How lovely! Your patio is true inspiration! Like how to maximize your gardens when you have limited space. I would love to sit on your patio, amidst the roses. And the roses are so healthy and beautiful. What a fine job you have done!

Kate

Absolutely gorgeous! Thank you for the tour!

A slice of heaven. Such a tranquil spot.

andrea

Awesome! :)

What a lovely garden! Your roses are so beautiful and healthy.

We visited Donegal a few years ago. What a beautiful place to live. I love your garden and your roses. We have a fairly private backyard, too, and I hang out in my pj's when the weather permits. Do you have to spray for black spot a lot in your humid climate? Everything looks so healthy.

Such a wonderful little haven you've created. Thanks for sharing :)

Beautiful! You've got the touch! Thank you for sharing.

wow- so much beauty in a smaller space, i think we can all learn from your slice of heaven. I love the way it's arranged.

How are your bigger roses faring in pots?
Thanks for sharing, an inspiration.

Thank you everyone for the positive comments and reinforcement. Like the rest of you guys, I'm simply mad about roses.

lainey2 - you came to Donegal? Where did you you visit? Did you tour the county? I'm originally from both VA & Il. I tried to have a no spray garden here but it's next to impossible with some roses. Summer Dpng, Abraham D, and Benjamin Britten defolated terribly. Now I spray (Rose Clear) once in spring. I also make my own vermicompost. I apply a handfull of vermicompost to each potted rose every week or two (depending on the weather). I also make a foliar spray from the v-compost and spray as needed.

Frenchcuffs13 - My bigger roses are quite happy in pots. My climate is very similar to the Pacific NW. I left a 3-4" gap between the top of the pot and bud union (with the bud union peeking out of the soil). When I apply vermicompost through the growing season worms end up in the soil. The worms break down any banana peels or other bits of organic matter I toss into the pots after snacking. It seems to work.

M

Just Gorgeous! thanks for sharing!

What an incredible gardener you are! The only change I would contemplate is to plant tall roses in the area between you and your obviously non-gardening neighbor. You have the knack in spades of gardening with pots and have created your own mini-paradise.

Ingrid

Thanks for sharing your beautiful garden! Your roses look so beautiful!

So beautiful....you have created a magical spot! I will look back at this many times, I am sure. Thanks for sharing. Lesley

What a wonderful "secret garden" to sit and enjoy the beauty of your roses! With all those fragrant roses you showed, the scent must be heavenly! I admire your ability to keep all those pots so healthy and blooming, particularly in mid-summer.

Thanks for sharing!
Cynthia

Wow! Just... wow! Your hard work certainly paid off. Your yard is glorious!

Hello Ingrid,

Thank you! I don't plant roses at the bottom of the garden because I have food growing there. That area gets 12-17 hrs of sun at the during spring/summer. We've everything from peas to celery growing around the garden.

This isn't my best pic, but I've the kids out everyday weeding & snacking.

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How does it feel to create a paradise? In 2003, my dh and I flew into Dublin, rented a car, and spent two weeks driving from one end of Ireland to the other. The west coast was our favorite, especially the northern west coast with those wild gorgeous deserted beaches. We did visit the national rose garden in Dublin, which was beautiful, but not as healthy looking as your garden. We loved Ireland, and would go back in a heartbeat. I can't keep anything going in pots except sedum!

yes- indulge! We love seeing pics of those glorious roses and a chance to show off the hard work. Thanks!

Don't have anything to add to what's already been said, your roses are truly wonderful. Your efforts are certainly rewarding you! Thanks for sharing.

What a beautiful garden you have! I love the pale yellow rose you rescued, what charming little blossoms it has. And everything is so green and lush, it just looks magical. My dream is to create enough privacy in my backyard to go around in my pj's unabashed, right now I've got a few neighbors who are higher and have narrow yards so their view is of our property. I've earmarked this fall as the time to plant rambling roses and shrubs to finally block those sightlines.

Lainey- how cool. I'm amazed you could rent a car and drive. I lived here two years befor I even tried to drive on the left. I've never been to the Dublin rose garden. I'm curious to see it now. Donegal is lovely. I hope you got good weather. I'm 40 minutes from the sea and love strolling the beaches. I hope you get to visit again some day.

Frenchcuffs - encouraging me is dangerous. I just cajoled my photographer boyfriend into photo documenting my garden. This garden is young, my oldest rose is only 3 years old. I'm looking forward to seeing it progress over the next 3 years.

Peachymomo- I definately understand. When I moved to this house the entire yard was bog (I live on top of a very small mountain) and I was in clear view of my neighbours. When I want complete privacy I move a couple of taller potted roses or potted fruit canes on the foot paths off the patio. That way I am completely screened in. I'm at the top of a slope so the only way to create a private space is to screen a small portion.

Your roses are luscious, so crisp and fresh looking, and your "bargain" roses are anything but. They are worth their weight in gold to any rose lover.
I understand about being at the top of a hill. Not only is privacy a challenge, but watering on slopes certainly is. Do you have to do any watering in emerald green Ireland?
Keep posting these lovely, soothing photos, especially for those of us who live in a dry inferno. I need the eye candy. Diane

Nanadoll - thank you. I love bargains. Each Autumn I stalk Homebase's (Ireland's answer to Lowes minus the lumber yard). They mark down perfectly healthy roses (like David Austins) down to â¬5.00/$6.55 and generic roses (including nameless roses like "Homebase yellow patio rose") down to â¬2.66/$3.48. I get a big thrill when I find a gem of a rose for next to nothing. I also frequent my local garden centres but very few of them carry a large selection of roses due to the Irish climate.

I've had to water every 2nd or 3rd day this year. However it's been an uncharacteristically hot summer. I took a chance growing corn, cucumbers, and pumpkins OUTSIDE. Those things must be grown in greenhouses or poly tunnels here.

I grew up in VA & IL. I nearly went mad from the gardening climate culture shock I went through.

Don't get me started on black spot and aphids....

Here is a link that might be useful: Thread on bargains

Mirendajean, We had driven through England and Scotland a few years before, so we were not totally green to driving on the wrong side of the road and sitting on the wrong side of the car :) We got cussed in every language as we drove through Dublin, but the village drivers were more tolerant. The most difficult part was the lack of signage on the country roads, but Ireland is our favorite European country; the people were so accepting of us, the history is haunting, and the landscape unforgettable. I love your garden What a healing retreat.

There are a few young/new roses that I've been waiting to see in thier glory...

Champaigne Cocktail - found this in a garden centre and loved the blooms. Haven't been ably to find out much about this rose

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English Miss - another clearance rose purchased last Autumn. I didn't know if it would survive. It's just had its first flush of blooms

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The Fairy - struggled with BS this year but it finally flushing

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Laura Ford - new for me this year. I'm very excited about it.

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Thank again for lettinge share.

M

Wow, your roses are truly breath-taking! Thank you so much for sharing them. You are an inspiration to me as I'm still learning about roses and I love them too.

Thank you for sharing these amazing photos!

I have a small 3rd floor patio, so I can't have anything that amazing. But you have made exactly what I hope to when I have the space. I'm in love! And in Ireland? I can only hope to visit one day, it's somewhere I've always wanted to visit!

Congratulations on such wonderful bargains, you're a very lucky woman! And so is your BF if he gets this amazing sight every time he goes outside!

When should we expect your first 2014 blooms?

Hiya SAndandsun! Thank you for posting. It was a treat to look back on last summers photos. I've been busy in the garden since February and it's lovely to relive photographic evidence that my efforts will pay off. :-)

We'd an uncharacteristically hot summer last year followed by a mild winter. Half of my roses never even bothered to go dormant! I'm really hopeful that I'll have early blooms. I promise to take LOADS of photos this May/June when the blooms arrive.

M

Marvelous!

Quite a treat for me too. And more than that you see, I learned long ago to (then begin and now fully) respect those that can do what I cannot. Plants in pots here in Florida would add a straitjacket to my wardrobe before the end of summer!!!

Best wishes for a beautiful spring on the Emerald Isle.

Mirendajean, the other posters took the words right out of my mouth. Your garden looks like paradise to me. I'd love to sit down right next to you & breathe in the scent. wow.

Your hard work certainly paid off. Think of all the Gardenweb rose addicts enjoying your garden along with you. Thanks for posting.

I really hope that my Julia child roses look like yours in the future. I just received them today they are really small.

This post just totally inspired me for my pot garden!! Saving these pics in my clippings for sure.
I am curious , what is the big green egg :) ? I'm sure I'll feel silly and it's obvious but I have no idea.
Also do you spray or is your climate easy on the roses ?

Ugh I totally missed your answer about the spraying earlier in the post! So thank you for sharing and please please post more ! :)