Monday, February 16, 2015

January Roses

January is the month were I deleaf and prune my roses, so for that reason and, of course, because it is winter even here in Southern California, there are not so many roses blooming.



One exception last month was 'Pope John Paul II', though.



This beauty produced one last generous winter flush...



... which I tremendously enjoyed and...



... I had to wait with the pruning until it was over.



I know, I have praised this rose repeatedly on my blog,...



... but it is such an outstanding performer, that I think it is worth to point out its good qualities one more time. 



Besides that it is very floriferous, especially for a Hybrid Tea rose, it amazes me that each bloom seems to be perfect from the opening of the bud to the stage where it is slightly beyond its prime, as you can see in these photos. 



Even the whole bush is not looking too bad for the winter time.



The two last roses of 'Belinda's Dream',...



...which actually completely stopped blooming after these two flowers were spent.



'Madame Alfred Carriere', classified as a Tea Noisette, in the background to the left and 'Georgetown Tea', a Tea Rose, in the foreground in the middle of the photo, have been a big disappointment this winter. Both roses are exceptions in comparison to all the others shown here today, as roses belonging to these rose classes are supposed to bloom over the winter time in our mild climate, but they obviously didn't.

I fed them with rose fertilizer around the middle of January...



... and even put a whole tray of "homemade" nutrient rich worm castings from our very own worm bin to their feet, but nothing has changed so far. 

They may need a second dose of fertilizer or the drought is to blame for their lack of blooms. 



Another rose that also produced one last gorgeous bloom was 'Moonstone'.



At the same time 'Moonstone' is the rose, that out of all my roses, is plagued the most by rose rust this winter. The photo above shows the underside of a leave of this rose at the time I deleafed it. Deleafing is not my favorite garden task, but for obvious reasons, this one I actually couldn't wait to deleaf and prune!



'Irresistible' also gave me some nice flowers during January. 



Despite the blooms that I am showing in this post, most of my roses looked like 'Pierre de Ronsard, the one on the photo above, last month.



The last blooms of 'Sweetness'...,



... before the winter rest.



Not a great photo, but I am very excited about this bud. It was one of the very first new buds of the year 2015 and belongs to 'Captain Christy', an older relatively rare Hybrid Tea rose. The rose is not a very vigorous grower by any means and I almost lost it due to the heat last summer. I deleafed it (there was nothing to prune, yet!) and planted it from a two gallon black plastic pot into a big terracotta container to keep the roots cooler this year and it has responded by leaving out and producing four buds. I know that rose is still not out of the woods yet, but so far it looks good. 

I hope all my American readers have enjoyed a nice, long, restful President's Day weekend! I certainly did and was happy to fit in a bit of gardening as well.  

See you in the garden!

Christina



25 comments:

  1. Your always interesting rose posts cheer me up on our many gloomy days. When I see your wonderful "Pope John II" I almost envy your lovely climate. One rose looks the same as mine and that's "Pierre de Ronsard".
    Wish you happy (rose) gardening!
    Janneke

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  2. Glad to hear you had a restful weekend Christina and hopefully all your efforts will pay off and you get plenty more blooms later this year :)

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  3. I always enjoy seeing what roses are doing in your lovely gardens Christina. You have such a wonderful and beautiful variety. I am never disappointed.

    Have a great day ~ FlowerLady

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  4. So nice to see roses blooming (at least somewhere!) in winter. Actually I think your Pierre de Ronsard looks lovely even naked - such a fabulous architectural bush. You've obviously done a great job pruning it. Thanks for the relief from snow - I think I can smell your roses :-)

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  5. Hallo liebe Christina,

    von so einem Winter träume ich auch, wo im Jänner die Rosen blühen und ich im Februar schon die Rosen schneiden kann. ( Ich sage es nicht zu laut, weil ich weiß, viele Menschen lieben den Winter, mit allem was dazugehört). Mir würde es reichen wenn
    der Winter von Mitte Dezember bis 1. Jänner dauert und dann die Gartensaison wieder los geht.
    Ich finde Deine Rosen, die auch im kalifornischen Winter blühen ganz toll.

    Liebe Grüße
    Ingrid

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  6. Dear Christina, a lot of roses in flower! And it is winter! But I am surprised to see that Mme Alfred Carriere did not flower in your climate. Maybe next year. It is a very good flowering rose. I sometimes see roses in Mme Alfred Carriere in winter! Groetjes,

    Hetty

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  7. Still lots of blooms - even in February!! I haven't got one at the moment although many of my roses are showing leaf buds now.' Do you de-leaf to cut down on disease ?

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    1. Jane, I mainly de-leaf because the old, tired leaves from last year clinging to the rose bushes are just ugly to look at and make it impossible to properly prune for me, since I can't see the structure of the bush. Limiting diseases is a welcome side effect :-)!

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  8. Son todas preciosas, pero la blanca es la que más me gusta. Besos.

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  9. Beautiful roses, as always Christina! I especially like 'Irresistible.' I had a rose like 'Moonstone' at my old house - 'Pristine' produced beautiful, huge blooms (albeit on the thorniest stems I'd ever seen) but it was always ridden with rust regardless of what I did.

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  10. Pope John Paul is so beautiful - I love that it stays pure white throughout flowering. I enjoyed seeing your lovely roses - hope your week is lovely, too! xo Karen

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  11. Was about to ask why you deleaf but see you explained it to Jane, thanks for that. I'm sure your roses will enjoy their wee rest Christina and will reward your efforts later in the year.
    I've one rose flower at the moment, R. Graham Thomas - I don't prune until next month, although new buds are just breaking now, in a couple of weeks time, it's far easier to see them.
    Rosa PJPII, is a lovely crisp white, just like newly fallen snow.

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  12. The light in these photos is absolutely stunning! You must have photographed them in the morning or the late afternoon? The oblique light is lovely. And of course your photos are always great!

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    1. Thanks, I am glad you like the light in my photos!
      Yes, you are absolutely right the photos are all taken in the early morning or late afternoon, when the light can be quite nice for taking photos. Usually in the daytime when the sun is shining, even in the winter time, the light is way to harsh to produce a good photos here in Southern California.

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  13. "Not so many" is much more then nothing! Beautiful roses!

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  14. 'Pope John Paul II' is a lovely rose, I can understand why you are so fond of it Christina. And your 'Moonstone' is one of my favourite roses even though I know you have said it has a lot of disease – I wish I could include it in my garden. I have no roses at the moment, I cut them all down last week of January so now I am waiting for them all to flower. Probably won’t be until April. Have a great week-end!

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  15. Irresistible, what a perfect name:) In our garden the only roses at this time are the "iceroses" (so we say when the frost on the windows sometimes look just like roses).

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  16. The white rose is so beautiful. I just love it.

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  17. Liebe Christina,

    da ist ja wieder eine Rose schöner als die andere. Deine Bilder tun in unserer rosenlosen Zeit so gut, vor allem, da wir heute überraschenderweise heftigen Schneefall haben. Aber die Kraniche fliegen seit Tagen massenweise über uns, also kann es doch nicht mehr lange dauern.

    Liebe Grüße
    Lisa

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  18. It must be wonderful having rose blooms, even in January. Although, I know for you there is no pause in gardening, unlike those in more northern regions, whose gardens sleep under a blanket of snow through the winter. My garden chores also continue through the winter, off and on, just as our temps go up and down. I am waiting for this last cold spell to end; I have a lot to do before spring gets here, which for us should be very soon.

    Of the roses you showed, Moonstone was my favorite, except for the rose rust. And if I were a rose, I would bloom my heart out for those worm castings!

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  19. So lovely christina. I hope the roses in our gardens are going to bring us lots and lots of flowers.
    Warm wishes Marijke

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  20. Your white and cream roses were gorgeous!

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  21. Dear Christine, You asked about the willows from my blog: dutch-garden-stories.blogspot.nl Willows are traditionally pruned every 2-3 years. The branches were used for baskets and other braid. If the trees are not pruned the branches become too heavy and the trees can become sick. I guess this is because they grow in wet conditions; close to the canals. (The willow wood is very soft) I like your question, never thought much about that. It's normal here. Groetjes,

    Hetty

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    1. Hetty, thanks for answering my question! When the branches of the willows were needed for baskets and other weaves it made sense to prune them, so that smaller, flexible branches could be cut.
      Nowadays there is probably less of a demand for willow branches, so it is interesting that the pruning of the willows is still done in your country on a regular base. But as you said if the trees get still pruned to prevent disease then it makes sense to continue to do it. It must be a heck of a job, though!

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  22. Liebe Christine,
    so schön wie es den Winter über bei dir blüht!
    Und Madame Alfred Carriere wird sicher auch
    irgendwann im Winter blühen. Vielleicht braucht sie
    noch ein wenig Zeit?
    Ganz viele liebe Frühlingswochenendsgrüße
    sendet dir die Urte :-)

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