Sunday, July 8, 2012

Garden News

 One of my favorite perennials, campanula primulifolia, started blooming recently, so I went into the garden to take some pictures of it.

Julia Child is behind it

Besides being photogenic, it is heat-tolerant, has a fairly long bloom season, and sends up more and more flowers every year.


On the other hand, all nierembergias, which have graced my garden with a cloud of dainty blue flowers for several years now, bloomed their hearts out and died. I can't figure out why, maybe their time has come...


Rosette Delizy, a turn-of-the-century tea rose, gave me a big surprise this summer.

Rosette Delizy this spring

It is planted between two Crepuscules and a Penelope (all large roses), and I ended up with a long unbroken stretch of creamy apricot oranges, which I thought was boring.

Also from this spring

But lo and behold, it turned bright pink around the edges for the first time this summer. I have no idea what did it- maturity, temperatures, fertilizer-but I like it much better with this coloration :)

Rosette Delizy in its summer brightness. Summer perennials help enliven this space. 

My row of climbers on the side fence will have a large gap next spring. The oldest rose (Handel, a climbing floribunda) was removed recently. It was getting very old and didn't produce a new cane for years now. It has been sending up a lot of rootstock suckers, so its time has finally come. In its place will go a climbing Lorraine Lee, but it will take years to achieve its full glory. Oh well, I will miss taking glamour shots of this fence :(


This post has turned to be a bit of a hodge podge of good news and sad, but that's what makes gardening (and other things) interesting: not just successes, but setbacks too.

Hermann Lindecke resting on the retaining wall

21 comments:

  1. Uwielbiam niebieskie kwiatki w ogrodzie, dodają koloru nieba w ogrodzie. Twój różany ogród jest cudowny, kwitnie tyle róż i tak obficie. W każdym ogrodzie są porażki. Twoje w stosunku do moich w tym roku są malutkie. Ale wszystkiego zawsze szkoda. Pozdrawiam.
    I love blue flowers in the garden, add color of the sky in the garden. Your rose garden is wonderful, so many roses and flowering so profusely. In each garden there are failures. Your relative to my this year are small. But everything is always a shame. Yours.

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  2. Masha, I can scarce believe the beauty of those pictures and the health of every plant in them, right down to the grass. Admit it, you're not gardening from anywhere still on Earth, are you? You must be living in Eden.

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  3. Beautiful images, and thoughts, from your wonderful garden. That last photo is my favorite. What a shot!

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  4. My nierembergias died to the ground earlier this year but then came back ?? So you never know? Looking lovely their as usual!

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  5. Thank you!

    Professor, you made me laugh :). Sometimes, when I end up tethered to a hose for hours on end in the heat, I wish I would be somewhere else, in Eden maybe.... Thank you for your comment.

    Jess, mine never completely die back, although they turn mostly brown in winter. I think you are supposed to prune them back hard after bloom, so maybe there is still hope for mine. They have never looked that bad in the middle of summer though...

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  6. I think it's all beautiful! I have campanula 'Summertime Blues' and it's sailed through our recent heat wave. How do you treat black spot? With our humidity and mild winter, I've been battling it for a month. It completely defoliated one my Night Owl climber, a rose I've rarely had black spot on before. It's been really frustrating.

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  7. Casa Mariposa, thank you. One of the good things about growing roses in California is that they rarely, if ever, get blackspot. It is not humid enough for it :). If we have a wet spring, some roses would get blackspot briefly, lose their leaves, re-foliate in summer's dry heat and that's that. Mildew and rust are much worse problems for us, but they don't weaken roses the way blackspot does.

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  8. So colorful! What a beautiful garden you have!

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  9. Masha, your roses look beautiful in combination with other colors, especially blue and white.

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  10. Masha, I can't found my words ... Bravo !

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  11. Oh, your garden is so pretty. My roses never look so good in the dead heat of summer. Yours is glorious! Love your wall of roses, and your Rosette Delizy is gorgeous.

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  12. Hi Masha, your Campanula, beautiful as it is, probably is more photogenic in your hands.

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  13. Your garden looks gorgeous!! Rosette Delizzy is really showing off for you this year.

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  14. HI Masha! All those beautiful pics make up for the sad news, indeed. Rozette Delizy is very pretty in both versions, and very floriferous too!

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  15. Stunning photos.. Love Rosette Delizy!!!! Wow!

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  16. Oh, yes! Rosette Delizy is a beauty. Your garden is looking fantastic. Enjoy!

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  17. The color and variety in your garden is just outstanding! Gosh, it's gorgeous and must just smell absolutely amazing.

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  18. Wonderful roses!
    I'm in love with your garden!
    Have a nice day!
    xoxo, Juliana
    [http://pjhappies.blogspot.com/]

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  19. Wunderschön ♥

    Liebe Grüße Eva

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  20. Marsha!
    Tell me if I'm in paradise?
    I know for sure I was in Eden.
    Your blog is fantastic ...
    And the flowers are fascinating!
    Best regards from Polish
    Lucy-Maria

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I am so glad you have stopped by!