Roses and Raspberries

Trimming the roses and the raspberries is one of my favorite jobs of the year. I don’t know why. It certainly isn't that I have to wear long pants and long sleeves and leather gloves to avoid looking like I had been in a cat fight! There’s something satisfying about pruning out the deadwood and seeing the tiny buds promising wonderful flowers and fruit.

Bedraggled Lipton

This year, however, it was a painful job – and not just because of the thorns! I mentioned that I lost Crown Princess Margrethe to the Polar Vortex. I lost my Magnifica as well. And, I thought I'd lost Julia Child, but I saw today that there are leaves coming. Whew! A bright spot! The Lipton roses – typically very hardy – all took a beating. Last year they were so lush. This year, they’re looking decidedly wounded and bedraggled. I'm hoping they’ll recover, too. (I mentioned that I had 22 bags of leaves this spring. When I was done pruning, I had 7 bags of prickly canes.)

I’m hoping that the Japanese Beetles will have been adversely affected by the Polar Vortex. But, I'm told that since the larvae are in the ground rather than in trees like the Emerald Ash Borer, and since they thrive on moisture, of which we've had no shortage so far this spring, it's likely that they'll return in July to munch on – and breed on – the roses and the raspberries. A girl can dream, though, can't she?!

Magnificent Mushroom and other Surprises

On my way through the garden the other day I bent down to move a stone that had fallen out of place in the border of the fragrant garden. Imagine my surprise when I discovered it wasn’t a stone at all, but a mushroom! Most likely, this guy popped out late last week after all the rain we had. I took the photo on Sunday morning. It’s the biggest mushroom I’ve seen outside a forest setting. It’s still there. The squirrels and birds and bunnies are leaving it alone, even though it is very close to the feeder.

And, when I was weeding the lavender hill later that day, I went to pull this and then realized it’s a baby rose shrub! It’s not supposed to be there, but I’m going to leave it for now. The best part of this garden surprise is that the “mama” plant was mostly dead when I got it from my sister a year ago. Neither of us was sure the rose would make it. Clearly we were wrong.

I found two small coreopsis under a peony and three small geraniums (Johnson’s Blue) under some day lilies, too! I was able to get the coreopsis moved, but still need to move the geraniums. (That was a happy accident, since I needed a couple more to add to the lupine hill!)

What surprises have you discovered in your garden this week?

Seeing Red? Nope, Not Here . . .

I walk through the gardens a couple times a day. I look for dead stuff, wilty stuff, unhealthy stuff, and pests. I notice what’s blooming and what’s past its prime. And, I look for buds of new growth. But, yesterday, I walked through and noticed the gardens as a whole, and I noticed that the garden completely lacks red! There’s not one speck of true red in any of the gardens this time of year!

I avoided true reds close to the house because of the barn red trim, but hadn’t realized that I had omitted red everywhere until yesterday. I have red tulips, red poppies, and one red monarda—otherwise, no red. The lilies, Monte Negro, are in the red family, but aren’t a true red. Neither are the Knautia Macedonia (more wine colored) or the Lychnis chalcedonia (leaning orange). Both of these, however, are on several lists of “Red Perennials.” A friend suggested a rose. I could do that. I’d need to move a wild rose to a partly shady spot to do it, but it’s a possibility. Is lobelia really my only non-rose perennial option?!

Maybe the way to get some red into the gardens is to get a few planters and fill them with red geraniums and impatiens, like my grandmother and father have done for years. They’re long blooming and do provide a big impact.

Let me know how you get red in your gardens.

Beautiful Bouquets

There’s nothing like a bouquet of fresh flowers to pick up your spirits.

One of the reasons I love the flower gardens here at Auntie K’s is they provide cut flowers throughout the growing season for bouquets. I enjoy taking a bouquet of fresh flowers to a dinner, or friend in the hospital, or to my office. I like having fresh flowers at home, too! People seem to like getting the bouquets as much as I like putting them together. I collect vases and jars at garage sales and save all my glass containers instead of recycling them so I can give the bouquets without having the recipient or me worry about the vase. I also pick up ribbon if it’s on sale to dress up the neck of the jars cum vases.

A few years ago, I received a bouquet that included a hosta leaf, which I thought was both beautiful and creative. Why include only the blossoms from the garden when beautiful greenery abounds as well?! I’ve been including them in bouquets ever since.

This year, the spring bouquets included tulips, trollius, iris, lilac, bleeding heart, anemone, chives, polemonium, and centaurea. Roses, poppies, peonies, lilies, and sprigs of salvia were featured in early summer bouquets. Now, I’m using the coneflowers – white and purple (I lost the golden ones to a mite), rudbeckia, roses, sprigs of Russian sage, and garden phlox. Later in the year, the asters get added to the mix.

The roses are in full bloom again and I think they’ll make a great foundation for a couple of bouquets.

p.s. I had a mishap with my computer earlier in the week and don’t have the ability right now to post photos. Hopefully, I’ll get things figured out in a couple of days and can post photos again.

Growth Spurt

Both of my nephews are on Little League teams. It’s the highlight of my spring to go and watch them play. (I keep score, too, which adds to my experience.) On my younger nephew’s team, the boys are still the same height and weight. But, on my older nephew’s team, some boys have had a growth spurt. This means that even though they’re all 12 year olds, some of them are almost a head taller than others and weigh a few pounds more.

I know you’re wondering what Little Leaguers have to do with gardening. Well. Some of the roses in Auntie K’s Garden have had a HUGE growth spurt in the last few days. Yikes! I went out to do the Japanese Beetle check the other morning and had to bend some canes gently toward me because they are now taller than I am! These new canes are three feet taller than the rest of the plant. I’m sure that when I checked the night before I didn’t have to bend them! (I know the boys will be taller than I am one of these days, too. They’re almost there now!)

Not all of the roses have had this growth spurt. I bought three bare root Liptons at the same time. Two have spurted; one has not. I bought three Magnificas at the same time and only one has spurted. Go figure. Julia Child, Crown Princess Margrethe, and Graham Thomas are all still “normal” sized. Some of the wild roses have suckered (I’m leaving them) but have not shot canes wildly into the stratosphere.

I don’t know what causes the growth spurt in some roses and not in others. The two Liptons that have sprouted are in the Fragrant Garden and are now at window height. So, when the flower buds open in a few days, the sunroom will smell fantastic!