If I Grew Only ONE Rose It Would Be.....And Good Companion Plants for Roses

If I could grow only ONE rose (it's impossible I know!) it would have to be the climber called 'Zephirine Droughin' (ZD)!

I do not take lightly my choice and have given it a great deal of consideration. There is really no contest in my garden (I have several cultivars and varieties including the ever popular Knockout roses). Nope, hands down ZD beats them all.

ZD is a climber that will bloom sporadically all season long. It gives its main flush of blooms right about now. My ZD is two years old and receives no special care whatsoever. Gosh, I don't even fertilize it! I do have to train the canes. I decided last year once I saw how vigorous it was growing to train the canes to not only grow over my small arbor but to grow over the adjacent chainlink fence. That was a success as you can see! ZD is fairly thornless, has an old rose scent, does not get any defoliating leaf diseases, stays looking good well into the winter, and is an overall excellent rose. It would be my ONE and only if I could grow only one rose. Thank goodness that is not the case!

Blooming nearby are several other perennials. Anything that blooms at the same time and looks good with other plants can be good companions. I just happen to think that some of these perennials are good companions for roses. The first is iris.

Next up are baptisias. This one happens to be 'Carolina Moonlight'. It will be moving to a new home very soon on our land but for now it looks great in Tiger Gardens 1 near ZD.

Peonies. Peonies and roses and irises and baptisias alone can make an AWESOME spring garden. Throw in some salvia and wow!

More peonies in the garden. These bloom with catmint. Catmint is an excellent companion with all sorts of roses and perennials. As a bonus catmint is drought tolerant, looks good all season, repeat blooms, and makes a fantastic groundcover under roses.

Finally a long shot of some of the dozens of peonies in my garden. This is the rear center bed. Here you see some of that salvia ('May Night' shown here but there are many good types) I talked about, catmint, irises, and peonies. There are also roses nearby (directly across from this garden in the Sunny Perennial bed. All are super good bloomers....

in the garden....

What is your ONE and only rose?

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

5 Year Blogiversary & Giveaway!

BY SKEETER

 Dogwood and Swamp Jessamine are blooming in my GEORGIA GARDENS...

This vine is full of blooms, I tell ya...

The only thing that would make me happier, would be for the Honey Suckle to bloom at the same time. The red and yellow together would be an awesome sight. Too bad most of the jessamine blooms will be gone by the time the honeysuckle burst open. But as you can see, there is hope for me this year.

Miss Saigon, Dutch Iris is also blooming for me! I planted the bulbs 3 years ago and she gave me a nice show her first year. Last year, (being her second year with me) she did NOT bloom. The greenery was there but No Blooms. I left her alone and now look at her this year. Blooms once again! I have no idea why she did not bloom for me last year but ever so happy I did not disturb the bulbs.

I recently celebrated a milestone of hitting 50 years of age! The Saints parents were in Georgia to help us celebrate. Mom B brought me a Rose from a small table top type bush I had given her for Christmas. They arrived on March 22 and the rose hung on until the above picture was snapped on April 4. I was shocked as to how long it held onto its beauty. As you can see, the top leaf was nibbled as were all the rose leafs, by a Fur Baby of mine. Grrrrrr, I wish I could have flowers and plants inside.

BEEP BEEP BEEP, WE INTERUPT THIS BLOG FOR A SPECIAL UPDATE: The baby Wrens are about to leave the nest! I must say, these are some early spring fledglings. Now, we return to our regularly scheduled posting...

  



I am also celebrating another milestone. It has been 5 years since I started to Blog with Tina here at In the Garden. Hard for me to believe I have been at this for 5 years as it seems like yesterday when I started jotting down words about my garden.

 

As I gaze out my windows and into my gardens, I see what all I have accomplished in the past 5 years. I credit Blogging in assisting me in my gardens. I have learned so much from the many blogs I have visited over the years. I still visit blogs but not as often as I would like to. I find myself in the gardens more and on the computer less. But I believe that is a good thing.  

 I am going to celebrate my 5 year Victory with you, our wonderful readers! Don't ya just love a freebie? I would like to give one of you these cute little Frogs.  

 And a Second reader, shall receive this cute little frog rain gauge! Just make a comment on this posting and your name shall be put into the Magic Hat for a chance to win! The winners must provide me with your name and address for shipment of the item gifted. Due to Postal Regulations, this offer is only available to those with a Street Address in the USA. You have until April 14th to make a comment as a name shall be drawn at that time. I will be announcing the two winners names on Tuesday April 16, 2013...

 

Good Luck to each of you wonderful commenters of this blog! And HAPPY 5 YEAR BLOGIVERSARY TO ME, In the Garden...

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Zephirine Droughn Rose

Longtime readers of this blog will know roses struggle to grow in Tiger Gardens. This is in mostly due to the great deal of shade found here in Tiger Gardens. As a rule I don't add new roses to the gardens simply because I know that most roses don't do well. There are some exceptions such as 'The Fairy', a David Austin rose 'Falstaff' and a couple of unknown floribunda roses that somehow manage to survive here in the shade and still look good. When I was perusing garden catalogs last year it was with great interest I found a thornless, shade tolerant climbing rose. The price was right so I ordered it. Jung's shipped me my rose just in time for planting last spring and in the ground it went. The rose is called 'Zephirine Droughn' and it was listed as being fragrant. Bonus!

 I planted the rose right by the gate leading to the backyard. There is a metal arbor over the gate and I currently had clematis growing on the arbor. The clematis are still there but even though clematis are pretty in bloom and have pretty seed heads their presence is not at all that substantial. I wanted a rose to grow over the arbor and felt the Zephirine would be a good fit. 

All summer long last year that little rose grew and grew and was hardly ever watered. The Zephirine kept its foliage all winter and looked so good once things warmed up a bit that I was beginning to get most excited about blooms. Right on time the blooms came and are pleasing me so much that I am wondering what took me so long to buy this rose? It has actually more than quadrupled in size in the one year it has been growing here and is putting out so much new growth and blooms that I have been able to guide the rose not only over the arbor but along the top of the chain link fence. And about that fragrance, does anyone remember Avon's rose cream from the 1970s? It is the exact same smell as that; which is of course a true rose scent. I can hardly walk by the pretty pink blooms without sniffing the flowers.


Another rose that works well here in Tiger Gardens is an unknown. It is a fairly common rose because I see it in many front yards around town. This rose has no discernible scent but what a nice dark color it has. I have trained mine to grow on a split rail fence and for about two glorious weeks in the spring it really shines despite not receiving much sun....

in the garden....

Any favorite roses you'd like to share?
Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Growing Roses In the Shade

I am not a big fan of roses. Besides the fact you have to have perfect growing conditions (full sun, fertile well drained beautiful soil) to be very successful with roses, you must continually maintain roses by spraying and fertilizing and they still get diseases and get attacked by insects. Grrrrr!

Here at Tiger Gardens there is absolutely no spot in the yard that gets full sun. At best, when the sun is at it's highest, my garden might get 6 hours of sun. Talk about challenging! I learned pretty fast that a rose garden was not in the cards for me:(

Well, there are actually a few roses growing here. They are here only because they do well with no extra pampering from me. I do not spray, occasionally I add extra fertilizer, and I most definitely have not cut down trees so these roses can get the full sun in order for them to grow to their fullest. What? You just can't grow roses without full sun! Yes, actually you can. There are some roses that are okay with some shade-albeit very few.

The first one (and it is rightly pictured first) is 'The Fairy' rose. It is a polyantha rose that has been around in gardens for many, many years. It requires very little attention, no additional fertilizer and does well in part sun. I love it! I shear my two back by half in early spring and that is all the extra care it gets.
I wish I could name all of the other roses I grow here, but I cannot. Perhaps someone recognizes them? The second pictured rose is fragrant and blooms reliably each year. It grows in an area where it gets perhaps four hours of sun, yet does well. It is a larger shrub type than the Fairy, but is not a hybrid tea. Yes, the picture is from last year because this post has been in the hopper that long. It is still a good picture and I chose not to upload another one to Picasa since my account is getting full. The third rose pictured is a David Austin rose. It is 'Falstaff'. I always wondered why it did so well in the shade here at Tiger Gardens. Once I found out 'Falstaff' was a David Austin rose, I realized why. David Austin roses are reputed to be excellent roses and easy to grow with great fragrances. I am a believer! This 'Falstaff' will be hard pressed to get 4 hours of sun, yet does well and is rarely bothered by diseases like black spot. It does occasionally get it though.
The last one is what I think was a volunteer to my garden. I am not sure. Initially I had visions of a hybrid tea rose garden, but quickly had to lower my sights once I realized hybrid teas would not do well here. I quickly ripped them all out and gave them away. This rose may have been one I planted during that period when I was collecting roses. I am not sure. But this rose does well in about 4 hours of sun too. It is growing along a fence and bloomed it's little heart out this year. It grows slowly, probably owing to the fact it is not in full sun, but is reliable and not bothered by diseases.

If you wish to grow roses and do not have ideal conditions, try some of the non-hybrid tea roses. Any of the older varieties should give you better luck than hybrid teas. Trial and error is not the best way to select roses, but sometimes it's all we have....

in the garden....

An Extremely Aggressive Rose and a Garage Arbor to Be

Okay, okay, what monster did I create? Maybe not a Killer Rose as Frances once grew in her garden but a MONSTER rose nonetheless. I am kind of like Dave in that I like to propagate my own plants. I take many, many cuttings. Anything is fair game for me and I am game to try just about every pretty flower I see.

Three years ago during a beautiful spring I passed by a gorgeous rose bush in full bloom on my way to work. I stopped and smelled the roses-so to say. The next time I passed the rose bush, I had my clippers and snipped three four inch cuttings. The cuttings remained in a vase on my desk at work all day then got stuck in some soil when I got home later. One cutting took and the result is to the left and above. Or actually I should say this is the plant after a severe pruning and taming. It is not supposed to look this way at all.

Coming from New England I tend to have romantic views of my garden. I envision pergolas draped with roses and tons of windblown perennials providing non-stop riotous color in my garden. The problem is that I do not have much sun in my garden. The only really sunny spot is located on this south facing wall where my garage and office is located. I have visions of a pergola shading my garage and providing support to a lovely rose-the one I propagated. Something kind of like this pergola (picture from this website) will do just fine. Do you see the cedar shakes? Typical coastal New England if I remember correctly. I love it! The problem for me has been time and the availability of materials has slowed down my plans for the wonderful pergola and it has not been built, however, my rose will not wait. It wants to grow now!


At first the rose stayed kind of small. It is a nice rose. It blooms once per year with small white blooms which are fragrant. The foliage is semi-evergreen and free from disease all the time. It grows fast and has flexible canes, just perfect for a pergola. But this rose has many thorns and is a vigorous grower. So vigorous it was growing into the nearby clematis arbor and across the sidewalk, onto the parking area, into the house and across the garage door. Ouch! The rose was never bothered by misplaced footsteps or errant tugs when an unsuspecting victim walked by. Nope, on it grew and grew.

I decided to take action to control the rose until Mr. Fix-it and I can build our pergola. What to do? I did not want to chop the rose all the way down to a manageable height, but also could not have it growing willy nilly all over the garden. At the same time the rose had to be in a position so that when the pergola was built it could easily be laid over across the supports.

Fortunately I had a few trellises laying around. I took two and also two long boards (left over from another project), joined them all together in a ladder fashion, pulled and tugged and pruned the monster, then stood up my new trellis. The tallest board worked perfectly as it fit under the eave, giving me a place to secure it to the house. Problem fixed. The monster rose is secured and out of our way (at least for now), and the garden is tidied up. The rose had to be a full 15 feet tall, if not taller. I cannot believe it grew so fast in not even three years.

The trellises hold it up for now, and it is blooming...for yet another year has come and gone, and no pergola yet....

in the garden....

Yellow Roses and a Surprise

The bright, sunny color of yellow roses evokes a feeling of warmth and happiness. The yellow rose is an ideal symbol for joy and friendship.

Today, I would like to present Lola with these beautiful roses as a symbol of our friendship here at,
In the Garden...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOLA!

And now, a surprise:

The Saint and I recently cut down a dead tree with the assistance of our neighbor and his tractor. Once the dead tree was to the ground, we found a surprise from within the hollow walls. Two baby squirrels were snug as a bug in a rug in some of my stolen fake snow from my Winter Display on the front porch! Here you can see one of the cute little critters so young its eyes are not yet open. Being animal lovers, the Saint and I were quite upset at disturbing an animals home. Yeah, I know, why care about a squirrel when they wreak havoc in my garden so often. Well, because they are living breathing things and even though a pest at times, they to deserve a chance at life. So these animal lovers went into action. The Saint placed the hollow half log on top of the 3 foot tall stump for a bit of security from raccoons, foxes, coyotes and cats. I gathered more fresh fluff to keep the babies warm. The weather forecast was calling for rain so I did what I could to keep the little critters dry. I gathered bark from the dead tree and carefully made a roof for the babies.
I then placed a heavy notch of wood on top to keep all in place. We checked on the nest after 24 hours of giving them peace and quiet. The babies were no longer in the nest. We do not think a raccoon got them as the area was too neat so we believe the mother squirrel moved her two babies to a new nest. Squirrels build more then one nest in their territory so maybe one was nearby just waiting for such an emergency. We saw an adult squirrel with a mouth full of the fluff so we think that may have been mommy continuing to make them a nice cozy home. Gee, those two very babies we rescued will probably be digging up bulbs this summer, In the Garden...

Adventure in the Garden

The other day the young'un and I went on a small adventure of sorts. A local church next to the post office had some pretty yellow flowers planted near the front. I was thinking how they were almost the color of the fire hydrant. Seems as though there is a lot of yellow.

As we progressed on our adventure we passed Camp Blanding; which was once a thriving military base. Now it's a training base for the National Guard. Notice the color of yellow at the gate.




No yellow here, but if you look closely you can see an airplane. There is also a tank and other vehicles.

There is no yellow here either, but pretty flowers on the shrub that has been trimmed. I think it is a hibiscus. I don't understand why anyone would want to trim such a lovely shrub.



Further on into our journey we crossed the St. Johns River. Young'un ran an errand and we started back. You guessed it, crossed the St. Johns River (which is 16,300' long) again. lol. In the distance you can see Jacksonville Naval Air Station (NAS). To the right of that you can see Plalatka on a clear day.




The next morning I decided I would visit an old friend. Before I left I took the picture of my side yard where the Rose Garden is located. The first rose (Black Cherry) is a very dark red. The second rose pictured (Lovestruck) is pink. As I got closer to them I noticed that the blooms looked different. They seemed to sparkle. I suddenly realized it 'dew still on the roses'. I immediately thought of the song.



"In the Garden"
I come to the garden alone while the dew is still on the roses and the voice I hear...


Lola