Saturday, February 2, 2013

January Roses

Last month I believe I had the least rose blooms ever since we live in this place. There were two reasons for that. One was the weather and the other one was me. We had plenty of gray, dreary days with lots of rain, for Southern California circumstances of course, and it was unusually cold. Both factors are not really supportive of rose flower production. In addition to that I didn't fertilize the roses in the containers properly and when these roses don't get fed they don't bloom. It is that simple! Also usually I try to time the pruning of the roses in containers in a way that when I am done with the last the first one starts to bloom already again. This year I didn't pay attention to that and I can tell you, I regret it. I miss having more roses blooming in containers in the winter time, which makes living in Southern California so special for a Rosarian. Next year hopefully I will do better again.

Anyway, here are the rose blooms that I got in January.




I liked this shot of 'Marie Pavie' best out of all featured in this post. Her dainty flowers are heavy with rain drops, but she still manages to look light and elegant.




Another photo of  'Marie Pavie' growing through the fronds of a pigmy date palm. This rose literally blooms year round in my garden, is very healthy, and always looks beautiful if you deadhead the blooms. Otherwise the flower petals become brown when old and still cling to the rose, which can give it a 'dirty look'.




'Georgetown Tea'. I am always touched by the elegance of the Tea roses. This bloom had trouble opening with the low winter light and she is shaded by some palm trees on top of that. In this photo, I feel you can almost feel her struggle to unfold this lovely flower.




Last photo of a bloom of  'Madame Alfred Carriere' before the pruning. As you can see in the background her leaves are not the healthiest and prettiest anymore, but her flowers are still gorgeous.



'Vi's Violet' is one of my most beautiful miniature roses and she was doing her best to please last month.




 Above is another shot of 'Vi's Violet'.




'Pope John Paul II' here also photographed right after a rain shower.


Above you can see the same bloom a day later. This rose holds up very well to rain for a white rose. The bloom does hardly show any blemishes from the water. 




 Last bloom of 'Grandmother's Hat' for this season, back lit by the morning light.




The blooms of 'Irresistible', another miniature rose, also hold up very well in rain. If you touch them they feel almost a little bit like plastic, which I don't like so much, but this firm petal substance certainly has its advantage in rainy weather.




To my surprise 'Charles Rennie Mackintosh' continued going strong in January. He still resites in a containter, but I have a feeling, that it could also be a quite floriferous rose, once it is in the ground. This photo was taken when the rose was fully hit by the winter sun.




'Charles Rennie Mackintosh' again, but this photo was taken in the morning on a gray overcast day. I love the almost lilac color of the bloom! This is a rose bred by David Austin and like many of his roses, it has the ability to change its color quite a bit depending on the weather conditions. Some people might be not so fond of that, but I like it quite a bit. Each flower holds kind of a surprise how it will look when fully open. In my small garden I like these changes and unpredictability, since it can get a bit boring to see the same rose over and over again.




The last rose in this installment is 'Old Fashinoned Girl', a miniature that has won over my heart and seems to get better and better, since she is planted in the ground not too long ago. She just finished her last flush and she has produced already one new basal cane on which I detected today the first new buds. Yeah!

Quite a few gardens are buried under snow at this time of the year, or it is still very cold, so that many of you only can dream of roses right now, my dear readers. I hope, that especially for those of you where this is true, you enjoyed seeing some roses on my blog.

See you in the garden!

Christina



39 comments:

  1. Dear Christina,
    Grandmother's Hat - what a great name for a rose. I would try and obtain that for my garden based purely upon its name! Does it have a scent?
    Kirk
    PS
    I do like CR Mackintosh. It is a lovely rose.

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    1. Dear Kirk,
      I have plant Grandmothers Hat last spring and I have to say I love her very much! She was very healthy an had has a very nice and intensive scent. The coulour is various. She is a "Must Have" in my opinion but she need a big place for growing.
      with greetings from germany
      Yvonne

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  2. Dear Christina ~ Such a wonderful post filled with beautiful roses. I love 'Charles Rennie Mackintosh'. Your post has inspired me to get out and work in my gardens today.

    Hope your day is a lovely one ~ FlowerLady

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  3. Dear Christina - Charles Rennie Makintosh is gorgeous, but I do love the first photo of Marie Pavie sparkling with her rain drops.

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  4. Hi Christina....your roses are just stunning!! I love roses so much. I've tried growing hybrid teas here, but the foliage just hasn't done well. I still have three of them and will keep trying. Also, have you heard of putting a little white glue on the tip of the cane after you prune it? I recently read this...it's suppose to keep rose cane borers away. I think I have borers because the canes turn brown part of the way down so I thought about trying it. What type of fertilizer do you use? Thanks for the lovely pictures and for your help!

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  5. Vi's Violet and Pope John Paul II are such a beauties. I'm longing to summer when I see so many roses in your garden.

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  6. Kirk, I also like the name Grandmother's Hat for a rose very much! But this rose not only has a lovely name to call her, but it is actually a great rose, with very beautiful flowers and yes, it has a very strong fragrance. All in all I would recommend trying this rose, the only catch is that it is a found rose and I don't know if it is available in the UK. I sure hope so!

    Lorraine, 'Charles Rennie Mackintosh' is one of my favorite roses as well, because of the very special color. Wishing you a lovely day working in your garden!

    Rosemary, yeah I was one lucky photographer, when I caught the sight of 'Marie Pavie' and just had to release the shutter.

    Christy, thanks so much for your nice comment! Hybrid Teas are the most difficult roses to grow in general of all rose classes I find. Maybe another rose class would be easier to grow and do better for you? Have you tried the David Austin roses? I heard about the "glue thingy", but I don't do it myself. Either we don't have cane borers here or they don't visit my garden. The cause that the rose canes die back could also be canker. To determine the difference I would cut into the cane that is brown and see if you can find the tunnel from the cane borer or if the cane is just solid brown. Then at least you have more knowledge of what your problem is. I use biostart and E.B. Stone Rose fertilizer. Both are organic fertilizers that have done well for me. Good luck with your roses!

    Janneke, believe it or not I am longing for spring as well, despite the fact that I have a few roses blooming in the winter in the garden.

    Christina

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  7. You have the most beautiful roses.I really like the color of Vi's Violet, and I'm almost ready to buy Madame Alfred Carriere after seeing your pictures. But Hoplia beetles are so bad here about attacking white roses that i just don't know. We have been pruning our climbing roses and clematis the past few days, just one each day is all I have the energy for, but we only have 4 climbers. But many clematis and they are easy. Happy gardening!

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  8. Beautiful roses, I like them all! I am very fond of miniature roses myself, they do very well in my London garden too, all year round, even though all my roses produce a flower here and there, but the miniatures are more prolific in the winter.

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  9. Again, a lot of wonderful blooms ! Love the delicate colors ... Have a good week, Christina !

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  10. Hi Christina, it's so lovely to see these roses in bloom in January. What a fab winter treat it must be have these blooms in your garden :)

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  11. Dorothy, thanks for your nice words about my roses! Hoplia beetles attacking white roses? I haven't even heard of those guys, but they certainly don't sound like fun. Just take it easy with the garden work, pruning one rose or clematis a day is great :-).

    Helene, thanks, actually miniature roses are not doing so well for me. I really had trouble to get my mini bands going and I lost a few, but the ones that have survived seemed to do OK now. I also don't notice that minis are more prolific bloomers than the the "big roses", but mine are still young. I may have to observe them a little longer to make a qualified statement.

    Dani, right now I also prefer the lighter colors over the brighter ones. But that can change any time ;-)!

    Mark and Gaz, I am glad that you enjoy seeing my roses. It is indeed a treat to have some roses blooming in the middle of winter. Been born in Germany, I don't think that I will ever take this for granted :-).

    Christina


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  12. Amazing that you get roses all winter! I knew that Californians sometimes pruned when their roses were still blooming, but I guess I didn't realize just how many roses would still be blooming for you! I just love that first photo of Marie Pavie. What a sweet rose. And I love the lilac color of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. What a luscious color. I'm pruning roses now, it'll be another six weeks or so before mine begin to bloom.

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  13. You have a fantastic variety of roses and to have them all blooming so beautifully is a real treat!

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  14. Wahhh I am green of jealazy (positive way ofcourse) your roses are a treasure especialy in wintertime. Thanks for bringing me trough our dark and grey winter weather. Have a wonderful day.

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  15. Holley, yes, some roses are still blooming here but have in mind that they carry only one or two blooms at a time. So by all means it is not that I have "plenty of roses blooming". I think my posts are a little bit misleading :-). I am also still pruning my roses and can't wait until they start the spring flush!

    Rosemary, thanks, I also enjoy each and every rose that I get in the winter time!

    Marijke, I am glad when I can be of any assistance to help you get through the winter blues. I remember from when I still was living in Germany that winter weather was really hard on my mood sometimes.

    Christina

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  16. Lots of nice roses, bad weather or not.

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  17. Hoover Boo, yes, to a certain degree the roses kept going even though the weather was less than ideal for them. They are such troopers!

    Christina

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  18. Wow, such beautiful roses! Lots of them!

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  19. Bonsoir C'est avec un grand plaisir que je viens découvrir ton jardin de roses. je découvre Marie pavié un rosier que j'affectionne beaucoup, il ne m'a jamais déçu.J'ai découvert d'autres variétés que je ne connaissais pas mais tes photos sont tellement séduisantes que j'aimerais bien adopter ces arbustes.
    Belle soirée jocelyne

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  20. I think you can win some prizes with your rose photos. How many varities do you have, if you don't mind me asking. Also, please explain what you mean by you prune it in such a way that the last one is done when the first one is blooming. Thanks.

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  21. My life, thanks for your comment!

    Jocelyne, thanks for visiting my blog! I know that you have a really beautiful rose garden with many, many roses, so I am happy that you found some roses in this post that you are not familiar with!

    KL, thanks for your kind words about my photos! I have approximately 50 rose varieties. Regarding the pruning question: I need roughly two month to prune all my roses. So when I start to prune the first one that is living in a container and the last one that is residing in a container 8 weeks later than the rose that I pruned first is almost starting to flower again, when I am pruning my very last rose. Hope that is more clear :-)!

    Christina

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  22. WOW! I so did enjoy seeing your roses! How wonderful it would be to have roses in containers! They are stunning! What I would do to see something blooming right now!!! Your photos captured them in such a romantic way! And thank you for popping by my blog...I look forward to following along with you on this adventure!

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  23. I love them all, can't even choose which one is the best for me. I think, they love you since they are blooming so nicely! Thank you Christina!

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  24. Simply gorgeous!
    Thanks for sharing again!

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  25. Nicole, thank you so much for your kind words about my roses and my photography! I also would love to follow the developments in your garden this year!

    Tatyana, thanks for your nice comment! I am not so sure if my roses love me, but they for sure love growing in Southern California ;-)!

    Mildred, thanks for your comment!

    Christina

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  26. I love the photo of the rose with raindrops! Beautiful as usual, I don't have any roses blooming in my garden! Jeannine

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  27. My life, thanks for your comment!

    Jeannine, thanks for you kind words! In my garden I am down to three roses right now. 'Marie Pavie' still has the most flowers on her. Just and amazing rose!

    Christina

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  28. Fantastic beauty! Everybody must see this!
    I added your Blog to my friend's list!

    Have a great St.Valentine's Day!

    xoxo, Juliana | PJ’ Happies :) | PJ’ Ecoproject

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  29. Juliana, thanks for you kind words and also for adding my blog to your blog list. Wishing you a lovely Valentine's Day as well!

    Christina

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  30. My life, thanks, hope you had a nice Valentine's Day, too!

    Christina

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  31. Dear Christina,
    how wonderful your roses and your pictures are! I also love Grandmothers Hat and MAC very much, not last because of their delicious scent. I have never seen Vi's Violet befor, she is very nice!
    with lovely greatings from germany
    Yvonne

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  32. Liebe Christina,
    was für wunderbare Rosenbilder!
    Sie erhellen mir ein wenig diesen grauen und
    kalten Februar. Die Schneeglöckchen
    fangen jetzt an richtig zu blühen. Aber morgen
    werden sie wohl wieder eine kalte Schneemütze bekommen.
    Ich danke dir für deine lieben Worte.
    Ganz viele liebe Grüße Urte

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  33. Beautiful roses, Christina! You are so lucky to have so many in winter - I have none in my garden :(. Which fertilizer do you use for the potted ones?

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  34. Yvonne, thanks for your kind words about my roses and photos! I also appreciate 'Grandmother's Hat' not only for her beautiful blooms, but for her intense fragrance as well. Haven't detect much scent on 'Madame Alfred Carriere', but mine is still a small rose and she may develop more fragrance as the rose matures.

    Urte, it's a pleasure for me to know that my photos brought a little bit of light into the dreary German February weather. I remember the weather in Germany at this time of the year very well and sometimes it really can get to you. But spring is coming soon to you as well :-)!

    Masha, thanks! Right now I am down to only two roses blooming. February is really the hardest month to get some rose blooms even here in San Diego. I am using the E.B Stone Organics rose fertilizer for my potted roses as well. This year for the first time I was giving them a head start and did one initial fertilizing with fish emulsion as recommended by the San Diego Rose Society. I have to observe if I can see an effect of that.

    Christina

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  35. Oh quelles jolie photo et quelle jolie blog! J`adore !

    J`adore votre blog il est juste MAGNIFIQUE ! Et maintenant je suis votre nouveau membre!! ;0)
    et j`espère que vous allée aimer mon blog aussi !

    bonne semaine!!

    xxx Maria xxx

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  36. Maria, thanks for your kind words about my blog and my photos, I am glad you like both :-)! Also thanks for becoming a follower!

    Christina

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  37. Hallo Christina...gut, dass ich dir in Deutsch schreiben kann...grins...
    Deine Rosen sind ja echt traumhaft....die Papst JohannesII und die Macintosh sagen mir sehr zu. Du hast natürlich mit Sicherheit ein ganz anderes Klima als ich hier in Bayern...Ich wohne in der nördlichen Oberpfalz ...weiß nicht ob du das noch so ungefähr im Kopf hast. Nahe Bayreuth oder Weiden.
    Ich freue mich, dass man durch das Internet auch Gärtner in anderen Ländern kennenlernen kann...wünsche dir eine gute Zeit...wie ist eigentlich der Zeitunterschied zwischen Californien und Germany...?...Lieben Gruß Erwin

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