Sunday, November 17, 2013

Garden News and Thoughts of Pruning

It is a fairly quiet time of year in the garden.

But pruning is looming large

Some roses are blooming here and there....

Mme Edouard Herriot

Isabella Sprunt

Souvenir de Victor Hugo resting against a tomato cage

Condesa de Sastago

...and a few perennials are still looking good.




I have been raking leaves, potting up my ornamental oreganos...



 ...and Vintage French import babies which have finally made it to 5-gallon pots.

Not much top growth, but the roots are big (Isabella Ducrot)

The weather has been mild and sunny, so whenever I can I weed. This year I have started with pots where weeds seem to flourish year round. Even my newly potted oregano, Marshall's Memory, had lots of little sprouts coming up.



I attacked them with unremitting enthusiasm, and about half way through it dawned on me that I was weeding out lavender seedlings. Oops.



Fortunately, there were about a thousand more in the nearby lavender pot :)



Next I moved to my big rose pots. They have a large surface area and some weed or other always seems to take hold in them. This time, again (one would think I might have learned), it took me awhile to realize that these particular weeds had fuzzy stems and serrated leaves.

Rose seedlings!

There were over ten of them in the pot and more are coming up. A few started to succumb to damping off...



...but the ones that looked good went into little pots next to the lavender seedlings I rescued earlier.

What will I do with them if they all live??
 I wish I knew who the parents of those baby roses are because of such a high germination rate compared to anything I have been able to achieve (although this is not saying much). Perhaps I will if they live and bloom. I can't wait.



The largest task in the weeks ahead is rose pruning. The growing season here is long, and by now the whole garden has become a tangle.



It seems impossible to make sense of a mass of rose canes, tree branches and perennials: Isabella Sprunt has grown through a lime tree....



...while my gorgeous Rosette Delizy is vying for space with lots of juicy lemons...


....some of which are obviously crossing with cucumbers :).



Pruning is looking more and more daunting each year...

Elie Beauvilain is not making it easy for me

 whether because I am growing older or my roses are growing bigger, I am not sure :)

Duquesa de Peñaranda

13 comments:

  1. Interesting mutation with the elongated Lemon! You're so fortunate to have the little Rose and Lavender seedlings! And every time I see your 'Victor Hugo' I swoon!

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  2. Thankyou for your photos and descriptions of rose seedlings, Masha . I now know what to look for ... and I have a terrible feeling that I have pulled some up, thinking they were weeds. Do all rose seeds have to stratify before they germinate ?

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  3. Thank you, Beth! I can send you a cutting of Souv de VH if you like :)

    Jane, that's what I would assume. This is a good resource: http://www.paulbardenroses.com/manners_seed.html

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  4. Mnie chwasty rosną w ogródku, ale kwiatków już nie ma, tak jak u Ciebie. Masz jeszcze co podziwiać. Pozdrawiam.
    I grow weeds in the garden, but the flowers gone, as in you. You have to admire. Yours.

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  5. Beautiful roses Masha. And such big bushes, it looks like a daunting task for me to prune and maintain such big rose bushes.

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  6. Beautiful are your photos!
    Greetings from Holland, RW & SK

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  7. I was wondering where you were going to put the seedlings too since you've said your garden was already full but who knows, you might get something special!

    Your roses have such beautiful colors. And the shot of the ornamental oregano is super lovely.

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  8. How exciting having those rose seedlings. Have you ever arranged any marriages amongst your roses yourself ? if so do you have any success? I have tried but never have luck in germinating them. Self sown seedlings of climbers do it themselves everywhere-some good some not so good.
    I love your lemons.
    Chloris

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  9. Chloris, I usually have bad luck too because i am not willing to take care of them properly. Those came up by themselves, that's why i really want to know who the parents are... We'll see.

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  10. Lovely photos, and although I still have roses here in my London garden I don’t have as many as you :-) I don’t prune my roses until first week of February, over here we just have to pick a date as frost can come early or late – or not at all, but usually it doesn’t harm the new shoots with a few degrees below zero so I suppose I could have pruned earlier.
    I have never had rose seedlings but I pick off the roses before they fall so never get hips, perhaps why I don’t get seedlings? I also have bark mulch in all beds and containers so I don’t have to weed – saves me a lot of work!

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  11. Hi Masha, I have enjoyed reading about what is happening in your garden. You still have so many beautiful roses blooming, to me 'Souvenir de Victor Hugo' and 'Duquesa de Peñaranda' are the most appealing. I love seeing photos of the more unusual roses that you are growing in your garden. By now I grow a lot of roses in containers, too, and I am finding that the weeds are growing in the pots almost worst than they grow in the garden. Oxalis is the most obnoxious weed here. Good luck with your little rose seedlings, they look so happy and healthy. Hope you see them bloom next year! Wishing you a nice autumn season! Warm regards,
    Christina

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  12. What lovely gardens.... I enjoy coming here.
    Cielo

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  13. Buenos días Masha.
    Hermosas tus rosas duquesa de Peñaranda que yo no tengo me parece lindisimas.
    Quiero desearte unas felices fiestas y que tu jardín continúe prosperando.
    Un fuerte abrazo. Maruxa

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I am so glad you have stopped by!