I cut some of the roses from our front garden, like I’ve been meaning to for almost 2 years. Since we moved here, in fact.

Certainly, this picture is not a spotless article of gardenly domestic joy. (Is gardenly even a word?)

They have big, light~brown aphidy things on the buds and under the leaves.

The edges of the petals are beginning to brown already with the damp (we’ve had a bit of rain lately).

And there’s that little hand reaching in to finger one of the artistically (autistically?) placed crystals, while I growl warningly and then scream in frustration.

Hmmm… Time for a dose of peanut m&m’s again.

I found a Russian site, Lobzik with an amazing picture tutorial on how to fold and roll the large leaves into surprisingly beautiful bouquets of “blooms”.

I would think you could use any large leaf for this, but since it’s Winter here, we’ll have to wait to test it out until at least October.

If you’re in the Northern hemisphere, please have a try and let me know how your results turn out.