Today, I scurried about in my garden, trying to assess what I need to do, where I needed to do it, and when. It is only March 8. The last frost date is at least a month away, but my garden is already popping.

A month ago, my community in North Mississippi was ravaged by an ice storm, but the temperatures have been abnormally warm since then. In my Mississippi garden, the hot summers are my garden killers. The winters are not much of a problem. I did lose a few of my precious roses in last year’s heat, and I am thrilled to tell you about the troopers that are helping me greet spring this year.

Before I begin this list of roses, allow me to tell you how very much roses impact the rest of my art. I draw them and I paint them.

The Last Rose of Summer
Jacki Kellum Watercolor

And I celebrate them in my textile art.

I cannot overstate how imporant my roses are to me:

Autumn Rose
Jacki Kellum Textile Art

I cannot pass a fabric with old garden roses printed on them:

In May, my fabric students will create a Grandmother’s Flower Garden Block

We’ll create that block in honor of my own grandmother, who cultivated many of my interests–including that of embroidery and gardening.

When I was a tiny child, my grandmother taught me how to embroider. The highlight of my week was when she and I would walk to the dimestore and pick up my design to embroider for the week. Because it is an essential part of creating Crazy Quilt Blocks, Embroidery is still the core of my textile art.

Image Credit: Red Pepper Quilts

Announcing The Upcoming Opening of Cottage Stitchery — A Division of Jacki Kellum Studios for Textile Arts & Artists

Not unusual for me, I am rearranging all my roses in my garden now. I’m focusing on arranging my bushes according to height, as well as according to other considerations–like fragrance and thorns.

Marie Pavie
Image Credit: Antique Rose Emporium
Height: 3′
Very Fragrant
Continuous Bloom

Marie Pavie is one of my shortest roses, and her fragrance is divine–that of classic, old garden, grandma roses. I am moving her to a spot next to a white picket fence behind her and near my screen door from wich I enter my garden.

Jacki Kellum Garden Walkway

i am planting Marie Pavie about where Mrs. Rabbit is standing in the above photo. The rabbits have also moved this year.

I pass along this walkway several times every day, and it is my intention to grow my most fragrant plants near and along this path. I want the least thorny plants nearest where I walk. and Marie Pavie is almost thornless.

My Eden Rose is up and ready for another year, and I am planting this tall climbing, and fragrant rose just beyond and behind Marie Pavie, spindling through and above the fence.

Eden Rose
Image Credit: Heirloom Rose
Height: 10′

Eden grows very tall and is a riot of fragrant blooms. She has very few thorns, and I plan to plant my white Marie Pavie in front of Eden and nearer the beginning of the walkway.

Farther down the fence, I am planting Desdemona Rose next to Eden.

Desdemona
Image Credit: David Austing

My Desdemona has thorns, but she also has a delicious old garden rose fragrance. I am planting her farther away from the door — but also in front of Eden and the picket fence.

Both Desdemona and Marie Pavie are white.They will be gorgeous framed by the luscious pink Eden Rose.

Nothing is more gorgeous growing amidst pink and white roses than shades of lavender blue.

Rocket Larkspur
Image Credit: Garrett Seed

My larkspurs have returned from last year, and they have spread. And my bachelor buttons are always another bluish purple treat:

Immediately in front of my Marie Pavie, I have planted a low mound of Walker’s Blue Catmint.

Catmint

I also grow Comfrey and Borage, which are yet more blue accents, They are taller than the catmint, and they grow farther down the garden path

Borage – A Self-Seeding Blue Herb that is Both Tasty and Beautiful in the Garden

But let’s get back to the roses I am moving this year. Although Disease Resistance and Color are an essential consideration when I am selecting roses to buy, nothing is more important than my consideration of fragrance, and the rose Silas Marner is another short fragrant rose, but this guy has thorns.

Silas Marner
Image Credit: David Austin
Old Garden Rose Fragrant
Height: 4′ — about the same height as Marie Pavie, but Mariie is planted in a raised bed that is a level higher than Silas. Immediately beyond the Silas Marner is a stand of bicolor purple iris–Off  Topic.

On the other side of the Irises, I am planting Outa the Blue Rose.

Outa the Blue Rose
Image Credit: Heirloom Roses
Height: 3′
Fragrane: Spice

I planted this darker pink rose to add both its spicy fragrance and to also spice up the colors.

Archduke Charles
Image Credit: Antique Rose Emporium
Introduced Prior to 1837
Height: 3′ – 5′ Tall

I love the range of colors that you see on an Archduke Charles Rose Bush. It ranges from light pink to a nearly red.

Archduke Charles – An Old Garden Rose I Am Adding to My Garden in 2026

Behind Archduke Charles, I am planting another rose with interesting coloring — Honorine de Brabant:

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Honorine de Brabant
Image Credit: Heirloom Roses
Height: 6′

As the walway curves around, the spot nearest the walkway is farther away from the line of the picket fence. Therefore, this taller Honorine de Brabant has plenty of room to add several shorter roses in front of her. I am adding another Silas Marner in front of Honorine. but this is where my tall perennials also grow

I grow both a Scarlet Bee Balm and a wild Bee Balm here. Several poppies and bachelor buttons also grow here. In this area, my garden becomes a wild and wooly space.  Oldfield Asters, Goldenrod, and an errant poke plant or two grow here. At the farthest edge, I grow a row of forsythia plants that are delightful in March.

Behind the forsythia, my Sweet Autumn Clematis begins blooming in late August:

I also plant a cage of Heavenly Blue Morning Glories at this edge. They grow all summer, but they do not bloom until fall.

I grow Chandler Strawberries as an edging along the walkway.

Around the walkway and on the other side of this part of my garden, I grow a Ballerina Rose.

Ballerina
Image Credit: Heirloom Roses
ate Introduced: 1937
Type: Hybrid Musk
Color: Pink/white eye
Fragrance: Lightly Fragrant

From there toward my house again, my Peggy Martin Rose steals the show — and ultimately, completes the cage of my Secret Garden.

My Coral Honeysuckle is just beyond the Peggy Marin Rose, as I exit into my vegetable garden:

At the corner of Coral Honeysuckle and Peggy Martin, you can go straight to one part of my vegetable garden, or you can turn right and go into another part of my garden. My Zephirine Drouhin Rose grows along a tall fence there:

Zephirine Drouhin
Image Credit: Heirloom Roses
Date Introduced: 1868

Type: Bourbon
Color: Pink
Fragrance: Fragrant
Size: 10′ x 6
No Thorns

I am not sure which of these plants is the star of my show, but my sunflowers also edge my garden in surprise appearances wherever they want to grow, or whever my birds plant them. Perhaps the stars of my show are my birds:

All the plants mentioned above are growing in my backyard. I cannot leave this post without mentioning my Fairy Rose, which is the Queen of my front yard:

The Fairy Rose
Jacki Kellum Garden

Fairy Rose – An Exquisite Little Fragrant Cluster that Blooms Continuously Until Hard Frost