News flashes

Flash!!

• Tropical storm Beryl drops three inches of precious rain on the garden
• Alfalfa tea lavishly ladled this weekend - one barrel leaks itself empty
• Black Hen sprinkled all over garden before rain hits
• Sunn Hemp seeds sown in empty garden spaces, promises nitrogen fixing, nematode deterrance

Flash!! Flash!!

• Canon EOS Rebel T1i DSLR camera purchased on Ebay
• Stay tuned for the photos

• ‘Mrs. B. R. Cant’ blooms in dead shade, never touched by sun

• Fears of bloomless summer unwarranted

• ‘Venosa Violacea’ declares May 29th Purple Day

• ‘Blush Noisette’ buds bode big bloom

• Baby ‘Bermuda’s Anna Olivier’ bears first bud

• First bud opens

• Clematis ‘Jackmanii’ surprises all with appearance

• ‘Modern Marvel’ marvelous when wet

• Amber alert! Daylily missing name

• ‘Mary Guthrie’ joins in bud uprising

• ‘Quietness’ makes noise

• Caladiums voice support for shady roses: ‘Etoile de Mai’ & ‘Bow Bells’

• ‘Bow Bells’ sprouts on pegged canes after 16 days

• ‘Madame Lombard’ up in arms

• Clematis ‘Henryi’ takes first step to top

• ‘Clotilde Soupert’ beats gardener to punch, sprouts before Saturday’s deadheading

• ‘White Pet’ refuses not to bloom

• ‘Le Vesuve’ drenched, unbowed

• ‘Maggie’ voted Most Powerful Woman in garden

• Promises more, more, more

• ‘Full Moon Rising’ feeling fine after transplant

• Manifests multiple blooming laterals along horizontal cane
  
  

• Declares victory over verticality

• ‘Fred Ham’ announces campaign slogan “Go Yellow!”

• Echinacea named Flower of the Century

• ‘Duquesa’ rejoices after rain

 

• ‘Francois Juranville’ lets hair down, soon to be coifed

On a much more serious subject I’m asking for the prayers of the faithful for my newest, sweet daughter-in-law, Missy, who received word today that she has Stage-2 breast cancer and will have a mastectomy by Monday, and for dear son, Mark, who loves her so much. She’s in God’s gracious, loving, almighty hands…as are we all. From the day we first met, Missy has made Tom and me feel truly loved.

Roses still sleepy but awakening

‘Clotilde Soupert’ is the early riser of the garden, up and at ‘em at the crack of dawn. Everybody else takes after the gardener for whom 8AM is really early. So it’s looking like the old clock on the garden wall is saying about 6:30, maybe quarter to seven. ‘Leonie Lamesch’ is not only awake but cheerful. She’s just off the patio, and I can see her from the back door, dotted with her small but happy red/pink/cream blossoms. She appears in the next four photos. She’s only been in the ground for about a year and only has two mature canes, so though she’s strikingly pretty, she’s not a candidate for a full bush just yet. You can guess that I love her foliage.






‘Mrs B R Cant’ is really lovely this spring compared to previous years. Being on Fortuniana rootstock, last year I followed conventional wisdom and pruned her quite hard, including removing leaves. Then last season she grew wacky with eight-foot canes sprouting from five feet high on the bush. She looked like she was trying to be a climber, but those heavy canes just flopped over and laid down on other plants. Growth was going horizontally through the bush, and she wasn’t very leafy at all. My excuse for her was that she’s growing way under two huge oaks and deprived of enough sun. So last month when I was on my pruning rounds, I could not make heads or tails of her, because she was such a jumble of confused growth. I removed most of her leaves just so I could see what was where. Then I decided to shorten all that long stuff to match the rest of the bush, remove dead stuff and downward growing stuff, and end it there. My conclusion was that last year’s pruning forced contrary growth. Of course, that’s only my observation, one admittedly influenced by my prejudice against Teas on Fortuniana.



Well, she has more leaves and is bushier this year. (She was so non-foliated last year that she was un-photographable.)  See that nearly horizontal line in the middle of the bush? That’s one of those canes I mentioned before. In my experience some Teas sprout shoots at nearly right angles from the original cane, and I believe cutting exacerbates that habit, causing multiple shoots near the cut. So I’m going to see if minimal cutting helps her. I know the pros will strongly differ with me on this, but I’m just trying to achieve some normalcy for her without a clue as to what her normal really is. By the way she's about six feet tall and close to eight feet wide.



She has a lot of buds on her but has been loathe to make any cane breaks down low. None last year or this year so far.



‘Polonaise’ is looking good after this winter’s transplant. She has a good many buds already on her few canes.



‘Mary Guthrie’ surprised me yesterday with this bright flower which is exactly true-to-life color. She was relocated, too, for the sake of these scrumptious flowers. No black spot yet, the gardener said with a wry, little chuckle. HMF says she's fragrant, but dumb gardener didn't know because she has never taken a whiff!



Happily, more bright flowers are coming as seen in this photo.



In my last post you saw the red new canes of ‘Maman Cochet’. Now about nine days later they are almost green and about four feet long. Her middle is looking nicely full.



My in-the-ground ‘Borderer’ is also blooming and filled with buds. She’s quite a small bush – maybe two feet tall and four feet across.



Here’s the full bed. From front to back, ‘Borderer’, ‘White Pet’, and ‘Leonie Lamesch’. ‘White Pet’ has buds but no flowers yet.



This is ‘Francois Juranville’, my rambler that cascades from the rebar arbor. This is his third season in the garden, and being a once-bloomer (though my fingers are crossed for some repeat here in sunny Florida), there were no flowers the first year and literally only a handful last year since he only blooms on old wood. This is the first flower I’ve seen this year. I chose this rambler for its fairly large and double flowers and for the color. It seems most ramblers are small-flowered and white, and you know how much I like color. See those shiny, healthy green leaves? Those are Wichurana leaves. They are the other reason I chose this rose. No black spot. An evergreen climber that would cover my vacant arbor was what I was seeking. Flowers almost didn’t matter. These will definitely be a bonus.



Here’s FJ in February. He’s been bulking up lately, throwing thick new canes all over the place. I keep trying to tuck them in so they go vertical. If allowed to go straight out from the existing verticals, I think he’d be happy to take the whole garden.



The first flower (that I’ve seen) of ‘Duchesse de Brabant’. Only a year in the ground, she’s young and flimsy, but she has at least grown in all directions and is maybe two feet tall and almost five feet wide. She’s in a cooler location than my first DdB which I think will keep her better foliated with pinker blooms. Obviously, being a Tea Rose, heat should not be a problem, but for three years I could not keep leaves on the bush from which this plant was cut. So if she’s more comfortable out of the scorching sun, it’s fine with me.



‘Blush Noisette’ has one open flower and some buds though she’s far from covered yet. She has leafed out some since the hard pruning but not a lot.



You may remember that I love Dianthus chinensis. Summer, winter, it doesn’t matter. They’re green and blooming. This is a new color that I got this winter – in fact, two of them. I love the color! Oh, wow! It just occurred to me that this one is planted at the feet of purple Clematis ‘Venosa Violacea’. Sometimes things just work out, don’t they?



I am so excited about the new scapes on several daylilies. These are the Early Season DLs, and I must admit that I didn’t realize that early meant this  early. This particular one is Bob Carr’s ‘Inherited Wealth’. This is one that I am itching to see bloom. I chose it for its gorgeous and abundant flowers that I had seen in photos even though it supposedly does not rebloom. In my long, long growing season I love and demand rebloomers. So we’ll see about this one. I can always hope it will decide to bloom again, right?



Yesterday I blew the leaves out of the gravel paths, so the garden is tidier. I was feeling like a really low-down garden-keeper with all those oak leaves covering everything. They keep dropping – month after month. I hope they’re done, and I hope I can mulch them up with the lawn mower. So with the garden cleaned up and blooming, I’m almost a happy camper. If some little elves would come and spray the weeds in the front circle gravel with RoundUp, then I would be a full-fledged happy camper. This photo was taken way back in February (apparently when I was pruning), and since the weed is of great proportions, maybe I’ve already pulled it. Let’s hope so.

‘Blush Noisette’ in winter

I have seen some beautiful photos of mature ‘Blush Noisette’, but unfortunately they were not taken in my garden.  My bush has been in the ground now almost three years which means it is still immature, but I always have doubts that his less than debonair looks are due to bad soil or insufficient feeding or any number of issues about which I am insecure.  I don’t mean to whine, but I find it difficult to be confident and self-assured growing these large, slow-growing, blooming bushes that don’t start looking like what they’re supposed to look like for four or five or more years. Remember that old TV commercial?  “What’s a mother to do?”

So I don’t have a lovely photo of this guy, only hard-to-see shots of this immature, awkwardly shaped bush that’s fairly unleafy.  So this shot that I took on January 27th is it.  In the fall and early winter he started throwing some six-foot laterals, and he gained some size (at least in one direction), getting to be a good eight feet wide.  If I had the luxury of ample space, I would have let him be, but my roses are planted cheek by jowl, so this was not acceptable.  I had to “prune for size” and hopefully arrive at a shape that is good for ‘Blush Noisette’ and good for me.  Below is my gawky teenage ‘Blush Noisette’.

And here is a borrowed photo from Ronda in North Carolina’s garden.  ‘Blush Noisette’ can be a billowing mass of shrub or a climber.  Either way, it carries clusters of sweetly fragrant light pink blooms repeatedly through the season, but you can see that mine has a lot of maturing to do.

I took the following photos to post on the Antique Roses Forum with my question on how to properly prune it.

The responses I received were helpful though a tad confusing for this first-time pruner of an arching rose bush.  I will post them here just as my rosey friends wrote them.  Maybe they will be helpful to others. They helped me.

• Sherry, prune her like you would an arching bush. Those long, climbing canes can be trimmed back a bit lower than the rest of the plant to encourage them to throw laterals. When you've seen bush training of this rose, it's required regular "shearing" to keep and make it bushy, full of flowering laterals. Just do the same, as you would for any shrub which wants to periodically throw "wilder shoots". Don't let it intimidate you. You CAN'T do anything wrong. BN has already shown you she wants to grow and is going to no matter what you do, unless you dry her out, fry her with nitrogen or chop her to the ground. Even after chopping, I think she'd probably thumb her nose at you and grow how she wanted, anyway! Go for it! Kim (Zone 10 SoCal)
• I'd take those huge climbing canes back by half, then generally shape the plant into the shape you want it. Cut it back up to a third smaller than you want and keep pinching back the longer, more vigorous shoots to see if she responds the way you desire. If she isn't cooperative, give her to a good home and replace her with Maggie. You can't really hurt her. As I said, she's going to do as SHE desires anyway. All you can hope to do is encourage her to cooperate with you. Kim
• Hi Sherry, Firstly, take a few deep breaths and have a real good look. Some of those arching canes are thicker, greener and healthier than others - tie a string around them. These are going to be your framework structure - you only need half a dozen. Then, follow each of these canes back to the base, cutting all the laterals back to a couple of buds - 4 - 6 inches. While you are doing this, you can cut out a lot of the little twiggy stems which are doing nothing much. Cut them off - right off. Same if there is anything which looks a bit dead, a bit brown and dry (scratch the stem with a finger nail - if it is alive, it will be green under the outer bark -Any that are brown or pale and dry, with no green, will probably even snap off. Any canes rubbing together - lose the thinnest. What you should end up with is a more see through version of what you already have. I agree with Kim, this rose is showing you very clearly how it wants to grow. Now, to make it a little more shapely, cut a couple of the outer canes which arch towards you, a third shorter than the more upright ones. You want to leave less cane to throw out the summer laterals, keeping new growth as tight in to the lower centre as possible. At the sides of the bush, there are a couple of canes which have got long laterals - chop them off. Eventually, some of the framework canes will look a bit ratty - you have a choice to keep new basal canes or to keep a lateral which is growing as near to the base as possible. You can let the new lateral form the framework structure and chop all the old basal back to where the lateral grows from the original cane. Not explaining this too well, am I? Never mind, if you just trim all the annoyingly long canes and have a good thin out, then that will suffice. There is nothing funny looking about this rose to me - it looks as though it wants to make a lovely fountain shape which, if you were inclined, you could support the bottom 3 feet with some basic supports - either stout poles with crosspieces or (what I use) half an old metal obelisk thingy with the top taken out. Or, I have even used an old umbrella stand with the bottom removed and even the metal outer cage of a municipal dustbin!. The aim being to keep the long canes from flopping on to the floor, taking up tons of room. Take charge, Sherry, you can do this without worrying - this is a tough and capable rose....as you are a tough (well maybe not that much) and capable (for sure) gardener. Courage! (Campanula in UK)
• Sherry, that is NORMAL for this rose. It, supposedly, is a hybrid between bushy, twiggy China roses and climbing musk roses. This thing is expressing the growth traits of both types...generating the elongated, climbing canes while pushing out twiggier, bushier laterals. If you shorten the long, main cane, those laterals will bulk up, lengthening and thickening and flowering profusely. You're just not used to seeing anything with this genetic combination, demonstrating these traits. Don't worry. Don't let it intimidate you. As campanula said, both you and the rose are resilient. You can't hurt it (though it can bite the heck out of you!), so reread the above, have a nice, strong glass or cup of tea or coffee or your choice of beverage to gird yourself and dive in! The earlier you do it, the more profuse the bloom you'll have. The longer you wait, the more flowering wood you'll remove and you'll have to wait for it to generate more. Kim
• How about just "prune to shape"? Make it look like you want. (Bellegallica – zone 9)

Did I follow directions very well?



I hear some chuckling out there and perhaps some gasps.  I guess I should have gone back and re-read Campanula’s directions before I took pruners in hand.  I shortened the longest canes, and I shortened the laterals on all the canes to from two to four nodes in length.  That was mostly shorter than Campanula’s four to six inches.  However, I did not thin out the canes from the base.  Of course, I can still do that, but I’m not exactly sure how.  I’ll have to put my eyeballs on it real hard.  The bush is now about four and a half feet tall and four feet wide.



My only concern is whether this is the way ‘Blush Noisette’ is happy being.  If it only wants to be a billowing pile of canes ten feet wide, then how will it respond to this shearing?  What will it do next?  Am I going to have to shear it two or three more times in the season?  Will it be happy staying twice (or three times) the size of the pruned bush?  I guess I will see the answers to some of those questions as the season goes on.  I’m pretty certain I didn’t hurt the bush, but I'm not sure if I didn't go too short.  We’ll see that, too, won’t we?  I’m eager to see how BN responds to this cutting.

My advise to other pruners is the same as I received.   Be courageous and go for it.  Roses are forgiving, resilient plants.