Wednesday, February 3, 2016

January Roses

May I present to you the first new rose bud of the year 2016? It belongs to rosa 'Bewitched' an older, tried-and-true Hybrid Tea rose, bred by Lammerts (United States 1967). The photo below was taken on January, the 31st in between rain showers. When I say new rose bud, I mean it comes from a rose that is planted into the ground and has been pruned this winter and is not part of a rose that is flowering through the winter season here, but that has not been pruned by January. Still I am cheating a little bit, since this rose was planted into the ground in October and has only been slightly shaped at that time.

I had hoped that the flower of 'Bewitched' would be fully open by the end of last month, but that obviously didn't happen. In any case it started the new rose season in my garden and is a promise of many lovely rosy things to come.



Just on a side note: Boy, did we have a storm on Sunday. I think it was the strongest storm that I have ever experienced, since I am living in California and with winds estimated to be 30 mph and gusts up to 50 mph, it was really not fun. From some roses the leaves seem to be ripped of, but other than that there was surprisingly little damage in my garden, for which I am extremely thankful. The storm also brought some rain with it, I guess in my garden an inch or so came down, which is such a blessing.



The photo above shows the bud of rosa 'Bewitched' again one day before the opening photo of this post was taken. 



But besides some exceptions like 'Bewitched', this January most of my roses looked like rosa 'Pierre de Ronsard' above. Deleaved and pruned they are just a shadow of themselves in comparison to spring.



Rosa 'Old Fashioned Girl' is a rose that would keep flowering through the winter, if I let it. It is growing in a very protected location and had a full nice flush in January. Too bad that I didn't take a full bush shot at that time.



'Old Fashioned Girl' again, showing proliferation. Even though considered a fault in a rose bloom I think there is some beauty to a bloom like this, too.



Most of the roses that weren't pruned in January, yet, had pretty unsightly foliage and just looked tired, like the two 'Our Lady of Guadalupe' roses on the photo above. They continued to flower, but were really not a joy for the eye, so it was definitively time for them to get a hair cut.



Rosa 'Iceberg'. Love the red tint on the petals that occurs when temperatures are relatively low. 



Here is an image of the full bush of 'Iceberg', growing happily since years in a big container. 



My other rosa 'Pierre de Ronsard'.



Rosa 'Moonstone' had many lovely, huge, globular flowers in January,...



...but my joy about the flowers is really spoiled by the rust that plagues this rose. Can you see the rust on the back of the leave situated directly above the rose bloom? I am seriously thinking about replacing this rose with a healthier white one, maybe another 'Pope John Paul II' or I can also imagine to try out 'Sugar Moon'.



That is how my Hybrid Perpetual rose bed appeared in January, after the roses were deleaved, but not pruned yet. I have taken them down more by at least a foot or so, after the photo was taken.



Rosa 'Souvenir de la Malmaison' was the second rose carrying a new bud already in January. I love how the water drop is trapped in the tips of the sepals of the rose bud and almost acts like a magnifying glass.



Here is the rose bush to which the bud from the previous photo belongs too. Rosa 'Souvenir de la Malmaison' is one of my new acquisitions that I got delivered in the beginning of January from Chamblee's Rose Nursery. Of course, it is a fairly small plant still, but it is making plenty of new leaves already. I am very excited about this rose, since I ordered a band of this variety many years ago, but it died within weeks. Many consider 'Souvenir de la Malmaison' to be an exquisite rose and I hope to enjoy her first open flower soon. Of course, I will try to fetch a photo for you to see, too!

Today I picked up the organic fertilizer that I ordered over the San Diego Rose Society and I am looking forward to feeding the good stuff to my roses as soon as possible. Honestly I can't wait for the spring flush. In about eight weeks from now on it should start.

Wishing everyone a good rest of the week!

See you in the garden!

Christina


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22 comments:

  1. I love that old fashioned girl!! So beautiful friend as are all of your blooms!!! I was happy to hear that you all have gotten some much needed rain!! Minus the wind!! Happy gardening friend!!! Nicole xo

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  2. You received much more rain than we did, Christina. 'Old-fashioned Girl' is beautiful!

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    1. Kris, I often have the impression that when I compare how much rain you got in Los Angeles with how much we did here in San Diego, that on average we are getting slightly more. I really would like to monitor the rainfalls a little bit more accurately and should finally get myself a rain gauge!

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  3. Me encantan tus rosas. Un beso.

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  4. More beautiful roses. So glad you have finally gotten some rain. I'm not crazy about strong winds either and am always glad when they are gone.

    It is always a treat to see your roses. I love 'Old-fashioned Girl'.

    Happy rose growing ~ FlowerLady

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  5. Da kannst du wirklich sehr froh sein, dass nach dem Sturm kein großer Schaden entstanden war.
    Deine Pamen gefallen mir. Seit Neuestem hab ich ja ein Auge auf sowas. Schön sind deine hellen Rosen.

    Sigrun

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  6. Just reading your post makes me shiver with the memory of pruning - so many stabbings from thorns - but it was all worth it!

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    1. Jayne, a warm welcome to my blog and thanks for leaving a comment! Yes, I got poked pretty badly a few times by my roses, but as you said it was all worth it since roses perform much better in the spring flush when they are pruned. I like it when the bushes are a little bit more shapely after the winter pruning, too. I really hope for a glorious spring flush, but before that will happen, I need to fertilize all my rose babies...

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  7. Maravillosas fotos, que bonito es ver abrir un capullo de rosa. Un abrazo desde Plantukis, tu blog amigo.

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    1. Raul, welcome to my blog, so glad that you found me! Thanks for your compliment regarding my photos. Yes, I find it quite fascinating to observe how a rose flower slowly opens.

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  8. Oh my, 'Iceberg' is simply stunning with the dew on it! I didn't realize that you don't get wind storms in San Diego. We frequently have storms here with winds exceeding 40 mph (and of course summer storms and tornadoes exceed that by quite a bit). Anyway, I'm glad you and your roses are OK. So much beauty developing in your lovely garden. :)

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    1. Beth, we do get what I would consider storms but usually they are not that severe. Obviously very different from your neck of the woods. Storms exceeding 40 mph are not fun in my book and I can do without them...
      I overlooked it initially, but the storm seems to have ripped quite a few leaves of rosa 'Madame Alfred Carriere' and rosa 'Georgetown Tea', so they don't look pretty right now, but I guess that will change soon, as the roses will replace those leaves. I am very glad that most the other roses didn't have their new leaves out, yet, when the storm was rolling over us. We have a heatwave now and the roses are producing their new leaves in a pace, you can almost see them growing!

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  9. That Rosa Iceberg photo with the waterdrops...I think I'm in love! What an image. Thanks for posting.

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  10. Liebe Christina,
    toll deine Rosen und deine Malmaison wird bestimmt
    wunderschön blühen. Ich liebe diese Rose auch sehr :-)
    Ganz viele liebe Sonnabendsgrüße
    sendet dir Urte :-)

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  11. Dear Christina, lucky you to see the roses flowering in Januari! I see some too, but these are not pruned yet. I hope the storm did not damaged the rose buds. That would be a shame. Anyhow the pictures look beautiful. groetjes,
    Hetty

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  12. Hi Christina! I wish the best for 'Souvenir de la Malmaison', especially since this is a rose I have my own eyes on, wondering if I could give find a spot in full sun for it here. Iceberg is another one I am considering. Yours is gorgeous!

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  13. Such a pretty rose bud Christina, very promising! I must get on and prune my roses, they are looking very ragged.

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  14. Dear Christina:
    I am trying to decide which one I like best and it is hard. The very idea of roses in winter is difficult to imagine. Thank you for sharing these beauties.

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  15. Spending my teenage years in San Diego my mom always had a wonderful rose garden. I often wish I could return to it. It is obviously a marvelous place to grow roses. Thanks for sharing yours and giving me a chance to relive a good memory.

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  16. Beautiful flowers !! Nature is so gorgeous !!
    Greetings

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  17. Iceberg is so beautiful in CA. I'm pretty sure it would be a blackspotty mess here. I always love your pictures of Moonstone.

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