Saturday, April 27, 2013

Rose Portraits, Companions and a Bush Shot or Two

Sometimes, when I am outside gardening, a passerby will stop by and compliment me on my roses.

William Shakespeare 2000. Only newly open blooms (and not all of them at that) display this irresistible combination of crimson and purple.

I often reply that my roses are my children.

Mme Berkeley is a large spreading rose that rests many of its blooms on this retaining wall.

I have about 130 of them, all different heights, colors, shapes and fragrances.

A corner of my front yard, with all the top of the fence claimed by Buff Beauty with  'Secret Garden Musk Climber' behind it. Heritage is below Buff Beauty with Lady Hillingdon and Sophie's Perpetual in front. Carding Mill is peeking in at far left.

Here is a look at some of the roses that started blooming since last week's post.

Félicité Parmentier, still a young rose, but with a powerful fragrance. It sets blooms well for me, but does not grow very fast at all.

Ebb Tide

'Mrs. E.G. Hill', a found hybrid tea.  I like the contrasting color on petal reverses.
Taischa, a Vintage Gardens introduction. I love its full, swirly blooms. Petals are thick and last a long time in half day sun. It does not always open well but mine is still a young plant.
Crown Princess Margareta looking down from an arbor

Ulrich Brunner fils looking out shyly from behind an arbor. This one is low on prickles, has good rebloom and stays mostly clean. 

Cynthia Brooke displaying one of its consistently gorgeous blooms

Pat Austin as always blooming with abandon. It stays clean for me, but blooms open and are gone in less than a day. There are lots of them though.

'Benny Lopez', another found rose (maybe Ardoisée de Lyon), which I am enjoying very much thanks to the generosity of its discoverer. Lots of fragrant blooms on a healthy plant.
Mrs. Wakefield Christie-Miller, pretty but not overly vigorous.

Wild Blue Yonder, bought for its strong fragrance but admired mostly for its health, vigor and good rebloom

'Secret Garden Musk Climber'. When it is in bloom its corner looks like a white fluffy cloud full of heavy musk fragrance and abuzz with bees. 

Heritage. I love its heavily fragrant delicate blooms. It has smooth canes and has a tendency to climb.

I tried for a bush shot of Penelope (Cécile Brunner, Lyda and 'Benny Lopez' on left, Crèpuscule on right). You can actually see the structure of the bush pretty well: each snaky garland of blooms is one cane with flowering laterals all along it. To me it looks like a sprawling octopus. Despite Penelope's appearance of lushness, it has only a few long canes. 

I pair my roses mostly with summer-blooming perennials, but a few spring ones are blooming now.

Carding Mill with a low-growing salvia

'Old Korbel Gold' with common snowball viburnum (v. opulus), not a perennial, but pretty anyway.

Delphinium elatum "Sweethearts" is new to me this year. It is a plant I got from Annie's because it is supposed to do well in warm climates. We'll see.

Linum Lewisii does really well in my garden. I love its sky-blue flowers and airy and light look. The flowers only last a day but new ones keep coming. Magnificent Perfume grows on one side of it.

Shön Ingeborg grows on the other side of the blue flax (linum). One morning I looked down on a bloom and saw the previous day's flax petals scattered over it. It turned out to be my favorite picture :)

22 comments:

  1. Hello Masha,
    Your roses look so healthy ! (they give back all the love you give them)
    The last photo is also my favourite ♥

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  2. Masha, I think all your 'children' are well 'fed and dressed'!
    I love the rose 'Crown Princess Margareta', nice view and color. And it's pretty a combination of apricot color 'Carding Mill' and blue salvia. Have a nice weekend!

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  3. Your garden is a dream or a paradise...
    Wonderful, amazing!!!!
    Secret garden climbing is so beautiful...
    And your photo of Penelope, Cecile Brunner, ouahhhhh!
    sophie

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  4. Very beautyful, thank you very much for such beauties! Bénédicte from Belgium

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  5. Wow! Beautiful photos! 130 roses? Must be gorgeous in your garden in Spring! Jeannine

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  6. I feel happier for looking at those glorious roses ! Love Heritage and William Shakespeare. What are your top growing tips to keep them so happy and healthy ?

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  7. wow...I am speechless, what do you have beautiful roses

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  8. Thank you and merci!

    Jane, in general, California is a great place to grow roses: it is dry so blackspot pressure is low. Our growing season is long and there are no winter freezes, so roses can get as big as you let them. Our most common foliar diseases are mildew and rust, but they do not handicap roses as severely as blackspot does. The best strategy for growing healthy roses is to select varieties which are naturally resistant to whatever affects roses in your area. There are usually at least a few that will stay clean and do well almost anywhere. I never spray. Some of my roses will get a bit of disease now and then, but I do not need to be perfect all the time, so I tend to overlook it unless it is severe in which case that rose goes out of my garden :).

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  9. Quel bonheur de voir ces roses! 'Secret Garden Musk Climber' est magnifique! Votre jardin est un rêve! Comme j'aimerais que mon petit jardin de Belgique ressemble un jour à votre jardin!!!

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  10. Oh my gosh ~ 130 roses. They are all beautiful! How do you find time to care for them and all of your other blooms as well. Your gardens are what so many dream of having. You are blessed.

    I love that last photo.

    Have a wonderful week ~ FlowerLady

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  11. Hi Masha! I wish I lived in your neighborhood so I could walk past your garden and make my compliments in person too. I don't receive compliments from people, I guess they mainly think I'm crazy but sometimes when some old lady look at my garden and start making waves with her bike instead of going in a straight line, well I take that as a compliment.
    I am always in love with your Secret Garden Musk Climber, I like all your roses, but this particular one looks so pure and delicate and strong and fierce at the same time, I always watch its pictures with my mouth open.
    Alberto

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  12. So gorgeous!! The last picture is my favorite too although all are almost too beautiful for words. :)

    The Linum is a wonderful companion to your roses. And a delphinium that can live in a warm climate -- will have to check that out!

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  13. Hi Jane, what an amazing collection! Its mind blowing. Your garden must be so fragrant. Its no wonder that you get compliments. I love William Shakespeare, Ebb tide, Crown Princess Margareta, well, almost all of them!

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  14. Incredible beauty, Masha. Fantastic photo!!! Your magic grow up 130 roses, you are fairy :)

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  15. Hi Masha
    Wow, I love them all! And hurra, I found an new place in my garden, where I coul plant more roses :o). But in my garden they never flower as beautifully and in such great numbers as in your garden. Everytime when I visit your blog, I see another rose that I really loved to have :o). Lovely Pictures.
    Have a great week.
    Alex

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  16. Masha, is it any wonder that you receive such compliments. You mention in your reply to Jane how good the growing conditions are in California, I expect you may also have a very specialised feeding regime. .

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  17. Thank you!

    Alistair, I am not at all consistent about feeding :). Actually, our heavy clay soil is rich in almost everything except nitrogen. All our area used to be orchards before the suburbs spread. I use a combination of fast nitrogen and alfalfa on the roses, and maintain heavy mulch which gradually decomposes and improves the soil.

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  18. Masha, I am always amazed at the beautiful variety of roses you grow. Seeing those photos is inspiring me to go buy one more climber!

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  19. Hello Masha, you have beautiful roses! I can never grow roses as beautiful as these. The peach colour Carding Mill is the sweetest of them all. Thanks for sharing. Have a great weekend.Cheers, Stephanie

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  20. These are simply amazing pictures. As always, your roses are beautiful.
    I'm sorry I cannot find Ebb Tide in Europe.
    You're really lucky to have such an extensive blooming period - my roses only have leaves, no signs of buds yet

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  21. Wow! What awesome photos. I don't think I've ever seen a more beautiful collection of roses anywhere no wonder you photos are so fine. Ingeborg is really an unusual shot, I'd love to have a copy.

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I am so glad you have stopped by!