I went to the Orange County Rose Society's 2011 exhibition this past weekend. Lots and lots of amazing roses.
They were large, tiny, scented, unscented, and colors I'd never seen. Here's just a few.
This is a miniature rose, barely two inches across, floating in a silver dish. The colors are difficult to capture. The red is a medium deep maroon, and the yellow is an intense light gold.
This doesn't look like a rose at all, does it? There were a few others of the same form, more daisy-like than rose-shaped.
I think this one might be my favorite – just enough petals to look like a rose, but not so many as the pink-and-white one. And that incredible pale pink with deeper pink at the edges – yum!
I didn't get any pictures of the roses that won the prize for best scent. Darn! One was peach-colored and had a deep, almost musky scent, and the other was lavender with a lighter, sharper smell. Both wonderful.