When my youngest daughter, Katie, called me up last week and asked me what I wanted to do for Mother’s Day, I had an answer ready. “Let’s go to Mesa Community College and walk in the rose garden.”

Katie attended MCC in Mesa, Arizona, before she transferred to Arizona State University, but she’d never seen the rose garden. I had gone by myself a few years ago, but I’d only made it through half the garden–that’s how big it is. In fact, it’s the largest rose garden in the Southwest, with over 8,000 bushes.

And, of course, I brought my camera.

It’s astonishing how many different colors, shapes and sizes roses come in. Each one has its own fragrance. The people who develop new varieties are geniuses in my book. (Click on the smaller pictures to enlarge.)

 

Each bed is marked with the names of the varieties, but I didn’t trust myself to be able to match the name to the correct flower.

 

 

 

Here’s Katie:

And here’s me, enjoying the flowers. If you look carefully, you can see Katie reflected in my sunglasses.

 

Before we left, I wrote a “kind note” about our visit.

Then we went across the street to Pita Jungle for a Mother’s Day lunch.

Be sure to check out Cee’s Flower of the Day challenge.