Let's make 2015 the best year ever!

Here's to a "New Year!"

Let's!

Happy New Year to all!

My garden looks like it's been whooped with an ugly stick right now ! (So do I for that matter. I've got that head cold that's making the rounds.)

My roses are self-defoliating right now. That's fine...less work for when I get out there to prune.
I'm definitely not used to these 40* days !

Mike - Aww.. 40deg days.. what's that? LOLLL Have about a foot of snow in the front yard right now, completely overcast, and feels like it's gonna snow some more. But headcolds are the WORST! You feel like you wanna just drill a hole in your head to alleviate the drainage... ugh ugh ugh!

Feel better!!!

LOL !
Yes, I'd love to swallow an M-80 right about now.

Sorry you are feeling ill. I hate head colds ... YUK.

Just thought I'd let you know that many of the roses in my garden that really never defoliate have dropped their foliage this year. I think, but don't know, it's due the the water stress of the drought. Yes, they all got more water than usual this summer, but it seemed like the dryer soils down deep just sucked the water right past the roots zones of the roses before they could take up enough.

In Nocal, we got some good rains this fall, so I don't think the same dynamic will be so strong next season, but we haven't had any significant rain since Dec 21st.

Toni ... last year I had a foot of snow covering my garden at this time of year, too ...

The weather seems to just want to be wonky.

Smiles,
Lyn

Here's a bizarre piece of advice I just received in an e-mail from Hibiscus and More (in Texas).

"Bare Root Roses will be arriving soon at local garden centers. Prepare planting beds by digging an area 4 feet wide by 12 inches deep for each rose. Soak bare root roses in a mixture of SuperThrive and water for 24 to 48 hours before planting."

Aside from the fact that soaking for 24-48 hours would kill any bare-root rose grafted onto fortuniana or multiflora, what kind of rose needs a hole 4 feet wide and 12 inches deep?

Perhaps they are planning to plant them lying down? In which case they must be big plants!

Or more than one rose in a bed ???

Maybe they have roots like Palatine's? Almost need them 4' wide...

It said "for each rose," so it can't be for more than one.

The roots from Palatine would appreciate a hole deeper than 12 inches. They don't want to sprawl out sideways with just a few inches of soil covering them.

It's a bizarre set of instructions, no matter how you look at it.

Let's ignore it.

hehehehe

Again, Michigan Bulb is trying to be sneaky. They don't say it on their website, but in their paper catalog, they have an "Exclusive" beautiful rose I was slobbering over.

http://www.michiganbulb.com/pr...

Yup. They're exclusive at selling "Blue Satin"... a.k.a. BlueGirl....

- and somewhat color-enhanced, I suspect.

Those "exclusives" crack me up!

PPal - *gasp*!! They wouldn't do that, would they?

Primrose Lilac from Michigan Bulb:


The real deal from my back yard


"Red Dragon" from Michigan Bulb
http://cdn0.michiganbulb.com/i...
http://www.michiganbulb.com/pr...

Scentimental from my yard


"Dark Dragon" from Michigan Bulb
http://www.michiganbulb.com/pr...

Purple Tiger from my yard


"Shamrock" from Michigan Bulb
http://www.michiganbulb.com/pr...

St. Patrick from real growers... US! (I don't have this rose)
Rose (Rosa 'St. Patrick')

This is a frustrating time of year. I see spots of color all over my garden, but when I get up close, most of the flowers aren't worth photographing. Here are a few that weren't damaged by the rain and the cold.

The first one is Angels Mateu, one of those fragile little own-root hybrid teas from Vintage Garden. I've had it since 2008 and this is the first bloom it has produced. I actually was going to pull it up and throw it out this year, but maybe I'll keep it and see if it starts to bloom regularly. The second one is Chief Seattle and the third one is Dick Clark.



The three in this row are Mary Rose, which is always the first Austin to bloom in my garden, Miss Behavin', and Molineux.



These three are Peach Beauty, a perfect bud of Perfect Moment, and Regatta.



These are Star of the Nile, Sweet Dream, and The Fisherman's Cot.



The last two are Vavoom and Vogue.

How long have you had Vavoom ? I've heard it takes a long time to get established, like Ebb Tide.

Just when I thought wee might have an actual "winter" I get proved wrong.
I pruned my roses after Christmas and they're already leafing out. CRAZY !

Dick Clark looks so much like Double Delight to me.

and I have about 8-12" of snow in my front yard and it's been sputtering snow all afternoon.

no fair

Mike - I have DC and I'm not impressed with it. And my Vavoom is a good producer, but kind of a smaller bush, only about 12-15" tall and wide. This is after 2 years in the ground.

I think Dick Clark has more yellow in it than Double Delight, but they're certainly similar in coloring. Dick Clark's a grandiflora, though, so it produces bouquets rather than long-stemmed single roses. That makes them just different enough to be worth growing.

My Vavoom took off right away, but so did Ebb Tide. I bought Vavoom from Garden Valley Ranch three or four years ago. I don't remember where Ebb Tide came from. I've had it for almost 10 years.

I decided not to prune anything this year. Well, that's what I decided, but then some strong winds blew Smarty and one of the Cecile Brunners off their arbors. Both were so big that I would have had to use a crane and a fork lift to put them back up there, so I had to cut them back radically instead. So far, that's the only pruning I've done.