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| Europeana is spectacular. |
I told my neighbor, Mrs. Gardener, who was gardening, that I just planted more roses. She looked shocked, "Isn't it too late?" The rose buying season is over early, but people can plant roses anytime. Late is a best time to buy bargain roses, especially when trying out unknown names. Getting them via Gurney's - through Weeks Roses - has given me a chance to grow mystery roses and find new, great roses to enjoy:
- Purple Splash
- Bride's Dream
- Falling in Love
- Europeana (known, but never grown before)
- Hot Cocoa
- Easy Does It.
Edmunds Roses were my favorites long ago, because the company carried many varieties rather than just the newest and most expensive ones, like Jackson and Perkins. I phoned a request to replace four roses that did not come out of dormancy. Edmunds sent seven free replacements, and one non-growing rose decided to begin during the wait.
I replaced three roses in the main rose garden, watered, and pruned. I needed more space where I could plant four more without fighting roots and dry soil, so I scouted the Wild Garden for some sun. We had 100 degree real feel weather, so that drained my ambition to dig a lot. That may be the key to the rose buying season, heat and humidity convincing gardeners to wait another year.
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| Falling in Love is now the most planted at the Jackson Rose Farm. |
The Backyard and Wild Garden
I already spread the Rugosa old-fashioned roses across the middle section, where they would catch more light, but that left the front row with the most sunlight. I had four roses left - three Falling in Love and one Peace. Last year I had roses in great sunlight in the back - the extra ones - but the other growth crowded them and hid their beauty.
The Wild Garden was covered with cardboard last fall and then with 60+ bags of autumn leaves.
Farthest back - the Western fence, Triple Crown Blackberries, and a variety of opportunistic vines and bushes. Pokeweed grows in abundance because of the birds roosting in the trees.
Two Bonnie Butterfly Bushes are a little closer. I planted those as a screen, because they can grow 12 feet tall. They are not that tall yet, but they are blooming with purple flowers.
Next closer is the dappled Willow row, designed to be the ultimate solution for improving the view. Almost Eden looked at the row and the back alley view behind it, saying, "I can see why you wanted to block the view."
Then the Rugosa row and a Chaste Tree.
Finally, along the rustic fence, in the center where the sunlight is best, the four hybrid tea roses.
Outside our bedroom window, looking West, two Butterfly Bushes make the best screen of all, one already nine feet tall and blooming White Profusion. Birds eat from four feeders, splash below in the children's pool, and use the large bush to rest.
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| Bride's Dream |
Digging in the Wild Garden
Last year the Wild Garden area was lawn. I had decided to expand the initial Wild Garden area, so we moved the rustic fence halfway toward the house. Later I learned that replacing grass with gardens is now a big deal.
What is it like, under cardboard and leaves, after nine months? The lawn was completely composted, with no mass of grass roots or weeds. Red wiggler earthworms, from Uncle Jims Worm Farm, were moving just under the cardboard.
The clay soil was moist and easy to dig, until I got near a tree. Digging four holes for hybrid tea roses was easy and fast. The Rugosa roses will get more attention with the hybrid teas in the front row.
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| All roses form seed pods (hips) but Rugosa rose hips are large and appealing, both to birds and people. |
