Prague Rose Garden Club Update

Despite the intense heat of the past week, the roses in the Prague Rose Garden have been growing quite nicely.  The seated arch has been the focal point of the garden but there were no roses growing up the arch.  Last spring I planted a Lavender Lassie on each side and I think by summer's end they will grow to meet at the top of the arch.  They are flanked on either side by some form of Knock Out. 

The bed below is where I started my work in the Prague Rose Garden.  This bed sat idle with grass over two feet tall.  I thought, "With no roses and the city crew unable to get their John Deer equipment into it, surely no one will be offended if I clean it out and put a few roses in."  Being closest to the road the three tall minis in back and the row of The Fairy in front add some nice color to passers by.  Eventually the two English Roses I planted last fall in the center (Heritage and St. Swithun) will add some heighth and fill out the display.  Hopefully it might even attract a few people to stop and, well, smell the roses. 

Last year I turned some attention to the other end of the garden where a lone purple hybrid tea that is very winter tender was making a home.  I had less of a plan on this one and lots of cuttings and suckers that had taken, so I began to fill it in.  Up front you have two plants of Popcorn on either side of the water hydrant.  On each of the corners are yellow roses: in the back are two of the English Rose Graham Thomas and in front are the miniflora Autumn Splendor and an unknown yellow florabunda.  I took the cutting sometime ago but didn't write down what it was from and forgot.  I'll figure it out in time to label it when I get around to putting markers of each of them.  When I do this, I was thinking that I would put the variety, class and year.  What do you think?  Does it need more information or does more mean people read less?  Flanking the hybrid tea are Reine des Violettes and Precious Dream and behind is DayDream.

I took a step back so you can get a sense of the size of the garden.  It's not so large as to make the upkeep too difficult yet large enough to make a statement.  I think its elongated design, running diagonally across the corner of the park, works nicely for the maximum display.

I would like to mention that the Prague Rose Garden wouldn't be here if it weren't for two very special people - Milo & Norma Foreman.  Norma was the first president of the Prague Rose Garden Club.  She tells me that it was really Milo who put the garden in and took care of the roses.  Milo is now in his 90's and I get the priviledge of spending Sunday mornings with them, as Norma is the pianist at the Prague United Methodist Church which I also have the joy of serving.  One last thing, Milo did a fabulous job making sure that the garden had a very rich and friable soil.  The ground is incredibly easy to work.

The Big Picture

I have grown roses for over twenty years but for most of those years, I have simply grown roses.  I would acquire one here and one there and plant them in the next available spot.  When we moved to Prague three years ago I decided I would grow a rose garden.  That may sound like a subtle difference but it is one that is noticeable when comparing my current garden to places I have lived before.  

All of these roses were planted in the past two years (either last spring or the spring before that) with the oldest just starting their third year.  That reminds me of a conversation I had with a Korean friend about how old we are.  We were born just days apart but he always said we were a year older than I counted.  The difference came from my thinking that you are a year old a year after you are born and he said you enter year one when you are born.  To him you are one when you are born and two once your first year is over.  This year will be the year that we begin to see the garden mature I think.  For the most part the roses are just about to start blooming.  Some of course, have been going at it for a little while.  In the picture below you will see the red-fuchsia blooms of Siren's Keep on the right and the very lavender color or Lavender Crystal just left of the gate.

The tall bush at the corner of the house is the Hybrid Musk Lavender Lassie.  This bush was significantly affected by Rose Rosette Disease/Virus at the beginning of last Spring.  I cut each of the effected canes all the way off at the very base of the plant.  I thought that I had managed to save the plant because I had no other symptoms on the bush last year.  However, this spring I had a new basal breaking cane that showed all the typical signs of infection.  It is hard to believe because the rest of the plant seems totally uneffected.  I'm going to let it go through its spring blossoming and then I expect to take it out.  I do have a year old replacement plant growing from a cutting of this bush.  I hate to take it out but I don't think it is possible to save it at this point.

The roses in this area of the garden cover the range from red (Braveheart) to purple (Rhapsody in Blue) to white and cream (Popcorn and Jude the Obscure).  Popcorn is in the foreground of the photo below I have also moved some purple Iris into this area that used to live in the back of our yard. 

Just beyond the fence are Treasure Trail, Abraham Darby, Pat Austin, Graham Thomas (the tall one in the middle), Golden Buddha, and Jeri Jennings.  Beyond Jeri Jennings is my cuttings bed.  The section of the garden obviously moves between the yellow and orange themes with some pink and salmon mixed in.  This area wouldn't even grow weeds before we moved here.  It was just bare ground.  It has come so far when we moved here. 

Siren's Keep is just starting its second year.  It is proving to be a prolific and early bloomer.  Its flowers have about 40 large petals loosely filling 4-5" blossoms.  The color is somewhere between red-fuchsia-pink and its blooms are a real eye catcher.  Behind Siren's Keep is DayDream. Planted at the same time one has grown more upward while the other is more spreading while Lavender Lassie overlooks them both.

I wanted to get a picture of Rhapsody in Blue with the purple Iris blooming just beside it.  I think the colors go pretty well together.  Just to the left is Jude the Obscure and it is still a long way from blooming.  It felt like Jude's color would provide a nice complementary color.  And just in front of both is Jack, our Italian Greyhound.  Jack just can't resist getting in on the action.  Unless it's cold or wet, he is my constant companion when working in the garden.   

The longer I work in the garden, the more I find myself taking a step back and seeing the big picture.  This takes you through a good section of half of my roses.  I will take you through the other sections in the next two posts.

Rose Foliage? I Must Be Mad!

I have been surprised with my growing interest in the leaves on the roses I grow.  Of course the first thing that draws us to roses are the beautiful flowers.  Then after some time of tending the plants these beautiful flowers grow on, I began to pay more attention to the plant's form and architecture.  Now I find myself looking deeper into the rose and noticing beauty and differences in the foliage of the roses I grow.  This fall I have found myself taking pictures of rose leaves.  They can change color and give a display in union with the trees.  And have you ever noticed the different textures these leaves can have.  Below are a few pictures of Moore's Striped Rugosa with its crinkly leaves in typical rugosa fashion.  

I currently only grow two hybrid rugosas (Moore's Striped Rugosa and Linda Campbell).  The more familiar I become with the class (which frankly very few are grown in Oklahoma) the more I am drawn to them.  Both show a true hybrid leaf that is somewhere between the more crinkled rugosas and the smooth leaves of the modern roses they have been crossed with.

Below is my Climbing Rainbow's End sporting some gorgeously colored fall foliage.  The smooth shiny leaves are just about as different from the rugosa leaves above as they could be.  Both offer nice color to the garden even after the flowers quit blooming.

The final picture shows some bright red leaves on the young growth of Lavender Lassie.  As new growth I think the sugar content must have been high and caused the richer color than normal.

If you find yourself uninterested in this post - don't worry.  It will always be the flower that draws us to roses.  However, if you find yourself more and more interested in things like plant structure, leaves, thorns, and who knows what else - don't worry.  You have just fallen hopelessly in love with the whole rose.