Roamin' in the Rose Bed

21 years ago

Hi Rose friends, just wanted to let you know my latest project. It's been a few years since I've got back into the garden due to a car accident. I'd always been a keen gardener since I was a child. Sadly, the back garden has all the signs of neglect. It's a difficult yard to work in, full of retainers and steps so I tried to atleast tend to the front yard wherever I could. The ivy has run rampant of which I'd kept a close check on previously. Oh well, wish me luck :(

Anyway, this winter I've pushed myself to get out there and hopefully get the old drive back. The driveway has a narrow bed along it. I managed to destroy the Abelia and have turned the awful shabby dwarf pine to a stump. I picked out Flaming Peace to be placed closest to the path and working backwards...Lolita, Peace, Papa Meilland, Lagerfeld, Susan Hampshire, Apricot Nectar and that's as far as I've gone for now. They're in the ground....grow my loverlies!!!

I have some choices to make on which to place in next and in what order...obviously not all will go in as I only have room for 3 others. I thought Princess de Monaco, Margaret Merril and Friesia. I also have Virgo and Honor as I couldn't work out which is a better rose in the white. Already have a large Iceberg in the centre Of a triangular garden and prefer to keep the whites out of the scheme. Marg M is a little different and may or may not be included. Undecided really. Fragrant Charm, Princess Margaret, Moulin Rouge and Kentucky Derby will possibly be placed at the back sometime but for the moment they'll stay in pots.

I'm really just trying to create a typical bed of roses that one would see as far back as the 50's and 60's. Traditional but not rigid as there certainly are some roses that came later. Love Susan Hampshire. Saw a few blooms from Flaming Peace- aren't they dynamite!? Happy gardening please join me in a rain dance, it's so dry!!

Cheers

varmi

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Comments (6)

User
21 years ago
Hi, and how wonderful it must be for you to be back in the garden after so long, a marvelous place to recuperate and I hope that all is well with you. Your garden sound terrific and it seems you have done your research well in choosing all your roses, which I find is very hard to do as there are so many out there. I like your whites, I have no luck with my Iceberg as it always has pink streaks in it, so this season I bought Edelweiss so I will see how that goes.

I also liked the look of Princess de Monaco but it was not avaible where I ordered my roses this year, so I settled on Joy of Life mainly because of the big blooms and the colour which was white to light pink heavely flushed with red just so different so I will see how it goes, have you seen it, it is nothing like the pics on the websites.

You have so many pretty roses and whatever you choose will look terrific. I will certainly go along with you in that "Rain Dance" as it is very dry here in Brissie too as the main dam is down to 30% and the others are all below 50% so heres hoping that all of Australia gets heaps more rain but in smaller doses. And good luck with your garden and may your roses blooom forever. Cheers..MM
varmi
Original Author
21 years ago
Hi Misty thanks for your lovely response. Oh my gosh, the rain dance has worked!! Shockingly wet today, terrific :) It has been wonderful getting back into the garden, however the pruning is a little difficult for me as I have about 200?? One day I shall count them I suppose. It takes me a few weeks to get thru them all. Conrad F Meyer is a particularly vicious one, how can one so brutal have such a gorgeous feminine-pink blowsy and fragrance to die for bloom????? Loppers are so handy for these types!!! Maybe these ones at the back might get a little spoiling this year. They've had to make do with practically no attention for sometime. The pruning this year has been heavy, especially the Austins!!!

I've really started appreciating the Hybrid Teas and Floribundas more so since having this break from gardening. They really do out flower the older varieties and Austins. I guess I'm biased, having spent most of my time indoors, the roses that filled my vases were mostly these types and a joy for me. I hope to fill my garden with more.

I don't know Edelweiss or Joy of Life(what a name!)
Can't wait for spring,
cheers
varmi
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CI, TZ, SdlM all growing nicely now. I think this will be a good fragrance bed. I put Lion's rose in the back to add beauty and a good leafy background even though it isn't much on scent. I think if the base gets shaded by the others, it won't get disease. There's room to the right of Abe Darby for one more big rose. I think it's going to be Evelyn. Hopefully, it will work some magic for me. This is a good morning sun spot and gets shade in the hottest times of the day. My summer is a little hotter than Hoovb's but maybe it's close enough. I'm going to hope for the best. The only downside to this location is that it will take the full force of the Santa Ana wind from across the street. We are along the Santa Ana river channel and the wind blows strongly through the gap. It seems to be shifting later than Halloween now. I used to call it the Halloween Wind.
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Here is my advice and what I would do in your case. I always start my new bed preparations the Fall prior to the Spring I want to plant. First, get rid of the grass in whatever way you find best and easiest. For me, I simply rented a sod cutter from the home improvement center and it really did the trick, taking off the sod layer only and leaving the good soil beneath very quickly and neatly. The sod cutter is very easy to use and does a very neat job of it with nice crisp lines/borders. The next and probably the most vital step of the whole process is next, and is really a no-brainer in my book. After the sod removal and before any supplementing/amending of the soil in the bed, get it tested by your local Agricultural Extension Agency. That way you know what needs doing for sure to make your beds rose friendly. This is especially important when it comes to your Ph #'s of your garden soil. Be sure your sample is taken from several different spots in the bed and is about 6" down in the soil. If your Ph is bad, no amount of amending will do it any good if the soil is chemically unavailable to your roses because of a bad Ph. rating. If you make sure to tell the agency your target crop are roses, most will even tell you what kind and how much of whatever amendment is needed to make your soil perfect. First get your Ph corrected with whatever the agency tells you that is needed. I am lucky in that my soil Ph is almost perfect naturally so I don't have to do much there except to add just a little sulphur, but you do whatever they suggest to you. Then, I bought the cheapes amendments possible at Lowe's and till them in to the bed several different installments, watering deeply between each tilling to encourage the amendments to "sweeten" the bed. In the last couple of tillings I always work in a good amount of peat moss and a good quality garden soil and again till it several times to really spread it deeply and evenly, finishing off with another good soaking. Now just leave the new bed alone and let it sit through the winter until very late in the Winter season to mellow/sweeten out. Now,just prior to Spring in late winter I take another couple of soil samples to the Agricultural Extension Agency. This way you catch any slight changes especially to your Ph level before you start your planting. Make any necessary adjustments to the Ph if needed. I just cannot stress how important the correct Ph is to grow your roses. You can go to a lot of trouble and spend a lot of money and time spinning your wheels if the Ph is not right. I know this sounds like a lot of trouble, but doing this simple stuff is very important and will pay you so much in return you will find that it was well worth the effort you put in and will save you lots of aggravation not to mention time and money later on. You will get much better roses and be much happier with what you get from them when they grow vogorous bushes with tons of beautiful flowers, supposing you plant the new bushes/bareroots correctly, but that is another posting, LOL..... John
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User
21 years ago
Hi varmi. Sales of the rose "Joy of Life" support Health Research in Australia, it is supposed to be drought friendly. There is also another one named "Joy of Health" I dont have that one they are by different breeders.
Took a couple of pics from the Tags of the two you don't know. Enjoy....MM

Joy of Life
{{gwi:2114208}}

Edelweiss.
{{gwi:2114209}}
varmi
Original Author
21 years ago
Thanks MM, Joy of life certainly has a lot of punch, lovely colouring! I gotta admit, I love all roses. Eidelweiss has a lovely soft colour....hmmmm :)

Appreciate it, and may your blooms this spring be bloomin' marvellous!

Varmi
Snodge
21 years ago
Isn't that one of the most marvellous things about winter gardening, you can get stuck in to stuff that's been let go, or get into a new project, and because nothing is growing much you can really make some headway. Summer's just endless maintenance. Not so satisfying....and of course winter is welcoming the new babies...(though not for me this year).
I'll be really interested to hear how you go with Edelweiss. I've been tempted by it myself, but I think I read somewhere that it likes cool climates, so was put off. It certainly wouldn't be cool at my place in Summer. If it does OK in QLd (you're not up high are you?)I may just reconsider.
User
21 years ago
Thanks varmi I am out every morning checking to see if my 19 new roses have buds on them yet.

Hi Snodge I am not high up, but I do live on a 3/4 acre block with a river across the road.
And I reckon it is a lot cooler here than down the road, and my new rose bed has been
put on the side of the garage so it only gets morning sun, but I will let you know about Edelweiss.
Cheers...MM

Roamin' in the Rose Bed

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