June 17, 2009

I NEVER PROMISED YOU A ROSE GARDEN








I LOVE roses and if I won the lottery tomorrow I'd buy an old Southern mansion like Tara and start planting rose beds everywhere. I envy singer Pam Tillis's mom. Pam bought her a mansion in Tennessee and she has planted 35 different gardens. That's my idea of paradise on earth.

I don't have the space or sun for roses but my neighbor has a double-wide lot and one bed is devoted to David Austin roses; cultivars unknown. In addition to being beautiful most of them have a wonderful fragrance as well.

The photos above are of the three I thought were the prettiest.

Another neighbor brought back a cutting from Kentucky of a Civil war era climbing rose that is a deep yellow and fragrant. She gave me and several other neighbors a clipping and now it is gracing several gardens on the street.




Those Chicago Spring Flingers that visited my garden saw my Kentucky Belle passalong rose in bloom. I didn't think it had enough sun in my east facing front garden but apparently it proved me wrong. I'm going to take a clipping from it and plant it in my sunny backyard and let it climb the garage wall.


14 comments:

  1. You did promise me a "Rose Garden" Ma, Don't ya remember? If it's space you need you can always come to my garden and plant all you want, I surely would not mind at all.

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  2. A neighbor who shares her roses, how nice. Thanks for sharing these lovely photos.

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  3. Lovely my friend, and after you plant, be prepared to spray. I have over 40 roses and I will tell you honestly, it is not easy. I make up 2 gallon of anti-fungal every 2 weeks and I still battle black spot. My first blooms in May are wonderful, but every bloom after, I earn in sweat...lol.

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  4. I esp love that yellow rose! a great story AND a beautiful yellow. I have had trouble w/ thrips with my roses, but have been using a systemic for two years now, and the thrips are much less of a problem. not organic, but it is working. My biggest prob w / roses is the spring pruning. I am slow!

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  5. Carolyn,

    I'm not a big rose fan either but that yellow one is just beautiful.

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  6. The roses are beautiful. I have never been able to grow them. Lots of other things, but not roses. I really enjoyed all your pics. ~~Rhonda

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  7. We have some great roses on the alley in back of our houses that all the neighbors enjoy. No one knows what they are either, but they are once-blooming and I am guessing pretty old.

    Your photos here are wonderful.

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  8. Hey Cathy, I've got short-term memory loss :-) I only wish I had half of your acre for a garden.

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  9. Hi Donna,

    I have very nice neighbors I must say and we share a love of gardening and especially roses.

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  10. Hi Brooke,

    I've never sprayed the yellow rose so I guess I've been lucky. I know that some roses are very labor intensive.

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  11. Hi Muum,

    Thanks for stopping by. The biggest problem for roses around here is the Japanese beetle but so far I haven't seen them on my roses.

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  12. Hi Chicago Garden,

    Thanks for visiting. Glad you like my yellow rose. I think its special as well.

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  13. Thanks, Rhonda. Don't give up on growing roses because I can't say enough good things about the 'Knockout ' shrub roses -disease-resistant, prolific bloomers, gorgeous colors and very hardy. Doesn't require any fussing or chemicals.

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  14. Hi EAL,

    Isn't it nice that all the neighbors get to enjoy the roses no matter how briefly?

    Surprisingly the old yellow rose I have blooms a long time whereas some of the older varieties do tend to be very brief.

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