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Just Joey is Just Blooming!

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I posted a photo of one of my roses in bud form for Wednesday’s Wordless Wednesday post and a few commenter’s wanted to see what this lovely rose looked like when it’s in full bloom:

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How is that for a beautiful bloom?

Just Joey is a gorgeous, if slightly temperamental hybrid tea rose. I say it’s temperamental because in my zone it does fairly well through the winter, but the stems do die down to the snow line. With winter protection it does much better and blooms earlier.

Just Joey has a lovely scent. One or two blooms indoors fill a room with scent.

If you live in zone 5 or higher I recommend that you get this rose. You will not be disappointed.






Rose Wrestling

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Tiffany – Hybrid Tea Rose

I did some work in the garden yesterday. Yes I’m still trying to tidy it up and no, I haven’t planted any annuals or new perennials yet.

I did discover that some roses that I’d been hoping would recover from the one winter that I didn’t do winter protection have died. I’m sad to report that the lovely love and Peace is gone. So is the monster rose I talked about a lot last year – Antique 89. Zepherine Drouhn and Adriana didn’t make it either. So sad. I’ll have to see if I can find good replacements for these roses. I definitely want to get love and peace again though!

As I was saying on Tricia’s Musings my yard is full of blooms! Rose blooms. Oh and rose scent, lovely lovely rose perfume.

As I worked under the largest rose – 8 foot tall William Baffin (more like a tree!) it’s petals rained down on me. I was literally covered in rose petals at one point! How often can one say that?

I managed to tidy up and trim a number of roses. Lots of dead tips and dried out branches needed to be removed. The roses of course grew and bloomed around the unsightly dead twigs. My arms are now covered in scratches and I’ve probably still got a few thorns stuck in my fingers, hands and arms!

Oh yes, my back is aching too. I don’t get outside enough these days so I think over doing it just hits my back first when I do get out to the garden to work.

That’s what I get for rose wrestling!

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Leaves, leaves and more leaves

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We only have two small tree’s on our property – a rose of Sharon, and a lovely Japanese maple that is vibrant red at the moment. Our neighbor, however, does have a large tree – it’s a huge maple. It must be 70 or more feet tall.

As a result of the neighbors tree we have quite a few leaves to gather in our front and back yards. I don’t mind though because I’ll put the leaves on my garden beds in a week or two. Prior to putting the leaves on my garden beds I will mound some peat or compost material around the base of my roses to help protect the root balls through the winter.

Last Autumn we gathered at least 45 bags of leaves from our many neighbors on the the street. They were only too happy to give away their bags of leaves. As a result our garden was well protected with layers of leaves during the cold blustery winter days.

My husband has already asked a few neighbors if we might have their leaves this year as well. Our closest neighbor even went so far as to rake his leaves and then put two bags on our front lawn today. Now that’s service.

In the spring we take the leaves off the garden beds and put them on the lawn to dry. Once they are dry enough we run a lawn mower over them to mulch them up and put them in our compost bins to help us make nice rich compost for the garden.

I was wondering if any of my readers gather leaves to put on their garden beds? Have you had good results protecting your garden in this way?

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