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.

Paul Barden Roses I Grow

In recent years I have begun growing a number of roses created by the rose hybridizer, Paul Barden.  Paul studied horticulture in college and further studies in photography.  I think one gives him the science and understanding, the other the artistic eye for his work as a breeder.  Paul has drawn upon a wide range of influences and roses to produce the roses he has released to the public and even more so for the breeding stock he has been working with.  Undoubtedly, his relationship with Ralph Moore stands as one of his most significant influences and that is nothing but good in my book.  Paul has also made a significant contribution to rose growers and hybridizers through his website, http://paulbardenroses.com and his blog link above.  If you haven't before, do yourself a favor and visit his sight and click on some of the rose classes listed on the left.  You will be amazed by the photos and descriptions and don't be surprised if you look up to find that a couple of hours have passed by. 

Here are some of my observations about the roses Paul has produced and this is particularly true for the roses of his I grow.  First, their blooms tend toward the old fashion forms, being cupped or opening flat and quartered, much like the English Roses which stand a generation or two behind many of them.  Second, vivid color and fragrance are important and are almost always present.  Take for example a rose like Treasure Trail which, unusual for his roses, has little floral fragrance.  It certainly has the vivid color and while the typical fragrance is missing, it is made up for with the added balsam fragrance that the mossing on the outside of the sepals produces.  This fragrance is strongly released when the mossing is stroked.  Third, the bushes form and growth habit are that of a garden bush or shrub and not the stiff upright growth of a hybrid tea.  Fourth, the plants are healthy in my climate.  I have learned to be more conditional about this because different regions of the country have very different disease pressures on roses.  (An example would be that in the summer, I spray my roses down several times a week.  I believe this practice keeps my roses happy and healthy but in many areas people would be scandalized at the thought of intentionally wetting the leaves on their bushes.  That is because humidity can be a prime driver of black spot.)  These are my observations regarding some of the common themes that hold Paul's roses together.

So here are the Barden Roses I grow in the order I acquired them:

Unconditional Love 

Unconditional Love is a mini moss with cupped old fashion blooms scarlet to crimson in color.  The flowers have good fragrance from the petals along with scent of the mossing.  Unconditional Love is one of those roses that never disappoints because it is always in bloom and always healthy.   Mine is 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide.

Golden Buddha  

Golden Buddha is a Hybrid Bracteata which has intensely pumpkin colored blooms in the spring and fall and a lighter yellow in the summer. It is always in bloom, almost to a fault. In my garden the plant is only about a foot and a half tall and two feet wide. I wish it would get bigger and then produce the blooms it does. It may be because this past summer was the hottest on record in Oklahoma and that Golden Buddha had a hard time with the heat. Spring and Fall it shined in this its second year in my garden.

Jeri Jennings 

Jeri Jennings is a beautiful Hybrid Musk with buttery yellow blooms, wonderful tea fragrance and a nice spreading habit. Mine is grown in partial shade and has been very healthy.  This ability to perform well with partial shade is a trait that Jeri Jennings shares with other Hybrid Musk roses.  Some report dealing with black spot on this rose but this has been very minor for me. After two years it is four feet tall by six feet wide.

Treasure Trail 

Treasure Trail is also a moss rose that grows much like a floribunda. Its blooms are quite unique opening to shades of pink, yellow, and salmon with old fashion form and a button eye.  The flowers last a very long time either on the bush or in a vase.  Besides being the most heavily mossed rose I grow, Treasure Trail has the most leathery dark green shiny leaves and grows as healthy and clean as anything in my garden. In two seasons it has grown to about two feet tall and three feet wide.

Siren's Keep 

Siren's Keep is finishing its first year in our garden.  It has sent a couple of strong canes up to two and a half or three feet tall.  As I mentioned earlier, last summer was very hot and while the flowers held up well in the sun, I think the color was a bit washed out by it.  The color is described as fuchsia to magenta which is a couple of shades deeper than the attractive pink ruffled petals that I have seen this first year.  I have often noticed that bloom color will deepen after the first year or two.  I fully expect to see the deeper colors this coming year.  Its good sized flowers (four-five inches across) bloom in small clusters and have a strong old roses fragrance.  I expect to have many more photos and updates this coming year. 

Dragon's Blood   
I added Dragon's Blood last Fall and do not have any pictures other than when it came as a young band with Carlin's Rhythm.  Its flowers can be a smoldering fire orange/red but I have yet to see it bloom and will look forward to its growth this coming year along with the next two.

Pam's Choice

This may be the rose I am most looking forward to this year. I have always loved the flowers of Angel Face but it performs so poorly that I haven't grown it for years. In fact it is my wife, Angie's favorite and I am hoping the blossom of Pam's Choice might be used to get me out of the dog house some day. Here's hoping she will be a suitable replacement to Angel Face.

Mel Hulse 
I added Mel Hulse on an impulse to my order of Pam's Choice.  It is not that I hadn't thought about ordering Mel Hulse before, I just hadn't pulled the trigger.  Mel Hulse is a Moss rose which like Unconditional Love and Treasure Trail is the progeny of Ralph Moore's Scarlet Moss.  On the other side of its family tree is the English Rose The Prince. 

Here is to dreaming of spring's blossoms.

2011's New Roses Update (2-3 months after planting)

My last post on St. Swithun received a few comments about how big it was in just its second season.  That got me thinking that I should update this year's new roses a couple of times over the growing season.  I will start you out with a flower because there aren't very many in this entry.  You may wonder why I use the tomato cages.  It is simple, we have two Siberian Huskies who would unintentionally crush them before they got a good start.  Last year I had to cut a couple of cages up in order to remove them because the rose had grown up so much that I couldn't remove the cage without damaging the rose.

This is Siren's Keep, a shrub rose from Paul Barden.  As you can see, the color is a bit faded by our long 100+ degree days.  Still the flower has held up better than Tradescant, its grandparent's flowers which burn in the extreme heat.  So many of the Austin roses can't stand up to our summer sun and heat, so this is a hopeful sign to me. 

This is Linda Campbell a last minute addition to my Spring orders after reading Professor Roush's blog entry about the Ralph Moore Hybrid Rugosa.  If he was that excited about it I had to give it a try.  She was added to my order of Moore's Striped Rugosa which was still a couple of weeks from being ready to ship.  She looks happy and has sent out two new canes. 

Here is Moore's Striped Rugosa.  I am enjoying the crinkly rugosa leaves which are new to my gardening.  I have enjoyed seeing these leaves on plants but have never grown any rugosas until this Spring.

This young plant is from a cutting of Dublin Bay I took last year from my mother's plant.  I have always had high hopes for Dublin Bay but her plant never really turned into what I thought it would.  Maybe this one will do better.

This sprawling young plant is DayDream.  It has such a spreading habit which is one of the reasons I think of it as a Hybrid Musk.  It has sent out the longest growth of this year's new roses.

Here is another picture of Siren's Keep.  I am looking forward to seeing this one in the Fall when the sunlight is not quite so intense. 

I'm calling this one Lena's Gift.  Lena is a member of the church and she saw this rose while checking out at K Mart and just had to buy one for me and one for her.  Like so many miniature roses set up for impulse buys, it bore no name and had three very young plants in a small pot.  I separated the three plants, planted one at home and the other two at the Prague Rose Garden.  It has small pink/magenta flowers with 10-15 petals.  If you know what this rose might be, please, do tell.

This is Winsome, also a pink/magenta miniature rose but with larger fuller flowers.  I grew Winsome 20 years ago and it was a tall vigorous plant and was always in bloom.  We moved and I didn't replace it until this spring.

Here is Jude the Obscure.  I have always been drawn to pictures of this rose but have not grown it until now.  It is really taking off and I think this time next year will have built up to a good size. 

Last is the English Rose Charles Rennie Mackintosh and maybe the one I am most looking forward to.  It has the reverse breeding of St. Swithun so I am curious to figure out what similarities and differences the two have with each other.

Look for an update on all of these roses in another three months. 

2011's New Roses



       This Spring I am adding 5 new roses to our garden.  This brings our total number of varieties to 45 with us having multiple plants of several varieties.  For those of you who have not yet gone crazy with roses, this probably sounds like a lot.  For those of you who are rosarians you are probably wondering, "When is he going to really get started?"  The truth is that I am really trying to hit a happy medium.  I know my propensity to take a good thing too far, so this is me operating with restraint.  Oh, I am on a wait list for one other rose, Moore's Striped Rugosa, but my focus in the garden this year is to master the art of rooting rose cuttings and to bring the garden to maturity ( this will only be our third Summer in Prague).

L-R: DayDream, Siren's Keep, Jude the Obscure, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and Winsome

         Let me tell you a little about these roses.  First, I order my roses from small owner operated Nurseries such as Burlington Roses, Heirloom Garden Roses, Rogue Valley Roses, Roses Unlimited, & Hartwood Roses.  The last of these, Hartwood, I have yet to use but feel certain that I will soon.  Theses nurseries specialize in producing roses that grow on their own root systems (which is different than most roses you will run across at Home Depot or even most local nurseries).  You will notice that they come much smaller but I am convinced will outpace and out live roses that are grafted onto a different rootstock.  So with a little help from my favorite rose website (helpmefind.com) let me introduce you to my 5 new roses.

DayDream  I first saw DayDream at the Oklahoma City Rose Gardens.  It is a beautiful disease free bush that I would describe as a lavender version of Ballerina.  Blooms are lavender to magenta.  Mild, sweet fragrance.  Small to medium, single blooms with 10 to 12 petals, in large cluster bloom form.  Continuous (perpetual) bloom throughout the season.   Habit:  Bushy, compact, rounded, spreading.  Semi-glossy, medium green foliage.  It is listed with a height of 2' and 3' wide but it was at least 5' x 5' in the OKC garden.  I personally think this rose most natuarally fits in the Hybrid Musk class even if it is a bit stiffer than most in the class.

Siren's Keep is a rose bred by Paul Barden and I have been on the wait list for this one for almost a year.  This will be the fifth of his roses for me to grow.  It is a shrub rose with both English and miniature roses in its background.  Here is how it is described on hmf.  Deep pink, fuchsia / magenta center.  Strong, old rose, tea fragrance.  30 to 45 petals.  Average diameter 4".  Medium-large, full (30-45 petals), cluster-flowered, in small clusters, cupped, old-fashioned bloom form.  Prolific, blooms in flushes throughout the season.  Medium, pointed buds.

Jude the Obscure is an English Rose whose unique color and form have brought it much attention.  I once hear the color described as "parchment" and to me this seems accurate.  Additional information includes apricot, cream shading, lighter reverse.  Strong fragrance.  Full (55 to 70 petals) borne mostly solitary but sometimes in small clusters, globular bloom form.  Blooms in flushes throughout the season.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh  is another English Rose with pink lilac blend color.  Mild fragrance.  Average diameter 3".  Very double ( 60-100 petals), cupped, old-fashioned bloom form.  Occasional repeat later in the season.  Charles has the reverse breeding of one of my favorite roses, St. Swithun and a similar bloom form but with more of a lilac color.  I have often wanted to grow this rose but have not until this year.

 Winsome is described as a miniature mauve or purple blend.  Little to no fragrance.  30 to 36 petals.  Average diameter 1.75".  Large, full (26-40 petals), classic hybrid tea, exhibition, reflexed bloom form.  Blooms in flushes throughout the season.  Medium, long sepals buds.  I grew this rose years ago and in my experience it was 2 1/2 feet tall with very beautiful blooms.

They are all going in the ground this evening.