow wild along the seashore and salt marshes.

The deep pink open blossoms have a remarkably strong and beautiful perfume that mixes with the scent of the salty ocean area to produce a fragrance that is uniquely New England.

The intense perfume of all of the roses has attracted a bevy of bees, butterflies and birds to the garden, always a pleasure to watch.

You can see what prompted Angela to post about this and add your blog to her list at Bumble Lush