Fertilizer Friday, May 31st - The Roses

The Strolling Garden is a flush with color, blossoms and bees this month. Not a drop of rain, despite all the storm systems in the area in the last two week so thank goodness for the sprinkler system and hand watering. We're on water restrictions so the sprinklers can only run at certain hours and only twice a week. The rest of the time I'm out in the garden at either early morning or dusk handwatering close to the base of the plants and changing out the water for the birds. A blackbird has been visiting this month which is exciting as I've never had one visit before. But onto the purpose of today's post - the roses. I have about 25 rose bushes of different variety planted around the house and they are all in full bloom.

Here's the front side bed by the drive way in full bloom. Planted this in the hopes of keeping the obnoxious neighbors on their side of the property line but the kids used the plants as 1st and 3rd base for the dodge ball games, at least until the bushes were about 2 years old. With all the thorns they don't mess with the flowers as much anymore.

I have two Peace Roses in the front side bed and they're fabulous bloomers. Completely understand now why my co-workers love this variety of rose.

Heirloom is a steely heather colored rose with the most intoxicating scent. Should have planted this in the backyard so I could better enjoy it.

Can't remember what the name of this white shrub rose is but it blooms all summer long and is covered with large white flowers.

The "Kordes' Perfecta" Rose tag said it was going to bloom pink but it actually blooms yellow and fades to white. Pretty with a sweet scent and you can't have a garden in Texas without a yellow rose.

Queen Elizabeth lives up to her name with her tall, stately shape and elegant pink blossoms. One of my favorites among the roses I've planted.

This unnamed miniature rose has a vibrant orange color and faint scent. One of my cheap clearance finds at Lowe's three years ago.

The Love Rose looks better from a distance as the underside is a lighter color and it looks a bit messy up close. However, it does bloom like crazy. 

The yellow one is an unknown variety since the tag said it was going to be a pink one. Ah, the dangers of buying a plant that has yet to bloom - like a box of chocolates you never know what you'll get. 

This little miniature rose is a cheerful rainbow of color. Another cheap clearance Lowe's plant that is doing well in my garden. The shade from the Cleveland Pear tree I plant back in October is probably part of the reason it's doing so well.

 

Finally, Pinata is a climbing rose that blooms in shades of yellow, orange, pink and red. It grows slower than my other climbing roses and is worth considering for your garden. Also has a light scent too. Ever notice a lot of modern roses today don't have much of a scent? Which is a pity because the scent is part of the reason we all love roses.

Well, these are some of the roses blooming in my garden this week. How about yours? Visit Tootsie Time to see who else is participating in "Fertilizer Friday" and showing off what's blooming in their gardens.

Fertilizer Friday, May 11, 2012

Here in West Texas we have been blessed to have several chances of rain in the last two weeks. In my area we've reach above 3 inches in rain to date this year. One of the local weatherman announced last night that we would have to get 30 inches of rain before the end of the year to make up for the several drought from last year and barring a major flood before December that's just not going to happen. We will be very lucky if we hit 15-18 inches before the end of the year. However, today I'm just going to celebrate the beautiful abundance that the rain has brought to my strolling garden.

My little book fairy statue tucked under a miniature rose bush, which is actually around 3 feet tall, and by lilies and daylilies.Growing on the trellis behind is a yellow Lady Banks which frankly hasn't seemed to have grown in the three years it's been in the ground. Fast growing rose my foot.

Larkspur Lane gone amuck. Beautiful though. Pulled up a bouquet of them from the walkway to take to a co-worker today. Three of my colleagues have asked for larkspur seeds from my garden. Can't wait to see what color the hollyhocks are that are towering over the garden bench in the background.

The Shasta Daises are loving the gentle rain we've received over the last two day. I'm loving it too!

The Gaillardia seems even brighter this cloudy day.

The Zebrina Mallow is blooming their little hearts away. They're shorter than I expected at less than 2 feet tall but their flowers are so abundant right now.

The Yarrow is spreading like crazy in the front bed. It's popping up everying in the grass. I knew the plants were hardy but I had no idea they would fast spreaders and crowd out the roses and salvias. The silvery dusty miller looks striking against all the shades of green.

The black of Nigra Hollyhocks is eye catching on a cloudy day but looks washed out on a bright sunny one. I plan to pull these out at the end of the year to put in some more colorful ones. 

The Ditch Lily, the tallest of my daylilies, is the first to bloom this year. The middle of last month I was noticing that all the daylilies were going into stress and showing signs of dying back but the cloudy days and gentle rains over the last two weeks seemed to have made a difference. Hoping this keeps up for the next two months as May and June are our raining month.

Visit Tootsie Time to see who else is participating in "Fertilizer Friday" and showing off what's blooming in their gardens.

Fertilizer Friday - June 10, 2011

Today was an awesome day. By 5 pm the skies were dark, rolling thunder could be heard and then... it rained! The rain was thorough enough to give the ground a good soaking. It lasted less than half an hour but this was the most rain my garden has seen since October. I'd say it was at least a 1/3 of an inch that fell. Now if only we can get this at least once a week for the rest of the summer. Temperatures have been over the 100 mark numerous times in the past two weeks.

The strolling garden has been struggling under the intense heat and strong winds. I can't recall a spring/summer that has been this bad in the years that I've lived in West Texas. The rain today might be enough to prevent us from breaking the long standing record for drought here.

Below are some photos of the lilies that have bloomed in the last two weeks. This lemony-yellow Asiatic Lily is a lot lighter in person but I had to wait until dusk or early morning to snap the images due to the strong sunlight the rest of the time.

Sadly this lovely lily got some dirt splashed up on the petals during a very brief "mud storm" we received. A mud storm involves a lot of flying dirt, strong winds and very little rain. 

The lily above and this pink one with creamy centers were part of a summer lily packet one of my best friends sent me from Costco. The ones that have bloomed so far are wonderful. The winds have caused the pollen to stain most of the petals so I was not able to get really good blossom shots, unfortuantely. Also, several of the lilies have fried on the stalks so I don't know what they would have looked like. I'm hoping the bulbs of those can survive and rebloom next year. But without the stalks to photosynthesize the bulbs that's probably not going to happen.  :[

I think this might be one of the "Romantic Rose" daylilies I planted two months ago. It's kind of fried in this image but the petals should be more flat and lighter pink.

I can't remember the name of this daylily, which was waving so much in the wind I couldn't get a clear shot of it. Poor thing also really got hit with the pollen.

This daylily also got the pollen treatment. This one was bought at Home Depot and the tag was wrong because the one pictured was a bright pink with a picoteed center. So I don't know the correct name of it. However, it's a fabulous plant. It has a nice soft fragrance if you lean down close to it and it's a repeat bloomer. I think I read once that only maybe 10 percent of daylilies have a fragrance and are rebloomers. I was able to make divisions after the first year and hope to do some more this fall.

I'm not sure where I got this one from. Maybe from a colleague. Small blossom but fun punch of color.

This Asiatic Lily might be from the Costco packet. I don't recall seeing it before. Deep maroon color.

This beautiful deep orange-red Asiatic Lily is definately from the Costco packet. It's color would beckon me to come across the yard to get a closer look.

This one should be a darker maron color. The drying winds have stripped it of its color and petals. As this is the tallest of my asiatic lilies, not one of them a blossom that was able to keep all it petals long enough for me to photograph it. None of them grew as tall as previous years either, staying at least six inches under their normal 4 ft height.

The wind also ripped off several stalks of the "Ditch Lilies" in the spring and I wasn't sure I'd get any blossoms this year. Luckily several stalks shot up and replaced the ones I had to remove. These are the tallest of my daylilies and were given by a friend. She said these were called "Ditch Lilies" in the south because they grew wild in ditches along the side of roads. Hope to make some divisions of these in the fall.

After the much welcomed rain ceased, albeit way too soon, a promising rainbow shone in the sky.

Visit Tootsie Time to see who else is participating in "Fertilizer Friday" and showing off what's blooming in their gardens.