You can now view pictures of my gardens by visiting the Garden Gallery! August
10, 2003 As summer is
nearing its end, I am evaluating the roses and how they
fared. As a whole the roses have performed very well this
year. Rainfall has been so abundant (a possible
understatement) that growth and bloom production has been
phenomenal. Notable standouts are: Tropicana, Chrysler
Imperial, First Prize, Paradise, Gemini, Buttercream,
Honey Bouquet, Don Juan, Gene Boerner, Ingrid Bergman,
Love Potion, Spartan, Tropical Sunset, and Sunset
Celebration. Tropicana has
grown 5' tall and has delighted me with its large, light
coral blooms. It is my favorite orange colored rose.
Chrysler Imperial has won me over with its prolific
blooms although Japanese beetles are drawn to it like a
magnet. First Prize lived up to its name and has been
covered with giant pink blooms all season. Paradise is
just a knockout as it stays loaded with the eye-catching,
two-tone flowers that have great hybrid tea form.
Gemini's cream and pink tones look so elegant that I must
have more of this rose next year. Buttercream is on its
way to becoming my favorite yellow. Huge perfect yellow
blooms that have a good fragrance are on long, thick
stems.... a florist rose for the garden! Honey Bouquet
remains loaded with honey scented blooms of a golden
amber color. Don Juan has grown about 6' tall while
retaining a full, bushy shape. Plenty of large, dark red
blooms have great fragrance and are good for cutting.
Gene Boerner has a fully, bushy look and is loaded with
perfect blooms. Ingrid Bergman has shown impressive vigor
and has been a prolific bloomer. Love Potion is as
abundant as Cotillion but smaller in size. Spartan was an
impulse buy that rewarded me with prolific blooms of
great fragrance. Tropical Sunset keeps putting on
stunning displays of orange and yellow stripes. Sunset
Celebration is absolutely gorgeous with its shades of
peach. Now on to the
disappointments. Pearl Essence has done okay but just hasn't given me anything to go "ooh" and "aahh" over.
Sunsprite seems to bloom often but it is so hard to keep
the beetles off of it. I continue to have trouble with
white roses. So far John F. Kennedy is in the lead as my
best white, but it still is just shy of making my great
list. Whisper and White Lightining showed promise early
on but have not come on like I had hoped. Stainless Steel
will most likely get replaced next year as I can never
get a bloom before the beetles attack it. Sexy Rexy
looked pitiful for months then finally put on a good
display before returning to a pitiful look. Miss All
American Beauty, Perfume Delight, Arizona, and Aperitif
seem to be doing okay but haven't knocked my socks
off. July
11, 2003 And the rains
came down and the floods came up.... Since the night of
July 4th we have had 12.5" inches of rain here. I have
never seen so much flooding. The farm fields look like
lakes. Parts of our road were closed because of high
water. The neighbors yards had ponds. Water was all
around us but fortunately the only thing that flooded
here was the garden. All of the vegetables will probably be drowned out. The rose garden had a couple of inches of
water for a day but it has drained away. I think they
will be okay. March
20, 2003 Spring is
officially arriving with a vengeance. Today we had severe
thunderstorms and quite a hailstorm. No real damage but
it certainly was a wild day. Fortunately, the roses and
other plants are still pretty much dormant. Lots of
hailstones fell, but there wasn't alot of wind driving
them. They were mostly dime-sized but I did find several
quarter-sized stones. The yard was covered with hail
until it almost looked snow covered. I've never seen that
much fall at once before. Last year we had a hailstorm
over Memorial weekend that just devastated the crops and
flowers. The roses were about a week away from putting on
the first full bloom and were just completely shredded by
the storm. The vegetable garden had to be replanted as
most of the little plants were just completely gone.
Grateful the storms haven't been worse. March
15, 2003 Spring seems to
have finally arrived! My father and I always like to declare that
Spring has begun on March 15th. This year the weather
seems to be cooperating with us. The temperature reached
up to 67 degrees today. It was such a joy to get out of
the house and "play" in the yard a bit. The yard is quite
soggy from all of the melting snow. There are still large
patches of snow where the drifts were about 4 feet deep
but I expect they will finally be history in the next few
days. The rose garden is flooded and muddy, but the
sleeping roses seem to have fared well. I observed some
greening up of the canes and some new buds beginning to
show. Polarstern seems to have lived up to its name and looks well. Belinda's Dream, New Zealand, Blue Girl, and Uncle Joe all look well, too. I didn't winter protect these roses so I could test their hardiness this winter. The burlap winter coats will come off the other roses as soon as I see the
forsythia blooming (This is in keeping with folk advice
and due to the unpredictability of our Midwestern
weather). February
26, 2003 We are on
target for at least the second snowiest winter on record,
there is a possibility of breaking the all-time record
for snow in the season. We are up to a total of 45" of
snow for the winter and need only 5 more inches of snow to break the record. I am so ready
for spring to be here. February
5, 2003 Finally a break
in the weather! It is sunny and the snow has all melted!
We have had very cold temperatures through January.
Single digits and subzero without the windchill
have been the actual lows with highs maybe reaching the
teens. It has been brutal. A good blanket of snow has
been on the ground since Christmas Eve. I know we
exceeded our normal winter snowfall totals already. There
had been at least 4 inches of snow on the ground for
over a month. There has been a large snowdrift that is at least 2 feet deep over the rosegarden for almost as long, so hopefully this helped insulate the
roses. The burlap "coats" seemed awfully flimsy with
temperatures as cold as they had been. I am planning the new additions to the
garden. This year will find Aperitif, Buttercream, First Prize, Gemini, Honey Bouquet, Ingrid Bergman, Love Potion, Pearl Essence, Sunset Celebration, Sunsprite, Tropical Sunset, Whisper, and White Lightnin' as new residents of the rose garden.
My personal journal entries mostly about my rose garden. My hope is that they will provide you with some insight and inspiration as I share my joys and frustrations.
Send comments or suggestions to: [email protected]