Sunday, April 26, 2015

March Roses

Overall March was a difficult month for the roses. We had already heatwaves that early in the year, which led to many roses not developing their gorgeous big spring flower shapes that I am used to see in previous years. Also many rose varieties couldn't deal with these high temperatures and their petals started to crisp.

Besides that, thrips have been a huge problem. I don't recall having so much thrip damage on the roses like this spring ever. These sucking insects are causing the rose petals to show ugly brown spots, especially on the edges. Since I am not only gardening organically, but also don't spray my roses to prevent insect damage, I just have to live with things like this and usually I am fine with that, but this year thrips really have been a nuisance.

That being said, I still had many nice roses in March and some rose varieties weren't showing hardly any problems at all. Of course, for an organic rose gardener like me it is utterly important to find the rose varieties that do well in my climate and are even able to deal with especially difficult climate situations like we had this March.



If I would have to give a price away for the best rose last month, it would go to 'Pope John Paul II'. What you see on the photo above is just one spray on a new basal cane. This rose is just gorgeous!



The same spray a little bit more open. Love it! The fragrance is heavenly, too. 



This was the very first bloom on 'Grandmother's Hat'. A very healthy Hybrid Perpetual rose with lovely matte green foliage. 



You can see 'Grandmother's Hat' to the very right with her first bloom really standing out. The other two Hybrid Perpetual roses in this bed, in the middle 'Reine des Violettes' and to the left 'Yolande d'Aragon, are very much behind 'Grandmother's Hat' in terms of their flowering time. 



The blooms of 'Grandmother's Hat' vary greatly in color. In cool weather they are a much darker pink than in warm weather, were the color of the flower fades quickly to a much lighter and paler pink. I like this rose in all color stages, though.



Here you can see that 'Grandmother's Hat' really got going and just a few days after I photographed her first bloom there were many more flowers open on the bush.



Depending in what stage you catch the flowers of 'Grandmother's Hat', they may show their warm yellow stamens, which I find quite charming.  



Here is a shot of one of the first blooms of 'Pierre de Ronsard' taken early in the morning. This rose has such a romantic quality. I am always fascinated by it.



'Old Fashioned Girl' is a very reliable, floriferous miniature rose in my garden. On this picture she just started to bloom.



This is a relatively "new to my garden" Hybrid Tea rose that I am really excited about. I love lavender colored roses, but good ones are hard to come by. I bought 'Neptune' based on positive reviews that I read on an internet rose forum and have to say I am not disappointed. I like that the rose is lavender colored, but with a cerise blending. The reverse is cerise and the petals edging can be cerise as well. This coloration makes a very interesting looking bloom. The flowers have been big, very fragrant and of good form so far.



Here is the same bloom of 'Neptune', but fully open. The flower has much faded into a more clear lavender in comparison to the previous photo. When this rose was blooming, it was very hot and if you look closely, you can see that the edges of the rose petals are slightly crisped. The rose bush is still relatively small and hasn't taken the transplant from a two gallon pot to a big terracotta container very well. I am really curious what it will be doing in the future and can't wait for the next flush of blooms.



For a comparison: This is 'Sweetness', my other lavender Hybrid Tea rose. It is always a clear lavender color and is also very pretty in my opinion.



'Our Lady of Guadalupe' is blooming her head of, heat or not. But this rose can have a very elegant flower form, which wasn't the case in this year's spring flush due to the heat.



I started this post with a white rose and will end it with another (almost) white one. This is a cluster of 'Marie Pavie' hanging into my walkway to the front door. I always love her dainty blooms.

Hope all of you have a good week ahead of you!

See you in the garden!

Christina



18 comments:

  1. It sounds like it was an extra challenging month Christina but glad to see there are still many roses doing well :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Son todas maravillosas, un día de estos te mostraré las mías. Besos Christina.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wunderschöne Rosen. Sag, weißt du, ob diese Rosen vielleicht hier einen anderen Namen haben? Bei den Stauden ist mir das jetzt öfter aufgefallen.

    Sigrun

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Sigrun! Yes, I also noticed that roses have different names depending if they are sold in the US or in Germany. 'Iceberg' for example is called 'Schneewitchen' in Germany and 'Pierre de Ronsard' is named 'Eden'. Very confusing!

      Delete
  4. Beauties one and all. I'd have to say my two favorites this time are 'Pierre de Ronsard' and 'Our Lady of Guadalupe'. May you get some wet weather soon.

    Have a lovely week enjoying your beautiful roses ~ FlowerLady

    ReplyDelete
  5. Bom dia ! O seu jardim é muito bonito, fiquei encantada com as suas roseiras.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Dear Christina, oh your roses! they look fantastic, I have to wait for a month to see them flower. The lavender colour is beautiful. I haven never grown roses in that colour, but maybe.. Groetjes,

    Hetty

    ReplyDelete
  7. Lousy weather or not, your roses look beautiful. Yolande has the best fragrance of them all, do you think? I had the luck to sniff a Yolande yesterday at a rose show--heaven! Odd, not much Thrips damage here--perhaps the drought will put a dent in their population.

    ReplyDelete
  8. It's been very challenging for you Christina and been interesting reading on how your roses cope with such difficulty. I can see why you have fallen for Neptune, it's a cracker isn't it?

    ReplyDelete
  9. That early morning shot of the rose is dreamy! So sorry you have to have the water restrictions: I'm praying (along with everyone else) that the California drought will end soon. I would say that your roses are holding up very well! I often have thrip damage on my roses, too. I think this year I might try using Neem oil. I have some for my lemon tree, and it seems to help keep the pests away. I've heard that it works for thrips, and it's an organic pest control that isn't harmful to animals or pollinators.

    ReplyDelete
  10. My favorite is still the 'Our Lady of Guadalupe'. My roses (I don't have many) and the garden in general is taking a beating this month with all the high winds drying the soil and desiccating the blooms - I hope you've avoided that problem.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Your roses always make me feel so happy my friend!!! Each and every bloom is just so stunning! I am sorry to hear about the insects....I have no idea if this would help or not but I watched a documentary on the queens garden and her gardens are all organic.....her gardeners spray all of their flowers with watered down garlic powder to deter unwanted insects. I was going to try this on some of my beds this season. I hope that you all get some rain and keep these beautiful photos coming!! Nicole xo

    ReplyDelete
  12. very beautiful roses! I've been missing my roses bloom on my own garden. It have been four months no roses bloom on my garden. The mite, and white fly have make serious problem on my roses.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Ugh, I'm sorry to hear about the heat and the thrips. Our Lady is beautiful anyway. Grandmother's Hat is gorgeous. Lovely shot of Pierre de Ronsard. I hope that Thalia does well in your climate! I think it's my favorite among the daffodils. So elegant.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Quand je vois la qualité de tes photos et la prestation de tes rosiers, j'ai du mal à imaginer que tous tes beaux arbustes souffrent de la chaleur et que ces vilaines bêtes suceuses de sèves viennent contrarier l'évolution des roses. Je les trouve toutes merveilleuses. Tu as chois des valeurs sûres qui m’émerveillent à chaque visite.
    Belle soirée

    ReplyDelete
  15. Your roses are gorgeous, even now with the drought, Christina ! Best wishes, my friend !

    ReplyDelete
  16. Liebe Christina,
    ach diese herrlichen Rosen. Hier verregnen sie eben oft,
    weil es zu viel regnet und bei dir setzt ihnen die die Dürre zu.
    Sie sind schon anspruchsvoll :-)
    Aber deine Sorten sind herrlich und da du klimatisch
    gut passende in deinem Garten hast - blüht es auch herrlich!
    So schön deine Bilder!
    Ganz viele liebe Maigrüße
    sendet dir Urte :-)

    ReplyDelete