Beautiful Blowsy Blooms

My roses are out and I am swooning at both their scent and blowsy brilliance. Not all of these are from my garden - the ones with rain are my mum's. But aren't the just lovely. Every time I see them I can't help but smile.
My Peace Rose (it was here when we arrived, but I am assuming it is a Peace Rose not a variation thereof) has one, perfect bloom. Which (ahem) I've taken a few photos of, but you know, from (slightly) different angles.
Awhile back I had a vague notion of keeping to some sort of schedule for my blogging... which will be enforced one day soon, but I've a notion today was supposed to be about books, until I got side tracked by roses.
But as a sop to my writing-about-books-Tuesday, for fellow rose lovers I can't recommend this book strongly enough:

For Love of a Rose, Story of Creation of the Famous Peace Rose by Antonia Ridge. (Faber & Faber 1965.) It is exactly what it says it is - the story of the Meilland and Paolino families that intermarried and worked together to create the Peace Rose. The style is sweetly old fashioned and it's one of those books which is just perfect to read if you wake up with a nightmare or have an unsettling day, almost guaranteed to lure you into sleep and/or goodwill towards all.