In the garden again

Tada! I was digging in the garden today, first time in two years. Such elation!

My garden had deteriorated to such a state that I hired a lady, Angela, to rescue it for me. And she did! She works as hard and as carefully as I do, and she's faster. The front looks better than it has a right to after such neglect. Two beds were buried in Bermuda grass but no more. Today I was busy with the driveway bed, spraying RU on all the germinated weeds that appeared this week, digging up leftover Bermuda roots, spreading Black Kow and topsoil to raise the sunken level, and planting a new rose.

Believe it or not there are three roses in this mess. With apologies to the neighbors it remained like this for months. 

After Angela!  She had the brilliant idea to divide up several liriopies and plant them along the property line, creating a wind-break to block the neighbor's weed seeds and Bermuda grass clippings when they fill in. The debris pile got even bigger. 

Here it is all cleaned out and bigger than before. You can see the darker soil is the old rose bed. The lighter (sandier) part had azaleas and liriopes in it.

After adding 15 bags of topsoil and four bags of Black Kow. The new rose is closest to the camera. 

I nearly fainted when I saw Kordes roses at Lowe's. This is the biggest potted rose I've ever bought. 'Zaide' is said to be very disease-resistant. After lots of DH's questions about what I want for Mother's Day I decided this was it.... along with a 'Blue Girl'. It was a very large plant as well and healthy and full of buds so naturally I couldn't resist. Though it's also a Kordes rose, it's older and not disease-resistant. Oh, well, you win some and lose some. 

I'm definitely on a buying spree. Yesterday I bought three Endless Summer hydrangeas, thinking I can fill in with these easy-care plants and forget the roses. Twenty-four hours later.....

May I also add a postscript that I have been eager to tell. These roses of mine are truly none the worse for wear after two years without feeding. At this point I don't think I need to feed several times a year. I fed them last week, and I think that will be it till next spring. I really believe by using the composted horse manure I built good organic garden soil that has been able to sustain the organisms and the worms which have done their work of providing the nutrients that the roses needed.

Organic is the keyword. 

If I had been using synthetic fertilizer, I'm guessing this garden would be dead by now.

'Pink Pet' rooted through the bottom of the pot, but she's moving to the driveway bed soon.  Whoever heard of not having to feed potted roses for two years? That is not what the experts say!

After Angela

'Madame Abel Chatenay'

My garden brain is totally out of practice, so I can't remember the name of the red climber, but the salvia is 'Victoria'. The climber is now three years old, ready to leap. 

'Belinda's Dream'

'Duquesa' and 'Clotilde Soupert'

'Chrysler Imperial' 

'Clotilde Soupert, Climbing'

'Chrysler Imperial'

'Darcy Bussell' in backand 'Chrysler Imperial' in front

I wish I could remember the name. 

My hydrangeas give me such a thrill. 

Before Angela. Thank God for Angela! 

Got dirty and sweaty today

But it was wonderful! The day was beautiful, sunny in the 80’s and nicely humid. I got a little sunburned since I was working in the front facing south and the sun was hot.

A dear friend gave me a huge (maybe 10-gallon) ‘Belinda’s Dream’ last month. I took her home, because I dearly wanted her, but it seemed hopeless that I would be able to find a spot big enough for this girl. Or any spot really. The only possible spot I could think of was the one ‘Bow Bells’ is occupying, but it has a problem. It’s pretty shady. ‘Bow Bells’ handles it but doesn’t bloom a whole lot. So it was off to the Antique Roses Forum to ask my question. Should I choose to keep ‘Bow Bells’ or ‘Belinda’s Dream’? I got really good information from these rosey friends but was still undecided.

Then yesterday it hit me. I should keep both. The how was suddenly simple. I would put BD at the end of the bed next to the front sidewalk where the ‘Red Ruffles’ azalea is. I never put a rose there because it’s not as sunny as roses like. The sun doesn’t come up over the garage until at least 10 o’clock and it leaves behind the trees by 3 o’clock. (Correction: I believe I did have a rose there when I first planted this bed, but that rose is long gone.) In light of what my rosey friends had reported about their BD’s in shade I figured less sun would be a blessing in disguise. Four to five hours of sun would keep this rose smaller than she's capable of being, making her more comfortable in this six by six space, without much if any negative effect on bloom or disease. I was a happy gardener!




She was in bloom when I brought her home. Her blooms take my breathe away, and her fragrance is heavenly. Did I mention I’m really happy to have her?

I know she's nearly invisible, but she's big - at least three feet tall. She was pretty leafy when I brought her home, but we've had a freeze in the meantime, and many of her leaves have dropped. And most of the rest are damaged and black spotted.

The white blob is a rock that I paid $30 for. What can I say? In a state without normal rocks I have a thing for rocks. She has three feet of bed space to the left, rear and foreground, and more than that to her neighbor, 'Clotilde Soupert' to the right. I think she'll be fine. Eventually, BD will probably be five feet tall maybe more. I don't think the Walter's Viburnum to the right of her will be a problem, but I can move it a bit if it is.

On Tuesday I was in the Lowe’s garden department. Very casually I made my way to the rose table. Expectations were low, but the sign I was hoping for was there - $7.00. I rummaged among the dozen or so non-Knock-Out roses, many unlabeled, realizing there wouldn’t be one there for me. They’re always modern roses, and more often than not modern roses don’t appreciate my no-spray garden. There were three or four seemingly identical plants, but only one was labeled. It was ‘Hot Cocoa’. I met a couple there who were eyeing the roses, too. Kim and Derek and I chatted. Kim was admiring one of these plants on the other side of the table and was frustrated by the lack of a label. I told her it was probably ‘Hot Cocoa’ based on the one label. She was really taken with that rose, and why not? It was so healthy, had lots of leaves and lots of buds. Kind of rare for Lowe’s. I was so tempted by the rose I had latched onto, but finally, being the mature gardener that I am (cough, gasp), I put it back. Though I kind of remembered good things about this rose, my memory is not the most reliable friend to have. The next morning I looked up ‘Hot Cocoa’ on Helpmefind.com/roses. The words “very resistant” caught my eye, and I immediately got dressed and made a beeline for Lowe’s. The plant that I had been admiring was gone – probably to Kim and Derek’s garden, but I found one that made me very happy.

Now that's a $7 rose!! It may be grafted but I'm not sure. If it is grafted, the bud union was buried, and I buried it, too. So eventually it will go own-root.

I know you're wondering how I found room for this new rose. Well, of course, I booted another azalea. Not out of the garden though. They're both now residing at the back of the driveway bed. They were heavy buggers, even dragged on a tarp.

This photo doesn't convey her odd color. Definitely unusual by the standards of my pastel garden but also unusual by other people's standards. However, the russet color is growing on me.

You know how much I love foliage.

That's 'Quietness' on the left of HC and to the right is Ellie's rose, 'Stephen's Big Purple'. Not really visible, he's just a couple little sticks, but he does have a new leafset. I was beginning to get impatient for the swollen budeyes to do something. He gets no sun in winter because the sun is so low in the southern sky that the trees block it. 'Quietness' gets sun now and maybe 'Hot Cocoa' will, too.

As I stood admiring the finished planting I realized that the daylilies that are between HC and SBP are russet-colored, too. I think the DL's and these roses will be a good combination. You may have noticed a good bit of sand in the bed. Not to worry. I amended the hole wide and deep, removing four buckets of builder's sand and adding bagged garden soil (I like Scott's soil for sod), fine pine bark, composted cow manure, sulfur in the bottom of the hole for my neutral native soil, alfalfa, milorganite, bone meal, 3 or 4 bananas and their peels fresh out of the freezer, and a complete organic rose food. Composted horse manure and mulch are coming soon.

Today was such a satisfyingly wonderful day. It taught me a great lesson. Though the blues thrive while surfing the internet all day on my butt, they fly away and completely disappear after a day of working hard in a warm, sunny garden. I think I may be back on track. Whoopee!!!!!!!!!

The lady’s love is showing

It’s not often that someone can be a witness to art. Well, perhaps it happens more than I think but not to me. Today it did. Today marvelous stuff happened right before my eyes. I was a witness to creativity and grace. Said another way, creative grace. I watched Carolyn Parker transform ‘floral material’ into serene works of art. I watched as her creative mind worked gently and effortlessly to reveal her heart for roses. She shared some mechanics of flower arranging, but more importantly, she shared her gift with confidence in our gifts, living out her belief that her purpose is to infuse us with the confidence and passion to create our own art – with roses. I will always be grateful that I was a witness to her gift. She has changed my life.

Buckets of flowers were harvested from Carol Green's vast garden for Carolyn to use.

Containers to fill up with charming roses.

Carolyn used the little dish in the center of the top row for all sorts of single-petaled roses of which she is particularly fond and various buds that she described as surprises for the recipient of such a bouquet..

This was Carolyn's first trip to Florida and her delight for roses that were new to her just bubbled over.

She bubbled especially over Griffith Buck roses that are in abundance In Carol's garden. This is 'Distant Drums'.

The vase is a prized possession of Cydney Wade. Carolyn thought this lovely glass piece would be perfect for the unique colors of 'Distant Drums'.

And it seems I could not stop clicking the shutter, especially after trying the 'P' setting on my camera. Voila! Creativity was already happening.

Carolyn was thrilled with more of Griffith Buck's roses.

And the 'P' setting has suddenly made reds available to me. I wish I could tell you what it does. Being a techno-ditz when it comes to cameras, I'm just ecstatic that I stumbled onto it.

Oh, my, I share Carolyn's enthusiasm for these roses that are so beautiful and so healthy (mostly) in Florida.

I feel like I must say that it was the camera that was doing this. I was just holding it up in the air, and I'm just beside myself with joy. Life changing? Absolutely! About ten minutes after Carolyn stopped talking.

Carolyn was quite taken with 'Belinda's Dream'.

She's a healthy and extremely floriferous rose in the south and especially Florida.

Carolyn believes in quantity when it comes to roses in vases. Of course, we agree with her, don't we?

Carolyn is a lover of Old Garden Roses, and listening to her recite the beautiful attributes of these Tea roses made me swell with pride as though my own under-appreciated child were finally receiving the recognition she deserved.

It's hard to convey to you how I felt while she was making this arrangement. Carolyn's tender touch with these delicate roses filled me with nothing short of joy. She even extolled the Tea rose's leaves. They really are beautiful.

And though this particular vase with its wide opening proved itself to be a challenge, Carolyn deftly worked her way through to an exceptional finish.

David Austin roses in another challenging vase. Carolyn assured us that we could stop at almost any point in this arrangement, and it would be fine from minimalist to abundant flower quantities. 

David Austin is becoming a more prominent partner in my garden. I hope I do him justice.

Can seven flower arrangements really change a life? My mind and my heart are racing, so I think they can. I think they have set me on an unexpected path. I think they have inspired me on so many levels and in so many directions to dream bigger and to step out more confidently yet more tenderly toward my art. Life-changing is what teachers do. Carolyn Parker is a graceful and refined artist and teacher who had my number today.




My special thanks go to Carol Green for making her longtime inspiration a reality in my life and in the lives of the Marion County Rose Society members who attended. We are all beneficiaries of her drive and passion to bring Carolyn Parker to Ocala for us. Thank you to all of the officers and members who worked so hard on the 2012 Festival of Roses. May we stay inspired and be inspiring to others.