A Rose A Day: Celsiana

June 17, 2013June 14, 2013 | Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

Here is the enchanting and very fragrant Celsiana blooming in my garden. Many of you were aghast when you saw this picture on Twitter very early in the season given that I garden in Zone 5b. The truth is, Celsiana was adopted this year from Guinivere Wiley of Roses of Yesterday and Today. She’s a Cali girl–thus the early start!

I have drooled over this rose in catalogs for years and decided this was the year to adopt one… actually I adopted two. 🙂

Guinivere sent me the most beautiful plants and I protected them through some very cold days and nights.

Here’s what the Roses of Yesterday and Today online catalog says of Celsiana

Damask
Prior to 1750
4-5 feet
One annual flowering
Zones 4-9

The subject of one of Redoute’s most beautiful rose portraits, and a rose to inspire any artist. Leigh Barr Stamler, St. Louis, MO, says, “Celsiana is incredibly beautiful –
arching canes loaded with soft, lovely roses in the most perfect shade of pink! I sit on the grass in front of her for long minutes every spring, drinking in her beauty.”

A graceful plant with smooth, grey-green foliage and clusters of 4 inch warm pink flowers . . . which open wide with a special crisp twirl of crinkled petals showing tall yellow stamens. True damask fragrance . . . if you plan to make potpourri, this rose should be included in your order.

I would highly recommend you adopt at least one Celsiana for your garden!

How can you resist….

A Rose A Day: Gene Boerner Floribunda

June 16, 2013June 10, 2013 | Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

Gene Boerner is a beautiful, profusely-blooming floribunda with pointed exhibition form.

This rose was named for Eugene Boerner who many believe had much to do with the development of the floribundas we have today. He was hired by Jackson & Perkins in 1920 and spent his entire career with them. I think he would be very happy with the rose that bears his name. It has exquisite form, is disease resistant and is rarely without bloom.

A Rose A Day: Grande Dame

June 15, 2013June 14, 2013 | Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

The Grande Dame is a lovely and very fragrant hybrid tea.

Here’s what Weeks Roses has to say about this 2011 release…

“Everything old is new again … or is it the other way around?
Here’s a clean mean flowering machine whose big bountiful beauties reek with old rose romance, style & fragrance. Each lovely blossom invites you to bury your nose…to swoon from the perfume of the ‘old time’ roses of your dreams. A big vigorous ‘shrubby’ bush whose nodding clusters, abundant deep-green leaves & low-thorned cutting stems provide a perfect touch to a landscape or bouquet.”

This is my 3rd year to grow the Grande Dame and she always gets noticed.

This rose is a modern bloomer with old world charm and mixing old and new is what my garden is all about!

So, what do you think of her?

A Rose A Day: Carefree Wonder

June 14, 2013June 14, 2013 | Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

I don’t know about your grocery store, but many of our grocery stores have potted plants for sale. One that does it best is Kroger. They seem to pick all of my favorites and place them right by the door so I won’t miss them.

Last year I avoided gorgeous lavender plants, tall, fragrant phlox, a stunning butterfly bush or two, and others … But, the one I just couldn’t pass up was the Carefree Wonder rose. It was in full bloom, had a sweet fragrance and promised disease resistance and even shade tolerance. What rose gardener could pass that one by! Actually, I did pass it by but when I mentioned it to Mr. G, he turned around and went back and bought it for me. Yep, that’s my man!

As soon as I planted it, we went into drought mode. But, it just kept on blooming. This year this rose is almost too beautiful to believe.

This rose is shade tolerant, VERY disease resistant, has a mild fragrance and blooms like crazy. I love, love, love it! Easy … breezy … beautiful.

Did I go overboard?? I do love it! 🙂

Can’t wait for you to see tomorrow’s rose … it is a beauty too!

A Rose A Day: Reine des Violette

June 13, 2013June 28, 2013 | Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

Reine des Violette is a lovely Hybrid Perpetual that dates back to 1860. Hybrid Perpetuals were developed as hardy garden plants between 1840 and 1900, by crossing the Portland, Bourbon and Gallica roses and were mostly used as cut flowers in the days before hybrid teas.

The “Queen of Violettes” has double, quartered blooms that are amazingly fragrant. This year in my garden she started out deep pink and faded to purple. The color is so intense that it is hard to capture … especially when all you use is your iPhone! 🙂

I have 3 of these roses and find them oh so charming! The have that wild, old rose growth habit and multi-petaled, quartered blooms that I just love!

This year she is giving me a run for my money with Black Spot and Powdery Mildew. Just a little to damp out for her! Hey it’s been a little to damp out for me too! We’ll get through it.

A Rose A Day: Pink Flamingo

June 12, 2013June 9, 2013 | Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

Pink Flamingo Grandiflora was an impulse purchase for me. The blooms sent me into “rose fever” and I just couldn’t refuse. The tag said hardy to Zone 6 and I am in Zone 5b so during a hard winter, I most likely will lose her but for now she is fun to have.

The blooms are amazing … large with thick, fragrant petals — some are more pink and some are more peach. Exquisite form. A huge standout in the garden when she is blooming and that is saying a lot since she has some very beautiful neighbors like Julia Child and the Grande Dame!

A Rose A Day: Sunny

June 11, 2013June 10, 2013 | Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

Who wouldn’t love the lovely Sunny … a proud member of Knockout family of roses. This rose just blooms and blooms and blooms. And, is the most fragrant of the Knockouts.

Beautiful. Disease resistant. Adds so much to my overall garden experience.

Highly recommended for any sized garden. Prune back in early spring (when the forsythia blooms) at least a third of the bush for over all health. You can prune more if you have limited space. This rose is about 4 x 3 in my garden so far this year. Give it a little fertilizer and you are good to go!

My garden friend, Diane LaSauce, has only one rose in her garden–a beautiful Sunny. I am predicting that at the end of the month, she will be set for a few more roses–what do you think? Hey, check out Diane’s beautiful blog, About Home, Garden & Life .… don’t miss the post on her bluebirds.

See ya tomorrow.

A Rose A Day: Madame Hardy

June 10, 2013June 3, 2013 | Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

Now you are getting to see one of the roses that truly gets to me. I absolutely love this rose. Madame Hardy is a Damask rose dating back to 1832. She has beautiful white classic formed flowers with a tiny green button eye.

All Damask roses are known for their rich perfume and she is no exception … lovely old rose fragrance with a hint of lemon. This rose grows to about 5′ in my garden.

History Lesson: Madame Hardy is named for the wife of the head gardener in Empress Josephine’s (first wife of Napoleon) Malmaison garden. Empress Josephine was a zealous rose collector. (She had to keep busy while the hubs was out fighting the wars.) Her collection of roses was the world’s largest at that time.

Ahhhhh…. isn’t she a beauty…

A Rose A Day: Blanc Double De Coubert

June 9, 2013June 10, 2013 | Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

Blanc Double de Corbert is large Rugosa rose that has been around since 1892. This rose has pure white large double flowers with a very lovely fragrance. And, this year I had the pleasure of watching these blooms stand firm even in torrential downpours! The picture below was taken after one of the many “downpours”!

Like all rugosas, this rose is tough, hardy, fragrant and naturally disease resistant. And, a good repeat bloomer for me.