GardenBook

  At this late date I'm not going to attempt to make this an 'official' Bloomday post. Instead I have been taking the odd rose shot as time permits this month . This morning I was up early getting a few more photos and a camera malfunction (which turned out to be operator error) obliterated my shots. So I'm going with what I've got !  At one time I  had over 70 roses in my garden. I collected them and when I wanted another I ripped out whatever I had to to make room. My collection has been edited for various reasons; duplicates, disease, and modern roses that sometimes decline or sucker so heavily that Dr Huey takes over.I think I am down to about 30.  Last year I considered removing one (Honey Perfume) that had become so attractive to rose curculio that most of the blooms were ruined. I gave it one more year and used a very draconian method of control that involved sacrificing an entire spring bloom flush. It seems to have worked.I haven't planted a new rose...

 I've done a fair amount of 'rose editing' in 2013 . I embarked upon this particular journey a couple of years ago when it became clear to me that  my garden was not going to get any bigger, and 60+ roses were using up valuable real estate. Many of the roses that have since been sent to the compost facility were either in decline, duplicates or under performers. I had gone from buying one or two roses a year , to buying none; there was simply no place to put them. As of today I have slimmed down my assortment to around 35, a couple of which have questionable status going forward. One of my keepers is the David Austin rose , Lady Emma Hamilton. I bought her the first year she was introduced to US commerce, and she has proved to be a prolific bloomer, very disease resistant (no sprays are used in my garden ) and has a nice shrub-like appearance never displaying the awkwardness that some of the modern roses are prone to.  I admit that I have tendency to plant things too clo...

...but just one more year, and I really mean it this time . You aren't fooling me with this spring display, I know exactly what will happen by June. I need to see some substantial improvement in your performance or you're out. And you have to quit using Sally as a crutch. Shameless. I'm documenting all of this. Every black spot, every blob of rust, all of it. One more year. Last chance. (Eden, aka Pierre De Ronsard, planted here circa 1999)

  When you have roses, lots of roses, the first bloom flush is a once a year event . Roses will rebloom-some with abandon , but you'll cool your heels till next spring to experience that combination of shiny, disease free  new foliage and stem upon stem of unfolding flowers. I swear I am cutting back on roses, but there are some that have won a permanent spot. For now.  English Garden, a David Austin rose I rarely see for sale. By midsummer it will be engulfed by the energetic Eupatorium 'Gateway' .  Sun Flare. 2 bushes. 1 standard , best disease resistance of the bunch. Gruss an Auchen . I shake my fist and threaten, but the stay of excecution is reissued every May, just like clockwork. I just avert my eyes during rust season and pretend it's not there. Tamora. Golden Celebration. Nothing quite like it.

 Pruning the roses is a mindless activity , satisfying with a hint of danger --puncture wounds , torn clothing , hats snatched off and dangling above. I don't mind doing it , after all these years it has become a rite of January , an excuse to go outside . It's a multi -weekend task-there are over 60 here, and the behemoth Reine de Violettes alone takes half a day.  Roses were the first plant I collected , 9 of them in a 3x3 square in my first garden in San Diego. I hovered over them , deadheading , squishing aphids, feeding them with the sort of fertilizers I wouldn't even consider using now. For years my garden strategy revolved around finding ways to squeeze  in more of them. I own most of the major rose reference books published in the last 20 years, I've  lurked and occasionally  posted on countless internet rose forums, listservs and newsgroups (remember listservs and newsgroups?) and briefly joined the American Rose Society.  So , I have these 60 r...

  Roses have been a feature here and in every garden that has owned me- the inventory is still 60-ish. They've been tucked in where ever the 6 hours of direct sun can be relied on , and the fences hold up the climbers. The patio cover over Succulent Alley features both  Lady Banks and Cecile Bruner, 2 monsters that should probably never be in the same garden unless you have an acre - and I am far from that type of real estate.  I believe that Cecile and the Lady are in fact holding the pergola up rather than the reverse. This particular infrastructure has seen better days, but the cap-ex budget is drained.  The roses are being re-thought this fall , and the under performers that I have tolerated for too many years are on the way out..'Evelyn' is in the yard waste bin as we speak. Ugly knees, weak necks, black spot, rust..adios dudes. Day Breaker (Floribunda, 2004) has earned it's place. There is rarely a time from late April to November when it has no blooms, and...

On the ladder today the gardener of the house admitted that Lady Banks (Rosa Banksiae lutea) may be nearing the end of her tenure here; at least 60 percent of her will be gone by November - her fate beyond that dependent on the ability to keep her under control for one more year. She begins to undermine the very structure that supports her , and shade she casts in summer is welcome indoors, but not helpful to the garden to her north. Removal would be bittersweet-there is nothing quite like her in early spring, the soft yellow in profusion all along every cane and drooping over the patio. And what would replace her ? Must be deciduous, must have clean foliage, must have flower , must not take over the entire house. Is there such a thing ? Can Lady Banks be molded into submission ?