February Roses

February was the month where I had the least rose blooms ever since I am gardening in San Diego and honestly, I am glad that I got a few flowers at all. The reason for this is that I pruned all my roses planted in the ground in January and they are not able to produce new blooms by February. I also pruned a lot of the roses that are growing in containers in the same month, so they couldn't make new blooms either. That leaves it up to the roses in containers that are not pruned, yet. Due to time constraints I wasn't able to fertilize those and especially because they are growing in pots the reality seem to be, that if they don't get fed they don't have the energy to make new blooms.

What I am learning from this is, that if I want to have roses flowering throughout the year, I have to change my pruning strategy aka the pruning timing. This year my intention is that I will try to start pruning in the beginning of December and finish by the end of January and be more diligent with the fertilizing. It will be interesting to observe if I can coax more roses into blooming next February.

So there are good explanations why I had so few blooms last month, but one thing is really disappointing to me. I have a three year old Tea Rose, 'Georgetown Tea' planted in the ground and Tea Roses are supposed to flower year round here in my climate and that was the main reason why I planted this particular rose in the first place. But 'Georgetown Tea' doesn't have one bloom on it right now, not one. In contrast to all the others, this rose I watered and fertilized throughout the winter season, but that didn't convince it to bloom. Maybe I didn't water and fertilize it enough. It is also planted in between a group of four Queen Anne Palms and it might be too shady for the rose in the winter time to be able to flower. Anyway, for now I have decided that just for experimental reasons I will increase the watering and the regularity in fertilizing of 'Georgetown Tea' and see what happens.

Following are the very few brave roses that dared to bloom in February in our garden:



'Charles Rennie Mackintosh' surprised positively by giving me three flowers.

This rose is still growing only in a two gallon container together with plenty of oxalis (if you are not familiar with it, it is a really obnoxious weed here in my area). 

It wasn't fertilized or cared for in any special way and still managed to be one of my most beautiful roses in February. It certainly deserves more loving attention this year.

'Alexander Hill Gray', a very light yellow Tea Rose, was gifting me with one flower and very sickly foliage. 

The same bud of 'Alexander Hill Gray' a few days later. In this photo the rose looks somehow surreal to me. The color of the canes is really that red, contrasting very strongly with the pale yellow blooms.

Same rose flower again a few days later. The bloom was opening painfully slow, but at least it was opening and not balling and lasted a long time on the little shrub. I always think that 'Alexander Hill Gray' is a particular elegant rose.

This was the very last spray of  'Marie Pavie's' winter flush. Right now she is making good use of the fertilizer and compost that I threw at her feet and producing tons of new leaves and I assume, new flowers are soon to follow.

'Nimbus' was suffering badly from powdery mildew and even black spot last month as you can see when you look at his leaves, but that didn't prevent him from developing one of its gorgeous colored flowers. The shadings of pale pink, mauve, and tan are so subtle, they are very hard to capture with the camera properly, but at least this image gives you an impression.

Here is the same bloom, photographed from above. I like the tussled informal look that the rose flower is taking on in the winter time. I guess, it is mostly due to the low light conditions, which make it hard for the rose to open in a more organized way.

Certainly not a great photo, but I had to show it to you anyway, because I am very excited about this one. The rose that it pictured is 'Old Fashioned Girl', a miniature rose, which is the first rose that is planted into the ground that is producing a spring flower spray this year. So this is my very first "real rose bloom" in 2013! All the other rose flowers that I showed you in this post are coming from roses growing in containers with the exception of 'Marie Pavie', which was still on her winter flush.

'Old Fashioned Girl' is positioned in front of a South-West facing off white wall, which reflects a lot of heat and light and I think that does the trick so that the rose is able to flower this early. Also since it is a miniature rose I didn't prune or deleave it, so there was nothing to set back the onset of the buds this year. Interestingly though, there is a 'Pink Pet' rose growing very close to this rose, also not pruned or deleaved, which is usually a very easy going rose, but it hasn't even set buds, yet. There is always some mystery to growing roses, which you can't explain!

I am very curious to find out what will happen this March in my rose garden. Will I have more roses blooming already or will the spring flush only start in April? I hope you stay tuned and find out together with me.

See you in the garden!

Christina

February Roses

As expected February was the month with the least roses flowering in my garden. There are two reasons for this: One is that all roses planted in the ground are recently pruned, so they have not been able to produce new flowers yet and secondly time-wise I was not able to continue to fertilize the roses growing in containers, which made them stop producing blooms. Still there were some rose flowers in my yard, which I would like to share with you.

I think the most beautiful rose this month has been 'Alexander Hill Gray'. The flowers are so elegant in terms of their form. That they come in the palest yellow color imaginable only underlines their understated beautiful appearance. 

On the photo above you can see the same bloom earlier, when it was more in the bud stage. Still already a beauty in my eyes. Unfortunately the rose continues to mildew and is even suffering from black spot.

'Pope John Paul II' after a rain shower. At times the rain drops look like diamonds on the fresh dark red leaves of this rose. This was the only spray that the rose was having, because it grew at the end of a new basal cane, which begun to form in the autumn. I cut the spray for the house because it looked simply too awkward to have just one on the whole bush. 

'Old Fashioned Girl' is blooming happily away in its small terracotta container. The rose is growing on our terrace and gets a lot of warmth from the radiating heat from the concrete. I assume that coaxes her into bloom. I don't like the red specks on the flower petals so much, but as the weather is warming up...

... the flowers look like this. Pure perfection! There is just one flaw: The rose is said to be fragrant, but I can't detect the slightest hint of perfume. There is still a small chance that it might show up when it gets warmer and/or when the rose is getting more mature.

The last rose that I can present to you is 'Marie Pavie'. This one had produced a complete flush of blooms in the winter so I decided to not prune it but rather enjoy the blooms. I pulled all the old leaves, though, so in the moment the bush looks rather wired, but it is producing leave buds, where the old leaves have been sitting so I hope it will be pretty again soon.

That were the roses that bloomed in February in my garden. I know it is not much, but I am happy about each flower that I am getting at this time of the year and I hope you enjoyed looking at their photos, too. I hope next month I have more rose photos to publish.

See you in the garden!

Christina

January Roses

I am afraid, I am a little late to come in with a new post, but was just not able to blog earlier. January this year I had definitive less roses blooming than in the previous one, mostly due to the fact that I didn't fertilize the roses that are still living in containers in the winter, I believe. Without proper nutrients they are simply not able to perform and who could blame them. Most of my roses in the ground are finally pruned, so basically I look at bare sticks right now even though some are leaving out already again, but of course, they are not blooming yet. Anyway, I managed to get some photos. Here are some of the roses that flowered in January in my garden.

This little Miniature, 'Sweet Chariot' has quite surprised me. It produced a flush of blooms in January that is could easily go through for a spring flush. I am sure the light wall, which is reflecting warmth and light has caused this to happen but still...

 

In the photo above you can see the small flowers of 'Sweet Chariot' a little bit closer. Aren't they adorable? And the fragrance is really great.

'Moonlight Scentsation' has graced me with another of its ghostly white blooms. I am totally in love with the unusual white color. The rose comes with a truly great fragrance, too. I can't wait to see it mature a little more. Right now it is still very small and living in a terracotta container close by my kitchen door.

I have read that Tea roses are able to flower through the winter in Southern California so I had high hopes that 'Georgetown Tea' would do that for me, but it didn't happen. The rose is planted in the middle of a group of tall Queen Anne Palms, which shade her quite a bit, so I assume that might be one possible explanation why it hasn't bloomed as much as I would wish. We had some unusual warm days at the end of December and I think that coaxed it into at least trying to produce some flowers. This is one of them. I get never tired of the delicate look of Tea roses. The flower failed to open, but I love it in the stage when I shot the photo above as much as I would have enjoyed a fully open bloom.

'Pope John Paul II' is incredible bloomiferous in my garden. The rose was pruned already when I took the photo, but it managed to produce two new basal canes, which bloomed, so I had flowers on it, even though the rose was bare sticks otherwise. Admittedly the bush looked a bit awkward, so I cut the flowers and brought them indoors to enjoy and they still sit on the table right to the left of my lap top. The fragrance is phenomenal. 

I am excited to show you a photo of  'Alexander Hill Gray', one of the eight new roses that I ordered from Vintage Gardens nursery lately. I wanted this Tea rose badly and for a long time and this is the first bloom that I saw developing fully. It starts out as a very pale yellow and ages to a little bit more saturated color. The beauty of the flower is beyond my expectations, but only time will tell if the rose will do well for me. I have read that it can have a tendency to mildew in some climates and unfortunately I have seen quite a bit of mildew on my young rose so far.

This is 'Old Fashioned Girl' a Miniature rose that has become very dear to me. I love the romantic, like the name says, old fashioned appearance of it. After a little difficult start as a band it now seems to be happy in its new home, a small terracotta container, and is taking off. The rose has been very healthy so far in my garden.

The faithful 'Sweetness' was also churning out a few blooms even in the middle of winter and I was pretty grateful for that. However, the quality of the blooms was not so good anymore, but who cares if you can have roses blooming at this time of the year! 

'Iceberg' was also still spreading its cheerful charm by the walkway to our house. Seeing this photo I wonder how could I possible part with two of these roses, but I did. I guess this is a story for another post...

See you in the garden!

Christina