July 12, 2014 - I Drown Ants.

 Hello everyone!


Summer is rolling along and, of course, I'm spending as much time as I can in the garden.  There's lots to talk about!  After all the deaths of winter, I have what is a mostly new garden.  There have been quite a number of additions.  Here's the current list:

Gingersnap

Cinco de Mayo

Scentimental

Commandant Beaurepaire

Dark Night

George Burns

Purple Tiger

Pink Knockout

Wonderstripe

Candyland

Julio Inglesias

Oranges & Lemons

Sedona

Love

Stainless Steel

Anna's Promise

Dick Clark

Rock & Roll

Hypnotized!

To this lovely mix, we add two roses in question.

One: Osiria suffered a LOT of damage over the winter, and, I suspect, died.  However, there is a hearty new cane growing.  I am 90% sure it's rootstock, but I'm holding out to see what blooms.

Two: I've started propagation!  My next-door-neighbors have a gorgeous, tall, richly burgundy Hybrid Tea in their backyard.  I don't yet know the name of it.  I'll try to figure it out.

Problems of this summer have included the usual blackspot and, now that it's hot, the start of Japanese beetles.  This year, we've added ants.  Ick.  I absolutely loathe ants!

I first found them in my Purple Tiger.  A quick look online encouraged filling the container to capacity with water, so as to chase them out and hopefully drown the queen.  I also saw that some folks scrape away the top layer of mulch and cover the soil in cinnamon.

I gave the rose a good drowning and watched the little buggers scurry away.  A subsequent drowning revealed no mass exodus of ants, which pleased me.

Until.

Noticing that my Scentimental seemed to be floundering, and knowing it's been a very hot and windy July, I gave it a lot of water - and saw ants.  Ick again.

Naturally, I repeated the drowning treatment.  All appeared well until this morning, when I began to notice that my Rock & Roll was looking suspicious.  

Fed up, I made a decision, and filled every single container to capacity - some more than once - so the ants would finally realize this is not a good place to live.  With any luck, this will encourage them to decamp.  They eat at the roots.  Plus, y'know, creepy.

My JFK is in question.  It looked dead, then sent up a cane.  That cane got damaged in a storm and fell off.  I haven't seen any movement since.  I may have to shovel-prune it, which is a real shame!  I loved that big guy.  If I do, I'll find a new white rose - I'm thinking a Pope John Paul II.

It's been both frustrating and miraculous watching the garden trying to recover from the harsh winter.  Growth is slow with some, speedy with others.  While age has something to do with it, my Oranges & Lemons grew back most quickly.  Commandant Beaurepaire laughed at the harsh winter and, at its height, was covered with something on the order of fifty blooms.  Scentimental also brazened it out, though the scent this year is a bit less.

Others I thought would make it, didn't.  My Mr. Lincoln tried hard but failed.  I'm considering a fresh red to replace the loss, but haven't settled on one yet.  JFK obviously surprised me by giving up the ghost.  I did learn quite a bit from how the winter went, though, and will put more effort into winterizing this year.  While it's lovely to have lots of new occupants out there, it's pricey!

I have noticed that purples don't do as well in my garden, and that pinks and oranges like it here.  Many of the new additions are in the orange and pink range of color.

Although my original Hypnotized! died, I replaced it and I'm glad I did.  I really am just crazy in love with this rose!  I catch myself staring at the blooms with a dreamy smile, perusing each of the many petals and breathing deep.

I've also taken to using Epsom salts on my colorful babies, and I think it's a wonderful thing.  I will be keeping that up!  The blooms seem to be larger, with more petals.

Thanks for reading!  I promise more regular updates and I look forward to your comments!