September Roses

I am trying to pick up my habit to blog monthly about the roses that have bloomed in my garden the previous month. So here come my rose babies that have delighted me in September.

Sadly, overall I have a feeling that I am getting less and less rose flowers over the last couple of years. I am not entirely sure why that is so but my best guess is that my roses are not fertilized enough to bloom to their full potential. So far I have been gardening entirely organically in my San Diego garden, but usually organic fertilizers are not as potent as the synthetic ones and I have not had the time to fertilize my rose on a regular schedule, which means a couple of times a year.

Therefore I have decided as an experiment, to feed them the same amount of organic fertilizer that I usually do, but in addition to that add a scoop of synthetic slow-release rose fertilizer and see if that makes a difference.

This decision was difficult for me because I am convinced that organic gardening is the best way to go when it comes to the environment, but I became so frustrated with the few rose blooms that I got lately, that I simply couldn't stand it anymore. Otherwise, my garden will continue to be no-spray and I will use the synthetic fertilizer very responsibly, meaning using as little as possible.

That being said, I hope you enjoy to take a look at my September roses!

I think rosa 'The Prince' was the most beautiful rose last month in my garden. By chance, I got lucky and for once I was able to photograph the color of this stunningly beautiful rose properly and to capture the velvety texture of the rose petals.

Rosa 'Snowbird' is relatively new to my garden, but starts to get going. The blooms have a very elegant, a little bit old-fashioned Hybrid Tea form and I am liking it more and more.

Rosa 'Pink Pet' is a very healthy, easy going rose in my garden with a cottagey appeal.

Completely the opposite of  'Pink Pet' is the ambiance of rosa 'Neptune'. Very elegant, a diva that commands respect. I love the fact that you can find so much diversity among the roses. There truly is a rose for everyone!

Even though very susceptible to powdery mildew and even black spot, rosa 'Nimbus' has won his place in my heart because of the absolutely unique color. The rose is very willing to bloom and the color is constantly changing but always in the fascinating mauve, tan, brown color range.  

As usual, rosa 'Our Lady of Guadalupe' is blooming her head off, but even though it is a very floriferous pretty rose, I have decided to take my last specimen out. I just don't want to put up with its very regular infestations of powdery mildew anymore and believe that I can find a healthier floribunda rose in the light pink color range. 

Rosa 'Rhodologue Jules Gravereaux' is my most favorite Tea Rose. I think it is also one of the most elegant roses in this class. Look at the beautiful shape of the buds with the unfurling outer petals. Just magical!

Rosa 'Pope John Paul II' is almost an old standby in my garden. The blooms are very pretty, it gives me four to five good flushes a year and the fragrance is to die for. I wouldn't want to be without it!

The classic Hybrid Tea rose bud of 'Bewitched' certainly is enchanting. When you see this rose, you can understand why most people favor Hybrid Tea roses above all other rose classes.

A second flower of 'Bewitched', this time a little bit more open. 

Another diva in my garden, rosa 'Souvenir de la Malmaison'. This rose has died on me once already and this specimen was also very close to death at least two times. But it survived so far and the extraordinary beauty of the blooms keeps me trying to get this rose established in my garden.

I end this post with a look into the heart of 'Nimbus'. The color gets me every time. So special!

Are you still able to enjoy roses from your garden? Do you have a favorite rose right now?

I just want to mention, that even though I can't find the time to blog very often, I am posting almost daily on Instagram. If you want to take a peek, just click on the link. I would be happy to meet you there! 

Wishing everyone a nice rest of the week and a very enjoyable weekend! 

Warm regards, 

Christina

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December Roses

All the rain that we were having here in Southern California in December brought the roses back to live after more than five years of severe drought and many were blooming beautifully again. Hence I would like to resume my habit to show you which roses have been flowering in my garden in the last month. I have to say, though, that there were more roses flowering, I just chose the ones of which I got a good photo for this post. So here they come!

I am really happy with this picture of rosa 'Auckland Metro'. I shot it while venturing outside between rain showers. The bloom is drenched in natural rain drops. I feel somehow the roses can withstand natural rain better than irrigation water. It might have to do with all the chemicals that are put in the drinking water nowadays.

Here is a bud of 'Auckland Metro'.

And another rain shot.

'Grandmother's Hat' showing a lovely, saturated, pink color in the cooler weather that we finally had in December.

The buds of rosa 'Bewitched' are particular elongated and always very elegant.

The fact that rosa 'Iceberg' is very common and easy to grow in California, doesn't diminish the beauty of 'Iceberg' in my eyes.

Another shot of 'Iceberg'.

I like how the sun back-lits the flowers of 'Iceberg' in this photo.

Certainly one of my most unusual roses is 'Nimbus'. The mauve color of this rose has a very brownish tint, which makes it quite special.

What do you think? Isn't the subtle coloration of 'Nimbus' to die for? 

The noble rosa 'Pope John Paul II'. One of my all time favorites!

Fully open flower of 'Pope John Paul II'. A little bit tattered by the rain. White roses always seem to be the most vulnerable to the exposure of water on their petals.

The Tea Rose, 'Georgetown Tea' was especially floriferous last month. 

Close-up of a bloom of 'Georgetown Tea'.

Another image of the bush of  'Georgetown Tea'.

Rosa 'Moonstone' lovely, huge flowers on a very sickly bush.

Small spray of rosa 'Piere de Ronsard'.

The same spray later with one fully open bloom. 

One rose that was absolutely outstanding last month is 'Belinda's Dream'.

I am so in love with the pale pink, perfectly formed, big blooms of this rose.

Above is a bush shot of 'Belinda's Dream'. The winter flush was almost as prolific as you would expect it to be in spring.

Some more images of 'Belinda's Dream', just because this rose is so incredible beautiful and I wanted to show you the different facets of it.

I hope seeing the photos of my December roses brought a bit of joy to you, my dear readers, but especially to those, who are suffering from a cold winter. I know how harsh the winter can be from my many years of living in Berlin, Germany, and really feel for you!

See you in the garden!

Warm regards,

Christina

I am linking up to
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August Roses

The roses have responded very well to the fact that I was able to give them a little bit more care in August than in July and rewarded me with plenty of blooms. Most roses that were blooming in July, continued to flower in August as well, but I have decided, so that you don't get bored, that in this post I will only show you roses that I didn't feature already in the July roses post.

Let's start with the gorgeous lavender colored 'Neptune'.

In my eyes this rose has an exceptional color, but it is a little stingy with its blooms.

It is still growing in a container, so maybe it will be happier and more floriferous when it is planted in to the ground.

A true camelion under my roses is 'Nimbus'. It changes its colors like no other rose in my garden, depending on weather, water and fertilizer conditions. This flower has a particular interesting and appealing color blend. I love the brown-orange together with the lavender!

'Auckland Metro' has an exquisite, very noble off-white color.

The flowers of 'Auckland Metro'...

...can take on very elegant shapes.

This one seems to glow from within.

Fragrance is very nice, too.

This is 'Mary Rose', bred by David Austin. The rose has an incredible quick repeat and a very lovely Old Rose shape. Unfortunately it had a bout of powdery mildew lately. It is still growing in a big terracotta container and I will move it into a more sunny spot and see if that helps.

Here 'Mary Rose' mingles with 'Iceberg'.

'Moonstone' showing off its enchanting flowers.

Here is a bush shot of 'Moonstone'. Plenty of new growth, but sadly a lot of the leaves are infected with powdery mildew. 

Another flower of 'Moonstone', shot in the more bluish morning light.

'Moonstone' in its full glory, kissed by the sunshine.

I cut these two lovely blooms of rosa 'Frederic Mistral' on a very hot day to enjoy them indoors. Aren't they beautiful? I am really in love with this rose!

The blooms of 'Frederic Mistral' are very opulent and can get huge.

The flowers are very full and have a very strong, pleasant fragrance, that can fill a whole room with perfume.

The gentle, soft, lilac-pink bloom of 'Charles Rennie Mackintosh'. So romantic!

This is the first fully developed bloom of rosa 'Love Song' from my baby band roses, that I ordered in January this year. The rose has a really nice very clear lavender color and a good form. So far it looks very promising. Hardly any fragrance, though, which is unusual for lavender roses.

Here is the same flower, but the picture was taken later in the day with a different background. I can't wait to see this beauty to become more mature and produce the next flush of blooms.

The first flush of blooms of rosa 'Koko Loko', another of my baby bands from January. The color of the rose is very hard to capture with the camera. It has a a light brown tint. Very unusual and interesting.

I took another photo with our light brown stained concrete terrace as a background to show you how much this rose is matching the brown color. Lately I feel very drawn to these oddball colors and 'Koko Loko' certainly fits the bill!

The like and dislike of colors is highly personal and I am wondering to what colors of the roses that I have shown in this post you feel drawn to. Do you mind sharing which is your favorite in a comment? I would love to hear from you!

Hopefully September will be another good month for the roses. Here in San Diego the chances are very high that with cooler temperatures we will get some more great blooms. 

Wishing everyone a wonderful rest of the weekend!

See you in the garden!

Christina

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