And it was roses ...

There's a rose garden on campus, down by the bike track at the south-west corner of the mall, in a canyon between buildings. Even that restricted amount of Arizona sun is mostly too much for roses; the desert really isn't rose country. They bloom fast and hard, sometimes scorched before they're even open, and it's never cold enough for them to rest properly in winter. They still do better than the discouraged-looking specimens I saw here and there in Beijing, though.

I noticed that many of the roses were enjoying a flush of bloom this weekend, when of course I was dashing past, cameraless and intent on catching buses. By the time I took the camera down there this lunchtime, the pale delicate pinks and yellows of the Peace blooms were already looking a little raddled, but I still got a better haul than I did the whole of last week.