Prairie, I came across this the other day from Santa Clara Rose Valley Society, scvrs.homestead.com/hybridizekb1.html , it is the best info that I have found.

I will be doing the peroxide bath on the bag that I do have marked as P.P. (the seeds that is) in hopes of getting them to germinate, I don't have the dough blender attachment but that seems to be the ticket for tough achenes.

I think I've now ordered up wayyy too many plants and seeds for spring, a bit of online retail therapy seems to help during these long cold winters! Problem is, I really should STOP looking at websites, they always have at least a few tempting things! What I want to avoid is having tooo many container plants to tend on my back deck.

Ubro, good to know the lewisia has germinated and hopefully will develop well for you. I have several trays of them in the attached unheated garage and a few plants had been blooming until that last bitter cold snap had taken temps in there down to about -6 C. I find the garage ideal for my hardy and semi hardy potted plants, including roses and buddleia. During weather like this, containers can remain frozen for weeks on end, though that's a good thing and better than them breaking dormancy too early during mild spells. The cold room is great for bulbs and tender roots and of course the stockpile of potatoes, cabbage and carrots, but also keeps canned goods remaining fresh for longer. And, yes, ideal for storing the waterlilies I had grown in the past! But, now after thirty years I've given them up :( ... though, several breeders have developed hardy BLUE waterlilies and I'd have no problem dropping a pretty penny if I'd ever come across certain varieties!

PNR, yes, I hope your rose seedlings will be alright without mice bothering them and you'll get some beauties this summer! I'm certainly looking forward and continuously seeking new roses to hybridize with. I think you've seen these hardy seedlings before, but what the hay!

A bit of rose slug damage on this lasting rich red seedling

Wayne - thank you for the link, I like how they summarize each step & include colour photos!

FrozeBudd - I am always happy to see photos of your roses! The variety you have achieved is inspiring! It's so rewarding to see blooms.

I hear it might be several years before I see any blooms as I've worked mostly with rugosas. I can see the appeal of the modern varieties, they really have more of a wow factor, and earlier results. Maybe I'll try keeping a few potted again, perhaps miniatures.

The ones I bought last year from the Heather Farm were very fun, fragrant too. It was delightful to have them indoors to sweeten up the room, but I still had to keep an eye out for aphids. 'Sweet Fairy' had the most highly fragrant blooms, adorable tiny dense leaves too. Not sure if I've posted this before:

I ended up plopping 'Sweet Fairy' in the ground. Regretting that now with this long cold spell!

Here are some of my rose seedlings from last year, all crammed together in the ground. I figure I'll have to thin them & find a home for them if they survive the winter - definitely adding that to plans for 2019! And here I am contemplating to buy more roses to add to my little lot, lol.

Less lawn, dear husband says.

I need to fence off more areas because the deer seem to come and mow down plants just when they are starting to bloom, they don't recover very well after that. I have corrals all over, it's the best I can do.

PNR, Sweet Fairy is beautiful, and stop with the pictures! LOL. I am now searching out roses to buy, good grief. Are you saying you keep your roses in the house or was it only for a short time?

Yes, there are enablers among us and I just ordered up 'Hansaland' rose among others after seeing PNR's big health gorgeous roses ... and now, that 'Sweet Fairy' is cute as heck!

Ubro, I'd be interested in following the development of your Cypripedium Reginae seedlings. Last year, I finally made a stop at a local nature reserve and it was loaded with Cypripedium parviflorum, it grows THICK along the short grasses at the edge of the tree line and into the dappled shade. I often have seed capsules develop on my Cypripedium Reginae and large flowered parviflorum and am thinking of finding a similar location here on the acreage to sprinkle the seeds about.

The Cypripedium seeds need a symbiotic relationship with a fungus before the will germinate, without this fungus they will not sprout. The fungus is found in the soil where they reside. Also, the pods seem to have the best germination if picked a little green.

You could have luck sprinkling the seeds about if the plants are abundant in your area, assuming the fungus is present where you spread them.

Reginae is becoming endangered in Saskatchewan, so I doubt if I sprinkled seeds I would get any germination. Because of this I took some of the dirt from around the plant ( a non wild specimen in a friends flower bed ) as well as some leaf litter from the forest floor. I dampened it, put it in a jar, added the opened seed pods and set the jar on it's side in my cold room. Approximately 1 month later only two germinated, but I was thrilled I got any after what I have been reading on them. Most people germinate them in media in flasks.

They resulting plants spent the next months in my refrigerator crisper and I took them out two weeks ago and potted them up. They are starting to get leaves, but there is plenty of time for them to die yet LOL.

Yes I definitely admit I am one to encourage others to acquire more plants & add to their gardens! I love how gardening is one of the hobbies which forms a cooperative relationship with nature, helping to make the world more beautiful & healthy.

Ubro, when I ordered the miniature fragrant rose collection from The Heather Farm, they delivered them right away. I had them leaf out indoors before planting them outside. 'Sweet Fairy' was a petite little rose - 1" flowers (blooming in flushes), and the plant grew to about 8" tall for me by the end of the season. 'Lavender Crystal' was also very strongly & uniquely scented, good sized continuous blooms too for a miniature rose! The fragrance of both was much more noticeable indoors.

FrozeBudd, I think Hansaland will do great for you. It is very vigorous for me, has a nice bush shape, healthy foliage, and the leaves have a nice gloss. I find the cherry red flowers quite striking, they "glow", similar to how begonia flowers glow. It has been about 50% cane hardy for me, although I have a relatively windy lot, it may fare better for you. I haven't tested it out much for breeding, but it does not set hips for me.

PNR

That's interesting, I've never read up on seed propagation of Cypripedium orchids and was unaware of their necessary symbiotic relationship with a particular soil fungus. I'll probably gather up a bit of soil at the park or just sprinkle the seeds there on the spot without anticipation of anything actually occurring. Cypripediums are sooo expensive, though I'd like to purchase a few choice selections, so I gotta start saving up!

PNR, what are some of the more rare and hard to come by roses you consider as must haves? I quite like 'Marie Bugnet' and have 'Louise Bugnet' on order and was hoping to get 'Lac Majeau', though it being unavailable from Cornhill when placing my order.

PNR I did order 3 climbing mini roses from The Heather Farm. I have a chicken house with an attached small room that gets down to -5C in the winter where I overwinter other pot perennials. I went with the mini's to keep my fall lifting to a minimum. Struggling with wet water lily tubs is enough.

FrozeBudd, if one has the room, I’d say 'Prairie Peace' and 'Hazeldean' are up there, although I don’t grow them right now, I know these are very special roses, especially when it comes to breeding. Sadly my 'Prairie Peace' sucker didn’t survive (got transplanted too often & roots got cut), I’ll probably replace it one day. Pretty much all the Canadian Heritage roses now listed on the Cornhill website interest me lol. As I get more into roses, I lean more towards taller roses which are fragrant & cane hardy.

Although readily available, 'Snow Pavement' has become one of my all time favourites - fragrant soft lilac coloured flowers, continuous blooms & cane hardy.

Ubro, I can imagine it must be an ordeal to overwinter water lilies! I’ve been on the fence on placing an order with the Heather Farm this year or next. I’d like to try some of the micro-mini roses in pots.

Overwintering water lilies actually is easier than most things I have done with gardening but the tubs can be heavy and are getting heavier as I age. Ten years ago I would have slung them around like nothing, not now.

I plant the lilies in a short black tub with handles and sink them in a deeper tub. When the weather in the fall is cold enough to freeze the water and they die I just remove the tubs, dump most of the water off and slide them into my cold room. I check periodically, while getting my potatoes, that they still are wet and have about 1/2 inch of water. I get my lilies from Moore Water Gardens.

At one time, I had wholesale sold waterliles to a few of the major Edmonton greenhouses and importing from the US some of the latest most outstanding varieties, I was a waterlily fanatic with over twenty varieties and having trialed at least fifty! As the years rolled by, it become too much work and I began to winnow them down to my favorites. Later, also letting go of any large vigorous growers and only keeping compact selections such as the outstanding 'Laydekeri Fulgens', and ultimately saying goodbye to waterlilies in the autumn of 2017. The worst thing about their culture is the heavy containers, the large growing types demanding of generous root space to enable development to their fullest potential. I most disliked having to divide them every second year, the process of blasting dirt from the roots with a forceful spray of water always had me covered in mud from head to toe! Plants were set out ultra early, as soon as I could get my above stock tanks clean and free of ice anywhere from late March util well into April weather permitting. I'd cover the tanks with clear plastic and that quickly brought up the water temperature and I'd always have my first few blooms by the third week of May. Yes, winter storage is the easy part, just keep tubers frost fee and totally covered with water.

PNR, my 'Hazeldean' had unfortunately met its demise at my hands and I also ended up killing the last remaining sucker. I'm also a fan of 'Snow Pavement', it's a beauty!

Below is my hybrid 'Hazeldean' selection that flowers all summer and being relatively hardy (though, likely has sustained damage this winter). Unfortunately, blooms drop their petals all too very quickly! I MUST get around to again working with both 'Hazeldean' and my own selection!

I try and keep my waterlily choices down to the small varieties as well as limiting them to only 3. Sometimes I get carried away with a new plant type and the work then gets overwhelming making me pare them down anyway.

For seeds my lewisia are coming along well, herbs are up and I am just starting do do my melon grafting. The sun is out and has a little heat so all is good.

Ubro, I take it these melons are to be grown in a greenhouse, what are you having good success with?

Contemplating sending an order to Phoenix Perennials and am now looking at Parks online catalog, today they have $2.99 shipping with no minimum required, I sense a few more packs of lewisia possibly coming on, lol.

New hardy blue waterlilies developed by Mike Giles in the US, photos are from his website. Now, I wish I could say I have these on order !!

Ubro & FrozeBudd, these photos of waterlilies ate absolutely serene. I can see why they are worth the effort to overwinter.

Aha, just placed an order with Parkseed, I noticed they are advertising the code 'FREESEED' for free shipping, it looks like it worked for my Canadian order. Got some more 'Elise' lewisia seeds ordered!

FrozeBudd, have you tried crossing your yellow rose pictured with 'Campfire'? 'Campfire' has such long lasting blooms. Emily Carr and Oscar Peterson are some others I can think of which are hardy/vigorous and have longer lasting blooms (both have been clean for me the last few years, but I am in low disease lot with all the wind).

Not in a greenhouse but outside, I start the plants around March 1- 15 and pot up until they are in gallon sized pots. All plants are in bloom when they are put in the ground. These were my Petite Gris in 2017 which is an absolutely awesome melon. Sweet and juicy and best of all, ripens in our short Sask. season. When you cut it open and remove the seeds the centre fills up with juice. I have found that these melons do ripen after picking. Most info I found said no, but trust me, some of these were not ripe at picking time as I had to beat the frost, a few weeks later they were good. Three plants yielded over 30 melons which I cut and froze for smoothies all winter.

I also grew watermelon, that is the grafting I am talking about. I graft onto pumpkin rootstock, the premise for this is that watermelon sulk if transplanted often or if planted in cooler soil, while some pumpkins do not. My watermelons that I grafted way outperformed the non grafted and were grown both outside and in the greenhouse. I liked the outside ones better, it probably had something to do with the level of moisture and heat, it was like comparing a greenhouse tomato with a garden grown. My only problem was that I wasted watermelon trying to figure out when they were ripe. Some were underripe and some ended up overripe.

grafted watermelon on the bottom right corner, three non grafted in row above ( Petite Gris melons are in the left row)

Watermelon as of July 8, 2017

So, for all you who wish to grow a few melons, it is possible. IMO cantaloupe is more rewarding because one plant yields many melons. Watermelon did not produce more than one melon per plant in a season. But this variety was Orangeglo, I am putting in Crimson Sweet this summer.

Ubro, you're certainly doing a great job there and have me a bit envious! Any of my attempts with watermelon have been rather dismal and even the cantaloupe had barely made it under the wire before frost. I guess, I must start them a good month earlier than previous and grafting the watermelon onto pumpkin stock! I'm all done with seeds orders and hadn't gotten any cantaloupe or watermelon, so that will have to wait for next year. Btw, great idea regarding freezing the cantaloupe. Might have to do the same when I get those big 22 lb. watermelon beauties :) lol ... they'll probably end up fitting in the palm of my hand!

Sent an order off to Phoenix Perennials, they have a few variegated agaves and an wild and wacky aloe I couldn't resist. Again want to try my hand at Crocosmia, had been successful for a few years when giving them good winter protection, though they died out when the ground had been very wet, I'm trying the 'Okavango' variety, which could also go in a container ... mmm, had said I was going to avoid tooo many container plants, lol. ... but, am also looking for a dwarf Japanese maple, when does this all stop! Am more into grasses these days and ordered up 'Blackhawks' Big Blue Stem and Calamagrostis 'Lightning Strike' and 'Cheju Do', a new dwarf form of 'Karl Foerster'. Still have yet to send off to Veseys, my list is long and will have to winnow that down, so much for restraint and ordering less, blame it on our long drawn out winters!

Frozebud, Here is a picture of my first watermelon in 2016, this is not a mini, but a full sized melon. So I have had many screw ups along the way. Sorry for the garden hands in the picture.

Yes, I have seen that watermelon variety listed, it's 'Ultra Mini Scoop', lol :)

Did pick up some 'Minnesota Midget' cantaloupe seeds at Walmart today, funny how I had totally up and forgot about checking out the seed stands, daahhh! Okay, will start these tomorrow! Walmart has tons of roots and bulbs in and might have to get a bag or two, though I often find things turn out to be frustratingly mislabeled and reason being why I prefer mail order, cause reputable places will stand behind their product.

Finally, was a decent sunny day with normal daytime highs and some melting going on .... felt sooo good!

LOL frozbudd, I was amazed that such a tiny specimen was actually fully formed and ripe.

I agree the warmer temperatures are a relief! I finally got around to sorting my pots the other day. Here’s an update on the begonias, they’ve come a long way! I love the shiny leaves!

However, my meconopsis blue poppy seedlings (from West Coast Seeds), which sprouted at about 50%, are growing very, very slow. Perhaps a pH issue? Maybe I’ll switch to watering with melted snow, there is lots available this year. I hope they will make it!

That is a great tip on grafting watermelon onto pumpkin, I’ll have to give it a try one year. I would love to combine it with burying the vines for added root growth & water intake. Maybe the next time we grow a giant pumpkin, I graft watermelon on.

PNR, your begonias look fantastic and have developed much quicker than mine, you're obviously doing something right! I saved over the best of these plants and now am taking cuttings, I found them to perform well in ground, though make for awesome container plants and decent ones that bloom throughout the winter.

The 'Minnesota Midget' cantaloupe are doing fine and enjoying the days spent out on the sunny south veranda where the sun streams in and has been boosting the temperatures up into the 20's. Now, sure wish these current conditions were here to stay, but this is Canada!

FrozeBudd, it is so satisfying watching these glossy red begonia leaves unfurl! Thank you for mentioning the ‘BIG’ series in the first place, I would not have known about them otherwise. With 35 plants now, it’s good to know they perform well in containers, some will likely become gifts for my neighbours! I too hope to hang onto a few to keep for years to come. I still wish I had saved some ‘Vista Bubblegum’ petunias from a few years ago, and ‘Evening Scentsation’ from last year - even though the leaves smelled a little like dog food!

Yes warm day here too. My project has been scooping dog poop. I learned the hard (gross?) way it's better to do this first thing in the morning when everything is still frozen!

I was also able to collect a tote bin of water from melted snow and have already noticed a good difference in many seedlings, they are thankfully starting to loose their chlorosis and green up again!

BIG Rose Bronze Leaf scored something like 4.9 out of 5 at some trial gardens, that's about as good as it gets and indeed these certainly did not disappoint us in the least! The blooms are a lovely multi tone pink beautifully set off by dark foliage. Next year, I'd like to try the even larger version BIG DeluXXe Rose Bronze Leaf ... stunning eh !!

My well water is great for plants, has a bit of iron, though low in sodium. Back on the farm, the tap water (untreated as it was) had high levels of sodium that made it unusable for seedlings and house plants, impatiens seedlings in particular would become very stunted and refuse to grow.

Got a chuckle out of the dog poop comments, I remember the stomach heaves I got when cleaning up very odoriferous droppings on a warm springs day, ugh!

I like the word odoriferous, that is a great adjective for my experience the other day.

BIG DeluXXE is stunning & absolutely huge!!! What amazing results from hybridizing. I hope the seeds will be available in Canada in the future, or potted - I’d love to give one a try. It looks like I’m making a list for 2020 plans! Petite Gris, grafting watermelon to pumpkin, Benary zinnias, Frosted Explosion grass, BIG DeluXXE, Illumination & Sun Dancer begonias are now on my wish list, thank you both for the excellent recommendations!

Humming and haaing here about adding adding a few more roses this year as future seed parents, perhaps ‘Jens Munk’, ‘Fru Dagmar Hastrup’ or ‘Prairie Princess’....

Been reading culture guidelines and I just realized begonia BIG ‘DeluXXe’ is the same plant as ‘Whopper’, with the name ‘DeluXXe’ used internationally and ‘Whopper’ for north America.

FrozeBudd, thank you for the heads up on using a lean mix for lewisia ‘Elise’, they are sprouting for me well too. It’s funny, the packet says they need high nitrogen, while the culture guide says to avoid nitrogen. Sounds like perhaps there is a typo on the packet. I hope to keep these alive for future years too!

Good to know the 'DeluXXe; and 'Whopper' are one of the same, I would have hunted down a packet of seeds IF I had better done my homework on that ! :) ... though maybe, I'll come across some at the greenhouse. My 'BIG' begonia cuttings have all taken, they're about the easiest things to root. PNR, it probably won't be long before yours start showing buds.

Yes, I learned the hard way that lewisia seeds dislike nutrient rich soil, most had either refused to spout or had died shortly afterwards. They do however want a richer soil medium as they become further developed.

Did order up half a dozen dahlias from Ferncliff and a few others here and there. From Walmart picked up a 'Angel Martin' canna and from Brecks, a 'Louis Cotton' canna and 'Serenade' Japanese anemone. I don't normally order from Brecks, though 'Louis Cotton' is said to be a fine performer and an excellent hybridizer. For several years, had grown the 'Serenade' anemone and it proving quite reliable and decent early flowering, normally just after the middle of August ... though, ending up losing it to wet ground the one year.

I just potted up my mini roses from Heather Farm they are nice plants. I am hoping to be able to keep them over winter.

Good news, many of the rose seedings I planted outside last year are definitely alive, it looks like the straw bales around them worked. And 'Snow Pavement' open pollinated rose seedlings are coming up this week, which is exciting.

I also discovered my geranium 'Rozanne' has been the tasty treat for a gopher or other rodent over the winter! When the mulch was pulled away I found a hole inches from the crown of the plant. Darn thing.

FrozeBudd, I looked up 'Serenade' anemone, it looks lovely! My begonias are growing nicely, although perhaps a little slow as my basement has been a bit cooler than normal, likely from the deep cold in February. Here they are today:

Although this evening I noticed they have some holes forming on the edges of the leaves and a white residue build up. I guess this is either fertilizer burn or a reaction to hard water as I was a little lazy and used tap water instead of melted snow water last time.

Ubro, good to hear you got nice plants from the Heather Farm. Curious, what varieties of mini roses did you end up getting?

PNR those begonias are sure healthy, beautiful plants.

I got three mini climbers, Klima (yellow), Magic Dragon (red) and Star Performer ( pink). I have done roses before but not in pots that I expect to over winter. I tried to save two of mine last year and put them in a shelter that gets around freezing but it looks like they dried out. I am assuming that they need water during the winter. So now that I am serious about these I will have to research the needs of a potted rose during dormancy.

Speaking of little critters, they girdled some of my plum and small apple trees, there will be no saving them so making tree guards will be on my summer list.

Ubro, those sound like a great selection of mini roses! The user 'rosecanadian' has some good notes on overwintering potted roses in the comments section of this thread, https://www.houzz.com/discussions/how-to-overwinter-pot-in-your-garage-dsvw-vd~3461663?n=21

Unfortunate to hear about the damage to your fruit trees. I hear with a long cold animals can get even more desperate for food.

FrozeBudd, you were right, upon closer inspection, I do have flower buds forming on the begonias!!! They started showing colour yesterday. I feel I’ve achieved success!

Your begonias continue to grow impressively well, beautiful things aren't they and just wait until they're topped with blooms!

Ubro, I've had mixed results with wintering roses, yes many have succumb to either having dried out or being overwatered, it's a fine line! This year, I had better results, the pots had remained frozen for a good long stretch there and otherwise, I had attempted to maintain them at just slightly moist. Ideally, if a person could have them frozen at -5 C for the entire winter (thus in total suspended animation), this would work best. Too moist and they die, too dry they die, too warm they grow, tooo cold they croak, touchy things! Only losses now were several I had intentionally totally neglected last summer. Though, probably should not have been so hasty, cause often I've had breeding stock plants that hadn't lived up to my expectations bloom wise, only to later have them reward me with some excellent offspring!

Yesterday, I went to the scion exchange at the University of Alberta Botanic Gardens (Devon, Alberta), sure was well attended, lots of very eager friendly folks anxious to try their hand at acquiring new varieties to graft. I came home with a good sized baggie of them for myself!

frozebud, That scion exchange is one of the best, if not the absolutely best in Canada. I have been grafting fruit trees for five years now and some of my most prized little apples were the ones girdled by mice or voles. I went thru my small patch and removed a bagful of scions to re-graft, starting over from square one is a pain.

What did you get?

Got a couple of pics before the hail hit. The begonias have made it to containers, the flowering kale and cabbage are huge from the good moisture, and I’m very pleased with the Cool Wave poppies. The Cool Wave mix is mostly of a bright yellow, a light yellow which fades to blue, and a few purples. I love the BIG Red Bronze Leaf more than the Rose, it just pops!

Making plans for next year - to select plants which are more wind & hail resistant.

'Glamour Red' flowering kale is indeed glamorous, love the shiny foliage and early colour.

Ubro, sorry, I never did answer your question regarding what scion wood I picked up ... well, spring wasn't great and had other stuff going on and those scions just sat and sat in my fridge.

So, how's the plants and gardens coming along, weather has been sooo poor here in central Alberta that even my container plants are lagging! Last year was MUCH warmer and drier and I had a great show of cannas, geraniums and 'BIG' begonias etc. sitting on the back deck, this year I'm constantly hauling them back and forth into the house to avoid the miserable daily downpours and hail! Garden has really suffered, no tomatoes have set and pretty well every last strawberry has rotted, beans are weak instead of bushy and blooming and corn is two weeks behind and a bit anemic looking, etc. Dahlias that generally grow up to 4 ft tall are instead really struggling to gain any height and most sit are at a measly 15 inches! Perennials on the other hand are enjoying the wet conditions, though I'm sure NOT, we've had a soggy soaking 10 inches of rain in the last three weeks and depressing cloudy pea soup skies have dominated!

Very much like 'Cannova Bronze Scarlet' and 'Canova Bronze Orange' cannas, I had gotten a whack of big husky plugs at a local greenhouse for only $2.50 each and many were in bloom only a month later! Canna 'Angel Martin' is ready to pop and will be a nice yellowish color, I had picked this one up as a bagged rhizome at Walmart and glad to see that it's not overly plagued by virus, although does have a slight bit of leaf streaking, On the other hand, the 'Louis Cottin' canna from Brecks (yes, I know, I know!, lol) is badly virused, that despite my inquiry and their insurance of their cannas being certified virus free, bs! ... oh, it's mislabeled as well, foliage color is wrong! 'Serenade' Japanese anemone (also from Brecks) is sending up a small bloom stock and hope it proves true to name, won't hold my breath though! I shouldn't have been tempted to order from Brecks, though had grown 'Serenade' in the past and was very pleased with it's early bloom capabilities and now needed a replacement plant.

PNR, Did you do any rose breeding work? I'm just finishing up with that for the season. How's your seedlings from last year?

Hello FrozeBudd! It sounds like a very wet and rainy time for you as well, it hasn’t been quite as bad here, but we have been getting almost daily rains and the garden is very, very lush.

Fortunately we went with very raised/hilled up beds in the vegetable garden, which seems to have help the water drain away. Three hail storms here, luckily not too heavy hail, I have most pots tucked against the house now to prevent any more damage and water logging. On the plus side, the lilies have been loving all this moisture and are much taller this year.

I hope your 'Serenade' anemone comes through, mislabels are so frustrating! Good to know about your experience with Brecks.

The rose breeding has been tricky with the daily rains, I find myself throwing the BBQ cover on seed parents or using sandwhich baggies to prevent the rain from washing away pollinations. Roses have been late to bloom too, the flushes haven’t started on many asides from some rugosas. I’ve been dabbling with iris and pelargonium breeding while I wait for more roses to bloom.

The peonies seem to like this weather too, the blooms have lasted longer & itoh 'Bartzella' is finally maturing - I think this is year four for it:

Finally started to see some good colour this last week, everything is looking very full:

As always, your plantings are very nice, healthy and vigorous, 'Bartzella' is gorgeous! I take it that you do a fair bit of soil amending, I recall how robust your roses and lilies were last year! Many of my liles have kinda tuckered out despite applications of fertilizer, so I guess I'll be lifting some of them and replenishing the soil. 'Beverly Dreams' is an exception, always remaining vigorous and having that nice dark healthy foliage!

I also have tented with plastic a rose I've heavily used for breeding and as for those exposed to the elements, I wrap foil over prepped or freshly pollinated blooms. A dozen or more pollinations and I'll finish up for the season. I'm working more and more with my own hybrids and dealing less with potted specimens, which can be a pain, but always fun to be adding new bloodlines! I'd like to plant some of my hardies directly in the ground within a greenhouse and then not be so bothered by the elements and have those needed extra heat units! Please do keep us updated on the pelargonium breeding, I've often wanted to cross some good ivies with zonals!

FrozeBudd, yes I’ve heard it’s common for some lilies to weaken over time. They seem to be such heavy feeders or want a certain soil pH. 'Casa Blanca' has yellowish leaves for me this year. Yes I do lots of amendments for anything expensive - lots of peat moss, compost and sand in the planting holes. And digging out the clay fill which seems to have been brought in for the house. I think Bartzella also really liked the extra moisture this year!

I really like your technique of keeping your rose seed parent tented. I was thinking of doing something similar down the road, it would help prevent bees from cross pollinating as well. I never thought of using foil in the beginning to protect prepped flowers, that’s a great trick! Do you have any earwig issues in your area? There are so many here they munch, on the lilies, roses, etc. All the good stuff lol. I think I remember them hanging out in the foil when I’ve used it in the past.

I was able to source pelargonium 'Crystal Palace Gem' from the Greenery garden nursery in Kelowna (a phenomenal operation there!), and I’m very excited to have some seeds set from Crystal Palace x Bullseye Salmon:

Finally, some better weather the last few days, though there's a threat of potentially very nasty storms for overnight, the radar is red and purple with mean thunderstorms!

My oriental lilies had done fantastic for several years, but yes, now many are yellowed and have ceased to flower, so this fall it's time to dig and do some soil amending! As for rose breeding, I did a cross a few years ago that resulted in a hardy hybrid tea with shapely blooms on a plant with vigor and health to boot ... so, now am anxious to see if this plant can also be a good parent. I've tented the rose and another that I've extensively worked with and now such provides protection from the elements and additional heat units. I'll soon post some photo of these roses, but for now here's a white that has a delicious strong citrus fragrance and decent good health.

As for earwigs, I did see just a few when I had lived on the farm, though so far thankfully none "yet" here, probably won't be long though!

'Crystal Palace' x 'BullsEye Salmon' ... will be looking forward to seeing the results! 'BullsEye Salmon' is such an excellent seed grown geranium !!

Gorgeous white rose, FrozeBudd, wonderful to hear it has fragrance & hopefully your other hardy hybrid tea will be a good parent. I always look forward to your rose photos, it gives hope!

My roses look like weeds now haha! I never thought before I’d have the issue of dealing with hundreds of rose seedlings but here I am.

The iris hybridyzing has been promising, lots of pods so far. I have a very tall yellow which has worked well as a seed parent:

I've never worked with iris, though a acquaintance does and also grapes and roses, I really should catch up with him to see the results.

PNR, were you able to get around to doing some rose breeding? I think your weather of late has been a lot better than the ghastly condtions we continue to experience here in central Alberta. Nearly daily downpours and predominantly below normal temps, a very discouraging summer, big time! I finished up a good six week working with the potted roses, well except for one specimen that I continue to dabbling pollen on. As for outdoor breeding, I'll only collect a good seed crop if we happen to receive warm temps through to the end of September, immature hips I'll remove and attempt to further ripen in the house, something that I'm not aways successful with. The gardening season has been a real bust, pretty well no tomatoes have set, cucumbers must be covered to prevent them from rotting, corn is delayed and sad looking and almost every last strawberry has turned to mush, the ground is soooo sticky saturated WET, WET !! Truthfully, for six weeks or more, we have not gone two days in a row without being blasted with yet more rain and forcing us to spend most of the summer indoors, ggggrrrr, that's what winter is for!! That's my RANT !!

Hi FrozeBudd, it sounds like your conditions have been much wetter than mine here, a few weeks ago we had very strong winds and it seemed to blow away the cold and rain, it’s been good heat since.

I did get some rose pollinations done, although about a month behind. I’m working mostly with Snow Pavement as a seed parent, usually it‘s hips ripen quickly so I’m hopeful it‘s not too late. Some crosses I’m hopeful to take include Snow Pavement crossed with Gilardi (a striped moss rose), Above and Beyond, Yellow Bantam (a miniature), and John Davis. I’m playing around with the hybrid rugosa/intentional triploid route, it seems like the most floriferous are often sterile. I got a couple of blooms from previous year’s efforts about to open, which is also very exciting for me, but everything looks like a weedy mess.

Another highlight, Lauren’s Grape poppy opened this week and the colour is magnificent although the blooms a little smaller than expected.

The lilies have been loving this moisture, here is lilium 'Regale', earliest to bloom, taller and many more blooms compared to last year:

Update, the 'BIG' begonias have recovered from the hail. I learned they do not like hail or hard water, but gosh are they ever gorgeous when the conditions are right. Here they are tucked against the house as it hails often here:

My overgrown lily bed:

The smell is amazing, great to have lilies which are actually fragrant, I’m still amazed they survived the brutal winter we had. Hopefully they do well for a few years, my Stargazers in a different spot have weakened over the years and have now almost disappeared.

'Miss Peculiar' is in her prime this year though:

Well, did have a few days of "real" summer .... though, now back to rain and coool temps for yet another prolonged stretch for what is now the eighth wettest and gloomiest summer on record, really a miserable one to remember! Only have the hydrangeas been star performers, 'Incrediball' is up to 6 ft high with massive blooms, 'Invincibelle Ruby' has yet lacked vigor, though color is holding well in these cool moist condition, whereas 'Mini Mauvette' quickly faded. 'Little Lamb' is a high impact plant covered in large blooms and 'Moonrock' continues to all around impress and shows two weeks earlier than 'Limelight'.

Today, we visited the St. Albert Botanic Park and were espeically impressed with the bloom quality and health of 'Olds College Rose' ... PNR. has yours also remained a healthy performer? As for the direction of rose breeding, I'm anxious to follow the progess! The 'Lauren’s Grape' poppy is a beauty and sets off so well against the silver foliage and the lilies are b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l! The 'BIG' begonia and geranium collection is a feast for the eyes and so well grown!

If anyone is into dahlias and wants to grow a stunner, 'Karma Choc' is that! Also came across this today at the botanic park and it stopping me in my tracks! One we have here and super enjoy is 'Ryecroft Zoe'.

Cannas are a bust this year, hardly have grown or bloomed due to the poor weather.

FrozeBudd, glad to hear your hydrangeas are doing well! I’ll have to add Incrediball one day, I don’t see it for sale as often in the stores these days, I’ll have to check out the nurseries instead. Unfortunately I don’t grow the Olds College rose, but I remember seeing it at Olds College and it looked like it was doing well, bouncing back comparable to how the Parkland series roses do.

Frost warning for my area tonight. Gonna head out to cover my tomatoes, I don’t want a repeat of last year. Poor sunflowers, their buds were just starting to get bigger. I hope they’re close enough to the house.

What a terrible summer, cool, wet and now frost. How on earth is one to get things like pumpkins and melons to set let alone ripen! My sunflowers are just in bloom now, 3 weeks late. Getting the hay in has been a nightmare, on the up side, sweet peas were wonderful.

I got lucky, we avoided the frost the other day, the sunflowers are still surviving but not blooming yet. Rain again this evening.

My lewisia have started blooming! I learned they don’t like too much heat, their leaves can droop quite a bit in the sunroom. Got some yellowing leaves which I haven't figured out as I'm carefully watering with rainwater & half strength fertilizer.