Garden News

 One of my favorite perennials, campanula primulifolia, started blooming recently, so I went into the garden to take some pictures of it.

Julia Child is behind it

Besides being photogenic, it is heat-tolerant, has a fairly long bloom season, and sends up more and more flowers every year.

On the other hand, all nierembergias, which have graced my garden with a cloud of dainty blue flowers for several years now, bloomed their hearts out and died. I can't figure out why, maybe their time has come...

Rosette Delizy, a turn-of-the-century tea rose, gave me a big surprise this summer.

Rosette Delizy this spring

It is planted between two Crepuscules and a Penelope (all large roses), and I ended up with a long unbroken stretch of creamy apricot oranges, which I thought was boring.

Also from this spring

But lo and behold, it turned bright pink around the edges for the first time this summer. I have no idea what did it- maturity, temperatures, fertilizer-but I like it much better with this coloration :)

Rosette Delizy in its summer brightness. Summer perennials help enliven this space. 

My row of climbers on the side fence will have a large gap next spring. The oldest rose (Handel, a climbing floribunda) was removed recently. It was getting very old and didn't produce a new cane for years now. It has been sending up a lot of rootstock suckers, so its time has finally come. In its place will go a climbing Lorraine Lee, but it will take years to achieve its full glory. Oh well, I will miss taking glamour shots of this fence :(

This post has turned to be a bit of a hodge podge of good news and sad, but that's what makes gardening (and other things) interesting: not just successes, but setbacks too.

Hermann Lindecke resting on the retaining wall