Amaryllis

 (you can click on the photos to enlarge)

This is a picture of the throat of my stunning, velvety, fire-red Amaryllis taken in the evening sun. Isn't this color just a killer? The photo is not color-enhanced or manipulated in any other way. Of course, it didn't start out like this, as a matter of fact, it took a couple of weeks for the bulb to flower. You can see pictures of the unspectacular start of this bulb on an older post about forcing bulbs on my blog if you click here.

I was right in my initial guess that the bulb was producing two flower stalks. Besides watering the only thing that I had to do, was to wait patiently for them to grow and open their blooms.  

  

Here you can see that the flowers clearly show their red color already. 

 

A little later a close-up shot reveals that the individual blooms carried by this stalk are well formed and almost ready to open. 

  

A couple of days forward it looked like this.

  

  

Again, a few more days later, tadaaa... almost all blooms of the two stalks have opened. What a stunning sight, don't you think?

Close-up of the lower bloom cluster. The saturated red is really special. For sure not a plant to be overlooked!

At the same day when I took the two pictures above showing the fully opened flowers I got lucky and the evening sun was shining on the Amaryllis plant. It intensified the red color even more.

At the very last one more close-up of the upper bloom cluster of the Amaryllis also taken in the evening sun light. It was a lot of fun and super-easy to grow the Amaryllis bulb. Next year I would like to do it, again, but maybe I try a different color. I know that they are also available in white, which is my favorite color. I would love to hear about what are your experiences with forcing Amaryllis bulbs indoors.

See you in the garden!

Christina

Rose of the Month: 'Our Lady of Guadalupe'

In my opinion 'Our Lady of Guadalupe'  is one of the nicest relatively recently bred pink Floribundas out there. I am growing three of them in the front yard since a couple of years. What fascinates me the most about this rose is the silvery shine of the cool pink colored flowers. Somehow the flowers have a very elegant overall appearance that I don't find in such a distinguished way in any other pink Floribunda that I know of.

(you can click on the photos to enlarge)

 

General Information:

'Our Lady of Guadalupe' was bred by Keith Zary, United States, in 2000. It is classified as a pink blend Floribunda. The pointed, ovoid buds start out a darker pink at first and then open into light pink colored flowers that have a size of 3". The back of the petals is a darker pink whereas the inner side is a light pink. The flowers come in clusters of 3 - 10 blooms. The fragrance is described as mild and sweet. This rose blooms in flushes throughout the growing season.

The rose is vigorous, but does not get too large, in average 3 feet high. Usually the plant grows into a nicely formed round bush. The leaves have a dark green glossy color, which contrasts nicely with the light pink flowers. The rose is described as disease resistant, but occasionally it can have problems with black spot.

 

Personal experience:

 

My 'Our Lady of Guadalupe' roses grew very well from the moment I planted them in the ground. In general this rose has been proven itself to be healthy in my organic/no-spray San Diego garden, but it had some problems with powdery mildew at times, when there was a lot of pressure from this disease. I have not had any problems with black spot, but this fungal disease is not very prominent in Southern California anyway. It is not one of the first roses to bloom in spring, but when it gets started it is hard to stop.

The repeat is very good and quick. It appears to me that it is a heavy feeder and appreciates to be fertilized on a regular base, but this is no surprise considering how fast it produces a new cycle of blooms. I think of 'Our Lady of Guadalupe' as a very charming and elegant little rose, that fits well in the front of a border or general in a smaller garden. The latter is a huge advantage in my opinion, because most of the roses become so overly large in the Southern California growing conditions, that they are hard to tame. It very often creates an impression of abundance, which is important to me especially in the front yard, since it is particular small and any rose that I plant there really needs to have an impact.

 

The flowers of 'Our Lady of Guadalupe' are good for cutting and last an average time in the vase and on the bush. One year I had it combined with pink dianthus, which looked nice, but after a while I got first of all bored by all the pink and secondly I felt it looked a little bit too pink, too barbie-like (all Barbie-fans, please forgive me). Most of the dianthus succumbed to a fungal disease and needed to be removed, which I was not too sad about because it forced me to change the bed. So this year I planted some salvias 'Black & Blue' and hope the contrast between the black and blue flowers of the salvia will tone down the sweetness and cuteness of the pink roses a little bit and balance it hopefully out nicely. One color combination that worked out well was to accompany 'Our Lady of Guadalupe' with 'Burgundy Iceberg' (see photo below).

 

One drawback that I recognized in my yard is, that the rose is not producing many basal canes, which of course is something that a Rosarian is always looking for. My 'Our Lady of Guadalupe' roses are grafted and I assume, that they are budded on Dr. Huey rootstock. All of my roses are planted with the bud union below the ground. That should encourage them to grow on their own roots and therefore to produce even more basal canes. But it is simply not happening with 'Our Lady of Guadalup'. Since quite a while now I have the suspicion that roses grafted on Dr. Huey do not produce basal canes well in my yard. I have no explanation for this and for sure I have to observe it a little longer, but this is my impression so far.

Two of my 'Our Lady of Guadalupe' roses are growing very close to a Pigmy Date Palm. So they have to fight a very strong root competition with the palm roots and therefore competition for nutrients and water as well. They are also shaded quite a bid from the Pigmy Date Palm fronds, although the photo above indicates otherwise. It was taken in the morning sun and after the palm was severely pruned.  As you can see on the photo the bed is also very narrow with a big footage underground from the wall on the left side, which are really not ideal conditions for a rose to grow, but 'Our Lady of Guadalupe' manages just fine. There is really not more that I can ask from a rose!
 

Close-up of a single bloom with buds. I would rate the fragrance a little bit more intense than just mild. To my nose it is moderate and it suits a light pink rose very well.  

Typical spray of blooms of 'Our Lady of Guadalupe' in various stages of opening. Isn't she a hard to resist beauty?


See you in the garden!

Christina

February Roses

February is the month where I have the least rose flowers in the garden, because most of the roses that are growing in the ground are freshly pruned and therefore do not have any flowers in the moment. But some of the roses growing in containers are still flowering, especially the Tea roses, or are starting to flower again, already. I keep the majority of my roses cultivated in pots temporarily in black plastic containers (only a few are staying in terracotta pots long-term)  until I am ready to plant them into the ground. I think, that the sun warms up the soil in those black plastic pots quite a bit and therefore the roses growing in them are more inclined to flower earlier than their siblings planted in the ground and in terracotta containers.

(you can click on the photos to enlarge)
 

Captain Christy. An older Hybrid Tea rose, which I think is to die for. I am in love with the subtle pink coloration, the many petals, and the beautiful more round flower form in comparison to the modern Hybrid Teas. 

 

Bewitched. This rose is one of my favorite pink Hybrid Teas. Even though it struggles with diseases like powdery mildew and rust at times more than most of my roses I keep it for its gorgeous, large, clear pink, flowers. The blooms are also great as cut flowers and last a  long time in the vase. Bewitched has a sweet strong Damask fragrance, which is simply heavenly!  

 

Mme. Melanie Willermoz. I have read that Mme. Melanie Willermoz is considered one of the finest Tea roses ever bred. I do not grow her that long, but what I have seen so far, I can imagine that this is true. I love this shot of her globular cream-white flowers against the saturated dark blue sky.  

Sweet Chariot. A new to me miniature rose, bred by the famous Ralph Moore, that immediately won me over. I had not seen it in person before I ordered it and was doubtful if I really would like it, but in reality it is much better than I had it expected to be.

Devoniensis Climbing. I have not seen anything else but absolutely perfect blooms from this rose. The color and shape is always very elegant. The only problem is, that I do not know, if I can keep it because of space issues. Devoniensis Cl. seems to want to be a real giant. It is still a young rose, which I have it in a two gallon pot but it has made a climbing basal cane of five feet length already. I have never had that happen with any other of my roses. It is almost a little scary!

Another shot of Bewitched. This rose is perfect even in a bud state. See how elegantly the sepals scroll back?

Grandmother's Hat. She had some problems to open in the cool weather with very little winter light, but I think, she is still very pretty.

My first plonk of this year shot on a warm and sunny day! On one side Grandmother's Hat and Scabiosa blooms...

... and if you turn the little vase around you see another beautiful flower of Bewitched on the other side.

Pretty Jessica. In this photo I find the many different shades of pink color of the petals very fascinating. The flowers are so heavy, that the rose is not able to hold them upright, so they nod.




Rhodologue Jules Gravereaux, another Tea rose that produces perfectly round buds. In the pictures you can see how neatly the petals scroll back.

At the end a bush shot of Baronne Prevost. This rose will be the first one to bloom for me this spring from the roses that are planted in the ground. I am kind of surprised why Baronne Prevost is so early this year. Maybe it has to do with the fact, that when she was planted in December 2010 I put fertilizer in the bottom of the planting hole, so that the roots could get right to it. Most of my other roses are fertilized not earlier than in February/March each year.


Hope you like looking at my rose pictures today!

See you in the garden!

Christina