I bet you would paint it all bright cheery colours too! I love colour in my paintings, but I guess I'm a bit of a traditionalist in my surroundings, I like the calm and serene so that my mind has the resting place to create the bright colourful worlds I want to paint :)

Roses are actually hardier than most people realize. They can take a lot of abuse. I have an old rose on this side of the house that gets constant wind and salt spray that @winstonalden's grandmother planted probably 30 years ago and it grows like a weed. I just really pruned it hard when we moved here and as long as I keep cutting flowers through summer it blooms and blooms :)