Light at the end of the tunnel?

Link | April 20, 2018April 20, 2018 | Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

From the look of the weekend weather report, there is light at the end of the tunnel. While I still am hearing from friends farther north that have snow, I am hoping our snow and plunging temps are behind us. Here in Zone 5b, our projected last frost date is May 10, so we will most likely get more “frosty” days but I sure hope not.

There has been a great deal of winter damage around here. Most of the roses (except the old garden roses and rugosas) will be pruned down to about 2-5″ from the ground. There are 3 or 4 that look as though they will not be back. We have been here before — although not recently! While the start will be slower and the bloom cycle will be later, history tells me most of them will be okay — in fact many might enjoy the severe haircut.

The biggest loss is the climbers. A shocking loss. One of which has been beautiful for so many years-New Dawn. You cried with me about that one last week. This week we are lamenting over another beloved rose… my Peggy Martin rose. Last year was the 3rd year in my garden and it was wonderful! I still see life, but it is at the ground and there is nothing above. 🙁

Last year by the end of May she was up and over the trellis. Not gonna happen this year. But, it will be interesting to see how the recovery goes.

When I contacted my good friend, Peggy Martin, who the rose is named for, she said Oh, Honey don’t worry, I’ll “strike” you some cuttings. WOO HOO. These will be cuttings from the original Peggy Martin Rose in her garden. Can I just say, Peggy Martin is the best! If you ever get the chance to meet her as she travels around talking about old garden roses and her Peggy Martin rose, GO. She is a delight and a fountain of knowledge—dripping in southern charm. #nottobemissed So just as I said last week, when God closes a door, he opens a window. 🙂

Me and Peggy… standing outside a lovely open door!

Regardless of all that “climber” sadness, there are many things bringing me garden joy today…

The Trillium are back!

My baby snapdragons — started from seeds I saved from last year’s beauties — had some time outside today. Behind them is my grandmother’s pitcher filled with mint that has been living in my potting shed all winter. I love this pitcher! My grandmother was a great gardener. The pitcher is a simple item she used in a very ordinary life but knowing that it was her’s, makes it extraordinary to me.

The rugosas were little affected by the horrible winter. They are champs!

Here is Therese Bugnet Rugosa today….

Rugosas from last June…

Too bad this picture isn’t scratch and sniff. Oh the fragrance! If you have a bit of room in your garden or want a living fence — grow rugosas! Bonus: they are very disease resistant — require no spray, in fact, those thick, wrinkled (rugose) leaves can be harmed by spray! Some varieties that I grow are …

Moje Hammarberg
Rosearie de La Hay
Hansa
Theresa Bugnet

All of these I would recommend.

It was a wonderful day in the garden. Spring is finally springing and there’s so much more to come!

I CAN’T WAIT!

What are some highlights of your garden this week?

I hope you enjoy every minute!

SPRING ROSE CARE

Link | March 15, 2018March 24, 2020 | Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

When spring comes it’s time for gardeners to roll up their sleeves and get busy and I can’t wait!

Here are some tips that I follow for getting my roses off to a good start in my Zone 5b garden.

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1. PLANTING

For early April planting, I buy bare root roses from online vendors (my preferred list here). When they arrive they are “bare roots” wrapped in wet newspaper. Very humble beginnings for a plant that will be so lovely later!

A good moo poo start... — Bare roots soaking in Moo Poo Tea…

I immediately unpack them and soak them in a bucket of Moo Poo tea for 24 hours before planting.

Planting decisions are dependent on the type of rose…

Grafted Roses: Many hybrid teas, floribunda and grandifloras are grafted roses.

This means that a rose is created by being grafted onto strong, hardy rootstock, creating a “bud union.” Plant the bud union (knobby part just above the roots) 3” below the soil line to protect it from harsh winters we often have.

Own Root Roses: These roses were started from cuttings and are on their own root, so there is no bud union to protect. I plant them as I would any other shrub.

Soil: We ask roses to bloom for us all summer, year after year, so it is best to give them a good start by planting them in good, rich soil. Our neck of the woods has horrible gray clay soil so we dig BIG holes–holes much deeper and wider than the root system to allow for soil amendments and deep enough to protect the bud union. (At least 18″ by 18″.) To the soil removed, we add compost and a quality grade of top soil. Your roses will appreciate your gifts of more nutrients and better drainage and will reward you handsomely! You will never regret giving your roses a good foundation.

Roses Already in Leaf and Bloom…

If you purchased something from a garden center that is already leafed out and perhaps has buds or blooms, wait until the frost date has passed to plant them in the garden. In my zone that date is May 10. I will confess to occassionally planting a little earlier than May 10, but you have to be prepared to cover them if frosty nights come!! #notpatient

2. PRUNING

First tip: DON’T BE AFRAID TO PRUNE. I’ve made countless “mistakes” through the years and the roses always forgive and come back!

Here in the midwest, it is difficult to know when winter is really over and it is time to prune. For many years, I have let the forsythia tell me. When the forsythia is blooming, I start pruning. This year the temps have been up and down and there has been a lot of pressure on the forsythia. So use your best judgement! 😬

MOST of the time, the forsythia plan works.

Tools of the trade…

You will need protective gloves and a sharp pair of pruners. My choices are Bionic Gloves and Barnel Pruners from Wendy Tilley, owner of The Rose Gardener Garden Shop and Harlane Garden Labels.

Different types of roses have different pruning needs. Read more about pruning here.

The Ingenious Mr. Fairchild from last summer. Amazing David Austin!

3. FERTILIZE

Once our roses are starting to grow, it’s time for fertilizer. Most any fertilizer will do—but do read labels carefully–too much of a good thing can be harmful! I use a combination of Moo Poo Tea, Mills Magic Mix and inorganic fertilizer on my roses. Fertilizer applications are about 6 weeks apart for most of my roses. Old Garden Roses and Rugosas are fertilized in the spring. Shrubs and Knockouts are only fertilized twice a season–spring and summer.

4. WATERING

Once the fertilizer has been applied, you will want to give your roses a deep watering to get those nutrients down to where they can do some good.

A good rule of thumb is to water at the base of the plant especially if you are watering in the evening, as wet rose leaves are more susceptible to fungal diseases (e.g. Black Spot & Powdery Mildew). Although, if I am watering in the morning I give them a good all-over shower. This is great way to remove dirt and any insects that have shown up for the tasty and tender buds! I think roses appreciate a refreshing shower just as we do, just don’t put them to bed wet.

5. MULCHING

This is one of my favorite parts. Mulch is so good for your roses … retains moisture, helps to keep down weeds and gives the garden that fresh, finished look!

One thing to remember when applying mulch … when mulch breaks down, it uses nitrogen in the process, so add a layer of compost on top of the soil before you add the mulch layer then the nitrogen in the soil can be used by the rose. If you are working in an established bed and last year’s mulch is still there, leave it… it becomes a “compost layer.” Win. Win.

I can’t wait to see these early bloomers!

MY FAVORITE TIP…

My favorite tip is to visit your roses daily or as often as you can to enjoy their beauty and to get to know them. Getting to know them can be key in early detection of any pest or disease.

And, when you have beautiful roses outside, who can stay in!

Let’s grab our wagons and go gather some blooms!

Bloom Thyme Friday

Link | February 2, 2018February 2, 2018 | Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

Today it is sunny and cold. I love the sun, BUT it allowed that Groundhog to see his shadow and I was not fond of that. His prediction is that there is 6 more weeks of winter. I am pleading with spring to defy the groundhog and come up with a better plan.

With all that said, Groundhog Day is kinda fun. Here’s what Wikipedia has to say:

This weather lore was brought from German-speaking areas where the badger (German: dachs) is the forecasting animal. This appears to be an enhanced version of the lore that clear weather on Candlemas forebodes a prolonged winter.

The Groundhog Day ceremony held at Punxsutawney in central Pennsylvania, centering around a semi-mythical groundhog named Punxsutawney Phil, has become the most attended.

Yea, it’s fun to hear all about it and see them get dressed up and all … I just hope winter doesn’t go on and on and on until we begin to feel like Bill Murray. #groundhogdaythemovie 😳😳😳

GOOD NEWS: I heard today on Instagram from my friends @maplehurstgardens, located in NJ, that The Groundhog predictions are mostly wrong. #thatswhatimtalkingabout

LET’S SPRING AHEAD

While we are thinking about spring, I am wondering what are your favorite spring blooms. Here are two of mine:

Daffodils

Dogwood Trees (we have 5)

At just the right time spring will come and we will have the pleasure of watching our garden being reborn. And….

HAPPY BLOOM THYME FRIDAY!

Bloom Thyme Friday: Boot Update

Link | April 21, 2017April 22, 2017 | Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

I am not sure who of you said, “You won’t want to wear the new boots in the garden—they’re too cute.” Well, that almost happened! I looked at them for two weeks and wore “other” boots. (The original boot post is here.)

But, today was the day, up and out in the garden early and the boots were on.

It was a full day of gardening and I gave them a workout! I can now report I made the right choice. They are not too “cutesy” for real work … actually these boots are amazing. I totally recommend Bogs! I even have my eye on another pair!

Don’t judge but I had a fashion shoot before getting them dirty. (And they sure are dirty now!)

Yes, the Bogs are a winner

In other garden news… Look at the Bloomerang Lilac. Beautiful, fragrant and a rebloomer!

The Dogwoods are going crazy. This picture does not do them justice since I have 4 large Dogwood trees around the deck. Don’t you just love Dogwood trees!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Bloom Thyme Friday!

Bloom Thyme: Spring Chores Today

Link | April 24, 2016 | Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

The garden chores this week have been to continue PRUNING and to start FERTILIZING the roses, to continue to pick up leaves and debris and tour the garden centers looking for treasures to add to the garden! These tasks are made all the more fun when I’m surrounded by so many pretty early spring bloomers…

Dee-Lish Roses

I bought two of the award winning (and fragrant) Dee-Lish roses from Star Roses and Plants at Dammann’s Garden Center a couple of weeks ago and they started blooming in the potting shed while I was away. Remember when I left for Cali it was SUPER cold. Today it is 74 and sunny!

Dogwood Trees

Bloomerang Lilac

Sargent Crabapple Trees

…a feast for the pollinators!

Creeping Phlox and purple mini iris.

UPDATE ON CONTAINER ROSES

Last year I grew more roses in containers than ever before. They overwintered in the dark, only lightly warmed garage. They have been out of the garage for almost a month now and they are looking great! They were fertilized yesterday and I expect I will see great things soon. They are still located near the door of the garage — just in case we get bad weather. Our last frost date doesn’t come until May 10 so I am going to keep them close by for a couple more weeks. When we get past the frost date, they will go back to the deck and spend their summer wowing us!

Rose Bed in Front of Potting Shed

… they’re coming back!

Well, break time is over… Mr. G is power washing the front porch. I better go check on him and see if he needs a drink!

Hope you are having a wonderful day!

Tips on Rose Pruning

Link | April 8, 2016March 21, 2020 | Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

First tip: DON’T BE AFRAID TO PRUNE.

I’ve made countless “mistakes” through the years and the roses always forgive and come back!

You are basically looking for the 3 Ds …

Dead, Damaged and Diseased Canes

These tips are best for those who live & grow in my zone 5b.

Here in the midwest, it is difficult to know when winter is really over and it is time to prune. For many years, I have let the forsythia tell me. When the forsythia is blooming, I start pruning. This year a huge cold snap came after the forsythia bloomed, blowing that theory.😁 MOST of the time, the forsythia plan works.

Tools of the trade…

For this task, you will need to wear protective gloves and have a sharp pair of pruners. My choices are Bionic Gloves and Barnel Pruners from Wendy Tilley, owner of The Rose Gardener Garden Shop and Harlane Garden Labels.

Pruning tips for different types of roses…

Hybrid Teas: For hybrid teas, cut out any dead wood and remove the canes that cross the middle to create more air circulation in the center of the plant which can help control fungal disease. It is also good to look for the “dinky” canes. Ones that are too puny to hold up a rose. These roses I will cut back to about 10 – 12″ high to give them a strong start. Note: After a hard winter you may have to go lower … you are looking for a cane with a cream center without brown. Some years I have had to trim down to a couple of inches. Occasionally I lose HTs from winter kill but not very often.

Note: “Where the cane is black, it is NOT coming back!” Remove the black! (I think my friend Gaye Hammond first said that.)

One of the scary terms in rose pruning is “outward facing bud eye.” BUD EYE …. what is that! 😱 A bud eye is simply the swollen area where the leaf joins with the stem and a new cane is formed.

All that means is to cut down to the tiny bud that is on the outside of the cane. Why? It is going to grow outward! If the bud is on the inside of the cane, it is going to cross the middle of the shrub. Keeping the middle more open allows more air circulation. This is helpful especially for the roses that are more susceptible to fungal diseases.

For Hybrid Teas you want to end up with 3-5 of the strongest canes to start your new growing year.

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Old Garden Roses and Rugosas: To me bigger is better as far as old garden roses are concerned. Seriously, they not only don’t need a lot of pruning, they don’t like it. For one-time blooming roses, unless the wood is dead, do not prune until after they bloom! And, when you prune, just remove the dead and spindly canes and do a bit of shaping. Occassionally it is good to revitalize the shrub by removing the oldest (and usually largest) canes.

David Austin English Roses: The last couple of years I have had success with cutting back the English roses to about 1/2 their size – and in the case of a severe winter, the die back will dictate pruning height. This year required they be pruned to a height of only 12″ or so. Of course as always prune away diseased wood, old canes and canes that cross the middle — leaving the center open for better air circulation.

The Ingenious Mr. Fairchild from last summer. Amazing David Austin!

Shrubs & Landscape Roses: These are so easy. I have several Knockout roses, Drift roses, and many amazing shrub roses from Ping Lim’s Easy Elegance series and Proven Winner’s OSO Happy and OSO Easy series. I trim these power bloomers about 1/3 or 1/2 of their size and remove any dead or diseased canes to give them a fresh start. Clean out the middle and remove canes that are crossing and rubbing on other canes. An open middle is a great way to allow more air circulation and therefore less disease! If you find you have a real tangle and feel the bush need a refresh, search through the middle and remove the oldest canes all the way to the base of the plant. Much as you would do with any other shrub. I know. I know. You have heard the words “air circulation” more than a couple of times as you read through these tips … but it’s true! ☺️

Petit Pink from Proven Winners OSO Happy Series ... A David Zlesak rose! — Petit Pink from the Proven Winners OSO Happy collection … A beautiful, healthy shrub rose hybridized by Dr. David Zlesak.

Pruning time!

CLIMBING ROSES:

There are a couple of videos that I recommend you take a look at for these…

Paul Zimmerman:

Ben Hanna (Heirloom Roses):

Ben’s tips work well for my Jasmina and New Dawn climbers…

NOTE #1:

For my one-time blooming climbers / ramblers like Peggy Martin, I do very little pruning. She has only been in my garden a few years and there may come a time when I will need to do some more exact pruning. But, for now the trimming up the winter die back and any dead canes I see, seems to be enough! I do try to get some “Air Circulation” going! 😂

During open garden day Peggy Martin just couldn’t be stopped. And, became the “place” to have your picture made — prom style!

NOTE #2:

There is no exact science and you can’t do any real damage. I could write all day and tell you stories of mistakes I’ve made.

Once you have done this a few times and observe your roses before and after, you will come up with your own best practices.

Have a wonderful blooming season!

🌹🌹🌹

Bloom Thyme: This Week in the Garden

Link | April 3, 2016January 24, 2018 | Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

With spring coming so early, this week in the garden has seen some ups and downs … especially where weather is concerned. Highs in the 60s and lows in the 20s. BUT, my time in the garden is just like always — PURE PLEASURE. If it’s cold, I just put on more clothes. LOL

My Chanticleer Pear is blooming beautifully. The daffodils are putting on quite a show and most of the roses have been given their spring hair cut.

The garden centers continue to get in more and more beautiful plants. I am on the lookout for some new companions for the roses so I’m going quite often. 😉 You already knew that, right!?

HERE THEY COME!

My bare root roses arrived from David Austin. It just so happened that my roses were delivered on the same day as a great rose friend’s roses were delivered and we chatted back and forth all day about our excitement. So nice to share the fun!

The roses were promptly opened, unwrapped and given their Moo Poo Tea 24-hour soak. On a beautiful afternoon they were planted just in time for rain (and the hail) to fall on them. Not a bad start. Hail I could live with out but… not so out of the ordinary with an early spring.

Even the David Austin boxes are beautiful.

New roses I’ve planted so far…

6341_P_1 — Olivia Rose Austin: Picture from David Austin Website

Olivia Rose Austin (David Austin)

Michael Marriott said that this rose might actually be the most outstanding of all the David Austin roses. Now, that is saying a lot. I now have two of these lovelies and will be reporting back! I am almost giddy about this rose. These roses were a lovely Christmas gift from the kids in Cali and that makes them all the more special to me.

Gertrude_Jekyll_1_2 — Gertrude Jekyll: Picture from David Austin Website

Gertrude Jekyll (David Austin)

I have rarely been without a Gertrude Jekyll in my garden but my last one became a weak bloomer after about 12 years and I decided to take it out and start again. The bare root plant that David Austin sent is one of the most healthy plants I have ever seen! This rose is going to be one for the record book I am just sure. If you are concerned about planting a bareroot rose, my good friend the Redneck Rosarian just did a video about that … watch here.

Look at all those strong canes! Gonna be fabulous!!

There’s more coming so stay tuned!

Isn’t this just so exciting!

🎉🌹🎉

What are you planting this spring?

Rose Buzz: Helping Roses Be Their Best Self

Link | March 11, 2016March 11, 2016 | Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

Contrary to popular belief, roses are simple creatures with basic needs like…

SUN: You’ve heard it said over and over …. LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION. Pick a spot with 6 – 8 hours of sun!

WATER: All living things need water. The best tip for watering I can give you is—water deeply. Shallow watering leads to shallow roots—which leads to plants that are more susceptible to dry conditions. Send those roots down deep!

NUTRITIOUS SOIL: This is the most important part! Good soil is the best gift you can give your plants. Roses don’t like like “wet feet,” (Neither do most other plants!), so drainage is key. For those of you in my region (midwest Zone 5) you are probably dealing with clay soil. Amend clay soils with compost and aged manure.

DEADHEADING: To keep your roses blooming throughout the season, remove spent blooms.

FERTILIZER: We ask a lot of roses … Be your best self and bloom all season long, so they appreciate a boost! For shrub roses the best time to fertilize is the spring. For hybrid teas and floribundas, they will appreciate some fertilizer in early spring and mid summer.

MULCH: 2-3″ of mulch helps retain moisture and provides a weed barrier. It is one of my fav parts in the process as it adds the finishing touch in the garden!

GOOD COMPANIONS: We all benefit from good companions. They truly help us be our best self and in the case of roses, many of those companions play host to the good bugs they need to fight the bad bugs lurking about!

YOU! Like in all good relationships, there is no substitute for time together. They like to show off for you and the more you visit the more you will recognize what is working and what is not! Maybe this is the year to take a selfie of you and your roses and post it on social media. That will surely prove how much you love them. 🙂

🐝 🐝 🐝

Some of my roses on a beautiful summer day…

It’s October 1 and I’m Thinking About Spring

October 1, 2015 | Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

Yes, it’s October 1 and all I can do is think about spring. 🌷🌸🌹

So, I am going to take advantage of the fact that it is Thursday and do a #TBT post about spring and blooms and such. It will make me feel better about the coming roseless seasons.

My spring was ushered in with a trip to the Garden 2 Blog event and P. Allen’s Smith amazing rose garden and so many wonderful rose friends. Ahhhh….