Tess of the d'Urbervilles or Florentina?
Cuteleier Z6 KS
last year
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Cuteleier Z6 KS
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William Shakespeare or Tess d'Urbervilles?
Comments (2)My understanding was that Austin has replaced William Shakespeare with William Shakespeare 2000 because, in Austin's opinion, the first Will was inferior to the second Will. I don't remember all the qualities that were improved, but one that sticks in my mind was that the blooms of the first Will often would not fully open--they would end up having a bean-shaped look to them as a result. I also thought that Will the second was supposed to have better disease-resistance--but I won't swear to that. Another difference I vaguely remember being discussed was that Will the first had a clearer/lighter red color; Will the second has a gorgeous red with purplish overtones a lot of the time. At any rate, I don't think you can buy Will the first anymore--at least I think Austin took it off the market. I seem to remember some gardeners back then being really ticked off about that. Can't help you with your other questions except to say that in my Zone 6 (southeast Kansas), Will the second grows much wider than it is tall, and it will have some blackspot problems although not a lot of such problems. And I really love its rich red/purplish colors. Have you also looked at some of Austin's more recent reds? Many of his newer roses are more disease-resistant, and I thought I remembered someone on this forum remarking that one of the newer reds has a purer red color. How about using Home Run (a distant relative of the Knockouts) instead of the Knockouts? Home Run is just as disease-resistant and has the advantage of looking much better for the rest of the summer after it finishes its spring bloom--whereas KO can look really ratty for most of the summer, although it recovers a bit for the cooler fall blooming. And in my opinion, Home Run's single bloom is much more attractive than KO's bloom. And it seems like everytime I give Home Run a drink, it bursts into bloom again. What an interesting project to be working on. Good luck with it! Kate...See MoreMy Sad Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Comments (10)Thank you for all the quick replies. Cecily, there are a couple blocks holding the pot off the ground. They do not block any holes, but the water does drain more on one side. I think maybe at the beginning I was afraid of overwatering and didn't water enough. That combined with the profuse bloom that just occurred (about 19 flowers at once) maybe she needed more water than I supplied. I do throw in some coffee grounds every now and again. I have not fertilized yet because I planted her in potting soil which already had nutrients in it. As far as the winter goes, I will be moving the pot into the garage. I do plan on planting her in the ground next summer. I wasn't expecting the growth to be so rapid. When I bought her she was only about a foot and a half tall. Now, less than 3 months later, some of the new canes exceed four feet! I also have an Eden out front which is doing wonderful. I can only hope my Tess does as good once planted in the ground. I didn't think about the brick amplifying the sun's heat. Luckily the weather is cooling off. It's going to kill me moving the pot. She looks so great against the brick. Thank you for all the advice!...See MoreTess of the d'Urbervilles
Comments (4)I saw it too. I did not know it was being aired, so missed the first fifteen minutes of the first half. I read the book last spring, but I do not remember every detail of it. Over all I think the film was fairly true to the book. It was okay, but not really amazing. I would have liked it to been different in terms of the cinematography. I have to say that the area in which they filmed was BEAUTIFUL. Every part of the scenery was just as I had imagined it from reading the book. The landscape, the D'Urberville estate, and the dairy farm were exactly how I had envisioned them. The characters were not what I had imagined at all. The actors that played Tess and Angel did not awe me; they were not particularly passionate in thier acting. The actor that played Angel was scrawney. I almost thought he would collapse when he carried the three dairy maids across the flooded road. There were a couple of things that bothered me. The first was the rape scene. It was not graphic or anything, just strange. The fog seemed to have had a life of its own. As soon as Tess is sleeping it gently crawles up, and then starts rolling in when Alec comes back. As soon as the rape is over the fog suddenly slinks back from whence it came. It reminded me of some horror movie fog that comes to steal your breath away or something. I also thought they could have extended the part where Angel and Tess talk together at the farm. They didn't include the general exchange of ideas. But these are just minor complaints. I do have a question, it is about hair. Did females of that time have bangs? I always thought they wore it 'off the face'. And were men usually clean-shaven? CMK...See MoreWhat to do with Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Comments (9)You might want to try pegging- Mine tends to just try shoot out arms and flower at the ends- they're also quite stiff tho, ( I managed to actually snap one off while trying to see how much "give" it had..not much evidently!) so not sure how successful a trellis would be. I have heard it recommended as a pillar rose, and seen a lovely sort of arboured version at our state garden, and one other suggestion is to fan it out over a trellis in a triangular style, keeping some canes at the front shorter for blooms at different levels. I saw that idea in a David Austin catalogue and it looked gorgeous (but then dont all the catalogue pics... :) when I was trying to work out what to do with mine.. taken last Summer at Victoria State Rose Garden Still not sure actually- I had almost settled on pillaring until most of her canes got badly burnt last summer and looked awful and ratty all autumn so I pruned rather brutally this spring in the hopes of fresh new canes. I hope it works, because Tess is pretty good (in spite of her awkwardness) for me.. blooms regularly, and fairly profusely and up until last summer dealt with the heat very well....See MoreCuteleier Z6 KS
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