Gardening again
May. 17th, 2003 06:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
urocyonThe hardy geranium I mentioned in a previous post has finally produced a couple of blossoms. My memory was amazingly correct; they are a lightish-medium pink. May the large rock I placed in front of it continue to protect it from the dread Wielder of the Lawnmower. *g* Another one by the front steps, which first bloomed a bit last fall, is putting on quite a show of lovely blue-shading-to-dark purple now. Not at all bad for one of those unnamed-variety three-for-$1.50 specials. :) I'm particularly proud of how well a Geranium pratense 'Splish Splash' I raised from seed and planted outside last summer is doing. My baby hasn't bloomed yet, but I'm hoping for fall.
I was surprised last week to see how early Blanc Double de Coubert had started to bloom. Now it's pretty well covered with blossoms, and the scent is amazing. (I just planted it last year, and didn't get many blooms on either side of peak Japanese Beetle infestation season.) I actually ordered it from Park's, where I linked for convenience, and must say I haven't received nicer, more vigorous bareroot roses from anyone else. Grüss an Aachen is getting even larger than it's "supposed" to (shades of the David Austen rose "Jolly Green Giant Syndrome" when planted in warmer climates?), and is covered in buds about to open. It really does seem to enjoy being in part shade.
Another place that's given me great service and quality with mail-ordering (or web-ordering) roses is Pickering Nurseries, in Ontario. They carry loads of old and difficult-to-find varieties, and the exchange rate doesn't hurt, either. ;) I purchased five (and planted two; gave the rest away because I realised it was insane to keep digging holes with my back starting to act up) last year. The two I kept were Golden Years and Veldfire. I'm not so big on hybrid teas (or most orange roses, for that matter), but that one was for my mother, and it's not bad at all. Both of these have well-developed buds on them now, too. I'm hoping Golden Years growth will pick up this year, since I didn't water it enough last year during the drought, but it seems to be making a good start this year.
I really do need to take some pictures out there. Besides the geraniums and roses, the ornamental soapwort (Saponaria ocymoides) is putting on a good show, with clouds of pink blossoms.
I think I'm finally going to have to give in and trim canes/dig up and move my Rose de Rescht, even though I've left it until late in the season. It's obviously extremely unhappy in its location, and is already beginning to be severely gnawed again by some sort of insects. It's been there a few years now, and has only tried to bloom once; well-developed buds just dropped off, and I blamed it on poor location and unusually wet weather. If it isn't now, I'm afraid it soon will be worth risking a kill-or-cure approach.
Strangely enough, I don't think the foxgloves made it through the winter. I'm hoping that, in typical foxglove fashion, they managed to wildly seed themselves last spring and we'll get a new crop blooming next year.
Hopefully I can make myself get out and plant at least some nasturtium and zinnia seeds tomorrow/today, which I've put off because of the near-constant rain, before it's too late. It's still a bit damp to try basil, except maybe in containers, with the mainly clayish soil we have. (There's a good reason some of my ancestors were later associated with the Radford pottery style by archaeologists/paleontologists--plenty of raw material around here! *g*)
Well, enough semi-rabid gardening monologue for the moment. I should go to sleep soon, anyway.
I was surprised last week to see how early Blanc Double de Coubert had started to bloom. Now it's pretty well covered with blossoms, and the scent is amazing. (I just planted it last year, and didn't get many blooms on either side of peak Japanese Beetle infestation season.) I actually ordered it from Park's, where I linked for convenience, and must say I haven't received nicer, more vigorous bareroot roses from anyone else. Grüss an Aachen is getting even larger than it's "supposed" to (shades of the David Austen rose "Jolly Green Giant Syndrome" when planted in warmer climates?), and is covered in buds about to open. It really does seem to enjoy being in part shade.
Another place that's given me great service and quality with mail-ordering (or web-ordering) roses is Pickering Nurseries, in Ontario. They carry loads of old and difficult-to-find varieties, and the exchange rate doesn't hurt, either. ;) I purchased five (and planted two; gave the rest away because I realised it was insane to keep digging holes with my back starting to act up) last year. The two I kept were Golden Years and Veldfire. I'm not so big on hybrid teas (or most orange roses, for that matter), but that one was for my mother, and it's not bad at all. Both of these have well-developed buds on them now, too. I'm hoping Golden Years growth will pick up this year, since I didn't water it enough last year during the drought, but it seems to be making a good start this year.
I really do need to take some pictures out there. Besides the geraniums and roses, the ornamental soapwort (Saponaria ocymoides) is putting on a good show, with clouds of pink blossoms.
I think I'm finally going to have to give in and trim canes/dig up and move my Rose de Rescht, even though I've left it until late in the season. It's obviously extremely unhappy in its location, and is already beginning to be severely gnawed again by some sort of insects. It's been there a few years now, and has only tried to bloom once; well-developed buds just dropped off, and I blamed it on poor location and unusually wet weather. If it isn't now, I'm afraid it soon will be worth risking a kill-or-cure approach.
Strangely enough, I don't think the foxgloves made it through the winter. I'm hoping that, in typical foxglove fashion, they managed to wildly seed themselves last spring and we'll get a new crop blooming next year.
Hopefully I can make myself get out and plant at least some nasturtium and zinnia seeds tomorrow/today, which I've put off because of the near-constant rain, before it's too late. It's still a bit damp to try basil, except maybe in containers, with the mainly clayish soil we have. (There's a good reason some of my ancestors were later associated with the Radford pottery style by archaeologists/paleontologists--plenty of raw material around here! *g*)
Well, enough semi-rabid gardening monologue for the moment. I should go to sleep soon, anyway.