What's blooming today?
What’s in a name? A lot when you can’t remember the name of an annual plant!
I’ve been racking my brain trying to remember what this short yet lively little plant is called. At the time that I took this photo the plant was perhaps 8 inches tall, at the most it gets to 12 inches, but I don’t believe it gets that tall.
Does anyone know what this is?
BTW I took this photo while in the rain so you can see tiny droplets of water on the flower spikes.
Does anyone grow any of these roses? I’ve listed the roses that I purchased a week ago to replace the ones I lost last winter.
When I bought the roses … five in all, I knew exactly where I was going to put them, but now – a week later, I’m looking at them going what was I thinking?
These are the roses that I purchased:
Joseph’s Coat –
A large flowered climbing rose that grows from 8 to 10 feet tall by 4 feet wide. hardy in zones four through 10. Bred by Armstrong and Swim in 1969; mild fragrance, 23 to 28 petals – repeats occasionally later in season. Blooms are a red blend – but I’ve noted that they range from a combination of orange, pink, red, yellow and white mixed in each flower. It’s apparently a very thorny rose with average disease resistance.
Climbing Iceberg –
Bred in the UK by Cant in 1968, White semi-double blooms with 9 to 16 petals, blooms in flushes throughout the season; Grows to a height of 8 to 15 feet and is hardy in zones 4 to 9. May or may not have a mild fragrance.
Chicago Peace
A hybrid Tea originally bred in the USA by Graeme Johnston in 1962. Blooms are large- up to 6 inches, and are a pink blend with 45 to 60 petals. The blooms have a very double form. This rose blooms in flushes throughout the season and grows to a height of 4.5 feet to 6.5 feet. Mild fragrance. Susceptible to blackspot, requires winter protection. Helpmefind -Roses says it’s only hardy to zone 7 but they often state high zones for hybrid teas.
Climbing Westerland –
Kordes bred rose, 1969, scented – strong rose, spicy fragrance; Apricot & apricot blend, Semi-double (9-16 petals) bloom form. Blooms in flushes throughout the season. Grows to a height of 4 to 12 feet by 4 feet wide and is disease resistant. No hardiness info but I think it’s hardy to at least zone 5a.
Double Delight –
This is a hybrid tea that was first bred in 1977 in the US by Herbert C. Swim. The blooms are a red blend with red and white within, and red edges. It has a spicy fragrance. The average diameter of the flowers are 5 inches and each bloom is double with 17 to 25 petals. Blooms in flushes throughout the season. Grows to a height of 3 feet to 5 feet and a width of 2 feet to 5 feet. This rose is apparently susceptible to mildew and requires winter protection.
Wow, would you look at that? Every rose that I purchased was first bred in the 60’s. Isn’t that odd? All of them, with the exception of the Climbing Iceberg are multicolored roses. However, I’ve noticed that my standard iceberg often gets a pink blend in the petals as they age.
I really wanted to replace my Love and Peace but I couldn’t find one. That’s why I got the Chicago Peace. I’m hoping that it really does turn out to be as hardy as Love and Peace was because I didn’t have any problems with that rose. I think it’s demise was due to a fungal infection. It actually got a fungus like woody growth near the base of the rose. I think I’ll have to remove all the soil in that portion of the garden where Love and Peace was before I plant it’s replacement as I fear that the fungus or virus might still be in the soil. Anyone familiar with the problem that I’m discussing?
As you can see I’ve chosen some roses that get quite large and I have a small jam packed garden. This should be fun!
Obviously I’m not a rose novice but if anyone has experience with any of the roses that I’ve listed above I’d love it if you’d tell me how the rose faired in your care.
I’m particularly interested in how these roses do in cold zones.
I’m in Toronto and it’s classed as a Canadian Zone 6b or a US zone 5b. I know I’ll have to winter protect the hybrid teas I purchased but I’ve been very successful with roses that are not supposed to be all that hardy – like Just Joey, and Valencia for example, so I’m not too worried.
I do prefer to buy roses that are hardy to a plain Jane zone 5 or lower though as it gives them more of a chance of survival if we have a really harsh winter.
It figures.
I finally manage to get out into the garden this weekend and of course it’s during a heat-wave. Needless to say I didn’t go out into the garden until late afternoon or early evening as I was waiting for it to cool down a bit.
Still, I made some progress!
The wind was blowing quite hard on Friday afternoon – probably bringing in all the hot weather that’s settled in this area. I noticed that my climbing rose- Antique89 was tipping over in the wind and was crashing into my patio table.
The rose is approximately 7 feet tall and has very thick canes. It was leaning over at more than a 45 degree angle. I quickly grabbed some stakes and my garden tie (plastic ribbon) and scissors and ran outside to fix the rose.
While I was wrestling with the rose our boarder apparently came outside looking for me. She didn’t find me. I was under the rose! Hello! Roses don’t normally scream. That was me that was moaning and groaning as the thick thorns dug into the skin on my hands, arms and even my legs.I’d say that Antique 89 and Baron Prevost are probably the thorniest roses that I have in my garden. I’ll be working with all of my roses over the next few days and I’ll let you know if I find any other ones that fit in that category.
Unfortunately, since I haven’t been in my garden all that much over the last two months I have a lot of work to do and a lot of rose wrestling to do. I know, I know … this is the time of year that a gardener should be in the garden regularly, but I’ve been sick and just haven’t been able to get out there.
Much to my dismay and joy as well, the rose are growing as if they are on steroids. Must be all that alfalfa tea I put on them last year. They are huge! Since they are so large they are beginning to flop all over the place too.
Last winter as we prepared the garden for it’s cool slumber my husband thought he was doing me a favor by removing most of the stakes I had in the garden supporting many of my somewhat floppy roses. He did me no favors – especially now, since I’ve let the garden become somewhat overgrown. I’m going to have to climb right into the flowerbed and try to untangle rose branches and discover perennials that are hiding below them.
I’m proud to say that one half of the backyard garden has been tamed! The roses have been straightened, and the plants below them can now be seen. Half the beds have nice red cedar mulch on them. It’s starting to look pretty nice back there. I hope to get the other half of the backyard and the front garden done within the next two days. I still haven’t planted all those annuals though. I thought that I’d better tame the garden first so that I can actually see what areas are a little bare and need annuals. The rest will go into my planters.
I’m going to get my husband to take a picture of my arms tomorrow and if he does I’ll post it. I must have about 50 scratches on each arm – pretty much from the elbows down. They are burning and they look terrible.