OK ;I can't hold out any longer I'm adding Gemini to my garden . Outstanding pictures and I really like the lilies. Keep them coming I like them ALL !!!

Me,too! Love your photos. My favorite rose of all time is Tiffany. You will love her too. She gets better every year. I am very envious of your lillies. The rabbits have destroyed all of mine. Very disappointing, as they are such a beautiful compliment to the roses. I had such a good plan..LOL..but you can`t fool Mother Nature..the rabbits won. Keep your pictures coming. Your roses are lovely. Lesley

Me three !!!! That Gemini is my next rose for sure. I always said that the next one would be totally different than any I already have and that sure qualifies.

Beautiful pics S :-)

The first pictures before Gemini are what rose?

Very nice serenasyh ! But, where's the heavy lumps and lopsided garden? LOL
Guess i'll have to wait. You have some great roses and flowers!

JIM

Awww, thanks everyone for your kind words! ZyperIris, the baby blooms are Special Occasion Hybrid Tea Boxofrox is so right about guessing at what an unusual rose Gemini isÂItÂs constantly changing in terms of its coloration, and thatÂs what makes it unique It can hold up to heat, and it has very thick well-formed petalsÂPhatboyrose, if you get Gemini from J&P it will have a wonderful scent but you have to be careful, because not all Gemini have scent! I lucked out in that my strain of Gemini has a very wonderful, sweet aromaÂI think it inherited Anne Morrow LindberghÂs strain (which does have the listed strong fragrance). Lesley you absolutely have to follow up on this thread with the way Tiffany is supposed to look like (take a photo of yours)ÂOne of the Tiffany blooms, right after I posted my thread, ballooned out to this gorgeous shape, but alas! the fading evening light ruined my shot Yes, that rose has so much potential just like you saidÂIt will be one of my favorites once it maturesÂ

hee-hee, o.k. now here is just the beginning of the lopsided pics, Jim. Now that I lured some of you poor unsuspecting folks I can let the true scary photos showÂ
Here was my lopsided Gemini when it first started its 2nd flushÂ

I thought at first fine! This is typical of my garden-lopsided, but then just a few days later, I got these massive blooms throughout the entire tree, just as you see in the photos priorÂYou see Gemini is one of those interesting slow starter and a slow finisherÂit takes its time gaining momentum and then bam! You get these wonderful bloom after bloom after bloom, before it gradually tapers off only to have a next new set of buds that once again start the next flush (itÂs almost! But not quite a continual bloomer ) The first set of roses you see in the first lopsided garden is atypical of GeminiÂGemini is supposed to have absolutely beautiful blooms, not flat and lumpy like the first set of photos My Gemini wasnÂt able to produce its first full flush because it had just survived a horrific transplant in which I lost over 2/3rds of the feeder roots and 1/3 of the anchor rootsÂ

JeffAuroraÂs gorgeous Gemini demonstrates what Gemini is supposed to be likeÂ

So again, you can see the difference if you look back and compare my old Gemini blooms with my new blooms and with Jeff's blooms!

O.K! now to reveal my awkward garden backlot This was beforrrrrrrre I did my plantingÂ

Here is after my planting...

But remember! If you think this looks a bit jungle-y, you should see the mess! my garden is in now This pic was taken way back in June 15 Now it looks totally out of control My Lincolns and Aromatherapy are dense monster bushes-on-steroids; only Tiffany has that classical elegant rose bush shapeÂNow there's no more blooming glads to balance out the spears of background glad leaves either and all the purple meadow sage and veronica are almost completely devoid of their blooms now, so everything is messy and rather drab...

O.K. Get ready Jim, you are still only seeing part of the pictureÂIn a few days IÂll post more photos and then everyone will be like uhhhhh, welllll, ummmmm...eeeeeeeeeeekS!!! a forest from Hades....

ok, nothing wrong with the flowers in your pic... They look good!

JIM

As with most flowers, no two roses will ever look the same. That being said, I think your Gemini looks every bit at beautiful as mine. Yes it differs in color and form, but that's what I love about it. As for it being lopsided, some tree roses tend to do that but it is easily rectified in the spring when you can prune and reshape. My Topsy Turvy tree rose is a lopsided mess, but I just let nature take its course.

Your Stargazer lilies and are AMAZING!! I also love Special Occasion. Keep the pics coming!

serenasyh , very nice roses and flowers! I'm impressed! Yeah, keep the pics coming...

JIM

Everyone, you are not! going to believe what happened to my poor Fragrant Cloud tree rose the day before yesterday...I didn't have the chance to post yet but it's so comical...

Bless its little heart. It is a first year very young tree rose, but because it's such a prolific bloomer with gigantic blossoms its canes and stems are much thinner and can't support the weight if there is a very heavy rain which is what happened to us...

{{gwi:303082}}

Little E looks quite befuddled too as to why her silly Mama wants to take a photo in the midst of all this rain, and I accidentally left out her traveling crate as well! I bring this crate with me when I bring her to the agility trials (competition). Even though the crate was completely soaked I still forgot and left it out!!!! all I can ever think about are those roses, kooky me! It was not until the day later after seeing this pic that I thought uh-oh!

Here is the closeup of the roses

Eventually I had to cut several perfect but alas leaning roses, but as I have always said, my Fragrant Cloud is a prolific bloomer. Here are 2 days later when I caught a bit of perfect lighting conditions...Fragrant Cloud is so pretty but it needs overcast days or crack of dawn photos for it to look good in my inexperienced hands... I would have taken more photos of the other roses, but alas the blazing sun came out and will ruin my shots.

{{gwi:320596}}

Those roses are too sexy for its stems. he he
Funny story...LOL
Your dog does look befuddled...LOL
Very nice roses serenasyh!

JIM

Wow!! Your Gemini roses look spectacular!!! I love your new garden area!! Well done!!

I think that rose tree with the blooms on one half of the tree looks great. Quite interesting!!

I have Aromatherapy in a pot (1st year). It's grown quite tall for me - about 4 feet. The rose keeps blooming, but the foliage keeps growing so the blooms always seem shorter than the foliage!! Is that how yours grows?

Carol

Hurray, I finally got a few more decent photos of Tiffany, but alas I am still hoping for either JeffAurora's photos if he grows Tiffany or Lesley's Tiffany... I love Tiffany's fragrance and also the blooms are huuuuuuuge!!! they rival my largest mature rose blooms in terms of size alone. What's unique about Tiffany is that it has the smallest buds but then one of the biggest blooms once the flower "bursts out"...Here she is in her beginning stages (again, the lovely classical shape she always starts off with)...

It's so hilarious at how tiny these Tiffany roses seem, but believe me each of those flowers ended up humongous!!!! They immediately caught my neighbor's eye all the way across the backyard.

On the opposite side of the spectrum there is my tiny Special Occasion blooms which remain tiny, but they are all so pretty! I will eventually have to stop taking photos of them or else I'll drive everyone beserk! they all look so consistent but each flower is indeed different blooms..

Awesome pics serenasyh! I like when roses are different on a rose bush. It's been raining here 3 days now in a row and everything is waterlogged with stems drooping also.
Again, great photos!

JIM

Awww, thanks Jim and Carole... Jim that is so hilarious, the perfect descriptor: "the roses are too sexy for their stems" It has finally bounced back to its final shape; when I had to cut a few of those huge blooms, there were sooo many petals and the fragrance was totally awesome! Jim I decided to make rose jelly out of my Fragrant Cloud rose petals...I'll let you know how it goes...

Carole, this too is my Aromatherapy's first year. It was planted straight into the ground. Just like you, I believe Aromatherapy is one very tall plant I took out a measuring tape and measured mine...it's 4'6" but believe me, I am a monster pruner... I hack and slash all my roses, even the young own root roses... I have already cut down Aromatherapy several! times (each time about 1'6" of canes are cut so that the bush is even all the way around... Had I not pruned it, it would already been over 5'6" at the very minimum. I am certain of this! Aromatherapy has very leathery thick large leaves like yours...My blooms are never! as huge as my other mature hybrid teas, (cabbage patch flowers I call them) but they are decent sized and their colors really make them pop out. The blooms are very consistent about 4" to 4-1/2" diameter according to my measuring tape.

Ditto on the awesome pics serenasyh! I added Tiffany to my gardens last year and she is amazing - tall, strong and so far black spot free!! Below are a couple pics of mine. Michelle
{{gwi:1260135}}From 2009 Roses

{{gwi:1260136}}From 2009 Roses

Ok serenasyh , I want to see more rose pics from you! LOL... I'm enjoying looking at yours and others with all the nice rose pics!

JIM

Again, many thanks Jim! I can't wait to see your baby roses too... I think you've got 3 more new ones, right? I am hoping to add my orchids to my lumpy collection, LOL! My orchid leaves are so lumpy and funny looking, and I've got 2 lumpy buds (the orchid term is that they're in "spike"). One plant though is dormant and won't go into bloom just yet, but I did catch some beginning spike enclosure just baaaaaarely peeking out... My America and Penny Lane climbers have some baby buds as well, but they're barely visible, whereas my lumpy orchids are about 3" now.

Mommachelle I always love it when people get to add their beauties to my post! and yes, yours exemplifies how prolific Tiffany can be and how pretty her opening blossom buds are... and oh, my goodness, her fragrance is soooo wonderful...Like an English tea rose scent, very honeyed and like perfumed apples...I am surprised that no one seems to mention her as much on the regular rose forum...I can't imagine why... She is lovely both in her color and her fragrance...even when all the petals are spent, that perfume still lingers! unlike Fragrant Cloud which heavy-scented as it is, doesn't keep once the petals wilt.

I was reading a older post on the other forum from Jeffcat on container growing. People saying how they lost roses over the winter. Makes me nervous...LOL At least I only have 1 container rose to worry about (miniature Bonfire) this winter. Will grow more next season if I can successfully overwinter them. I'll figure it out.

Lumps and bumps...LOL... I'm still unsure what you mean???

JIM

hee-hee, well, Jim my orchid buds look very lumpy! I promise I'll take some photos of them tomorrow during daylight.

Me, too, Jim I am very!!!! worried about my climber roses...They're both in heavy pots not to mention my big tree rose pots and!!! 2 smaller pots (Special Occasion)...I can just imagine me over the winter, yowling to you when "all is quiet on the winter forum front"--panicking over my impulsive ways. Unlike you (who always starts slow and steady and sane!) I jump into all these impulsive buying sprees when it's only my first year growing roses.

Trying to make all of these potted roses survive will be quite a feat... Hopefully I won't be lookin' at a potted cemetery. Urk! 6 pots! eeeeeeeeeee!

P.S. I made my rose jelly, except it ended up rose syrup and not rose jelly... But regardless, it was delicious! The petals were from my Fragrant Cloud rain drenched roses... I had to cut several blooms to stop my tree rose branches from being so...lopsided, haha! (too bent over from the rainstorm)

Never tried tasty rose syrup before. LOL
Darn rain always bends our larger shrubs over here too. After things dry up, the branches spring back up...LOL

I'm going to leave our potted miniature outside until it goes completely dormant, then bring it in and place it under the front porch. I will monitor winter temps under there, if temps stay ok, i'll leave it there. If temps do not stay good, i'll go to plan B. After I figure out what plan - B is...LOL

JIM

I just thought of something after making my blackspot on roses comment.
I have been foilage feeding every 2 weeks with Drammic K fish/kelp fertilizer. Could this be the reason I haven't got blackspot???

Did alittle more research on this fertilizer:

http://dramm.com/html/main.isx?sub=5

http://www.dramm.com/html/main.isx?sub=72

O.k Jim! here are my babies....They look so lumpy and misshapen;I took photos of them at 2:00 p.m. to brag about how lumpy everything is but then, guess what?????! 2 hours later I came back from shopping and it looks like one of them is just! starting to open! I see a bit of brilliant royal purple sticking out... I will update on that...

But here is the first lumpy pic!

There are 2 actually 2 places that I put my orchids... The eastern facing window for most of the day (haha! note the non-seasonal decorative mat, to protect against water runoff. And here is the second place... Isn't that kooky? dragging plants back & forth. I did the same thing with my Gemini tree rose. I'd drag the whole thing indoors and outdoors during March-April...(after the ice storm catastrophe).

By the way, with my orchids I did the big fat no-no! I transplanted them when I shouldn't have...I basically broke every rule in the book. If you look at this link, it explains it all...

my post to the orchid people

Are orchid fussy plants to grow? We have never tried to grow them.

JIM

Hi, Jim! wow, I read your DrammicK letter you received with lots of interest... It was very! nice for Tim Tetzlaff to write back. I haven't yet had time to go back to the regular forum but will write later.

Orchids are actually easy so long as you grow them indoors. You don't have to worry about bugs eating them alive or fungus. Much easier to grow than roses in this instance, LOL! All you have to do is plant them by the window where they will get plenty of sunlight and only water them once a week at the most(a really good bath or soaking of water)...They're like roses in that they are oddly tough at the same time...it's just a matter of understanding their! idiosyncracies (they grow in either bark or sphagnum moss) and both have different watering methods...I consider bark a reeeeeal easy method. Unlike other plants they prefer pots much tinier than what I can possibly imagine for their size. And they need drying out/dry times or else they'll get root rot. They even enjoy the same type of fertilizers as roses believe it or not. Horse manure, fish emulsion, etc. And orchids live forever! 100+ years if you keep them healthy and strong, but again their very quirky plants, takes tons of observation, instincts to keep a good watering and non! watering routine going. Orchids are as yahoo says "immortal" if you care for them properly.

I looked up Orchids, funky looking things when they bloom aren't they...LOL
That e-mail from Tim at Dramm Corp was sent to me back in March, when I first received there product from Planet Natural.
The only question I asked was how much to apply to roses as the directions were alittle unclear.
I never put 2 & 2 together until now about the foilge feeding.
After I re-read his e-mail recently as I saved it, a light bulb went off in my head...LOL

JIM

funny-looking blooms, Jim????? sacrilege! just kidding! I thinks the plant is funny-looking but not the blooms... I think they're gorgeous! but knowing my luck we'll see if my orchids will turn out like lumps or loveliness. My orchids are both cattelyas which is the corsage type of orchid but of course more "expensive"/exotic...

here is what they look like so far, but they really haven't quite outstretched all their petals (a little over 1/2 way open). Once the flowers completely open I'll update.

{{gwi:180439}}

Your dog cracks me up...LOL...Loves to get her picture taken...LOL
Up above in my other post, I said, the orchids blooms look FUNKY...LOL...Not funny...LOL
I love your dogs eyes!

JIM

eeee, Jim, LOL! it's like telling a Mom with a newborn umm, your baby looks like a conehead, instead of cute! We're talking about my new babies, the oooorchids, lol!

hahaha! well, at least you're honest! instead of trying to butter me up, hee-hee!

Actually Eluane looks bewildered, and it's me, not her, who likes her being in my photos. She has one blue eye and one brown eye which is pretty rare in border collies. When I bought her as a 3-week old pup I had no idea she would turn out that way...It is at 5 weeks old that a pup's eyes really show in terms coloration. The problem with the brown eye is that it is often less easy to see than that ice blue color!

I barely missed out on Ellie's perfect photo opportunity yesterday, she was in between the baby bands and the young climbers nestled there, but when I ran back inside to get the camera it was too late and she was waiting there at the doorway wondering where I was...

ok, lets try this again...LOL...Funky to me, means cool. I looked up the definition of the word funky and laughed my butt off.
Ok, i used the wrong word...LOL
oooorchids flowers look cool..LOL

Definition of Funky..LOL
a. Having a moldy or musty smell: funky cheese; funky cellars.
b. Having a strong, offensive, unwashed odor.

hahaha! well moldy, and musty is a pretty unpleasant descriptor, but yeah, usually when I read funky it means kind of eccentric or bizarre which orchids are in a way, I mean whoever heard of a plant that can live 200+ years...except for our likewise "funky" and charming/bizarre cacti...Orchids and cactus always have let's put it this way---character, lol! They have lumpy and bumpy shapes...Hmmm, maybe that's why they live forever? one has to wonder hahahaha!

So how is the miniature rose doing in its brand new pot? any new piccies? I can't wait for Pennylane and America to start bloomin'!

I just checked and watered the potted miniature rose earlier
today. Looks good with new growth starting.

"any new piccies?" Not sure what that question means...LOL

FUNKY...LOL

JIM

When your Orchids flowers bloom, take a closeup pic of a bloom, so, I can see what they truly look like.
The pics I looked at on websites were taken from a distance. Thanks!

JIM

By special request, here are a couple pics of Tiffany:

Gorgeous Jeff! more more! more! hahahaha! the relentless rock star fan or shall I say rose star fan...! I am beginning to be sooo obnoxious to you and Boxofrox... I am actually stealing rose paraphernalia as well..and wanted to include a very obnoxious thread response in a different forum, but I have to rush off to lunch with my BF several miles away, so get reeaaaaady...

I can't wait for those Tiffany buds and beginning blooms to fully open so be sure to update on their blooms... I am still waiting for my orchids to fully open as well. They're actually brag worthy (unlike my lumpy roses) but are still stuck at 2/3rds open...I am eagerly stalking your Tiffany, and reeeeeeeady to pounce!

I see your stalking and pouncing again...LOL

" I am actually stealing rose paraphernalia as well..and wanted to include a very obnoxious thread response in a different forum"
This doesn't sound good to me...LOL

In my post you commented on that you were going to take your tree rose in the house for winter???
Do plants go dormant in the winter in your climate???
If so, I would think that you will have to keep your tree rose dormant with colder Temps.
House-hold temps would kill it, wouldn't it???

JIM

o.k. Jim, lol! it's too late now! as soon as I got home I did the unthinkable and stole! some color arrangements...

so when should the stalker/thief go to confession? wuh-oh!...

shame on me

I really want to steal JeffAurora's arrangements but most of his roses are in single shots one on one...I am going to see if he has any potted combinations to add... I am such a pest, lurker and rose stealer...bwuhuhuhu!

O.k. Jim. After waiting and waiting and waiting for my orchids to open fully, looks like I still have to wait! but this is good in a way because the more you have to wait the more longer lasting the blooms will be. My orchids still haven't fully opened yet. One blossom still! has the top two petals still curled into each other (they look like bunny ears, lol!)...the other has one petal still turned inward.

This is the best I can do so far...

By the way I am starting to collect my Lopsided Garden Part III. It will include my Lincolns and my orchid once it fully opens.

Here are photos of it still stuck in its intermediate stages.

{{gwi:180377}}

{{gwi:180379}}

{{gwi:180382}}

I debated posting the second photo because the white top petals because they are like flopped over bunny ears make the purple disproportionately large... The white is truly large but the perspective makes it look "non-existent"... You'll get a better sense of proportion from the back view.

That is your orchids? Wow! I love how the colors are mixed in the white flowers! Awesome!
I am looking for rabbit ears, but, can't see any... LOL
Unless you mean those white flowers hanging downwards?
I don't look for flaws in flowers or plants, so, you can post whatever you want.

Heck, I took pics of our cellar...LOL... And of worms... How despert is that...LOL

JIM

Jim, there are only two blooms on the orchid... Every bloom comes with one purple center, 3 very narrow petals and two lacy white petals...so basically 5 parts to each bloom...

I used the wrong descriptor, lol! I should have said floppy puppy ears instead of bunny ears, lol! it only looks like bunny ears if you look at it straight from above. If you look at it from photo #2 it's actually looks closer to puppy ears! hee-hee. You see the 2 white lacy petals directly above the purple will look the same size as the purple once they extend outwards. But because it hasn't fully bloomed the 2 petals look a lot shorter in perspective than they really are from the angle of the camera...They're actually large lacy petals.

O.k. enough silly and! confusing descriptions, haha! I'll try to do better next time...

hehe! what I'm looking forward to Jim out of your non-rose photos is...your lovely pet photos! Pet photos will keep our winters very cozy once our roses are asleep... And in summer and fall, they're super wonderful Distractions away from our roses, LOL!

Ser, where did you get the Gemini roses? Online? I want those!! I am considering FC and Gemini..I MUST know where you got Special ocassion?

Oh, that is all the same flower on the orchid, how neat is that...LOL... I didn't realize that. I see alittle yellow in it also.

JIM

Sweet Afton baby band rose. Looks like bugs were chewing on the blooms...LOL

{{gwi:1260140}}

Jim, you made such an excellent choice! I love your roses because they all are known to have amazing fragrance to them! I try so hard to get roses with fragrance, but not always do I luck out...

Zyperiris, I would definitely get Gemini from Jackson & Perkins...You will have better luck with them having fragrance at J & P because not all Gemini have fragrance...I love the scent of mine (smells like honey and and peaches)...Advantages of Gemini are that they flourish and look beautiful even in 95-97 degree heat; they are rated exhibition form roses by the ARS and are highly resistant to diseases and are very vigorous! Fragrant Cloud makes...delicious rose petal jelly--haha! man, when I eat that stuff I feel like I'm eating plums, super-saturated kick-pow jam, it's got flavor intensity to the max. It's got a very strong nice perfume, but my favorite perfume will always be Mr. Lincoln. Disadvantage of Fragrant Cloud is that it is very, very difficult to color match whereas Gemini looks beautiful anywhere you plant it! Special Occasion is a very beautiful rose but!!!!!it's got a split personality. It has a classical very lovely shape from young to maturity blooms, but once it's past mature it becomes an antique Souvenir bloom (google search Souvenir de la Maison) and you'll know what I mean. If you don't like the curliness and petticoat shape of this type of antique rose, you may not like Special Occasion... You see Special Occasion is a long-lived blossom, it takes forever! for it to fade and thus it has a split personality-- a breathtaking classical hybrid tea, but once its past its mature bloom stage, it becomes a cute petite OGR. It is now currently sold by Vintage Gardens. Mine was supposed to be exceptionally fragrant, but in my opinion it is only medium in fragrance so far...Also with Special Occasion it is OUCH!if you pick it up by the blossom neck-it's like a bristle brush of very tiny miniscule thorns...

I forgot to say I love your Baby Rose Sweet Afton, Jim... And oh my, such beautiful, glossy leaves! I love everything about it, the delicate white petals...

serenasyh, read this article on neem oil today. Check it out when you get the chance. JIM

http://www.discoverneem.com/neem-oil-insecticide.html

Ser, I have seen the FC rose..and it is ugly. But it does smell nice. I would consider it if it does look nice next to Gemini..so I would like you to post pics of them next to each other when you have time!

serenasyh, check out my thread when you get the chance.

JIM

There is a message awaiting you in the(Retry of Australian Autumn) Thread.

JIM

I'll say prayers for Frederick Mistral being transplanted!
Be careful as I did a wrong thing when I recently transplanted Love's Magic. At this time of the year you need to keep the dirt intact around the roots when you transplant. I left the dirt fall off the roots and Love's Magic had naked bare roots. All the leaves died and fell off shortly after I transplanted her.
Best of luck! God Bless!

Don't know what to tell you about Blackspot. I was talking to more neighbors today and the whole block here has lost there leaves on all there roses due to severe blackspot. Nobody on the block sprayed all season. Today they were rushing around trying to find something locally for blackspot. Only 1 knock out rose is good and still has leaves. Our roses are still all ok here.

JIM

serenasyh,

Here's the 2 gallon pump sprayer I'm going to order from Planet Natural.
Can be used to spray fertilizer or neem oil or whatever.

http://www.planetnatural.com/site/xdpy/sgc/Garden%20Supplies/Sprayers%20&%20Applicators
--------------------------------------------------------

DRAMMACTIC K fish/kelp

http://www.planetnatural.com/site/fish-kelp-fertilizer.html

-----------------------------------------------------------

ROSE DEFENSE (NEEM OIL)

http://www.planetnatural.com/site/search_engine.html?page=2&prod_group=Natural%20Pest%20Control&category=Fungicides%20%26%20Plant%20Disease

-------------------------------------------------------

NEEM OIL ARTICLE

http://www.discoverneem.com/neem-oil-insecticide.html

-----------------------------------------------------

BAYER DISEASE CONTROL

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=100375-24182-701250&lpage=none