‘Francois Juranville’ cascading

I’m fairly certain other gardeners don’t let him cascade off the arbor like this, but then they probably pay more attention to their gardens than I have lately. This scene struck me as rather idyllic when I walked through it with the camera. I’m not sure what I will do with FJ besides getting out the ladder again. I could trim him in the middle for pedestrian traffic (not much of that here) and leave the sides longish as well as sticking him up in the trees again. You can see that the first attempt was partially successful. Some canes did fall out of the tree, but most of what’s hanging is new growth.


In case you forgot ‘Francois Juranville’ is a once-blooming Rambler, having a huge flush in the spring – they say. Haven’t seen one yet, but this was only his first spring after planting. He had a few unimpressive flowers. Hopefully, next spring he’ll begin to strut his stuff a little better. I mainly just wanted something – anything - to cover that rebar arbor with green, so flowers in the spring are a bonus. FJ is very disease-resistant – even disease-free. And he has a long reach.


Here’s the land of the giants. The ‘Giant Apostle’s Irises’ are even more gigantic now. I really dread digging them up to divide them. They can’t stay there. They’re casting shade on two rose bushes like The Hulk. Gee, there is a color resemblance. Don’t know where I’ll put them given my small garden. They’re absolute devourers of real estate, and they better have a really impressive bloom next year or you know what will happen, don’t you? They’re decent structural plants but too reminiscent of yucca plants which I think are yucky. I do love their shade of green though. They make the ‘Periwinkle’ look sort of medium-sized even though it’s a good five feet across in this view. Gosh, what am I gonna to do with those things???

Ah-ha! Directly across the path from them is a vacant bed at the base of one leg of the rebar arbor, formerly the residence of 'Mme Scipion Cochet', the Hybrid Perpetual, who moved to Archer. It's five feet in diameter. I have a few other spots in mind, but probably not enough for all the little 'Giants' I'm going to have. Party favors, anyone?