Hi JIm: Your Mr. Lincoln looks good with lots of blooms ... what changes have you done? Thanks for the info.

My garden still have lots of blooms ... esp. from Bolero. The soil is still wet from the rain. Hooray for sunshine for the 1st time in many days. Will post pics. later. I still get lots of tomato ... gave to my neighbor so she can freeze them. I made spaghetti sauce with my tomatoes last night ... NOT as good as Prego. I used the icky varieties of tomatoes.

Next year I'll make sauce with "sun-sugar" cherry tomato ... that's the sweetest tomato ever. See sun-sugar, or sun-gold cherry tomatoes below. The brown ones are chocolate cherry, and the red ones are Sweet 100. Next year I'll plant Sweet Million instead (has a thinner skin).

Only thing I did to Lincoln was give it one shot of Tonic (bloodmeal/Brewers Yeast) in early to mid Sept...

Then after that I put alittle Brewers Yeast in with the Gardenville Sea Tea once every week...
I have stopped with fertilizing now...

Next year I'm making changes in fertilizer but not sure to what kind yet...

All older Double Knockouts did very well this year they had some blooms the entire season had 3 full flushes and are loaded up for the 4th flush right now.

I have two younger D-Ko's and also that one I transplanted in August those are concentrating on growing roots right now. One has been real slow to get started... Hopefully it takes off next year! Sooner or later it will...lol

Petunias always go bad in October here so that was no surprise...
It seems the secret to having Zinnias growing & flowering good up to the first hard frost is to start new plants from seed LATER in the growing season and replace the older Zinnia plants with those at the right time...

(Like I started these seeds in late July or August I think see how good they still look...
Websites on Zinnias recommend people do that.)

NOTE: also to the left you can see the loaded buds of a older D- Ko...

I mainly only make Tomato sandwiches with our Tomatoes and my wife mainly using them for salads so I really do not fuss much with Tomato plants here...
Two plants provides more than enough Tomatoes for us...lol And we still had some to give away...

Years ago my wife and I grew tons of Tomato plants and we canned it or made sauce but those days are over!

The making of sauce using "sun-sugar" cherry tomato sounds good Straw!

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Looks like it might reach 32 degrees early Sunday morning so that can not be good...lol

We got 2+ inches of rain the other day and it has been raining lightly on and off since.
On the average its been chilly with not much sun...

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Looks like a Thomas Affleck bud is opening...

This post was edited by jim1961 on Sat, Oct 18, 14 at 14:40

Hi Jim: I like how you sow marigolds late (the second batch) to have flowers late in the season. That's a good idea. I do the same with my favorite tomato: A few really early, then the same varieties 2-months later (early July), that way I have fresh tomatoes in November.

Your Thomas Affleck bloom looks good with dark-pink/red color ... That's my favorite color for a rose.

I spent 1 hour yesterday cleaning out the mess that rats made inside my Rubbermaid garden bench. It's a storage bin and bench, poor design. We got that from Walmart for $129, but the rain leaks through, plus rats get inside and chew everything: plastic bag, yard waste to bits. It's a horrible mess inside: moldy plus rat poop.

We washed the bench, will put wooden plants inside to block the cracks that rats get in. My other patio bin is made by Suncast .... zero problems: stays dry for the past decade, plus insects can't get in.

I read in Reader Digest about a lady whose possession got burnt down by a fire. After that she felt so free & relieved of junk that her goal is to get rid of 10 items per month. The more stuff, the more work .. that applies to plants too.

Thanks for the info. on the blood meal / brewer's yeast application. I find that blood meal needs warm weather to be activated. I put lots of blood meal on my Thai basil ... but it sits there doing nothing. Thai basil only grows when it's really warm. My mint are going strong in this cold weather. We eat lots of salads, and it's nice to have herbs inside salads. Next year I'll plant less roses, and more herbs.

Below is Annie L. McDowell rose, the most disease-resistant rose in my garden. Picture taken this past Friday, Oct 17. We won't get down to 30's until this Tuesday.

I never thought about planting a Tomato plant later in the season...hummm
I guess you would have to start one from seed?

Glad to hear your Annie L. McDowell rose is very disease resistant for you! Awesome! It looks great Straw!

Colder its gets fertilizer activity declines for sure...

We are dipping to 32 degrees tonight into morning...
Last night got cold also into the 30's... We have had other nights here and there drop into the 30's.
Today high is only 45 degrees... brrrrrrrrrrr!

As you can see in this pic cold weather is taking its toll here... I do not cover plants during colder weather I let nature decide whens its time...lol

This post was edited by jim1961 on Sun, Oct 19, 14 at 19:55

Hi Jim: That's a pretty yellow-pansy basket. There's a yellow-perennial pansy that I saw blooming in Feb. in my old neighborhood. Pansy can take cold well, so does snapdragon.

My Annie rose blooms well in cold temp, it's right next to the house. Here's a cluster picked last Friday. It makes the house smell SO-GOOD, no air-freshener can match.

Your Annie rose blooms look fantastic Straw!

YESTERDAY: My uncle and I were inside a local Pharmacy when it got robbed! Everyone is ok and they caught the guy quickly!

Here is a link that might be useful: Armed robbery info

Hi Jim: Thank God you are OK. I once read an article in People magazine about a lady who stopped at 7-Eleven store briefly on a Sat. morning, and was held hostage for hours by a robber.

Less than 5 minutes from here is a Liquor Store that was robbed a few days ago. They caught the guy. The Police also caught the prisoners-on-furlough who shot 3 Kentucky Fried-chicken employees (last month). We used to get food from there, but stopped after the robbery.

I don't trust anyone on forums either. There was this woman who kept hassling me on MY buying organic strawberries ... then she confessed to being cranky due to "psychotic-side-effect" of the drug she's taking.

I post to inform folks and help others NOT to make the same mistakes like I did. But some ego-freaks, control-freaks post just to nit-pick others, rather than contributing any useful info. on their own. There are also chemical-lobbyists with their own-agenda.

I would rather communicate with one sane & friendly & honest person like you, Jim. That's why I only post in here.

Thomas Afflecks bloom is dark glowing pink shame I have to shovel prune it buts its just to disease prone here...

Sadly what works for one person might not work for another. You can probably apply that logic to about every product or service out there...
Probably every subject in the world could be debated by someone also! lol

If everything was perfect we would still be in the "Garden Of Eden"...lol

Like people have questioned me on whether or not the Marigolds I planted are actually helping against rose slugs...Saying it could be every other reason under the sun...
All I can say is Marigolds appear to be helping but I'll just have to keep planting them for a few years to really know for sure.
And I realize even if it does work for me it may not work for someone else for whatever reasons...

Lately I've observed rose slugs ruining unopened rose buds so I know first hand they are capable of doing such a thing but someone would debate that fact...lol

I have some rose slugs here that can be found on TOP of leaves eating but because articles state they are found on the underside of leaves people debate it...lol
I don't really care because I know what I see...lol

To sum it up I feel everyone has to experiment at least alittle to see what works best in there environment...

Also my expectations are high...lol
I expect most of the leaves to be on our roses all season just like I would any other flower, plant, tree, or bush we grow...

I see naked sticks all winter I do not want to see that during the growing season too...lol

I know there are roses that do not like our conditions but I also know there are some that would adapt and I will find them...lol

Hi Jim: I hope you'll find roses which are perfect for your conditions. Bolero floribunda is perfect for my garden: compact and blooms well next to a tree. It's disease resistant, keeps all its leaves until the ground freezes. I counted 20 blooms/buds on Bolero last week.

I have been making almond milk twice a week. Previous years Francis Blaise rose got almond-solids-left-over, and exploded in buds .. that stuff has zero salt, plus high in potassium & magnesium. So I gave almond-solids to Bolero, and that's the most buds I have seen. Picture taken last week, 3rd week of October:

What nutrients are in almond-solids-left-overs?
Bolero blooms look great Straw!

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Here's a few pics I snapped today... My transplanted sisters rose has buds but none have attempted to open yet...

Hi Jim: I love those red & dark-pink blooms of yours. Almond solids is high in calcium, potassium, phosphorus, B-complex ... plus high in Vitamin E, thus beating Brewer's yeast (zero vitamin E). Almond solids is slow-released, versus one-time-shot of Brewer's yeast.

I no longer use dairy milk due to the salt & saturated fat & hormones & antibiotics .. plus it's COOKED, which destroy most vitamins & enzymes. The advantage of almond solids is IT'S RAW, thus retain all the enzymes & nutrients.

I put ROASTED & COOKED and stale sunflower seeds in the hole of Comte de Chambord ... that was a disaster ... still a B.S. fest. I have a bag of RAW sunflower seeds, which I'll grind it, and test on my plants next year.

The advantage of alfalfa hay is it's NOT COOKED, nor processed to the point of being acidic. RAW food is much more alkaline than COOKED food. Even the dry chicken manure is cooked at high temp. to destroy bacteria. My best result in fertilizing plants is with RAW stuff like alfalfa hay and raw almond solids.

Here is a link that might be useful: Nutrients in almonds

What would work best in a container? Brewers Yeast or Almond solids?

Since container mix does not seem to have enough soil microbes to break things down effectively...

I'm thinking Brewers Yeast for containers???

Almond solids would probably be better for garden soils???

Hi Jim: I agree with your approach. Soluble fertilizer is best for containers (Neptune fish emulsion is RAW, versus fish soluble is COOKED).

Almond solids (left-over from making almond milk) is so awesome that I saw 2 squirrels this morning risking getting poked and stuck their head in to eat. Next time I'll cover with dirt, or slide it under alfalfa hay. Below is a picture of almond solids in the center of Sonia Rykiel rose, taken yesterday October 21.

Below is a bouquet picked yesterday, October 21. Evelyn is the top salmon pink (smells like fresh peaches). Christopher Marlowe is between the 2 apricot Crown Princess Magareta. Both smell divine.

Sonia Rykiel is clear-pink .... best smelling among the bunch. Dark red is Stephen Big Purple (smells like floral wine). Wise Portia is the smaller-red.

Great looking roses Straw! :-)

I dug up the area's today where I'll be planting Earthsong & Prairie Harvest next year since the previous roses had rose midge.
Articles say rose midge bury themselves a few inches down under the soil so I'm thinking I'll keep churning up the soil over the fall & winter and freeze those suckers!

But I did not see anything except 3 giant white grubs which I tossed out into the yard for the birds to munch...lol
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ARTICLE: I read said ROSE MIDGE look like Sesame seeds in the soil wrapped in cocoons...

This post was edited by jim1961 on Thu, Oct 23, 14 at 13:44

Hi Jim: Thanks for that tip on rose midge, below is an interesting article on garden gloves made in China cause rash. I'll post the info. in the other thread.

Here is a link that might be useful: Warning about garden gloves from Target

This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Thu, Oct 23, 14 at 15:20

I actually use winter gloves made in USA for gardening...
They work for me...lol

Yes China stuff can really make you itchy! Thanks for that link Straw! Her hand looks awful!

Took some shots today of our roses with Marigolds and still hardly no damage from Rose Slugs!

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Sadly our roses WITHOUT Marigolds have moderate Rose Slug damage...

The one pic shows 3 rose slugs and damage...They are munching this bush and its getting worse & worse each day...

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Hi Jim: Those are very convincing evidence that marigolds work well .. and it looks so much better with flowers next to roses. Once I transferred all my roses from pots into ground ... no rose-slugs since Sept.

I'm sure that perennial flowers host beneficial insects that devour rose slug larvae. We have lots of lady bugs in the fall.

I'm not sure what all eats Rose Slugs but I have only personally seen small birds & Wasps eat our larger 3/4" RS here...

Since Rose Slugs are fairly tiny when young with my bad eyes I can't see them very good...lol... So I have no idea what other insects eat the small young RS...

yes I agree flowers host beneficial insects...

But lady bugs in the fall here would be no match for a big fat juicy 3/4" Rose Slug...lol
Maybe they could handle a small youngster RS though...

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This post was edited by jim1961 on Fri, Oct 24, 14 at 16:00

The position of the sun has really changed so I figured I better place all our potted plants out to the side of the house to get the most sun...

I watered & cut out dead flowers also...

I took those Morning Glories out of those bushes! What a tangled mess...lol
But thats done now...

I think the major decline that happened to our Petunias was caused by our dog...lol
Because the two Petunias the dog can not get to are still doing fine...lol

Slowly getting ready for winter... Put some lawn furniture & stuff away also...

Thank you, Jim, for the pictures of wasp eating rose-slugs. That jolted my memory: this year I don't have marigolds, and zero wasps. Previous years with marigolds ... at least 2 dozens, both along my patio and middle-garden: we had the worst wasp ever: they got into patio lights, our grill, our patio box, etc....

I'm pretty sure that marigolds host wasp, best next to roses, and away from my patio. Below is a picture of my garden, picture taken yesterday Oct. 23 ... we are in a warm & sunny spell which I hope will last.

Great pic of your garden plants Straw! They are all still lokng real good!

When I looked out at 9:15am this morning it was 39 degrees...
Temps rising now as it's getting sunny... :-)
High today suppose to be 62...

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday suppose to be real nice here... High 60's Low 70's...

Some years our mountains look awesome with bright fall colors...

Sadly this year things are dull colored and leaves falling off trees quickly... Howling winds most everyday like your Chicagoland...lol

View from our front porch... Pic taken today...

This post was edited by jim1961 on Sun, Oct 26, 14 at 18:28

Our roses loaded with buds! Now just need continued good weather so they open...lol

Recent Mister Lincoln Bloom:

This post was edited by jim1961 on Sun, Oct 26, 14 at 18:26

If I ever get a severe Rose Midge problem with existing planted roses I would probably try covering the ground under the rose with plastic in the Spring to try and disrubt the rose midge...

If that did not work and since there are no other organic controls for severe Rose Midge problems I would resort to taking out ALL our roses for a 2-3 years period then try & replant after that time period...

I just would NOT be able to use the recommended Chemical Sprays advised for Rose Midge.
I contacted Penn State University last week on Rose Midge...
I received the below email today on Rose Midge...
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This article written by Sandy Feather, the horticulture educator in Allegheny County addresses rose midge and its controls. She recommended a liquid application rather than a granular control.

Rose buds that turn brown and fail to produce flowers while the plant looks fine are classic symptoms of an insect called the rose midge (Dasineura rhodophaga). Rose midges can also damage vegetative buds and stems and cause deformed flowers that do not open properly. This pest overwinters as a pupa in a white silken cocoon in the soil under infested plants. Adults emerge in late spring as soil temperatures warm. You may get to enjoy the first crop of roses if soil temperatures remain cool early on, but once the adults emerge and begin laying eggs, you would be lucky to see even one normal flower. Many generations develop through the growing season.

Female adults lay their eggs in flowers, buds or expanding leaf buds, or even the tender tissue of elongating shoots. Those eggs hatch quickly, and the young larvae immediately begin to cut into tender buds and stem tissue to get to the sap that is their primary food source.

The injured tissue dies, turning brown at first, then black. It is common to find as many as 10-15 larvae on a single bud. They are very tiny -- less than 2 millimeters long -- so they often go unnoticed until you miss the flowers or notice dead buds. You can see the creamy white to pale red larvae on close inspection, but they are very small. They mature in about a week. Some drop to the ground to pupate, while others pupate in the injured buds or stem tissue. It takes only about two weeks for them to complete their entire life cycle during warm summer weather. Adults are small, inconspicuous reddish-brown flies. They do not feed at all and live only for a day or two.

Controls targeted at the first generation can drastically reduce or even eliminate the need for treatment later in the season. The only organic control that seems at all effective is to cover the soil under infested plants with plastic or layers of dampened newspaper. The idea is that adults have a difficult time getting out of the soil and die. It seems likely this approach would be more effective with plastic mulch that heats the soil enough to kill the pupal or adult stage of this pest.

Bayer Advanced Power Force Multi-Insect Killer (cyfluthrin), Bayer Advanced Garden Rose & Flower Insect Killer (cyfluthrin and imidacloprid), and pyrethrins and piperonyl butoxide are labeled to control rose midge in Pennsylvania. Start making applications as roses begin to leaf out in the spring. Make two more applications at 10-day intervals to ensure good control. Although many organic gardeners prefer to use pyrethrins without piperonyl butoxide, pyrethrins alone may not provide significant control of rose midges.

Feeling alittle ill last night. Woke up at 9:30am this morning and got surprised! Let the dog out and seen lots of frost!
Temp was 31 degree at 9:30am...

Birdbath had a skim of ice on it...
Marigolds and other flowers looked stunted and unhappy...

Thank you, Jim, for the pics. of your mountain view, very pretty. Your Mr. Lincoln has so many blooms, so the blood meal & Brewer's Yeast works very well.

We are lucky to be 73 degree today. Will pick another bouquet of Heirloom, W.S. 2000, and Carding Mill (has 10 buds/blooms). So glad that I bought 4 roses at $17 each (free shipping) from Heirloom ... just learned that they raise the price to $25 each per band !!

Bolero rose is worth every cent... I wish I can find roses like that, but in different color besides white. Thank you, Jim, for the article on Rose Midge. I had minor Rose Midge on Golden Celebration early spring ... that's the only spring that I didn't dump new soil, or grass clippings. I'm going to rake leaves and dump around Golden Celebration.

Cornell University stated that either too wet (flooding) or too dry will prevent midge-larvae from hatching. When I checked on rose-midge, folks in Rose forum reported that newspaper didn't work. Personally I think that spreading newspaper or plastic will hurt roses, since that block out water. I like eHow approach of dumping soil, or any organic material before the ground freeze ... that way eggs can't hatch in spring.

Below is Pat Austin, blooms well in partial shade. It gets 3 hours of sun now, since my tall house shadows it during late fall. Pat blooms well, but it gets too tall in partial shade. In full sun it's shorter ... I gave that second Pat away, since it's a water-hog in full-sun.

This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Mon, Oct 27, 14 at 10:33

Person from Penn State told me it was good I removed the two infected rose bushes I had rose midge on and then covered the area with plastic etc...
I just have to wait until next year to see what happens now...
I'll be churning up the top few inches of our soil throughout the winter so hopefully they freeze if any in the soil.
I sifted through our soil and did not see any tiny cocoons.. So?

The plastic probably should only be applied long enough to disrubt the cycle of the rose midge and no longer... Since the soil stays moist here and temps are not overly hot in the Spring plastic might just work well...(Don't know until one tries it)... article was written for our state of Pa...

Some people get the timing wrong... timing is key...

Removing 2" or so of soil over a large area to remove the eggs seems like another great option to me that I read in another article...
(Having already established roses your kind of limited on that though...)

The Rose Midge we had was located in the wettest part of our yard. To much more wetness and I do not think our roses would be very happy...

But like I said I would just rip all our roses out and try again in a couple years... lol

YourPat Austin looks great Straw!

Our frost killed our Morning Glories...

This post was edited by jim1961 on Mon, Oct 27, 14 at 17:24

Got rid of more dead flowers today... Our last frost took its toll... Things coming to an end for sure...

Roses all still going good though...

Shot of Thomas Affleck bloom that just opened...

Unknown mini Rose bud opened today... (My sisters)

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D-KO Blooms:

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This post was edited by jim1961 on Tue, Oct 28, 14 at 17:47

Greencure worked great on Mister Lincoln and leaves look almost normal again...

BUT it seems greencure not working so good on Thomas Affleck. Leaves still have Powdery Mildew on them...

Not sure whats up with that? lol

I'm glad to hear that Greencure works well for Mr. Lincoln, Jim. ....I have a few roses to dig up to improve drainage.

When the soil is dense, roses wilt easily in the heat (can't access water fast enough) ... also become mildewed in cold & shady weather. I'm mixing leaves & wood chips into clay to improve drainage.

You mean the rose bush leaves wilt or blooms wilt?
Never seen that happen here...

(Excluding recently transplanted roses...)

Hi Jim: Yes, roses' leaves get wilted when we got 100 degree hot that one summer. So I dug that up and fixed the soil .. made it fluffy with organic stuff ... and no more wilting in extreme-hot temp . This year's summer has been much cooler & wetter.

Below is a bouquet picked today, Oct. 29, Radio Times and Sonia Rykiel are the best-smelling among the bunch. Carding Mill (orange) is pretty, but not much scent.

We rarely get 100 degree days... Matter fact this year it only entered the 90's a couple to a few times...

Love the bouquet Straw! The orangish & red ones are my fav...lol

Ended up taking all our flowers out today to get ready for winter. Just do not want to be outside doing it in cold weather...lol

Took this pic right before I ripped them out... Man those Marigolds sure did stink! PU! lol

Matter fact going to start putting up outside Christmas lights this weekend so they are done & out of the way...

Rose buds are still opening each day so its going be a nice blooming Stravaganza to end the season... :-)

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Not the best pic but this was taken after I ripped Marigolds out..
That first rose bush is one I transplanted (moved over) back in August.
The second rose bush just will not take off and grow like the others... (Runt of the litter I guess...) It will take off sooner or later...

This post was edited by jim1961 on Thu, Oct 30, 14 at 15:44

Hi Jim: Yes, Marigolds are messy when the frost hits. That's why I like geraniums ... they are blooming & perky in the snow. It snowed heavily this morning, very pretty.

My snapdragons are cold hardy and blooming in the snow ... they self-seed themselves. I'll end this thread, and start another one with the bouquets I picked recently.