This foxglove made it through the cold winter and returned from the dead. It always seems a miracle to me that flowers can actually survive the winter (even though they are “perennials” and are supposed to). When I survey the dried and dead remains early each spring, I always expect the worst. However, usually the flowers amaze me with their resilience, such as this foxglove, one of three I planted last summer. Two are in flower, and one is almost there.
This is a Flax flower. It was one of this year’s impulse purchases at the nursery because I thought the little blue flowers were so pretty. At this point, my garden is one giant experiment, so we’ll see how it does!
I have always loved California Poppies. They are so lovely, yet so tough. In my last house I had them wild in the front yard. Here, I decided to plant many of them in a dry front flower bed. This is a first bloom.
CONTEST:
Finally: news of a photography contest! David Austin Roses is hosting a Garden Rose Photography Competition. Submit a photo, either a close-up, or a whole plant or garden picture, and possibly win a $100 or $150 David Austin gift certificate. The rose must be a David Austin English rose (which you might have without even realizing it - check their website to see the varieties). Photos will be judged on beauty and originality. Deadline is September 30th so you have all summer to find that perfect rose. Good luck!
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This post is part of The Sunday Garden Tour at A Wrung Sponge. Head over there to find more participants, or to add your own garden-related post. Happy Sunday!
Everything Else!, contest, gardening, nature
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David Austin Roses, English roses, flowers, gardening, nature, nature photos, roses, Sunday Garden Tour
I saw this sign in a store shortly after planting my hopeless looking bare root roses one month ago. I had to buy it!
Well, the bare root roses are actually getting leaves. They look ALIVE! Here is a before and after picture of one of them:
Graham Thomas on May 28th:
Graham Thomas this morning (June 24):
Only one still looks a bit iffy, but the others are doing very well. Roseraie de l’Hay is really going crazy!
Happy Roseraie:
Some of my older roses are flowering right now. My three year-old Climbing Iceberg has several sweet-smelling white flowers and many buds.
Climbing Iceberg
This lovely red rose is a leftover from the previous owner. I am afraid I have quite neglected it, but it still puts on a pretty show in early summer each year. I am not sure what it is.
Mystery rose with a volunteer aspen in the middle:
This post is part of The Sunday Garden Tour at A Wrung Sponge. Head over there to find more participants, or to add your own garden-related post. Happy Sunday!
A bare-root Rose de Rescht - ugh!! But, there is at least a tiny sign of life (see the little red shoots)
One of the tasks I accomplished these past few weeks was ordering and planting my new roses. For any interested gardeners out there I ordered:
- From David Austin: Mme Alfred Carriere, Roseraie de l’Hay, Graham Thomas, and Rose de Rescht.
- From High Country Roses: Pat Austin, Ballerina, Louise Odier, Buff Beauty, Henry Hudson, and Frau Dagmar Hartopp.
Being an extreme nerd, I research extensively just about any project that I undertake. Last summer I bought some rose books (see bottom of post for titles) and tried to find suitable roses for my conditions. I searched for some shade tolerance (due to all my Ponderosa Pines), good disease resistance (I have too many other needy creatures to mother without fussing over roses as well), and decent repeat bloom (if I am going to all this trouble, I don’t want to have just one show of flowers per year). After nearly a year of reading and note-taking, I came up with the selection above.
I figure that one example of each rose should be an interesting experiment. I will see what does well and what does not and can replant accordingly if necessary.
The only problem is that the David Austin roses were sent as bare-root roses and thus require a lot of imagination to visualize the beauties they will (hopefully) become!
Much of gardening involves delayed gratification which is not really my forte. I don’t mind hard work, but I like results…and I like them NOW. Therefore I am not sure why I like gardening so much. I guess because the results are usually very much worth the wait.
Plus, I have a good imagination and can look at my wooded lot seeing not trees and rocks and lots of dry dirt, but an English rose garden, misty with dew. OK. I know my piece of high-elevation Arizona forest will never be a dewy English, cottage garden. But, I can always hope!
A more hopeful sight, these roses were shipped in pots and look like real roses already, albeit small. This one is Buff Beauty.
Ballerina
Books that helped me:
Everything Else!, gardening, nature
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