Monday, April 7, 2014

March Roses

Since I wrote my last post about the beginning of the rose flush in my garden, there was a lot happening in terms of rosy affairs. Even though between the previous post and this one lay only eight days (the time frame in which I took the pictures for this post) and we had relatively cool weather, the roses changed visibly every day. Some reached their full spring flush peak, while others just shyly started to open their first blooms.



'Yolande d'Aragon' is certainly one of my favorite rose blooms, the shrub itself not so much, but we will come to that later.



Her fragrance is outstanding...



...and the flowers are petal-filled beauties.



The blooms of 'Grandmother's Hat' are a little bit more simple, but absolutely pretty in their own way. 




The blooms of 'Reine des Violettes' opened in an almost cerise color, but they are fading to the gray-violet tone that this rose is so famous for. 



Here you can see my whole Hybrid Perpetual rose bed. From the left to the right: 'Yolande d'Aragon', 'Reine des Violettes', and 'Grandmother's Hat'. For me the bush form is as important as the blooms and you can clearly see, 'Grandmother's Hat' is the most graceful, full, arching shrub. 

Even though all roses are three years in this bed, 'Reine des Violettes' doesn't seem to be mature, yet and I think, this rose has not reached its full potential.

'Yolande d'Aragon' is a little bit of an unruly shrub with a tendency to form candelabra canes, but it is possible that the shape of this rose will improve. A nasty rat ate almost all of the new basal canes of 'Yolande d'Aragon' and even though you can't see it on the photo, she is making some new ones that, I think, will fill in the gaps that are visible now in the bush. Also we had some very windy days and some rain showers, which contributed that the canes are bending outward under the weight of the very heavy blooms.

Nonetheless moving our lightweight garden furniture over and having breakfast or afternoon tea in front of this bed holding these three very fragrant roses feels a little bit like being in heaven. Although each one smells slightly different, all three of them have this very enchanting Old Rose perfume, that I just haven't found in any of the modern roses. Definitively my favorite spot to be in the garden right now!



This is 'Old Fashioned Girl', a Miniature Rose, that is growing happy and healthy under the most challenging conditions. I planted it in front of a South facing wall, that gets hot like an oven even in spring already, but this little gem of a rose is just blooming away.



Here is a photo of a spray of 'Old Fashioned Girl'. Isn't it amazing how many buds there are on just one single spray?



One rose that I have very high hopes for in the future is 'Belinda's Dream'. I just love the big, fat, light pink blooms. The flowers are so heavily petaled that sometimes they balled and they are also very sensitive to water damage. But I believe, that as soon as the weather really warms up, things will get better with this rose.



'Marie Pavie' is a sea of buds. Each year I am amazed how floriferous this rose is.



The individual blooms are very lovely and dainty.



Another of my favorite roses at this time of the year is 'Pierre de Ronsard', aka 'Eden'. The blooms are just so stunningly pretty.



Even though I have a small garden I have two roses of this variety, because I like it so much. One is planted in front of the fence that faces the open space area behind our property. This specimen was in full swing when I took the photo above.  




Blooms of 'Pierre de Ronsard' in different stages of opening.




Each flower a piece of art!



My second 'Pierre de Ronsard' is a huge specimen (just as a reference point, the fence behind the rose is six feet high) that has just started to flower. I enjoy that this rose blooms a bit later than the other, so that they are peaking at different times.



Moving on to the front yard, where 'Sweetness', an incredible fragrant Hybrid Tea rose, has begun to flower. This rose bush is approximately five years in the ground and has become quite an impressive, healthy and full bush.



I can't help myself, but I have a weakness for lavender colored roses. 



Here is a shot of the whole banana-shaped bed with 'Sweetness' in the foreground and 'Our Lady of Guadalupe' in the background. The latter is also packed with buds and it will be a delight to see them all opening. 



'Moonstone' has formed a nice bush over time, too. Even though a very beautiful rose, I am not very happy with it, because it almost always has more or less severe problems with powdery mildew. 



Opening bud of  'Moonstone'.

 

'Auckland Metro' is also having some disease problems, but in her case it is rust not powdery mildew. I try to pick up the infected leaves from the bush and since the rose is fairly small that is doable. I hope, that with reliable warm weather the rust will disappear. 



The shading of the flowers of 'Auckland Metro' is very pleasing and subtle.


We are expecting a brief hot spell in the next three days, with predicted temperatures going up to 92 F/33 C, which will make the roses opening much faster. Today my main gardening chore was to hand-water the roses thoroughly, so that they are as prepared as possible for this. We will see how they fair through this weather!  

See you in the garden!

Christina



46 comments:

  1. You always have a great selection of roses Christina, and love the way they glow in the beautiful sunshine you have in your area!

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    1. Mark and Gaz, thanks you very much, I am happy that you like my rose selection. I certainly choose them with care and lots of thoughts, because my small garden can only hold so very few ;-)! The light here in Southern California is very special. I feel there is always something cheerful about it, but it isn't the best to take photos...

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  2. It's so beautiful to see your roses flushes. Every one is special to me. Overhere there are buds in the roses but not one opened up yet. While your temperatures are rising ours are going down. Hail is forcasted for tonight overhere. That's the weather we normaly have overhere at this time of the year.
    Enjoy the beautiful roses in your garden Cristina.
    Have a wonderful day.

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    1. Marijke, thanks for your nice comment! I do remember the "April weather" (sometimes it is truly like and April joke) from Germany, but hail certainly isn't that much fun! Hope it doesn't do any damage in your lovely garden!

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  3. Hallo Christina,
    das ist ja eine 'Wahnsinns-Rosenblüten-Pracht' ( wenn man das so sagen kann ) in Deinem Garten. Einfach umwerfend. Ich vermag mir nicht vorzustellen, wie die 'Marie Pavie' und die 'Our Lady of Guadalupe' aussehen, wenn sich die Knospen öffnen. Ach und die Temperaturen sind auch ein Traum.
    Liebe Grüße
    Elke

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    1. Elke, thanks for your enthusiastic comment! I intend to post photos of 'Marie Pavie' and 'Our Lady of Guadalupe' when they are in full bloom, so you can see for yourself :-). Unfortunately, 'Our Lady of Guadalupe' is struggling with powdery mildew quite a bit in the moment :-(. Even though the temperatures sound good, they are very tough on the garden. I can hardly get everything sufficiently watered on those days.

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  4. Marie Pavié, Reine des violettes...
    Mmmmhhh, this roses ares so beautiful!
    Your garden is a dream!

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    1. Sophie, thank you very much for your kind words about my humble garden. I know you are a very passionate gardener with an amazing garden yourself, so your compliment means a lot to me! 'Marie Pavie' and 'Reine des Violettes' are very special roses in my opinion. Both of them have their very own charm, that is so hard to describe in words or capture with the camera. They need to be appreciated in person. Definitively wouldn't like to be without them!

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  5. Oh wie wunderbar! Ich mag die dunkelroten so gerne, leider verbrennen sie viel zu leicht. Hier blüht auch ganz viel, ich bin richtig verliebt in den Garten.

    Sigrun

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    1. Sigrun, thanks, I also have a soft spot for the very dark bluish-red roses, but as you said, they are difficult because the lovely blooms crisp so easily, especially in our intense California sun. Still, have to have a few and keep trying to find places for them, where they have enough sun light to grow well and build flowers but not too much, so that the blooms don't burn. Haven't been very successful with this so far, especially in the summer :-(! But one can always hope...

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  6. Liebe Christina,

    ich wiederhole mich leider - aber es ist immer noch so - Deine Rosen sind einfach traumhaft schön und ich liebe diese gefüllten Sorten.
    Recht liebe Grüße,
    Ingrid

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    1. Ingrid, I don't mind you repeating yourself at all :-)! Thank you very much!

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  7. So many beautiful pink roses ! I wish I could feel the Old Rose perfume ... Enjoy your marvellous garden, Christina !

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    1. Dani, thanks, if you see my garden there is no doubt that I have a weakness for pink roses ;-). Oooh, I so would wish that you could smell, too. It is such a delight and it is surprising to me how distinctly different rose fragrances are.

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  8. So many beautiful roses! If only we had roses blooming here in March... I just can't imagine. I think that Yolande d'Aragon is perhaps one of the fullest blooms I've seen - my favorite. The tall leggy shape would look quite nice if you could just hide the legs with some small plants in front. And wow, Pierre de Ronsard is a (beautiful) monster! I love large, abundant rose bushes.

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    1. spurge, thanks, the blooms of 'Yolande d'Aragon' are certainly very full, which greatly adds to her charm. I always wanted to do a petal count on her :-)! In addition to that her fragrance is totally amazing! It would be a good idea to plant something in front of her to hide the base of her candelabra like canes, but for that I need to remove the concrete border first that frames the lawn. It is already on my garden to-do-list, but it is a big project so it has to wait some more! 'Pierre de Ronsard' is truly a house eater in my garden, but what a pretty one :-)! I wonder, what its final size will be...

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  9. As always, I love to all see the roses you have, Christina. A garden full of old rose perfume at the moment sounds wonderful! The flowers of 'Yolande d' Aragon' do look gorgeous and that is a shame about 'Moonstone' - such a beauty, too.

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    1. Wendy, I am glad that you enjoy seeing photos of my roses! I love the fragrance of the roses almost as much as the rose blooms themselves and try not to buy roses that don't have any fragrance, you just miss out on too much...
      As predicted the heat spell came and 'Moonstone' is loving it. Her blooms are so big and beautiful right now and the pink center is much more pronounced. This is definitively a rose for a warm climate. Hopefully the mildew will clear up somewhat, too.

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  10. Christina, Seeing all of those beautiful roses makes me wish that I had more available planting space. I'm thinking maybe I could find room for the miniature 'Old fashioned Girl'. It's supposed to be 92º here tomorrow, and like you I gave everything a good watering yesterday. I don't think the plants are prepared for such warm weather. I know I am not!

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    1. Dorothy, I am under the impression that you have quite a big garden, so I am astonished to read that you don't have planting space for new roses. In any case 'Old Fashioned Girl' should stay relatively small and is completely disease free in my garden. Maybe you can squeeze that one in somewhere :-)!
      I thought I watered everything before the heat spell, but I did forget to water my lavender 'Sweetness' Hybrid Tea rose in the front yard. I paid with many burned flowers, grrrr...., even though the rose was watered the day before :-(. No the plants where not prepared for that heat and obviously neither was I. I am not looking forward to having to hand-water that much so early in the season already!

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  11. It looks like you live in a tropical paradise.

    I love your Hybrid Perpetual bed. Well, all of your roses. They are gorgeous!!

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    1. sweetbay, thanks! Yeah, because of all the tropical plants, which build the backbone of my garden, it has quite a tropical feel. I like the combination of these plants together with the roses, even though it is a little bit unusual for what we are used to see of rose gardens.
      Hybrid Perpetuals would be my favorite roses, because they are so beautiful, unfortunately they are not so easily to grow organically in my climate. The fragrance of these roses is just so amazing and they smell all different! Just a joy to dive your nose into their blooms!

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  12. Oh my gosh ~ Your beautiful roses are always such a treat to see. They are all wonderful.

    FlowerLady

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    1. Lorraine, thanks for your nice comment! I couldn't agree more with you: roses are ALL wonderful!

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  13. See you in the garden is right! I wish I could come to your garden to take in this goodness! I love each of these blooms but the Auckland Metro reminds me of a rose my grandmother once grew so I find that one to be just so outstanding! I do hope the disease issues go away! I am excited to see what will be coming back in my garden and I can only hope for so much beauty! A fantastic job my friend! And a wonderful week to you! Nicole xoxo

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    1. Nicole, I would love to have you over and show you around in the garden! How nice that 'Auckland Metro' reminds you of a rose that grew in your grandmother's garden. I think it is wonderful if a rose takes us down the memory lane and reminds of us the people we love!
      Unfortunately, the disease problems of my roses have rather increased than decreased. A lot of them have powdery mildew and rose rust is pretty bad on some roses, too. In an organic garden you just have to accept that this can happen when certain weather conditions are right. Not what you want, but the overall picture of the garden is still pretty and there are still some completely healthy roses :-)!

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  14. Your flower bed looks so lovely, I can just imagine the scent sitting in front of it there! I have to laugh when you say you have a small garden – come and have a look at my garden! It is much smaller than you get the impression of from my photos – I wish I had room for such large roses as you have, I have to carefully select mine so they fit in. Loved your Pierre de Ronsard', that’s a pretty rose! And I’d love to have 'Auckland Metro' but it is not for sale over here. It is getting colder again here in London too, April is a funny month, far from summer, I envy you the 33 degrees!
    Take care, Helene.

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    1. Helene, thanks, taking in the rose fragrance of the Hybrid Perpetual bed is such a joy right now! I hope to have tea in front of it this weekend. I believe almost every gardener thinks he/she has a small garden ;-)! Today is the last hot day here 80 F/ 27 C and then for the weekend temperatures are supposed to drop substantially. I am looking forward to that since I had to spent already so much time watering. I hope I get to garden a bit on the weekend as well. Yeah!

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  15. Son preciosas tus rosas, todas me gustan . Yo todavía estoy plantando en mí jardín, ya las iré enseñando. Muchos besitos.

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    1. Teresa, thanks, I am glad you like my roses! Being out planting in the garden is always good. I will change in my garden clothes now and will do just that!

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  16. Hi Christina,
    I've been reading your blog for a couple of years now and just had to comment on your lovely roses. I too have many roses but still enjoy seeing others gardens and which roses they enjoy. I live in Poway and tend to fight powdery mildew on my many Iceberg roses. Was wondering how you handled roses with mildew. I believe you have an Iceberg. Does it give you this problem where you live?
    Lillian

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    1. Lillian, so nice of you coming out of the "darkness" and leaving a comment and thanks for reading my blog for such a long time! I also never get tired to see other people's (rose) gardens. We are actually not too far away from each other, I live on the San Diego boundary to Poway.
      Yes, unfortunately I also have powdery mildew on my 'Iceberg' and other roses for that matter. This spring it is particularly bad :-(. I garden organically and up to now don't spray any fungicides, so the way I handle mildew is to "just sit it out". Usually it comes and goes with the weather conditions in my garden and for the roses where it is a permanent problem I have to say I discard them. I had seven 'Iceberg' roses and now I am down to three, exactly because they got mildew very badly, but they also got to big for where I had planted them. Interestingly I have two 'Iceberg Climbing' that are most likely grafted on Dr. Huey rootstock, which are infected pretty badly with mildew right now and one shrub, which is growing on its own roots that is completely mildew free. I always wonder if Dr. Huey rootstock makes a rose more vulnerable to powdery mildew. Sorry, for not being able to come up with anything better in terms of the mildew. Hope you keep commenting, since we live so close together I would love to have a "rosy exchange" with you :-)! For starters I would be very interested to hear which rose varieties do well for you in your garden!

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  17. Toutes tes roses sont en ce moment d'une grande générosité. Je lis que tu as succombé au parfum de reine des Violettes, en effet ce rosier livre un agréable parfum et son coloris est vraiment fabuleux. Ton rosier Pierre de Ronsard est en pleine floraison, la quantité de fleurs livrée par ce grimpant est impressionnant. c'est un plaisir à voir.
    belle soirée jocelyne

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    1. Jocelyne, I feel that the spring flush of the roses this year is exceptionally generous, at least so far. It is such a joy to see one after the other coming into bloom. 'Reine des Violettes' is truly a very special rose in terms of the color and the fragrance. Mine just needs to become a little bit more mature. I wonder if you are growing this rose in your garden, too? Can't recall seeing any photos of it...

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  18. Wow I've never even seen lavender roses before! Gorgeous! ... I'm in awe of all your knowledge on roses!

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    1. onthesamepage, there are many lavender colored roses out there. Lavender is one of my favorite colors and I often thought about to start collecting them, if only my garden would be bigger... Unfortunately, roses of this color are often not very disease resistant, but most of them are very fragrant.

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  19. Guten Morgen Christina,
    wonderful to see, how roses, that grow in my cold german climate, explode in your garden! Marie Pavie or Pierre de Ronsard (in the gardens of friends) are maximal 50 % of yours! Size and number of blooms or buds!
    If you read my posts of Feb. 2012 you know a little bit of my and my rosegardens history. Moving my roses to the new place I left all the Austin roses back except of The Pilgrim, Leander and Charles Austin. All other Austins had beautiful blooms and good scents but poor shrubs only. Not all my new hybrid perpetuals produce abundant shrubs, but they have the aura of history - you can feel it! And that's fascinating. Charles Austin although modern gives this feeling too. Austin gave it the name of his father and kicked it out of his catalog a few years later - incredible! Number 4 is Olde Romeo: after moving my roses I had only a few with flowers in the first summer - I went to Frau Schade of GrönlooF (Stauden und Rosen) and said: this is my budget, I need nice and rare Perpetuals. I bought 25 roses not knowing 90% of them! Between them this modern one. I can't say yet if it will survive in my garden: 1st year nice blooms, 2nd year all blooms burned by the sun, 3rd year after moving to a shady place, not nice. This year it has to show it is worth growing - I have doughts!
    Most of my found roses are found by myself in my area. I would like to have some of the found roses from Australia (early teas and hybrid-teas), but I fear they will not like my climate and export of plants from Australia and USA is complicated and very expensive.
    Regards Rudolf

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  20. I love Yolande d'Aragon they kind of look like peonies and I love their fragrance! and yes, lavender roses!?! like something the Queen from Alice in Wonderland mandated :)))

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  21. Such gorgeous roses you have! I adore old fashioned roses, and their divine scent :)

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  22. You have such a beautiful rose garden, I can just imagine the fragrance, wonderful. Thankyou for visiting my blog and have a great weekend.

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  23. Hallo Christina
    Deine Rosen sind einfach ein Träumchen. Ich wollte unsere wären schon soweit, aber immerhin haben sie ja bereits Knospen angesetzt. Die Yolande habe ich auch, nur gefällt ihr glaube ich, bei mir der Standort nicht sonderlich. Erst zwei Trieben haben sich gebildet... mal sehen, was noch aus ihr wird.
    Hab noch einen gemütlichen Sonntag.
    En liebe Gruess aus der noch grauen Schweiz.
    Alex

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  24. Such an interesting walk around your rose collection. Like you, I love the perfume and structure of old roses. Also their names are so beautiful and their histories fascinating. Some of the roses that you grow, and that make my mouth water, such as Pierre de Ronsard, would very likely ball in damp, English conditions. Even so I'm going to look out for him!

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  25. Your roses are gorgeous! I like the non-traditional rose-bed look.

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  26. Beautiful roses! I also live in SoCal and wonder how close your roses are to your larger palms? I would like to plant some roses under mine and have heard its a bad idea since palm roots are fibrous and thirsty. What is your experience or your thoughts on this? Thank you for sharing your garden and trip photos! - Kim

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    1. Kim, in general I agree that it is not a good idea to plant roses close to big palms like Queen Palms or Washingtonia Palms, or even the much smaller Pygmy Date Palms. Yet, in my garden I decided to do it in certain areas because the garden is small and I just wanted to cram in as many roses in as I could :-). I simply had to try it out and see what happens. I have to say my experience with planting roses close to palms (many are planted only 4 feet away) is surprisingly good, given that the roses are properly watered and fertilized. It also helps to select a rose variety that is vigorous. 'Pierre de Ronsard', 'Georgetown Tea', 'Madame Alfred Carriere' grow in my garden close to big palm trees with no problems and even 'Sweetness', a Hybrid Tea rose is doing well besides a Queen Palm. Based on my personal experience, if I were you I would give it a try if you are able and willing to water and fertilize them well. Hope this helps!

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  27. I have to tell you how much I am just smitten with your garden! I love coming back to your page when I can. I also want to thank you for replying to my previous comment regarding my questions on organic rose food! You've really helped my garden flourish nicely with your advice! Thank you again and I look forward to coming to your page to see your most lovely and outstanding roses!


    Best,
    Jessie

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