Sunday, November 17, 2013

Garden News and Thoughts of Pruning

It is a fairly quiet time of year in the garden.

But pruning is looming large

Some roses are blooming here and there....

Mme Edouard Herriot

Isabella Sprunt

Souvenir de Victor Hugo resting against a tomato cage

Condesa de Sastago

...and a few perennials are still looking good.




I have been raking leaves, potting up my ornamental oreganos...



 ...and Vintage French import babies which have finally made it to 5-gallon pots.

Not much top growth, but the roots are big (Isabella Ducrot)

The weather has been mild and sunny, so whenever I can I weed. This year I have started with pots where weeds seem to flourish year round. Even my newly potted oregano, Marshall's Memory, had lots of little sprouts coming up.



I attacked them with unremitting enthusiasm, and about half way through it dawned on me that I was weeding out lavender seedlings. Oops.



Fortunately, there were about a thousand more in the nearby lavender pot :)



Next I moved to my big rose pots. They have a large surface area and some weed or other always seems to take hold in them. This time, again (one would think I might have learned), it took me awhile to realize that these particular weeds had fuzzy stems and serrated leaves.

Rose seedlings!

There were over ten of them in the pot and more are coming up. A few started to succumb to damping off...



...but the ones that looked good went into little pots next to the lavender seedlings I rescued earlier.

What will I do with them if they all live??
 I wish I knew who the parents of those baby roses are because of such a high germination rate compared to anything I have been able to achieve (although this is not saying much). Perhaps I will if they live and bloom. I can't wait.



The largest task in the weeks ahead is rose pruning. The growing season here is long, and by now the whole garden has become a tangle.



It seems impossible to make sense of a mass of rose canes, tree branches and perennials: Isabella Sprunt has grown through a lime tree....



...while my gorgeous Rosette Delizy is vying for space with lots of juicy lemons...


....some of which are obviously crossing with cucumbers :).



Pruning is looking more and more daunting each year...

Elie Beauvilain is not making it easy for me

 whether because I am growing older or my roses are growing bigger, I am not sure :)

Duquesa de PeƱaranda