November Roses

First, I would like to thank all of you who left good wishes for the health of my mom in the comments to the last post. I am happy to say that my mom is recovering relatively well from her current health issue, even though that type of problem will take time to heal.

I am sure that most of you can imagine that taking care of someone who is ill can get stressful at times and blogging is a welcome distraction and fun activity for me that contributes to keep my own spirit up. I am glad that I can do it from Germany as well.

So here comes the long overdue post about the roses that have bloomed in my garden in November. Following the "new" weather pattern in California, November was a relatively warm month, which prompted a lot of roses to develop nice flowers, even though it was already relatively late in autumn.

The most beautiful rose bloom produced 'Auckland Metro' in my eyes. I am simply in love with the ivory shade of this Hybrid Tea rose. It is such an elegant hue.

Bud of 'Auckland Metro' in the morning sun.

Unfolding bloom of 'Auckland Metro'.

'Mister Lincoln' is the only pure red rose that I am growing in my garden. The tone of red of this rose changes quite a bit with the temperatures. When the days become cooler 'Mister Lincoln' takes on a more cool, dark, wine red color, whereas when it is hot, it is more a warm medium red.

Even though 'Mister Lincoln' was already bred in 1964 by Swim & Weeks I think it is still one of the best red roses for a warm climate. The bush is vigorous and the rose comes with an extraordinary strong classic rose fragrance.

'Pretty Jessica' back lit by the sun.




As usual at this time of the year 'Pope John Paul II' is one of my most floriferous roses.

I never get tired off the lovely white blooms of this variety.

'Pope John Paul II'

'Pope John Paul II'

'Pope John Paul II' has a decent petal count and finishes up in a nice way, which can not be said of all Hybrid Tea roses. 

'Belinda's Dream' at her best.

I am still getting excited at the sight of a flower of 'Lavender Crystal'. This rose has simply a killer lavender color and I am happy that, even though planted in a difficult spot, it is producing blooms on a regular base by now.

The petticoat blooms of 'Mary Rose'. Just delightful!

Above you see 'Moonlight Scentsation', a Mini-Flora, whose flowers make themselves a bit rare in my garden.

I like the yellow center of the flowers and 'Moonlight Scentsation' can produce quite unusual lavender undertones, but...

...it suffers from powdery mildew, if the conditions are right. Unfortunately that is quite often the case in my garden. So I don't know if I will keep this rose long term, but I will give it at least another year.

Unfolding bud of 'Georgetown Tea'. I love how the softer autumn light plays with this emerging rose bloom. 

Last but not least one of my favorite roses 'Scepter'd Isle'. Sometimes the blooms look like powder puffs and I appreciate...

...how this rose shows its yellow stamens as the flowers are opening more. 

All in all a healthy, floriferous, romantic rose. What is not to love?

One more thing: Recently my blog reached 300.000 pageviews. A big thank you to everyone who stops by and takes a look at my posts. It feels so good to know that the blog is being read, your visits truly make me happy!

See you in the garden!

Christina

I am linking to

Rose Garden Malevik
Bernideen's Tea Time, Cottage and Garden

Roses, forcing Paperwhites and a new Project

Unfortunately my mom, who is living in Germany, has developed a serious health problem and I decided to fly to Germany on short notice to support her in these difficult times on the Thanksgiving weekend.

There is a lot to do and to organize to help my mom, who has been released from the hospital on Monday, and therefore so far I have found very little time to blog, but at least tonight I want to put up a Periscope video about my own garden that I recorded on the 19th of November.

As usual I had to show some roses ('Pope John Paul II', 'Moondance', 'Snowbird', Pretty Jessica') that were blooming at that time, I am talking a little bit about rose care and growing own root roses from bands into strong plants that can be transplanted into the garden. I also give you an update about my Paperwhites that I am forcing in Hyacinth glasses and tell you about a new garden project in the front yard that I am working on.

I hope you enjoyed watching the video. Forcing bulbs, like Paperwhites, Hyacinths and Amaryllis indoors has a long standing tradition. After I completely blew it last year, this year at least I could muster to try to get some Paperwhite bulbs to flower. I am curious: Are you forcing any bulbs indoors to overcome the winter blues or even for Christmas? Please, if you have a moment of time, let me know in your comments. Thanks!

See you in the garden!

Christina

I am linking to Rose Garden Malevik

Summer Roses

Work is still getting the better part of me, but I wanted to pop in with a quick post about roses that have bloomed this summer for me. Despite the scorching dry heat that we are having here in San Diego inland at this time of the year, some roses produced very lovely blooms in my garden.

'The Prince' outdid himself, again. This little casual arrangement brought so much joy to my heart.

'Auckland Metro' also delivered some outstandingly beautiful blooms...

...despite the adverse conditions of summer.

I am still fascinated by the lovely blooms of 'Lavender Crystal'.

This rose is planted in a very difficult spot, but is still able to gift me with its pretty blooms.

'Moonstone was doing great so far this summer.

This rose really loves the heat.... 

...and even needs it to bloom well.

'Yolande d'Aragon' surprised me with a decent second flush this year.

The fragrance of this rose is out of this world.

Another rose that flourishes in the heat is 'Pope John Paul II'. 

The only red rose in my garden: 'Mister Lincoln'.

This is 'Climbing Devoniensis', a Tea Rose. It is a shame that it is still growing in a two gallon container and hasn't made its way into the ground, yet.

'Chandos Beauty' another rose that seem to like the heat of summer.

'Reine des Violettes' is one of my favorite roses in the garden.

This year the second flush was great for the first time that the rose is in the ground.

It seemed to be mature enough now that its ability to rebloom has increased.

To my eye the blooms of this rose are absolutely lovely, the straggly bush itself is another story, though. But nobody is perfect, right?

This is 'Captain Christy'. I am pampering this beauty in a container, but it is still not decided if this rose will be able to live in my garden.

It has very little vigor and even though it is producing blooms from time to time the little bush itself hasn't grown in size.

Hope you have enjoyed this post and my roses brought a smile to your face as they did to mine.

See you in the garden!

Christina

End of Month View - The White Garden Bed

If you compare photos of the White Garden Bed from the end of April with the ones from the end of March there seems to be less white color in the bed, which is due to the fact that two of the roses planted there ('Auckland Metro' to the very right and 'Chandos Beauty', second rose from the left) are done with their spring flush.

I decided to completely deleaf and prune back 'Moonstone', the rose between the two cycads, because it was so plagued by rose rust and powdery mildew that I thought this would be the last chance for it to recover. Only 'Pope John Paul II', the rose to the very left is gearing up for a new flush right now.

April 2015

 March 2015

Here is a close-up of 'Moonstone' after my radical treatment. I don't have much hope for this rose though, because it has been notoriously sick with rust and mildew for at least two years now and that seems to have weakened the rose quite a bit. I think I would be better off to replace it with another more disease resistant white rose. 

April 2015

 March 2015

The biggest and most impressive change in the bed from March to April is the made by the cycad to the left though, that is producing a new layer of fronds. Watching this new layer grow is really fun, because it is such a quick and impressive process, a real spectacle of nature.  

Here I zoomed in on the cycad. I wonder if the new layer of fronds will be able to reach its normal size, because of the ongoing drought and also the heat waves that we are having already. Today for example the highest temperatures have been 88 degrees Fahrenheit (31 degrees Celsius) and it is only spring! Summer with its real intense heat is yet to come. 

The only new plants that I have been able to add to the White Garden Bed in the last month are a six pack of dianthus 'Floral Lace White'. These poor things have been sitting in my pot ghetto for one year. Isn't it unbelievable? They must be very tough little plants to survive this and I hope they really will take off now that they are planted in the ground.

After planting I watered the dianthus with fish emulsion and I think they have perked up and the green of the foliage looks a bit darker already. 

One plant that positively has surprised me is the heuchera 'Venus', which I planted last month. It seems to be unphased by the heat so far. Only the snails have damaged it a little bit and it is time to put down some Sluggo, an organic snail bait, to protect the heuchera. I am still in love with its silvery leaves with the dark green veining. 

April 2015

March 2015

Another plant that has been a delight is the alstroemeria Princess Lilies 'Claire' (right in front of the left cycad), which is flowering continuously since over a month now. 

The Hybrid Tea Rose 'Pope John Paul II' is adding some dots of white color to the very left of the White Garden Bed. On the photos 'Pope John Paul II' looks good, but if you see the rose in reality you will recognize that it is badly ridden by thrips, causing the edges of the flower petals to become brown.

In all the years I am having this rose I only had that happen one spring flush so far. For that reason I hope, that the rose is able to shake of the thrips, when it flowers next time. The blooms of this rose are also substantially smaller than usual, which I believe is due to the drought and heat. But small blooms are better than no blooms, right?

Even though I am a day too late, I am linking my post to Helen's End of Month View meme at her blog The Patient Gardner's Weblog. Hope you join me in hoping over to her blog and have a peak at what other gardener's gardens look like by the end of April.

Wishing everyone a lovely weekend with nice weather and plenty of time to enjoy spring in the yard or somewhere else outdoors.

See you in the garden!

Christina