September Roses

September has been a tough month for the roses and all plants in general in my garden. It was hot, but sometimes it was very hot (highest temperatures peaking at 103 F/43 C). Even without taking the extremes in consideration temperatures have been too high here to fit the rose's comfort zone.

Me still being on a tight schedule and also gone on a business trip last month I was watering as much as I could and my husband did, too, when I was away. All the roses in the ground survived, but I lost or almost lost a few (time will tell) which are still growing in small containers. Very sad, but I guess it is natural that gardening comes with some losses.

That being said, some roses did remarkably well even under these difficult conditions.  Please take a look at my most beautiful rose blooms from the month of September:




This is 'The Prince', a David Austin rose, and in my opinion he won the "Most Beautiful Rose of September" - award. He comes with an incredible lovely fragrance and I expect the color of the blooms to become darker as the weather cools down, which makes this rose even more desirable. The bush is carrying quite some buds right now, so there is definitively something to look forward to.




'Moonstone', a Hybrid Tea rose, also showed some very nice flowers last month. This rose loves the heat! It never looked heat-stressed no matter how high the temperatures were rising. I truly can't say this of many of my roses.




Above you can see a bush shot of my 'Moonstone'. You might ask what is so exciting about it. Well, it is a Hybrid Tea rose growing on its own roots and it is the first one that I grew from a tiny band and planted in the ground. Hybrid Tea roses have a reputation to be finicky on their own roots, needing the support of a vigorous rootstock to be grafted on. I just planted 'Moonstone' into the White Garden Bed in the first quarter of this year and the bush has really taken off (if you want to see how the plant looked in April please click here and scroll down the post until you see the pictures of the rose bush). Right now 'Moonstone' is pretty clean, but it had its share of rust and powdery mildew.




'Charles Darwin', my most prolific producer of blooms in the month of September, even though this rose is still growing only in a container. I am seriously thinking of putting him in the ground to give him more leg room. I just have a feeling that this could be an outstanding rose in my garden.

'Stephen's Big Purple' another Hybrid Tea rose that did well in the heat. I just would have loved to see it more purple as the name indicates, but in hot weather the blooms are almost a garish deep hot pink. It is always a little bit of a gamble if you buy a rose that you have never seen in person...

This one on the other hand, 'Charles de Gaulle', which I also bought only after seeing photos of it, is a totally stunning rose in terms of the color and the fragrance. I think it is the "bluest" rose that I own. Unfortunately I might have lost it in the heat spell.

Even though I usually don't like orange roses I am in love with 'Halloween', another Hybrid Tea rose. The warm evening sun light seems to make the rose glow.




This picture of 'Halloween' was taken in the early morning light. What a difference! The perfume of this rose is very strong and delightful. I am curious to see if it will actually bloom on Halloween. The roses would be perfect to decorate the holiday table with on that day.




'Green Ice', a miniature is finally looking good! The photo shows probably the best spray that this rose ever produced in my garden. It is supposed to be healthy, but in my climate it is struggling awfully with powdery mildew. For unknown reasons it is also loved by ants. If you look more closely you see them crawling in the flowers. Yuk!

'Rhodologue Jules Gravereaux' is an incredible beautiful Tea rose, which produces one of the most elegant flowers that I have ever seen.



Here is a close-up of a single bloom of 'Rhodologue Jules Gravereaux'.

As usual I could count on 'Pierre de Ronsard' last month.

A very velvety bud of 'Mister Lincoln'.

An unfolding flower of 'Sir Henry Segrave', an older Hybrid Tea rose. I love the pale shade of yellow and the gracefully nodding blooms. Thanks Masha for talking me into this one!

After being fertilized 'Yolande d'Aragon' is responding with blooms. The legs of the rose are still n----, but the flowers are simply wonderful, so that little fault is forgiven.

'Pope John Paul II', another rose that I can really count on to continue to bloom in the heat.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my rose flowers from last month. Wishing you all a good start into the new week!

See you in the garden!

Christina