BLOOM THYME: It’s coming fast

Link | August 30, 2025August 30, 2025 | Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

A few weeks ago I started this post but it began very differently. There were sighs, laments and serious whining about the heat! This week all that changed! Highs in the 70s and lows in the 50s … with one night dipping down to 49. Oooooo That is a little low for me this time of year. 😳 Around here we are advocates for long, long autumns where the roses get to have a beautiful fall flush. And we pick flowers for months. More weather trauma… oh how we need rain!! Things are getting scary dry. I am even fearful for some of our large trees. 😕 Soooo very glad we added some irrigation this spring for some of the areas and are adding more this fall!

As you turn the page on the calendar and it says SEPTEMBER, are you shaking your head and saying, “where did the summer go?!? If you are you are not alone. It was a fast one. And, if you don’t talk about weather, around here it was a fabulous one! A summer of family, friends, travel, flowers and loads of fun.

I have moved to that gardening stage of ‘reflecting and taking note’ that comes with the end of summer. Deciding what worked and should be repeated AND what didn’t work and what areas need a tweak! I’m taking loads of pictures so I don’t forget the details. I will print those pictures and use them when I get down to serious planning. Those physical pictures are a great help! If you aren’t aware, WalMart does photo printing that is so easy, cheap and fast. I print a ton of pictures!

In an upcoming post I’ll talk about the Hits and Misses for this growing season, but for now…

LET’S TALK ABOUT ROSES

While walking through the garden this week it occurred to me that many of the roses I can’t stop talking about because they are bringing me such joy this year are Meilland Roses and Kordes Roses.

MEILLAND ROSES I GROW…

(To see the rose, click the link. The number beside the name indicates how many I have – if I have multiples.)

As many of your know Meilland Roses is a French company with a rich history. Starting in 1850. They have given us iconic roses like the Peace Rose (Link to Article about Peace), the popular Eden Rose, the gorgeous Francis Meilland Rose, the Romantica Series, the Drift series and so many of the modern roses that I am falling in love with.

Mother of Pearl (9) (Link)

Romantica Moonlight (2) (Link)

Bolero (2) (Link)

Sweet Mademoiselle (Link)

These are brand new to my garden and showing great promise…

Loves Me Loves Me Not (Link)

Princess Charlene de Monaco (Link)

ON MY LIST FROM MEILLAND FOR 2026…

Martha Stewart (NEW) (Link)

To see the complete list of Meilland Roses sold through Star Roses and Plants, read on here.

KORDES ROSES

The Kordes Company is an award winning German rose company known for hardy, disease-resistant roses. They are one of the first companies to stop spraying their rose fields to find the most disease resistant roses. They did so more than 30 years ago. I do find them to be more disease resistant and winter hardy for our growing zone (6a). I have grown so many beautiful ones through the years!

KORDES ROSES I GROW…

(To see the rose, click the link. The number beside the name indicates how many I have – if I have multiples.)

Veranda Cream (2) (Link)

Parfuma Earth Angel (3) (Link)

Parfuma Bliss (2) (Link)

Savannah (3) (Link)

Honeymoon (2) (Link)

Sunbelt Plum Perfect (2) (Link)

Jasmina (Link)

Pomponella (Link)

New to my garden but showing great promise…

Parfuma Summer Romance (Link)

Raspberry Cupcake (Link)

There are other roses from other growers that are big winners too and I’ll talk about them next time.

WHERE TO FIND ROSES

If you cannot find these roses locally, here is a list of where you can also look… (Link)

RECENT ROSE CHATS

This summer I have had some super fun and interesting guests! If you’ve missed an episode, here are recent ones. For others go to RoseChatPodcast.com.

PLAYING FAVORITES
GUEST: Kimberley Dean, The Rose Geek
LISTEN HERE

MINIATURE ROSES
GUEST: Matt Douglas of High Country Roses
LISTEN HERE

TIME TO DOWNSIZE MY GARDEN
GUEST: Dee Nash
LISTEN HERE

BLOOM THYME THIS WEEK

SEASONS

As the seasons change let’s remember the true Master Gardener and His gifts to us…

Genesis 1: 14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the sky to separate day from night. These lights will be used for signs, seasons, days, and years.

UNTIL NEXT TIME, Happy Gardening Friends.💐

BLOOM THYME FRIDAY: SOFT FALL

Link | September 13, 2024September 14, 2024 | Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

It’s that time again.🍂 .🍂 .🍂 If you have been following for a while you know that Fall is not my favorite. (Spring 💐) Getting closer to the long, dark, cold winter does take a bit of getting used too. Mr. G loves all things fall so his euphoria is rubbing off. He even has me totally excited for snow days!

For many of my gardening years I lived in a sea of variations of pink, white, purple and the palest yellow! I tried many reds, yellows & oranges but they didn’t last very long.

PEACHY THINGS

Peach was my gateway color — when I planted my first Mother of Pearl Rose. Mother of Pearl can go from pink to peach. In my garden she is more peach. So, I now have 9 of them. Then in 2019 I found a “sport” on a Petite Pink rose that became Petite Peach! What a wonderful ride that has been!

ADDING MORE FALL

For the last few years I have been on a journey to add more fall into my life in the form of fall colored blooms. I have been successful with having dahlias that blend summer and fall and now I’m moving to Rudbeckias. A bad experience with a rudbeckia pass-along plant given to me 25+ years ago has me very skittish. Regardless of my efforts, that plant keeps popping up and trying to take over!

Have you seen all the rudbeckias out now. There are some beauties out there! Many are annuals in my zone and maybe that’s for the best! 😉 I started the Sahara blend using the winter sowing method and they are just now beginning to bloom. They are gorgeous but I believe I have them planted where they aren’t getting enough sun – so they are blooming later than expected. (They were planted safely tucked out of main sight in case they proved to be too garish!😄) I love them. Next year I will bring them out into the light of day!

While researching rudbeckias on You Tube I came across the Hello Garden account and a particular video on rudbeckias. While Kate was showing some of the beautiful rudbeckias she was planting she used the terms SOFT FALL and GENTLE FALL and talked about easing into the fall with your color palette. PERFECT. I keep thinking of those words and have decided it is my new fall mantra! I want Soft Fall colors in my garden and I want a soft, gentle fall attitude.

Thank you Kate for a new perspective and all the great garden information on the Hello Garden site. You can link to Hello Garden here. She’s also on IG here.

MORE TO COME

I know my journey into fall colors is not over. My friend Dee of RedDirtRamblings has me getting very excited about Marigolds. Marigolds! I have never been excited about marigolds before. Well except when I heard the story about how roses became the national floral emblem and the fact that marigolds were a part of that story. Read here.

Back to marigolds… Dee’s right, there are some super pretty ones out there. Mercy, is there no end! Of course there isn’t! 🎉🎉 While the oranges and reds will probably never work their way into the main borders & beds around here, I can find places where they can work their particular kind of magic!

Do you have a favorite rudbeckia or marigold I need to know about???

Other plants in my garden that are giving me a SOFT, GENTLE FALL vibe …

Hydrangeas as they fade to deeper rose and rust colors

Dahlias … so many beautiful colors of dahlias that go from summer to fall beautifully.

Winterthur Viburnum berries

Grasses

And Zinnias!

ON THE OTHER HAND

Three weeks ago I had hand surgery (right hand 😏) that has certainly curtailed any “real” gardening. On the other hand, it has not even slowed down my planning for next year, my seed, dahlia tuber, and plant research or endless list making! And, I’m finding out how important that little microphone by the text box on my iPhone truly is! Voice to text! A winner – if you proof read!! 😳

Since I couldn’t be out among the flowers as much, I filled my window with vases of cut blooms. We loved it so much that I continue to refill the vases!

This project has certainly given me the opportunity to observe how each of these perform in a vase! Something I have been wanting to do! So far big winners are Plum Perfect, Petite Peach, Quietness and Bolero.

Here is Bolero proving what a winner she is. I do love this rose. So glad I added two of them this year. So fragrant too.

Hand is healing very well, big bandage is long gone and now I just have to protect and do the hand exercises. No “real” gardening for a few more weeks. I’ll ease back in!

ROSE CHAT PODCAST

This week on the podcast I chatted with Gaye Hammond about US Rose Trials. Boy did she bring some interesting facts and behind the scene stories!

U.S. ROSE TRIALS PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE
Gaye Hammond, Master Rosarian

Gaye has been an integral part of several U.S. Rose Trials and has much to share with us regarding rose trials of the past, the present, and will take a peek into the future. Gaye will guide us into how they are conducted and the valuable role they play in bringing beautiful and healthy roses to our gardens. Get ready to learn and laugh as Gaye educates and entertains us!

You can LISTEN HERE.

UNTIL NEXT TIME…

Yes, fall is coming fast and aren’t we fortunate that God’s creation gives us much beauty in every season. Let’s take our time and enjoy it slowly.

🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂

BLOOM THYME FRIDAY: EXTRA TIME

Link | October 27, 2023October 27, 2023 | Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

Well it’s been a minute since I posted. We’ve had a wonderful time visiting family and and came home and hit the ground running with fall projects.

If you google “first frost date” in my area you’ll find October 10 – 16 but this year like last year, those dates came without anything close to a killing frost. Yay! We still have flowers blooming but looks like that is coming to an end next week!

I feel like I’ve survived the heat of August, made it through September where I made peace with the end of the gardening year and have moved onto October where I can more enjoy the seasonal transition.

October has been just about perfect. We’ve had beautiful days to enjoy the garden and to get things in order before winter.

EXTRA TIME: EXTRA PROJECTS

Mr G surprised me with a truck full of wood and plans for some wonderful projects… updating two of my raised beds and a new gate for the herb garden.

In the first picture you see that the current gate has been lovingly and beautifully hugged by Petite Pink this year to the point it could not open but the more open design of this gate allowed bunnies their free will so we allowed Petite Pink her space. But now she has been pruned back a bit and Mr. G’s newest gate will give the bunnies a harder time getting in. Hope it discourages the raccoons and ground hogs too.🤞🏻

EXTRA TIME: JUST BE

The extra time has also given me more time to “just be” in the garden and watch the changes happen slowly.

Walking down this path is so relaxing with the fall hues. At this stage there is a “hush” to the garden and for now “hush” is good.

EXTRA TIME: BLOOM THYME

Many flowers are still putting out beautiful blooms. Especially the dahlias. The soft peachy tones have turned brighter but blooms are plentiful.

EXTRA TIME: GARDEN VISITORS

The bees, moths and butterflies are still seen occasionally!

Our little friend enjoying the strawflower.

PLANTING DAFFODILS

I only bought one type of daffodil this year and the recommendation for this one came from wonderful garden friend Christie Purifoy from her book Garden Maker – she said it was her favorite and it was fragrant so I had to go take a look! Yep, one look and I ordered them – actually so long ago that I forgot I did! Nice surprise! Thanks Christie!

Meet ‘Bridal Crown”…

Bridal Crown was introduced in the mid 1940s and is an award-winning, multiple stem daffodil – having 3 to 6 white and saffron flowers per stem. This beauty is heavenly fragrant, one of the earliest of the doubles to bloom; is a great forcer and is one of the best looking grown in pots. (I think I am going to plant some of mine in pots.)

(12″-14″ tall / Blooms early-mid spring / Hardy in Zones 4-9) I bought mine at Brent and Becky’s Bulbs. I checked and they still have some available… LINK

I have several types of daffodils and love them but my more recent daffodil love has been aimed at the more “rosette” looking double blooms and the ones with multiple blooms per stem. Other favorites at the moment: Thalia, White Lion, Cheerfulness, and Minnow. Planting daffodils in the fall sure give us so much to look forward to! #thinkspring

SPEAKING OF CHRISTIE PURIFOY…

If you are like me and are a big fan of her books Garden Maker and A Home in Bloom, you’ll be be pleased to know that another book is coming in March Seedtime and Harvest – you can preorder now. Seedtime and Harvest is a series of lyrical essays exploring the myriad ways that gardening deepens our understanding of the natural world and grows our capacity for care and connection. If you don’t have these wonderful books – perhaps you should mention them to Santa! 🎅 🎁 Links are above if he needs them.

STICKERS ANYONE?

I love stickers! I love to put them on envelopes, seed packets for gathered seeds, in my garden journal and such!

These are some of the prettiest stickers I’ve found. They are supposed to look like dried flowers and they certainly do. So, if you’re interested, here’s the link!

LATEST ROSE CHAT PODCAST

GRACE ROSE FARM with Gracie Poulson, Owner

Friends, I know you will LOVE this chat! The delightful Gracie takes us back to the beginning where she fell in love with roses as a very young child and brings us up-to-the-minute on her vision and what’s coming from Grace Rose Farm. Hint: It’s all beautiful!

LISTEN HERE

PLACES OF RETREAT

Much of the news we hear is breaking our hearts and making us anxious on so many levels. I am so grateful that God has told us that we can “cast our anxiety on him because he cares for us.” 1 Peter. 5:7

And, how fortunate that he has given gardeners a place of retreat that gives us joy and peace – whether you have loads of land, a windowsill or a patio where you plant, putter and get your hands in the soil.

“Gardening has been shown to lighten mood and lower levels of stress and anxiety. It’s very gratifying to plant, tend, harvest and share your own food. Routines provide structure to our day and are linked to improved mental health. Gardening routines, like watering and weeding, can create a soothing rhythm to ease stress.

-Mayo Clinic

Science has discovered that working with soil is beneficial to your health and happiness. The reason is the soil bacterium, mycobacterium vaccae. These microscopic bacteria enter into your body when you touch the soil. The bacteria triggers serotonin and dopamine production, both chemicals that produce a feeling of happiness. By the way, they are chemicals normally present in antidepressant medication.

-Manager Up, June 2023

Until next time Friends, I wish you joy, peace and time in your garden.

BLOOM THYME FRIDAY: Climbing Roses and Fall Treats

Link | October 16, 2020October 19, 2020 | Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

We’ve had some beautiful weather — just perfect to work on the climbing roses and I have several! If you are interested, here they are….

Peggy Martin (3)
New Dawn (3)
Jasmina
Francis E. Lester (more rambler than climber)
Ghislaine de Feligonde
Bathsheba
The Generous Gardener (2)
Veilchenblau
Papi Delbard
Honeymoon Arborose
Lady Ashe

Mercy, I sort of forgot I had so many until I wrote the list! I told Mr. G this week I really do not need any more climbers. 🙄 I hope he forgets I said that.

I love them! Nothing adds charm and beauty to a cottage garden like climbing roses (or clematis for that matter but that’s a story for another day).

DO CLIMBING ROSES REALLY CLIMB?

So, do climbing roses actually climb? NO, they send out long arching canes that we shape and secure.
In the last few weeks, my climbers have been sending long, long canes. Some are 10’ – 15’.

So, I am doing “ladder time.” Even though I am not the most comfortable on a ladder and even though I do get the occasional prick. (Ever tried to tie up New Dawn??? OUCH.) .. I consider it a wonderful job. While up there I am looking over the garden – making plans as I gaze. And while I am shaping up the climbers, I almost get giddy as I visualize how gorgeous they will be in the spring as a result of my love touch.

MOST COMMON QUESTION ON CLIMBING ROSES

A question I hear often is “why do my climbing roses only bloom on the tips?” The answer to that question is they bloom on laterals. So to produce more lateral canes, you need to secure the long main canes horizontally – this forces lateral growth all down the cane and those laterals will bear flowers. Note: Work with your canes to gently shape – not a harsh angle that might damage the cane. Ask me how I know this…. Yes, experience. 🤦‍♀️

This is my 1st year Peggy Martin secured this way…

Fifth-year Peggy Martin – secure and happy…

Another common question is what do I use to tie my roses.

As you can imagine through the years I have used just about everything — including pantyhose – and they work. #truth However, my tie of choice is the green stretchy tape. Check it out on Amazon here.

PRUNING CLIMBING ROSES

My rule of thumb is don’t do an overall prune of climbers — especially for the first three years while they are getting established. Pruning climbing roses is very different from pruning shrub roses or hybrid teas. Your task from the start and ongoing will be to trim out dead, diseased, or any cane that does not contribute to the overall health and beauty of the rose. As you watch your climbing rose grow you will begin to see what I mean. #trustme

ROSE TERROR 😱

Just in time for Halloween, I have a scary video for you to watch. Be sure you watch all the way to the end! In this video, Ben Hanna, owner of Heirloom Roses, is pruning his very established climbing roses. Even I panic when I watch this video. In 15 minutes he will terrorize and teach you!

REMEMBER, STAY UNTIL THE END and see the rewards!

Another pruning video that is very helpful and not quite so scary is this video by Paul Zimmerman. Paul will entertain you and educate you on the many facets of training roses!

Favorite line from this video… “sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind to the rose.” #truth

As with all plant care, visit your plants regularly and they will help guide you to what they need.

BLOOM THYME

We started the week with one night dipping down to 32 and some of the roses didn’t like it. Some of them didn’t mind at all.

If you are like me and your garden season is ending, start following Michele Endersby on Facebook or Instagram. Her season is just getting started. Her artist’s eye and love of roses might just get us through the winter.

FALL TREAT

One of our family’s favorite fall treats is CARAMEL DIP for apples. (You can dip anything you want but yummy fall apples are ooh la la!)

I have been making this simple recipe for more than 30 years. I first put it on my blog in 2012 and it continues to be one of the most downloaded pages. If you want to see the original post, read on here.

RECIPE

1 Package of Kraft Caramels Note: I buy Kraft Caramels in 11oz packages (40 caramels)
1 Stick of Butter
1 Can of Sweetened Condensed Milk

That’s it! Stir over low heat until everything is melted and blended. This takes about 20 minutes.

Do stir constantly … this mixture BURNS VERY EASILY!!

I love packaging the dip in little jelly jars … 15 – 30 seconds in the microwave and it is perfect. If they last long enough, store in the refrigerator!

What are your favorite fall treats?

NEXT TIME

Next time we might have to talk about bulbs. Little boxes keep being delivered. Kinda like Christmas!

Until then, be happy and safe my friends. 😘

Bloom Thyme Friday: Heavenly

Link | October 25, 2019February 15, 2022 | Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

Well friends I have turned the corner and have said a proper goodbye to summer with the last rose bokay I picked this week. I am embracing the fall beauty around me!

Side Note: One garden friend on seeing my recent bokay asked if I should be still cutting my roses. She has heard me say on more than one occasion that we should stop deadheading our roses several weeks before the first frost to encourage them to begin to make hips (seeds) and go to sleep in protection of the cold to come. That is true. However, once a week I do scour the garden of nearly 200 roses to find the best of the best. My Cherry Parfait rose had about 25 blooms and 15 or so buds and I just picked one. So I do limit my cutting during this time! (But, it’s super hard to do so.) I’m so glad she asked!

WHAT I’M LOVING…

The most beautiful thing right now is the Heavenly Blue Morning Glory vine… that has completely invaded the Potting Shed’s personal space.

Morning Glories (Ipomoea) are natives albeit “very happy overachieving natives” who can spread their beauty around in ways that look like an invasive! 😳 Their ability to self seed gets them into trouble!

Yes, it is heavenly!

Bees love, birds love, butterflies love and even my camera lens loves these amazing blooms. A fall highlight!

NOT SO HEAVENLY

A morning glory family member, Bind Weed, is a much more aggressive plant and drives our farmers crazy. Do do check your variety and your local cooperative extension for information on growing any of these vines in your area.

Birds do contribute to the problem! As I mentioned in a previous post. I have a very healthy vine of Grandpa Ott blooming this year and I have not planted that variety for many, many years! I suspect some little bird left me a present.

POTTING SHED PUTTERINGS…

Hudson’s African Violet is still going strong and has been blooming for several weeks. Cooper’s African Violet is smaller but it’s on the verge of another bloom cycle too. (Both started from a single leaf.)

Still haven’t potted my roses. Maybe tomorrow! 🤦‍♀️ But we have new tiny leaves.

And, I bought one new plant ….. a cute little peperomia.

And lastly, this beauty is bringing me all kinds of happy — but alas I can’t remember her name. Do you know it???

If it is cold where you are, I hope you are safe and warm and enjoying a mug of something delish.

If it’s spring where you are, enjoy it enough for me too and share pictures. 😊

What Fall Brings

Link | October 23, 2016October 23, 2016 | Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

Once I “get over” the fact that summer is over and spring is far away, I can nestle into fall and all that it can bring to the garden. Beautiful colors. Gorgeous seed pods. Luscious rose hips. Blooming Grasses. And, to the gardener. Slower pace. More time to think. More Potting Shed time. And, pumpkin spice everything. 🎃 😉

Tonight I am taking advantage of some Potting Shed time. As most of you know, this is such a special place for me. A place to work, play and pray. All with a view of the garden.

This has been quite a fall. Nice rains. Plentiful sunshine. Moderate temps. And some very lovely blooms.

Like these…

Campfire from First Editions … a new rose to me and one I am loving a lot!

East to Please Up Close — Easy to Please Up Close

And the grasses…

I hope you are having a wonderful fall season full of beauty and extra time … and plenty of pumpkin spice everything!

🎃🍁🍂🎃🍁🍂🎃

FALL ROSE CARE

Link | September 10, 2016September 10, 2016 | Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

Even though the temps are still high and the rain has decided to pour down on us, it’s time for me to admit that fall is near and winter is coming. Time to prepare the garden for the long winter’s nap. In my Zone 5b garden that could mean most anything as I’ve seen winters with more days than I care to count below 0 and then there are the mild midwest winters. From the blizzard of 1978 to the polar vortex to jacket weather–we’ve seen it all!

Regardless, good fall care makes spring all the sweeter.

SNOWDAY_005

STOP FERTILIZING & DEADHEADING

About 6 weeks before expected frost, it is time to stop fertilizing and deadheading the roses. Since in my neck of the woods, the first frost date can be anywhere from October 5 – October 28.

Stopping the deadheading process tells the roses it’s okay to begin to go to sleep and start producing seeds in the form of rose hips. (Read more about rose hips here.) Don’t trim those off either–the birds find them particularly yummy.

GENERAL CLEANUP

Remove all diseased leaves from around your roses. Black spot and other fungal diseases are not discouraged by cold temperatures and will just over winter and be there next spring– so they must go! Don’t add any of your diseased leaves to your compost pile … they will overwinter there too!

PRUNING

I don’t do much pruning in the fall (Read about spring care here.), unless there are rose canes that have gotten extra tall or spindly. Those I trim back to prevent them from flapping in those cold winter winds as there is a danger of loosening around the roots and making the roses more susceptible to damage from the cold. Pruning says, “Let’s get busy growing.” That is the wrong message to send in the fall!

MULCH

I think it is very important to add an extra layer of mulch to protect the roses through the winter. And, for roses that are more tender, I will mound the mulch much higher on them–to about 1/2 the height of the shrub.

NOW WHAT?

Now it’s time to sit back, relax and pour through those beautiful catalogs and websites and get to dreaming, plotting and planning. Spring will be here in about 174 days.

Although fall and winter are not my favorites, I am thankful for every season in life and in the garden. My heart knows that… He makes everything beautiful in its time. Ecclesiastes 3:11

Rose Eye Candy

October 4, 2015 | Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

Today I had some extra time to enjoy the garden and spent most of my time cutting blooms.

Around here you know that October could throw you a curve ball at any time and before you know it frost is upon you. That means every bloom in October becomes very precious. And, the cooler temperatures just intensify the colors!

TODAY’S HARVEST…

My watering can was filled to the brim. Actually I filled two watering cans! Out of the “harvest” I was able to make 6 arrangements. Oh happy day! 🌹🌹

This is the largest one! It promptly went on my kitchen table.

UP CLOSE & PERSONAL…

Here are some of the harvested blooms up close and personal…

Neil Diamond HT from Weeks Roses.

Dick Clark Grandiflora from Weeks.

Lions Fairy Tale from Kordes … This one is so much prettier in person! Such an easy care beauty. I bought this one from Chamblee Nursery.

Music Box (Easy Elegance by Ping Lim) with Double Knockout and Flamenco Rosita (Chamblee Nursery) in the background. All three of these roses fall into the easy care category!

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

ROSE BUZZ: Fall Rose Care

October 2, 2015 | Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

It’s time for me to admit that fall is here and winter is coming and it’s time to prepare the garden for it’s long winter’s nap. In my Zone 5b garden that could mean most anything as I’ve seen winters with more days than I care to count below 0 and then there are the mild midwest winters like last year.

Regardless, good fall care makes spring all the sweeter.