It feels like I haven't blogged about my own garden for ages. So I thought why not start the new year with a post about just that?
This nice big hole was staring at me for quite a while until I found time in December to finally plant something into it.
The rose to the left is rosa 'Belinda's Dream' a gorgeous light pink rose and the ground cover to the right is a white flowering campanula.
I had intended to plant a blue flowering iris in between those two plants because I thought these colors would go well together. The problem is, though, that the irises that I grew from rhizomes and planted first in containers so that they could develop a decent root ball before they go into the ground have all lost their labels. Did something like this ever happen to you? But I remember that all irises had colors in the blue and lavender range, so if the one that I have planted doesn't turn out to be blue, it still will most likely fit in color-wise with the existing plants.
...after it was cleaned up it didn't look so bad anymore. The root ball is certainly nicely developed, just as I intended. I hope it is strong enough to fend for itself growing in palm root competition.
Freshly planted in the dark, rich soil it feels almost as if the plant is giving a sigh of relief, being released from the pot and able to stretch its roots.
If you step further away, the plant looks rather small, though. It is obvious that it has quite some growing to do. Go little iris, go!
The ones of you who are following my blog regularly, know that I love roses and you will hardly find a post about my own garden in which not a rose is sneaked in one way or the other. And this post is no exception.
I am very excited about this little rose. Its name is 'Gruss an Aachen', an older Floribunda, bred 1909. I got this rose as an own root rose in the beginning of last year and it didn't have a good start and I thought a couple of times I would loose it. But then somehow it came around and this is its first fully developed bloom. The shot above was taken in the early diffuse morning light.
This image was taken later in the early morning sunlight. I love to observe how the roses are changing colors depending on the light conditions.
I kept track with my camera of the opening of the bloom. I am very fond of the fully petaled rosette flower form with the teasing light salmon-pink center.
The last photo shows the completely open bloom. Isn't this a beauty? Rosa 'Gruss an Aachen' is known for its color variations and I am curious to see what this rose will come up with in my garden in the future.
Last year I planted some Leucojum vernum, 'Spring Snowflakes' as a substitute for snowdrops, very late in the season and the bulbs never bloomed and as a matter of fact, not all bulbs bothered to show even up. This year though this cluster of five bulbs looks very good and I have high hopes that I will get some blooms.
In the front yard, I pruned this Pygmy Date Palm hard, I almost feel that I mutilated it a little bit. The reason is that its fronds constantly block the walkway to the house and it can be quite annoying when you permanently run into palm fronds when you try to get to your front door. Hard pruned or mutilated, in any case, the palm will grow back quickly and will rectify any pruning that is overdone.
These two containers at the base of the palm are white flowering lantana, the label says: 'Trailing White 1', even though I couldn't really find a white lantana variety with that exact name in a quick internet search. I only found 'Trailing White', so that is probably what it is.
Anyway, lantanas are supposed to be very drought tolerant and are flowering a long time, so I thought I will try them out. These two will most likely not have an easy life growing at the foot of this palm, but if they survive, I think they will make a nice pair with the blue flowering penstemon that is already established.
Lantana is supposed to be very pollinator friendly which is another plus in my eyes.
The pure white flowers are rather small, but they come in masses so that they have quite a visual impact.
This is one of my 'Verbena Bonariesis' plants. I started the winter clean up in the front yard already and cut it back to about a few inches above the ground, but I am unhappy with the look. So I would like to turn to you other active gardeners and ask if I can cut it completely back to the ground. I am relatively new to this plant and I have never cut it back before. I certainly don't want to kill it by cutting it back to hard.
We are back to the back yard and looking at the South facing fence. You may notice the big hole in the middle. There was once a rosa 'Baronne Prevost' growing, but I always had problems with this rose. It was suffering severely from powdery mildew and never really did anything. If it flowered at all the blooms stayed small and were just very few.
So this winter I finally had enough and decided to take it out. The location is not ideal but I will try to plant another rose there, that hopefully, that will fare better.
By the way, to the left side of the hole, you see rosa 'Pierre de Ronsard', which has become a real monster. I would love to have another big healthy rose joining it and beautifying the fence that I share with my neighbor.
It may sound odd to you, but big holes in my garden are always giving me great joy. It is the joy of anticipation, of good things to come. For this hole, I am contemplating to plant a second rosa 'Charles Darwin', which has been completely healthy in my garden so far or to go with rosa 'Mary Rose'. The latter has shown some powdery mildew infection this year, so maybe I stay clear of that one.
Hope the new year is off to a good start for you!
See you in the garden!
Warm regards,
Christina
This nice big hole was staring at me for quite a while until I found time in December to finally plant something into it.
The rose to the left is rosa 'Belinda's Dream' a gorgeous light pink rose and the ground cover to the right is a white flowering campanula.
I had intended to plant a blue flowering iris in between those two plants because I thought these colors would go well together. The problem is, though, that the irises that I grew from rhizomes and planted first in containers so that they could develop a decent root ball before they go into the ground have all lost their labels. Did something like this ever happen to you? But I remember that all irises had colors in the blue and lavender range, so if the one that I have planted doesn't turn out to be blue, it still will most likely fit in color-wise with the existing plants.
This poor iris got really neglected, but...
Freshly planted in the dark, rich soil it feels almost as if the plant is giving a sigh of relief, being released from the pot and able to stretch its roots.
If you step further away, the plant looks rather small, though. It is obvious that it has quite some growing to do. Go little iris, go!
The ones of you who are following my blog regularly, know that I love roses and you will hardly find a post about my own garden in which not a rose is sneaked in one way or the other. And this post is no exception.
I am very excited about this little rose. Its name is 'Gruss an Aachen', an older Floribunda, bred 1909. I got this rose as an own root rose in the beginning of last year and it didn't have a good start and I thought a couple of times I would loose it. But then somehow it came around and this is its first fully developed bloom. The shot above was taken in the early diffuse morning light.
Here is a full bush picture. The rose is still small, growing in a two-gallon container, but by now I am fairly confident that I won't loose it anymore and that it will grow into the lovely plant that it is meant to be.
I kept track with my camera of the opening of the bloom. I am very fond of the fully petaled rosette flower form with the teasing light salmon-pink center.
The last photo shows the completely open bloom. Isn't this a beauty? Rosa 'Gruss an Aachen' is known for its color variations and I am curious to see what this rose will come up with in my garden in the future.
Last year I planted some Leucojum vernum, 'Spring Snowflakes' as a substitute for snowdrops, very late in the season and the bulbs never bloomed and as a matter of fact, not all bulbs bothered to show even up. This year though this cluster of five bulbs looks very good and I have high hopes that I will get some blooms.
Another exciting thing to report about: My first self-seedling of a hardy geranium. I have only two varieties of hardy geraniums in the garden: 'Biokovo' and 'Rozanne', so this one is most likely a child of these. The plant looks pretty strong and the leaves are relatively tall. Now the really interesting question is, what will the blooms look like? Can't wait to see them.
In the front yard, I pruned this Pygmy Date Palm hard, I almost feel that I mutilated it a little bit. The reason is that its fronds constantly block the walkway to the house and it can be quite annoying when you permanently run into palm fronds when you try to get to your front door. Hard pruned or mutilated, in any case, the palm will grow back quickly and will rectify any pruning that is overdone.
Anyway, lantanas are supposed to be very drought tolerant and are flowering a long time, so I thought I will try them out. These two will most likely not have an easy life growing at the foot of this palm, but if they survive, I think they will make a nice pair with the blue flowering penstemon that is already established.
Lantana is supposed to be very pollinator friendly which is another plus in my eyes.
This is one of my 'Verbena Bonariesis' plants. I started the winter clean up in the front yard already and cut it back to about a few inches above the ground, but I am unhappy with the look. So I would like to turn to you other active gardeners and ask if I can cut it completely back to the ground. I am relatively new to this plant and I have never cut it back before. I certainly don't want to kill it by cutting it back to hard.
This is actually one of my disappointments this winter. Do you know what this is? These are Paperwhite Narcissus. What is wrong with them you ask? They all came up blind, meaning none of them carried any flowers, only leaves appeared. I don't know what the cause is, but I assume the competition with the palm roots in my front yard didn't leave them with enough energy to produce blooms. Any thoughts of you, my fellow gardeners, what I can to do still get them to flower, or at least next year?
On this photo, you see my small side bed on the right side of the front yard. There is nothing very impressive to notice on the first glance, but you have to know that both roses are relatively new and they have grown tremendously. To the left side is rosa 'Charles Darwin' and to the right is rosa 'Cymbaline'. I am really expecting great things from them this spring.
We are back to the back yard and looking at the South facing fence. You may notice the big hole in the middle. There was once a rosa 'Baronne Prevost' growing, but I always had problems with this rose. It was suffering severely from powdery mildew and never really did anything. If it flowered at all the blooms stayed small and were just very few.
So this winter I finally had enough and decided to take it out. The location is not ideal but I will try to plant another rose there, that hopefully, that will fare better.
By the way, to the left side of the hole, you see rosa 'Pierre de Ronsard', which has become a real monster. I would love to have another big healthy rose joining it and beautifying the fence that I share with my neighbor.
It may sound odd to you, but big holes in my garden are always giving me great joy. It is the joy of anticipation, of good things to come. For this hole, I am contemplating to plant a second rosa 'Charles Darwin', which has been completely healthy in my garden so far or to go with rosa 'Mary Rose'. The latter has shown some powdery mildew infection this year, so maybe I stay clear of that one.
To end with something more exciting for you (hopefully) then a photo of an empty big hole I leave you with an image of rosa 'Heritage'. It is hard to believe, but the rose is still producing these amazing flowers. Did I say I love roses? Maybe you share this love with me, too.
See you in the garden!
Warm regards,
Christina
I am linking to
Life and Linda - Dishing It & Digging It
Cedar Hill Farmhouse - The Scoop
Savvy Southern Style - Wow Us Wednesdays
Have a Daily Cup with Mrs. Olson - Share Your Cup
The Charm of Home - Home Sweet Home
French Country Cottage - Feathered Nest Friday
Life and Linda - Dishing It & Digging It
Cedar Hill Farmhouse - The Scoop
Savvy Southern Style - Wow Us Wednesdays
Have a Daily Cup with Mrs. Olson - Share Your Cup
The Charm of Home - Home Sweet Home
French Country Cottage - Feathered Nest Friday
