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

End of Month View - The White Garden Bed

On the first glance at the photos there has been embarrassingly little change happened in the White Garden Bed between this End of the Month View post and the one from January.

February 2015

January 2015

This is mainly due to three reasons. Firstly, when I shot the photos for this post, it was a mostly cloudy, overcast day and I took them later in the day time than the ones for the January post, with the unfortunate result that everything looks kind of "brown" in the February photos and the plants are "disappearing" into the mulch.

Secondly, and that is the bit frustrating part, I, with the support of my husband and the gardener, have worked hard on this bed, but that work doesn't show on the photos. All plants are fertilized, a decent layer of new mulch has been put down and a big new hole has been dug to the very right of the bed (not visible on the photo above, it is obstructed by the pool spa). Of course, I would have loved to have filled the bed with perennials and annual spring flowers already, and believe me, knowing that the next End of Month View post was due soon, the temptation was great. But I know, that in my garden I always have to be patient and reasonable and work on improving the soil first, otherwise nothing is going to grow well here in the long run.

Thirdly altogether there was very little time to work on this bed, because I was still pruning and fertilizing the roses in the whole yard and without that being done as soon as possible there will be no rose spring flush in the garden. So this had definitively priority over working on the White Garden Bed.

Are you tired of my explanations and excuses why there is not much change to see on these photos by now? Yes? Then let's actually focus on what has changed.

February 2015

January 2015

Well, the roses have leaved out and have grown quite a bit in comparison to February. If you look at the February photo to the very right you can spot the massive hole that has been dug to accommodate one more rose. I placed a rose in its black plastic container into the hole to see how it would look in this bed and I think this is a good location for it. 

The rose to the very left, 'Pope John Paul II', wasn't even pruned on the January photo, as a matter of fact, it was one of the last roses planted into the ground that I pruned this year. But to my own surprise it has already produced a new basal cane which is carrying a spray of buds and a pristine new white flower is blooming in the middle of this spray already again. 

Here is a shot of the new spray of 'Pope John Paul II'. I love that the buds have a green tint, before they are opening to a very clear white color. 

The photo above shows a closer look at the big hole to the very right of the White Garden Bed that has been dug for the new rose. I always prefer at least 3' deep x 3' wide holes when I plant a new rose, because as you can even see on the picture, my native soil is very poor and contains many rocks of all sizes. The excavated soil gets completely replaced by a planting mix from E.B. Stone, called Rose Grow, which is especially formulated for planting roses. This stuff isn't cheap, but I have very good experience with this soil mix. The roses are really thriving in it in my garden, so it is worth the expense to me. 

February 2015

 January 2015

In these two photos you can more clearly see the difference in the roses. One plant that also has continued to fill out is the alstroemeria Princess Lilies 'Claire', in the foreground in front of the cycad to the left.

Here is close-up of alstroemeria Princess Lilies 'Claire'. Isn't it looking juicy and healthy? You almost want to take a bite...

And if you look even closer at this plant, you can see the very first blooms emerging. I can't remember the exact color anymore, only recall, it was a very light one, therefore I can't wait to see the buds opening and hope that they fit into my white color scheme.

Hardy geranium 'Biokovo' to the right side of the cycad on the right in the bed is still blooming prolifically. It is good to know that this plant has a flowering period of at least four weeks.

Just another view of the White Garden Bed.

Even though I haven't been planting anything new into the White Garden Bed within the last month, I have been thinking a lot about what I could possibly plant there. Since it is a very narrow bed it is not realistic to expect to have an impressive display of white flowers there at all the times unless I exchange annuals on a very regular base. So I thought I would go with Vita Sackville-West's approach in her White Garden, and use silver and gray leaved plants in this bed, which come the closest to white flowers, but are there year round.

I have these two dichondra sericea, 'Silver Ponyfoot' sitting around in my pot ghetto for quite a while now and thought I will plant them into my White Garden Bed and see how this looks. When the sunlight hits their leaves they have an almost metallic shine to them, which I find quite fascinating. Another good thing about these plants is that they are supposed to be drought tolerant.

Hopefully next month I have some more progress to show and I would be happy if you would come back to check in with the development of my White Garden Bed.

I am joining Helen Johnstone's End of Month View meme at The Patient Gardener's Weblog. Please click on the link to see views of other gardens at the end of February.

Wishing all of you a nice rest of the weekend!

See you in the garden!

Christina