July 30, 2013

Holy cow, it's wet around here!  The Philadelphia area had record rainfall on the 28th of July; Philly recorded - I kid you not - over 8 inches of rain in one night!  I live about fifteen miles outside of town, and we got a good 4 1/2 inches here.  There was a bit of flooding, though not as bad as some other nearby areas.

The net result in the garden is lots and lots of new buds.  I had been feeding and fertilizing anyway, so with all the additional rain, the garden is doing the happy dance!  This morning I cut some Oranges and Lemons blooms, some Mardi Gras blooms, and one divinely scented Mr. Lincoln.  I mixed in one JFK, some white dianthus, and my last Shasta daisy for contrast, and have a sweet little posy on my dining room table.

I finally caught a Swallowtail in flight!

I expect lots of pretty next week, too; the JFK has a few nice, fat buds that should be ready by then.  The Mardi Gras, my big producer right now, is budded up all over!  Hypnotize has one bud that should be opening in a few more days, and one on the way.  My George Burns (which I am starting to suspect is actually a mis-marked Rock & Roll - there is NO yellow!) has one nice bloom, but it's a center flower and too short of stem to cut.  There are plenty of buds growing around it, though, so after I remove it I think I'll get some real beauties - whoever they really are.

George?  Rock?  Not sure. . .

My Papageno and Harry Wheatcroft arrived looking quite happy.  I put them together in a pot to get some more growing time on them.  Being 1st-year bands, I'm not expecting any bloom this year; just letting the little guys grow.

Osiria has been markedly quiet.  I suspect that she's been investing in her root system, so I've been making sure to give her lots of water.  I just this week noticed a few new shoots growing, so there's hope for one more bloom this season - maybe two if I get lucky!  Scentimental has also been quiet, and suffering from a bout of black spot.  She seems to be starting a recovery, and lots of shoots are popping out.

Dis is Mah Roes

I turned 40 yesterday, and spent the morning reflecting and giving lots of love to the garden.  The connection felt very spiritual and loving of the Earth; it was wonderful.  I shot a bunch of photos and was blessed by visits from butterflies, dragonflies, and a hummingbird.  Marveling at the beauty of nature is a lovely way to start your morning - and your 4th decade!

Hummingbird Breakfast

July 21, 2013

Holy garden shears, it's hot out there!

Yes, I know everyone's hot on the East Coast!  We had a real gully-washer of a thunderstorm last night and the heat has eased a bit, though it's super-humid.  Water out of my garden hose is shower-hot.  Yuck!

We left for a short vacation and went to St. Michaels, Maryland.  It appears to be lily and hydrangea heaven there!  The gardens along the Chesapeake Bay were a delight to see, and there were several that had me in outright envy.  Everywhere I went, I saw Tiger Swallowtail butterflies, which I'm sure helps with proliferating all those huge blooms!

They didn't seem to mind a bit if I walked right up to them and took pictures, so I really took advantage.    The place we were staying had lots of butterfly bush, and sometimes I saw as many as half a dozen feeding on them together.  

I also noticed a LOT of deer.  My family and I made counting them a game one evening, on a slow drive to Tilghman Island.  We lost count around 50 in a 15 mile drive.  I saw more bucks than I've ever seen in one place before, as well - anywhere from 2 to 6 points!  I wish I'd gotten better photos of them.  Being in a townhouse development, deer aren't a big problem for me.  My Mom, more in the country, has a huge deer problem.  She sprays, but with all the rain we've been having, it hasn't done her as much good as it might otherwise.

Before I left, I de-budded most of my roses.  I had seen a tip on Garden Web that suggested this is a good idea for avoiding Japanese Beetles (GRRRR!  BOOOO!  HISS!)  I just came in from the garden, where I found four of the little buggers, all of whom are now six feet under.  Fortunately, they only managed to ruin one bud, since I'd taken them off.  My George Burns responded by popping out half a dozen new buds, and I'm looking forward to seeing them open in a couple days.  Pictures to come!  I had let the first bloom stay a few days before we left:

Pretty, eh?

My Oranges and Lemons had set up a bunch of blooms before I headed out, which I let stay.  I cut a few today.  They faded out to an interesting melon and cream coloration in the hot sun.  I snipped a spray of six or so, added a few more single blooms, one Mardi Gras, three pink knockouts, and a couple of JFK buds.  They're on my table now and looking pretty.

I also added some of my favorite crushed eggshell to as many of my roses as I could, before I ran out.  I'll let you know if I see a resulting boost in blooms.

If you've got good ways to keep the deer away from Mom's roses, please share them here.  Until next time!

Scentimental Journey

Ok, so the title is the obvious pun. . .but it's not entirely inappropriate.  Though I was still seeking out that George Burns rose that attracted me in the beginning, I was having a real devil of a time finding it.  I was starting to get an idea of how many other striped varietals there are out there.  I decided it was time to pick a new buddy.

Find this gorgeous rose here!

I chose the Scentimental from Jackson & Perkins for a few reasons; firstly, I wanted a rose with a strong scent, and this rose has one of my favorite, richest musky-rose scents ever.  The plant is heat resistant, which I had, by now, realized is important in my sunny backyard.  It's also a repeat bloomer, and being greedy for more pretty flowers to enjoy, I really wanted that!  

Around this time I decided to aim for container gardening.  My neighborhood has a pretty significant rabbit population, and while I love watching the bunnies play in my backyard, I did want some protection for anything I planted.  I also realized that at some point I'll probably move away, and if I do I want to take my roses with me.  Keeping an eye out for large planters has become a habit!  For roses, I make sure they're very large, so the roots have lots of space to spread and grow.  

Most of my roses have come either banded or bare-root.  I usually start them in a smaller planter, especially if they're banded, and then move them to a larger, permanent home after the first year.  With the Scentimental, this worked very well.  The first year, it was a quiet producer, but I got amazingly fragrant blooms.  The stems were thin, having some trouble supporting the glorious heads, which made for charmingly nodding blooms.  By the second year this trait faded, as the plant got stronger.  Blooms are 4-inches wide, strongly scented, loose and double, often with ruffled petals.

Now in our third year together, Scentimental gives me frequent and numerous blooms.  She is largely disease-resistant, though with all the rain this year I've had to keep an eye on black spot.  The blooms do not last more than a few days in the vase, with a few exceptions; it helps to mind when you cut the flowers and get them after a good watering the day before, and early in the morning.  The petals are lovely for drying into potpourri or sachets, as they retain a lot of their scent if dried carefully.

Deadheading this rose is a good idea, and careful pruning is a must.  I fertilize regularly, and feed those eggshells to my roses!  The rose has a nice 4-foot height and width, making it ideal for container growth; they can also be grown as rose trees.  Scentimental is definitely one of my favorites.  With its multiple shades of pink and white, it pairs well with other flowers for display.

Succeeding with Scentimental inspired me to go for yet more striped roses.  The hunt for more continued - leading me to new nurseries and a big order of new friends!  Next time - get Hypnotized!

Oranges and Lemons - The First of my Striped Roses

I found this beauty in Home Depot.  Remember what I said about not finding striped roses there?  Turns out I was wrong, but so far, only this one time.  I was looking for a rose to try out.  I checked out all the banded roses, but didn't see anything I wanted; too many common roses, and I wanted something unusual.

No two blooms are alike!

I proceeded to the gallon roses.  I never buy those, so I wasn't really thinking I'd see anything I wanted, but there it was!  I got super-excited and snatched it up.  I think my enthusiasm may have startled my hubby a little.

A bud on the plant

My Oranges and Lemons has turned out to be a wonderful grower.  I get repeat blooms in clusters; I often cut off the center bud to encourage strong growth from the surrounding buds.  Oranges and Lemons develops suckers and has a climbing habit, so after peeling it of my wall, I set it up with a trellis.  It has seemed pretty happy since then.

Paired with Lavender and Pink Knockouts in the vase

Originally, I potted the rose; it grew right through my cheap plastic pot (ooops!) and sent some mighty powerful roots into the ground.  Kind of a bummer that I can't take her with me if I ever move.  Maybe by then I will have learned to propagate?

The blooms are very colorful and bright, tend to be ruffly, and have a light citrus scent.  They last around four to seven days in the vase.  Blooms are usually 2 - 3 inches across, though I've gotten both slightly larger and smaller.  Canes are tall and arching, about 6 to 8 feet high, with a fountainous habit.  I attach them to the trellis to keep growth upright.  Petal count is 30 - 35.  The rose was developed by McGreedy and debuted in 1995.

With some JFK, Pink Knockout, and lavender

I have some problems with black spot on this rose, which kills the foliage fast.  It's important to keep after the affected leaves and dispose of them away from any other roses you may have, in order to stop the spread.  The poor thing got very skeletal before I got the problem under control!   Keeping the rose aired also helps.  It's a bit of work, but it will pay off when the new shoots come in.  New foliage comes in a lovely burgundy and matures to a dark green.  This rose is very thorny, so handle with care and some good gloves.  I use some heavy suede garden gloves to avoid getting pricked.  Like most roses, Oranges and Lemons likes lots of water and should be fertilized to keep blooms coming.  I like to feed my roses crushed eggshells, worked into the dirt, for a nutritious boost.

Little bud, big color!

Overall, I'm delighted with this charming striped rose.  The purity of the yellow and the eye-popping orange make for a real attention-getter.  It pairs well with other blooms of all colors to make for pretty bouquets and vases full of color.  

My success with Oranges and Lemons encouraged me to look for more striped roses.  By now, that JFK I mentioned was producing some stunning blooms, and of course the pink knockout was putting forth plenty.  Paired with some lavender, I had a summer of very happy-looking bouquets!  Determined to keep the party going, I started looking into more striped roses - and found Scentimental.  Soon, my affinity for stripey goodness would deepen.

July 9, 2013

Hi.  My name is Holly, and I'm addicted to striped roses.

There, I said it.  

I got started with striped roses on my wedding day.  I had ordered a kissing ball for my daughter to carry, and on it, I noticed this nifty yellow-and-burgundy striped rose.  I'd never seen such a thing before and was immediately fascinated.  You can see it here, on the right side under that big orange lily.  (There's another hiding on the left, but it's obscured by other flowers.)  I thought they were amazing - I immediately wanted some.  

I couldn't for the life of me find any.  Being newly married and busy with a gajillion things, it never occurred to me to just ask the florist.

Time went by and I didn't give much of a thought to the stripey goodness for a little while.  I was living in a condo and trying to figure out how to grow anything, much less something as complicated as I perceived roses would be.  I think the only thing I really did manage were some impatiens and too much mint.  I had the shaded yard from hell.

When we bought our current home, our townhouse, it came with a small garden plot in the backyard and another in the front.  I wanted to show off out front, make things pretty for the neighborhood and look kinda cool doing it.  There is, however, one problem: my house faces northeast.  The front gets mostly shade.  I resigned myself to shade-lovers like petunias and more impatiens, and dug myself in.  Soon, I had plenty blooming and even a few showy flowers.  Neighbors stopped by to see what I was up to every now and again.

Eventually I noticed the backyard.

It gets sun.

A lot of sun.  Like, eleven or twelve hours a day of sun, in the summer.

I can't show it off that much, true.  It's not going to get noticed when folks drive by.  My show-off Leo heart overlooked it at first for that very reason.  Somewhere along the lines, I started to appreciate the thought of a more private garden; one that I could love because it was mine-all-mine.  I started thinking about those striped roses again.

I had no idea what name the rose I wanted had, but I had Google and was willing to hunt the thing down.  

Couldn't find it.

In looking, though, I found lots of striped roses.  Hey, there is more than one kind of these! I was immediately enchanted.  I started learning.  I read up on taking care of roses, bought a book or two, and found myself watching the garden stores for rose bushes.

It's surely not easy to find striped roses at Home Depot or Lowe's.  Even my local nurseries didn't seem to have them.  A little bummed, but undaunted, I picked up a JFK and a pink knockout and stuck 'em in the dirt.  That was year one.  They're both huge now; the JFK is easily 10 feet tall, and the knockout has probably quintupled in size.  I'm crazy about the blooms off the JFK.  They're huge, sometimes more than 5 inches across.  I have some problems with red spotting and curling on the petals that I haven't yet managed to cure, but if I pick those off, they're dandy.

In year two, I found the Oranges and Lemons.