Hybridizing Progress

We have babies!

We also have mold problems.  That's OK.  I have culled the seeds that sprouted mold instead of roses, and I'm hoping some of the others will be encouraged to grow a bit more.  I had read that mold is a common problem with seedlings; I've also read that washing the seeds in diluted hydrogen peroxide is the way to avoid said problem.  Sadly, I read it a bit too late to make use of the idea.  Next year.

But we have babies!  Check it out:

We started with a little sprout. . .

Friends decided to join in. . .

I have anticipated about a 15 - 20% germination rate.  I've read sources that say it's more like 5%, and others that say it's 40%.  I figure as a complete amateur, if I get anything viable, I'm kicking ass.  The mother on these little guys is Candyland CL:

Candyland CL.  Isn't she pretty?  Major bloom machine and good disease resistance (if not perfect, but who is?)

I'll keep the father to myself for now.  Let's see how it grows first!  I am hoping for a multi-colored striped rose, with a moderate fragrance and fewer thorns than Candyland CL.  Honestly, I'll be thrilled with anything that lives for 3 years or longer and looks good.

The leaves get bigger, the shoots get bigger. . .

Here you can see the seed case and the first two leaves.  The top seedling is just barely starting to add more leaves, if you look really closely.  The one of the bottom tried to grow a bit upside-down.  I've turned it right-side up, and hope it'll recover.  The silver stars are my row markers, so I know which seedlings are which.  I have tried three crosses.

Here is where we stand today; a total of five happy little seedlings.  I suspect we will have a few more soon!

More posts to come!  In the meantime, check out the American Rose Society and the Rose Hybridizers Association for excellent rose information.

Why Yes, I Am Dorkishly Excited!

I've wanted to hybridize my own roses for a while now, and last spring I finally took that first step.  I attempted three crosses (which I'll keep to myself for now) and, in the fall, was rewarded with a harvest of rose hips.

Once I had these, I cut open the hips and harvested the seeds inside.  I wrapped those up in slightly damp paper towels, labeled them carefully, and put them in small plastic bags.  Those I stored in my fridge to stratify them - tricking them into thinking they'd gone through a winter.

Now that it's about time to plant, I opened up those packets today.  Lo and behold!  I have sprouts!  Well, a few.  The rest I have hopes for.

I planted the seeds in seed trays, and I'm hoping for the best.

Look at that little guy!

Now to try to grow some plants.  In a few months, I'll transplant the strongest seedlings into larger pots and harden them off.  With any luck, a few of these will grow up and bloom!  If I've managed to create something no one has already made, and it goes through the rose trials with success, I'll get to name the new rose.  How cool is that?

MOAR planting!

I may be addicted to gardening.

My husband said to me today, "It's okay.  I'd rather be married to the crazy flower lady than the crazy cat lady."

It might be because I've come home with new plants on five of the last 8 days.  Or maybe because I keep saying, "That's it, I'm done!". . .until I get a new idea twenty minutes later.  Maybe it's because I now have 25 roses and 7 varieties of calibrochoa and I really want more.

The thing is, my kids are growing up and don't need the constant attention that younger kids needed.  I can't have a pet, because my husband is allergic to just about everything.  In a way, the garden has become my pet; I feed it, I water it, I talk to it.  So far I haven't had much luck with playing fetch, but you never know.

Every year in the garden is a learning year.  I'm learning more and more about what comes back and what struggles, what I love best and what I wish I hadn't bothered with.

Many of the roses that I had over the winter are struggling to make a comeback.  I'm seeing improvement on my Burgundy Ice, my Scentimental, my Sedona, and my Wonderstripe.  Sterling Silver, Hypnotized!, Gingersnap, Anna's Promise and Dark Knight are not looking too good.  I'm worried.

The champs that came through just fine are Belle Doria, Oranges & Lemons, George Burns, Julio Inglesias, Cinco De Mayo, Candyland, and of course the Pink Knockout.

Purple Tiger didn't make it, which is fine, since I ended up with two new ones this year rather by accident.  Much to my surprise, the JFK, which I pronounced dead last summer, has made a comeback.  I guess you never know!  Here's hoping it takes and I get some of those big beautiful white blooms.  I have my fingers crossed!

I found a Strike It Rich in a bodybag at Home Depot and brought it home.  She's taken to the planter like a champ, and I'm anticipating great things.  Everything I ordered from Heirloom Roses arrived huge and gorgeous, and continue to grow happily.  I can't wait to see how they bloom!  I even sent a thank-you email to the nice folks at Heirloom.

2016, here we come!

Last year was amazing!

I finally got into rose shows and competing.  I loved it!  The first show, at Moorestown Mall, was a little nerve-wracking - new people, new procedures - but everyone at the shows was amazingly friendly.  I was hugged as soon as I introduced myself!

Not knowing what to expect, I fumbled around a bit to begin with, but was soon grooming my blooms and getting the hang of things.  I did take home two ribbons, which surprised me, especially when I saw the quality of the blooms other competitors had brought along!

I also volunteered to clerk (basically following the judges around and helping with things like tying on ribbons and delivering score sheets).  Clerking really gives you the chance to see what the judges are looking for when they render their scores.

By my second show at Deep Cut Gardens, I actually knew a little more about what I was doing.  I was thrilled when I made the head table with my large Rose in a Bowl entry!  I was surprised and delighted.  Once again, I had a wonderful time with the friendly people, and I've made a few Facebook friends that I hope I'll see more and more.

This Neil Diamond rose was my big winner!

With any luck, and some cooperative weather, I'm hoping to do four rose shows this year.  I have 7 new roses coming for 2016 (so far!), so if all my plants survive the winter, I'll be getting close to 40 varietals.  I'm not sure where I'll put them all, but I am thinking my other perennials might be in trouble.  Since I can't move outward easily, I'm looking into building upward, by relocating bulbs and non-rose perennials into pots on shepherd's hooks.  That cute little ladder didn't last the whole season, so I'll need to find other ways to make it work.

Surprises in the Garden!

Usually when I'm thinking about additions to the garden, I'm thinking about plants.  This year, I've ended up with a lot more - much of which I wasn't expecting!

My favorite surprise addition is a stepladder-style shelf I found and have repurposed.  I had no plans in this direction at all, but it's in great shape and seems sturdy, so I lugged it home!  I'm deciding whether to paint it or just seal it as is; in the meantime, check it out:

Hooray for free and unexpected!  I'm thinking I'll establish a part-shade herb and flower garden and use the lower shelves for storing pots and such.  Either way, it's a welcome addition and certainly in my price range!

Another dandy addition is my LED, solar, color-changing dragonfly mobile, from Plow and Hearth.  The kids gave it to me for Christmas, and I can't help but love it.

Super cute, and I love watching the colors turn at night.

I also finally put up my TARDIS bird house - yes, I am in fact a huge Dr. Who geek, and proud of it!  I can't wait to see if the chickadees take to it as well as they have the other birdhouses.  It replaces a cute little country cottage birdhouse that didn't survive the late summer humidity and winter rains.

Today saw the completion of rose pruning.  I'm worried about my Gingersnap rose and my Dick Clark rose, but they've still got green on them.  Everyone else seems to be okay.  My new Moonstone rose got potted today, so now I have two more to go: Neil Diamond, and when it arrives, Miss Congeniality.  I also have some dahlias to plant - first time with those!  Credit for inspiration go to my brother and his wife, who have grown them beautifully in their Center City Philadelphia home.

Before the end of April, I'll be adding a swiveling hanging basket, which I'll plant with a hummingbird-attractant red-belled. . .something.  Still deciding.  I've also got a mini greenhouse to build. . .and find a good place for!  Yikes!

Getting Sweaty and Mulching the Multitudes

Holy geez, I'm sweaty!

There is so much more to do in the garden now that spring is here!  My ladies are all budded up and ready to reach for the sun.  It's such an exciting time!

I am still in the process of moving all the roses back out into the open air and sunshine from their winter hiding place.  If I'm going to get any more done, I'll need to tap my husband for his superior muscles!  Those pots get crazy heavy.  As each one gets moved back it gets a little bit of aeration if needed, and then a healthy layer of fresh mulch.

I'm trying out the Miracle Gro Water Storing Crystals I found at Home Depot with the new roses.  More on that as experience warrants.  I also picked up some parsley and tucked that in the dirt.  Rumor has it, it helps drive away beetles and improves the scent of your roses.

Speaking of new roses, All-American Magic went in the dirt today!  It should look something like this in a couple of months:

Or at least I can hope so!  I got the plant from Regan Nursery and was really pleased with how big and healthy it was.  It's a marvelous, sunny, 70 degree day out today, so I really couldn't ask for better.

Much to my surprise, while I was working I discovered that my JFK, which I was quite sure had given up the ghost, is spouting. . .something.  I am really not sure if it's reverted to root stock or if the rose is still fighting for life.  Here I was about to shovel prune it!  I will hold off and see what blooms.  I do miss having a white rose.

There's a bit more potting to do, but I need more soil before I can do it!  I went through three bags as quick as a wink.

Happy Planting!

And so it Begins. . .

Happy Spring, O Faithful Readers!

The new roses have started to arrive, and that means it's GARDENING SEASON!  Huzzah!

Happily, most my babies appear to have made it through another rough winter intact.  I think moving them all to the location in my backyard with walls on three sides was the key.  I've begun the process of returning them to their three-season positions.  That's a work in progress, especially since a few tags and markers seem to have gone missing!

I found some adorable mini-campanula at Home Depot and added them in with the "Dark Dragon" roses, which, as it turns out, are just a re-named Purple Tiger.  Caveat Emptor and all that, but the hooligans that sold them to me did refund my money.  Good thing I at least like Purple Tiger, though I hadn't intended to add any more to the garden!

I have started pruning a bit, doing just a little at a time.  I've been getting over a nasty sinus infection, so that's about all I can handle.  I've also been doing the usual winter clean-up.  You should see the pile of sunflower seed husks left by the birds over the winter!  Wow!

You may remember I had an Osiria that I was pretty sure had died, but saw a lone branch trying to re-grow.  I let it keep growing out of curiosity, and am now positive it's a sucker from the Dr. Huey rootstock.  My thinking at this point is that I'll shovel prune it and move my Butterfly Bush into the large pot so it can get bigger this year, freeing up a pot for a first-year rosebush.  I'm a bit sad, as you can't get Osiria anymore, but I've got a Love and two Dark Nights for different reverse coloration, so I'm essentially good.

I'm adding a hanging basket on a long wrought-iron branch this year, and planting it with something red and bell-shaped and hummingbird attractant.  My mom gave me a portable greenhouse for Christmas, and my kids an LED, glow-in-the-dark dragonfly mobile, so those will be fun and welcome additions!

Got any plans for your garden?  Share them below!

January Preparations

The planning bug is biting me again and I'm looking through all the gorgeous rose catalogs.  Right now there's a thin, fine snow coming down outside, but in my head I'm thinking about all things green and growing!

I have new additions coming this spring, and I'm super-excited as always to see how they fare.  I'm not sure yet just where I'll put them - my tiny yard is rapidly running out of room - but I'm sure I'll find space.

I have given up on my poor JFK resuscitating, which means I'll give him a shovel pruning soon; I'm also planning to cut my Pink Knockout way back.  That thing's a monster!  Everyone else - hopefully they'll make it through the winter, since it's so much less severe than last year's.  We've had some very cold days, down even to single digits, but not a huge amount of snow.  Not yet, anyway.

After last year's insane weather, I dragooned my dear husband into helping me move all the rose pots to the most sheltered space in our backyard.  I think it'll keep some of the wind and cold off them.  If anything really yucky does get predicted, I'll cover them up accordingly.  So far, it hasn't seemed truly necessary.

These are the incoming roses for this spring:

Dark Dragon Rose:

All American Magic:

Neil Diamond:

And, Moonstone:

See you again soon!

Lazy Rose Mama

Oh, I'm a lazy, lazy rose mama!  I went away on vacation and my brain just didn't want to come back.  Still, here we are, and there was a lot to do!

I recently went to Winterthur, a stunning thousand-acre (yes, really!) garden in Delaware, for the Downton Abbey costume exhibit.  If you are anywhere nearby, it's just stunning.  You can't see it all in one day, but what you do see is marvelous!  I am making a trip in the spring just to see the bluebells.  Anyway, part of the trip was a tram ride, on which a lovely guide tells you lots about what you're looking at as you slowly drive from the welcome center to the Mansion.  It was surprisingly reassuring to me to hear him talking about how the hard winter had affected the gardens there; having had such a difficult summer in the garden myself, it was good to hear that the ultimate pros also were working hard to get their results.

Winterthur Grounds

A sweet swallowtail kissing the flowers

In my own, rather humbler garden, we've had a summer of struggle and some reward.  I had planted a Cinco de Mayo a few months back (having gotten in in May for $5!  What a bargain!)  I'd noticed the Cinco de Mayo rose several times previous, for its unusual-colored blooms.  Since I lean more towards the Grandifloras and Hybrid Teas, I had chosen to pass on it.  Still, for five bucks, why not, right?  I'm so glad I went for it, because I've grown to love the little blossom machine!  It grew much faster than any of my other additions this year and seems to like its container and the amount of sun it gets.

Oranges and Lemons, as always, is a champ.  It's gotten a bit less blackspot this year, though I still have it throughout the garden.  I'm still looking for the most effective remedy for that!

Love can't seem to make up its mind.  One day we're awesome, the next we're having issues.  I just had a lovely flower last on the plant for nearly a month!  It was, however, the only thing that Love was doing.  At least now it's growing!

Love

Dark Night is doing quite well.  I get regular blooms that last a good time on the bush.  I do notice that the color goes brown quickly, from the initial burgundy shade.

My Purple Tiger got a case of ants, and is still struggling to recover.  After flooding every rose in the garden last month, I'm seeing a lot of new growth there, and look forward to more.

Hypnotized!  I love my Hypnotized!  Huge, stunningly gorgeous blooms that make my heart go pitter-pat.  Though my first one died over the evil winter, the new one is growing even more vigorously and is twice as tall.  Every time I see it bloom, it makes me smile.

Stainless Steel, Dick Clark, and Wonderstripe are taking their time getting established.  I have had one small bloom from everyone but Stainless Steel.  I'm trying to figure out what SS wants.  Picky little bugger!

Gingersnap, my daughter's favorite, had a great show early on.  I'm in love with the shocking orange color!  It seems much less fond of the dog days of summer.  Now that the weather is cooling down a bit, I'm seeing lots of new growth.  Anna's Promise, Rock & Roll, and Julio Inglesias seem to share this opinion.  Julio also had a HUGE dandelion growing in the pot with him (which I didn't see hidden behind my lantana), so hopefully now that it's got, Julio will have less competition for his water supply.

Gingersnap

My George Burns is flowering nicely, so long as I keep his feet wet.  He's a thirsty boy.  He's stayed compact, and has suffered from blackspot, but he's a fighter.

George Burns

Candyland seemed for a while like it wasn't going to do a dang thing.  I got a few small, pretty blooms, but then it just sat there.  Lo and behold, when I got back from vacation it had sprouted a 3-foot-tall cane!  Thank goodness I'd already surrounded it with a trellis!  Still not much more by way of blooms, but I'm glad to see it's getting rooted.

Commandant Beaurepaire. . .wow, does he want to get huge.  I mean, huge.  I'm pretty sure those canes are hitting the 5 foot mark and going strong!  That bad boy is getting moved to the back of the garden so some of the little guys can get more sun.  I can't wait to see him next spring!

And everyone's favorite scrapper, Sedona, is one happy rose.  I neglected this coral beauty shamefully for years, but Sedona just wouldn't give up and now is really very happy in her own container.  She's giving very pretty blooms, and growing magnificently.

While there's a lot of debate over feeding the flowers this late in the season, I'm planning one more fertilizing.  There's a lot of talk of another very cold, early winter for my location; I'll be diving into some more serious winterizing (after all, last year's "Let's see what happens" was not a good idea!) and will move some of the younger, more tender plants to my (too small!) shed and basement.  Since I have an area with three sides of cover, I plan to put the rest of the pots there and cover with hay.  Here's to planning!

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!

Water, Water Everywhere

Like a lot of the country, we got a great big rainstorm this past week.  The good news: I am now absolutely certain that all my roses are deeply, deeply watered.  The bad news: my garden took a pounding.

Fortunately, I only lost one rose bloom to the deluge.  The storm did set me to thinking, though; what on earth do they mean by "an inch of rain"?  Lacking a rain gauge, I set out to do a little googling and find the answer.

As it turns out, an inch of rain is: the amount of rain that falls on one acre.  There are 27,154.258 gallons of water in one inch that cover exactly one acre.  We all know that roses are big drinkers, so I'm pretty sure that much would more than satiate them.  Check out this nifty chart by the U.S. Weather Service: https://water.usgs.gov/edu/earthrain.html

Crossing this with one of my other worries - how much water is enough for my roses? - I came across quite a few different answers.  The distillation of all these recommendations is this: if you're not sure, stick your finger in at least three inches down in the soil.  If it's dry, water.  I have found that it's usually good to water until you can see just a bit standing on top.  If it gets absorbed by the count of ten, you can add a bit more.  If not, you're done.  

During humid weather, and assuming you have at least an inch or three of mulch atop your roses, you should be OK with watering twice weekly or so.  If it's hot, dry, windy, or you have sandy soil, you'll want to step up that schedule to daily.  Obviously if it's rainy and damp, less often will be fine.  Keep an eye out for the beginnings of wilt as a sign of under-watering, and for yellowed leaves as a sign of over-watering.

There are also doodads available to tell you if your soil needs watering (I've seen cute little ceramic worms that change color) so that you can be a little more certain.  You can always add one of those glass bulbs that holds water and releases it into the soil as needed.  I have one of those and am thinking I'll pick up a few more for my newer roses.

Happy Gardening - stay hydrated!

Spring Cleaning, New Residents, and Planting Stock

Whew!  After a stunning weekend here in South Jersey, we've had a ton of wind and rain - and a visit from the Snow Fairy?!  Sure, it was just a tiny little bit.  Still, a little advice, Weather: go home, you're drunk!

The replacement to my Hypnotize rose arrived in lovely form (Thanks, Jackson & Perkins!) and is planted in the very same pot.  I hope it does as well as the first one did, and has a better winter!

Baby Hypnotize Rose!

My husband, Gene, and I spent a big chunk of the weekend out in the backyard.  I am proud to report that mine is no longer the messiest backyard in the neighborhood!  Woot!  We finally tackled a task that's been on my to-do list for more years than I care to admit: we cleaned out the shed.  It's not even a big shed.  More of a glorified closet, really.  Piled full of stuff up to your waist.  

Yeah, I know.

A beautiful Saturday morning, and a slight overdose of caffeine, got us out there.  We went hard.  We took everything out, threw away five bags of outdated and broken stuff, and reorganized what we kept.  

Found: 
three bags of fertilizer I forgot I had
my bocce ball set
two cans of wasp killer
a beach shovel from 2009
my bulb hole digging tool
one pair of pink swim goggles
three swim rings
the bike pump

. . .and a partridge in a pear tree!

This gave us the chance to put away a whole bunch of things that were lying around the yard.  Now it's nice in there.  Organized.  I can barely believe it's mine!

But wait, there's more!

We also got out to the hardware store and got fresh mulch and some sweet stock.  I love stock - it smells awesome!  Stock is a great plant to use as a companion flower for roses.  It's attractive, long-blooming, likes a lot of water, and doesn't compete for food with your rosebushes.  You can get it in pink, white, and purple. We also invested in a nice shepherd's hook for my new bird feeder! 

Sweet Stock is a great companion plant for roses.

And why, you may ask, did I get a bird feeder?


We have birds!  A mated pair of black-capped chickadees have finally moved into my birdhouse!  I am dorkishly excited, and have dubbed them Chuckles and Marge.  Chickadees are awesome - not only are they adorable, they're smart.  They can remember where they've stored snacks, and how yummy those snacks are, for up to 1000 places!  When the snack is gone, so is the memory of it, and new stashes of seed are remembered instead.  Pretty neat!  Happily, chickadees tend to remain once they've nested, and they eat bugs!  Oh yeah, free pest control!

          

Chuckles chilling on a windy day

  

Marge with a snack

The bird feeder is also bringing me visits from other avian couples in the neighborhood - cardinals, robins, and grackles.  I am very much enjoying the additional aerial traffic.

Last but not least, we also hung up a wind chime my honey got me for Christmas.  It adds a wonderful layer of auditory happiness to the visual and olfactory happiness.  I absolutely love the sound.  It's like fairies laughing.

What are you doing in your garden?