Roses After The Rain

Some roses decided to bloom during Tropical Storm Debby.  I ran out between rain bands and took pictures since most of these blooms would soon be blown to bits by wind and heavy rain.

'White Out'  

'Belinda's Dream'

'Louis Philippe'

'Julia Child'


I am still amazed that my roses are doing so well.  They get a haircut and compost in February, and a monthly application of Mills Magic rose food.  During the dry season I hand water them about twice a week.  A drip irrigation system is on my wish list.  

Roses Love Rain

All the rain and soggy conditions the last few weeks kept me from deadheading the roses as should be done to encourage less leggy growth and more blooms.  The roses seem to be doing well in spite of my lack of diligence.

Julia Child

The bushes have all grown quite spindly and less bushy with all the extra water, but the buds still keep opening and offering their sweet scents.  The area in front of Julia Child was actually under water for weeks.

Scentimental

The other roses are planted up close to the house and are in a well-draining area.  It was nice to not have to worry about giving them supplemental water.

Louis Philippe

It seemed that whenever I had the time to get outside for a quick trip around the garden with the clippers the rain clouds would let loose.

Belinda's Dream

This section of the garden is ready for some attention.  I am looking forward to spending some time cleaning things up in this area and preparing for one of my  favorite times of the gardening year - Fall.

White Out

Garden Valentines

Valentine's Day in a Florida garden is traditionally the time it is finally safe to think about spring.



Camellia Sasanqua 'Shishi Gashira'

 Signs of life are budding out on previously cold ravaged stems.  Flower buds are showing up  promising springtime blossoms. 


Rosa 'White Out'

 The temperatures are just delightful here in central Florida.  The coming week is forecast to be in the 70's during the day and the 50's at night.  Absolutely perfect gardening weather.

Happy Valentine's Day gardening friends.  I hope you are enjoying all the promise that springtime has to offer.

In-between

While the garden is between frosty weather episodes these flowers have brought their joy.

Lovely lavender only grows well here during the cold season. 

Once the humidity of a Florida summer cranks up it wilts and withers,but now, it is spiking up beautifully.

A reliable bloomer most of the year, African iris is sending up shoots of new buds. 

Sweet Alyssum and Belinda's Dream mingle their perfume adding a sweet scent to the morning walk-about.

With a scent that is a little less sweet and a little more peppery, the White Out rose is doing her best to provide wintery white blooms.

Smelling like almond cookies baking in the oven, the sweet almond bush is loving the cold. 

(While tender potted plants and seedlings have been brought into the protection of the porch and a few in-ground tropicals have been covered with old quilts, the above flowers have been on their own.  Other plants left unprotected have already turned brown and begun their winter hibernation.  It's nice to have a few things doing well in the winter garden.)

Roses Along the Path

After the repeated deep freezes of early 2010, huge, old hibiscus bushes were removed from the garden.  In their places roses were planted.  I've never grown roses before but knew that I wanted fragrance and flowers in this small sunny area just off the back porch.

Mother's Day brought me two new one-gallon size bushes.  'White Out' is about 2'X 2' at this time and blooms non-stop.  The label said this rose would get to be about 3' X 3'.  That would be perfect for the space. 

'Sunny' is another of the Knockout series and was labeled as 3'X 3' in size.  This rose is just now starting to grow and bloom.  It has not been happy all summer.  I am hoping that it will get well established in the cooler weather and that by spring it will be a vigorous rose bush.

The sunny yellow blooms it is named for are worth the wait for this little bush to settle into its spot. 

'Red Cascade' is an old garden rose that was given to me many years before the Path came into existence.  This is a miniature climber and is on its own root.  I have rooted several of these and passed them along to other friends.  This rose just keeps growing and growing. 

Another old garden rose, 'Louis Philippe', was given to me earlier this summer.  It is a rooted cutting and has been doing very well, blooming pretty much non-stop.  I've been told that the blossoms will become more red as the bush matures.  I don't care, I love it just as it is. 

The original Knockout Rose has sulked a little this summer.  It is healthy, just not prolific with the blooms. 

Of course, Belinda's Dream is just that.  My dream rose.  I love, love, love her.  She has bloomed all summer and has grown from an 18" height to over 4 feet.  You can read about the beginning of it all in this post. 

As important as foliage and flowers are to My Garden Path, butterflies, bees, birds and other wildlife are just as important.  Even though I became a little obsessed with the roses, I made a decision early on to not use any pesticides and to use only organic fertilizer.  So far, the foliage of all the roses has been quite healthy and free of the dreaded blackspot.  You can see 'White Out' in the background  of the above photo with 'Belinda's Dream' in the foreground.  'Belinda's Dream' is full of buds but just a couple of blooms are barely visible.  The foliage on both bushes is just perfect as it has been all the hot, humid summer.

Janis, from Graceful Cottage Gardening, recommended that I use Mill's Magic Rose Mix organic fertilizer.  Her roses are so big and beautiful that I knew that was good advice.  My roses are loving the Magic.

I've never grown roses before, but so far, these roses have proven themselves to be easy and well adapted to the Florida climate.  I'm quite happy with my combination of 'Knockout' roses and old garden roses.