My family and friends are helping me get the new gardening year started off right! Take a look at some of the wonderful gifts I’ve recently received….
HOG WASH: “Perfect Scrub for Mechanics, Gardeners and Kids” That just about covers my garden experiences!
ROSE JAM SHOWER GEL: “Sweet, tart and wonderfully fresh, this indulgent blend of rose, vanilla and lemon leaves you smelling of a rose garden and nourishing argan oil gets skin gorgeously soft.” Don’t you love the sound of that?
HELPING HANDS HAND CREAM: “A nurturing almond, cocoa butter and chamomile hand cream to give back what life has taken out.” Sounds good enough to eat.
GIFT CERTIFICATES FOR 2 DAVID AUSTIN ROSES: The Generous Gardener and The Ingenious Mr. Fairchild. I am over the moon about these.
This week on the Rose Chat Radio podcast, the delightful Karen Kemp-Docksteader, sales and marketing manager for Weeks Roses, joined us to chat about some wonderful new rose introductions for 2014! Podcast link.
Coretta Scott King
Coretta Scott King Grandiflora Rose
Named for the wife of Dr. Martin Luther King, this rose is not only lovely but very disease resistant. Chris, (The Redneck Rosarian) had an early release of this rose and it has performed beautifully for him this entire summer!
Good as Gold
Good as Gold Hybrid Tea
A very unusual gold color! Karen said it is stunning in the field and she can hardly pass by it without stopping. This rose is known as a blooming machine!
You’re The One
You’re the One Miniature Rose
Karen pointed out to us that “miniature” does not refer to the growth habit of this rose but rather the blooms are miniature. Isn’t it just so cute! Perfect rose show form!
Jump for Joy
Jump for Joy Floribunda
Like its parent, Julia Child, this rose is known for disease resistance and beautiful foliage. This is another blooming machine that will fit well into any landscape.
Happy Go Lucky
Happy Go Lucky Grandiflora
This beauty has the multi-petaled old rose form with a lovely tea fragrance. I find yellow roses hard to resist so this may quickly go on my wish list!
SNEAK PEAK…
Karen shared with us that it is confirmed there is to be a new line of Downton Abbey Roses. Starting with the first in the series, Anna’s Promise.
Look at this beauty…
Anna’s PromiseThe beautiful Anna of Downton Abbey
We look forward to having Karen back to talk more about this new line of roses! 🙂
Here in my world the temps are lower than normal and that makes for some wonderful garden thyme! The garden is looking more like spring than fall this week as the roses are coming back to bloom! Know that I am totally in denial about the leaves on the trees that are beginning to change color and the cicadas that are singing!
Here are some of my pretties…
PoseidonJulia ChildPeach DriftFrancis MeillandBeverly in bud…Beverly in bloom…
Here are some of the other blooms I’m getting to enjoy…
And we have butterflies everywhere!
Thanks for stopping by! I am wishing you a wonderful day filled with what you love best!
Portland roses make up a small, repeat blooming class of old garden roses. There is some question about their parentage but they are most commonly thought to be a chance crossing of Damasks and China Roses.
I have two Portlands in my garden…
Rose de Rescht
Rose de Rescht is a lovely deep pink Portland Rose with a rich damask fragrance that dates back to before 1900. She is hardy in zones 4b through 9b.
This is the second year for Rose de Rescht in my garden, so we are just getting to know each other. To date she hasn’t grown very large, but we did have a nice flush of bloom. And, if she is like my other Portland, Comte de Chambord, I can expect a few more blooms through out the season.
Comte de Chambord
Comte de Chambord is a Portland that dates back to 1860. I’ve had this rose in my garden several years and it is one of my favorites! Maybe it is the amazing Damask fragrance that is not to be missed. Maybe it’s the beautiful pink color with just a tinge of violet. Or, maybe it is the large, full-petalled old rose flowers that win me over … but win me it does — even though I have to keep my eye on this one for Black Spot.
These pictures give you a good glimpse of what I’m talking about…
Large, flat, quartered old rose loveliness!
Yes, I’m willing to forgive a little Black Spot for this one. 🙂
Especially when they look so yummy in a mixed rose bokay!
One of my favorite roses is NEW DAWN. Healthy. Beautiful. Low maintenance. Sweetly fragrant.
Over my Potting Shed last week…
About…
New Dawn is a large-flowering climber that was introduced in the 1930s … a “modern” rose with old rose charm.
In 1997 New Dawn was voted the most popular rose in the world at the 11th World Convention of Rose Societies.
It actually was the first plant to receive a patent.
It is hardy in Zones 5 – 10.
And, I learned this spring that it’s P Allen Smith’s favorite. When I was in Arkansas for Garden 2 Blog, New Dawn was everywhere, on fences, trellis, in cemeteries and the walls of buildings. New Dawn in full bloom, especially in mass, is breathtaking.
Here are two trellises that face each other in one of my garden sections… both are laden this week with New Dawn!
Dueling New Dawns… 🙂
In my garden…
I have three of these beautiful roses. One covers the pergola over my potting shed porch. The other 2 are on an arbor over a garden gate.
10 years ago I bought my first New Dawn from White Flower Farm. They sold New Dawn as part of their Dawn & Dusk collection … pairing it with the clematis Etiole Violette. This is a perfect pairing that I would highly recommend!
On both sides of this arbor are New Dawns and Etoile Violettes…
When they bloom in the spring …. they B L O O M. The softness of the petals and sweet fragrance make this rose just breathtaking. It is officially a “reblooming” rose but I don’t see many blooms after the spring bloom.
Just like the tag says, this rose is disease resistant and low maintenance however, you need to provide a strong support–this is a vigorous grower. And, I would advise keeping up with the pruning …. it can get out of hand! Every 3 or 4 years I do a fairly major pruning to keep the rose fresh. The New Dawns on my arbor were cut back hard last year but have already reached the top! They are hard to discourage!
One more thing, when pruning a New Dawn gauntlet style rose gloves will be your friends. Hiding behind those yummy blooms are hooky thorns that mean business! But, once you experience the blooms of a New Dawn rose, you’ll forget all about the thorns.
And, one more picture…
We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses. -Abraham Lincoln
Have a wonderful day! Come back tomorrow … tomorrow’s rose is gonna be a show stopper! 🙂
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.
The Grande Dame is a lovely and very fragrant hybrid tea.
Here’s what Weeks Roses has to say about this 2011 release…
Grande Dame…
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.
Height / Habit: Tall/Upright & bushy
Bloom / Size: Full, old-fashioned, in nodding clusters
Petal count: Over 30 broad petals
Parentage: Meredith x Wild Blue Yonder
Fragrance: Intense old rose
Hybridizer: Carruth – 2011
Comments: A modern antique for all climates.
Mixing old and new is what my garden is all about!
Here is the Grande Dame in my garden last summer. Stunning!
Since my garden style is cottage gardening, companions play a key role along with “all those roses.” There are some plants in my Zone 5 garden that are wonderful rose companions, but I really have to keep an eye on them. I affectionately call them my over achievers. They can and will take over! However, I have to say that after 2 years of extremely hot and extremely dry conditions, I am very grateful for my over achievers. They perform beautifully–even when other plants are giving up.
I don’t know what this summer will bring, but even if it is H O T and D R Y again, these are some plants I will be able to count on to be companions to my roses.
Top 7 Over Achievers…
#7 Daisies: A determined and prolific bloomer in most any condition. And as we learned in You’ve Got Mail, they are the “friendliest flower”!
Don’t you think daisies are the friendliest flowers? -Kathleen Kelly, You’ve Got Mail 🙂
#6 Black-eyed Susans: Bright, dependable and beautiful in mass.
Beautiful in mass and peeking through fences!
#5 Catmint: Low, sprawling and brings in the bees!
Bees can’t get enough of me!
#4 Autumn Joy Sedum: Truly low maintenance and they say to hot, dry conditions, “Bring it on. We can take it!”
We can beat the heat!
#3 Yarrow: It comes in pinks, yellows, white, reds, lavender and on and on. Great to hug up to and around other flowers and roses and fill in around the edges of borders. Perfect as filler in rose arrangements.
NOTE: Recently I interviewed Baldo Villegas (leading expert for the ARS on rose insects and diseases — entomologist, gardener, horticulturalist and self professed rose nut) on Rose Chat Radio. One of the many wonderful things he said about companion planting as it pertains to the over all health of roses and other plants, was that he considered Yarrow to be one of the premiere companion plants for roses! Listen to the his entertaining and informative interview HERE.
Pink YarrowYarrow is great to fill in the edges.
#2 Moonbeam Coreopsis: Easy, breezy, long blooming and beautiful. Love Love Love! There are so many varieties of coreopsis … check them out!
Moonbeam Coreopsis around pink rose…Moonbean Coreopsis up close and personal
#1 Feverfew: Tiny little daisy-like flowers that are great fillers in rose arrangements!
Tiny little feverfew…Feverfew in arrangement…
Do you have plants in your garden that are over achievers —- one day they are all over the place and you are ready to “shovel-prune.” Then the next day they are glorious and you think you can’t live without them?
Spring, bring it! I am armed and ready!
