Wild Roses in a Mini Jungle

A short while ago, I wrote about our lemonade-like weather; slightly sweet, refreshing, and crisp. Well! As I finished and published that article, the weather turned to pickle juice! Murky, bitter, sour, and unpleasant. And we could not visit even the nearby wild roses down the street. That drastic change came with the smoke and other particles from the wildfires in Canada and lingered in the air for ten or more days. Since then, the AC has been on, and all the windows closed, mainly to circulate and filter the air in the house.

Our Wilderness Next Door, The Wild Roses

Well, almost next door! A short walk from our house, even for me, is an area in the neighborhood that looks like a jungle. Because of a small brook that cuts through it, the land is not buildable; and ivies, bushes, and trees roam freely. The major delight in that jungle is the growth of wild roses that climb on the trees and spread their magic aroma in the air. And, yes, I wrote about them before and shared their photographs. But it is such a pleasant experience we don’t want to keep it only to ourselves.

Stop And Smell The Roses, and Photograph Them

On a few occasions, when the air quality was not too bad, we dared to take that short walk and enjoy the lovely smell as we approached the wild growth. The individual flowers were not in their glory since we missed the first opening days. But the massive presence of the white dots against the dark green ivy with their delightful scent made photographing them worthwhile.

As the grassy area in front that separated the land from the street was not mowed, the weeds grew to our chest. We had to stay on the roadside and photograph them from a distance. Most of the close-up shots below are cropped or a few flowers on the side of a neighboring property with easier access.

A Short Hop From Our House

Here is a screen capture from Google Maps showing our street on the right and the wilderness at the corner of N Country Club Dr. Note how far the wild growth extends, cutting through the back ends of residential properties.

Our house is tucked in the lower right-hand corner, and the wild roses start just a little before the second street, Clearwater St. From there to N Country Club Dr., the left side is covered with wild roses, and they penetrate backward, probably to Danforth St.

When looking at the photographs, take a whiff and imagine the gentle and pleasant smell of all those roses roaming from one tree to the next. Enjoy!

These are the ones Jan photographed.

Click on the images to see them larger, uncropped, and read their titles.

And, these are the ones that caught my eye.

Don’t forget to stop and smell the roses!