Simply A Red Rose

Simply A Red Rose

I love photographing flowers!  And since my garden didn't do well this year I decided to  head to a few of my favorite local florist to find some roses, sunflowers, spider mums and football mums.  I didn't find all that I wanted, but I did find these beautiful red roses from our local florist Bangor Floral.  They had an amazing array of flowers, but the roses spoke to me the most.

Roses are such a gorgeous flower! The flower of love, with it's rich red color, velvety petals and elegant fragrance how could you not love this flower.

  You can find this photograph and more flower photography at Cindi Ressler Photography

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Flower Power Friday

This week I'm featuring my Roses..............

Floribunda roses are a cross between a polyantha and hybrid tea roses.  Polyantha are roses that bloom in multi cluster and of course we are familiar with the hybrid tea roses which are large blooms usually on long stems.  Well when the two were combined if you will you get what is now called the Floribunda, which is Latin for "many-flowerings"  The Floribundas are smaller shrubs with many clusters of roses which can consist of a few flowers or up to 20 flowers.  They do come in all the colors of the hybrid tea roses and in the classic tea rose shaped blossoms and many smell beautifully.

The floribunda roses grow to about 1-2 feet tall and wide.  Prefer full sun to part shade.  They should be fed in spring before blossoms, again during blossoming and again in late August.  After that do not fertilize again as the plant needs to start going dormant. 

Prune your Floribundas in early spring before the warm weather arrives.  Cut back the previous season's growth to about one-fourth and leave as many of the strong canes and stems as possible.

Here in Maine we have pretty cold winters so to unsure that these roses comeback next year I will take and add extra mulch at the base of the rose and then wrap a small wire cage around the rose and fill with either leaves or hay which will provide extra protection.

I've read that these roses are pretty hardy for the most part and can have their fair share of disease and pests.  I will be monitoring them this season to see what I may or may not run into.  So far they have been through several weeks without rain then non stop rain.
 

Angel Face (1969)

 This stunning Angel Face Floribunda Rose was the All-American Rose Selection (AARS) in 1969.
The blooms on this lovely rose are semi double ruffled and are about 3 1/2" and has a wonderful sweet smell.  The Angel Face Floribunda prefers full sun which will make those blooms stay the rich lavender/blue color.

 

Julia Child (2006)

 The beautiful Julia Child floribunda rose is a double bloom 4" rose that has a mild scent of licorice.  The color here looks a little be on the orange side, but let me assure you it is more of a buttery yellow.  In 2006 the Julia Child Floribunda Rose was the All-American Rose Selection (AARS).

Floribundas roses are typically used in hedges, but look great individually too.  You can't use these as cut flowers, because their stems are too short. 

My plan is that if these roses make it through the winter I will be getting a few more.

Have a super weekend!
See you next week!

Flower Power Friday.........

Here are some updated photos of my garden in progress.  Previous photos were taken looking at the garden from the house or the front of the garden.  These were taken looking to the house or the back of the garden.  There still is a lot of work to do, but it is a work in progress right!  At this point I will be adding fewer plants and more mulch.  As the garden starts to take shape I can see where I need to fill in and what I want to put there. 

 

So this is what I have so far.........

 

This is the left side of the garden.  In this photo you can see that in the foreground I have a Herbstonne which will grow about 3 feet tall and wide and have a yellow flower in front of that are the 13 Conflowers which are all a magenta color, they will grow about 2 1/2 feet plus tall and will eventually fill in that area.  In front of them which is are hard to see since they are so small are 3 Blue flax which too will fill in nicely.  Off to the right are some Lady's Mantle which are a mounding plant with beautiful little chartreuse flowers.  If you look in the middle near the cement square are 2 silvery mounds which will get to be a large mound. 

In this photo which is the right side of the garden.  I have in the foreground Ironweed which is a great butterfly attraction and will grow about 3 feet tall and wide and have purple blossoms..  In front of the Ironweed are 4 Butterfly Weed which will grow about 24 inches and are yellow and orange.  Alittle to the right I have a Butterfly bush call Black Knight.  This will get about 4 to 5 feet tall and wide and the flowers (pictured below) are a cone shape cluster which smell fantastic!

Butterfly Bush "Black Knight"

 In this photo near the fence on the right are my Lavender Roses "Angel Face", on the left are my Yellow Roses "Julia Child" and in the center are the Garden Phlox which will grow to about 24-30 inches and the flowers are cluster like.  When they bloom I will photograph them for you.  In the cages are tomatoes, 2 cherry types, one roma and 2 regular.  In the foreground are the Yarrows.  They are pink and red and will grow to about 24 inches or so.  To the right of the Yarrow are my Coreposis which are small yellow daisy like flowers and the foliage are threadleaf.  The Coreopsis will grow to about 24 or so inches and form a large mound.

The photo here to your right is of my future peaches.  Last year I only got 2 peaches.  Looks like this year there will be plenty more.  YIPPEE!!!!

 

Tomorrow after work I will be planting some new poppies.  Unfortunately I was able to save only one out of five poppies. 

 

Next week I will tell you about my dogwood trees, also I'll tell you a little more about all the different butterfly plants I've added to my garden and have photos of my roses.  I will also tell you what I use for fertilizer. 

 

If you have any questions or comments just let me know.

 Quote of the week...........

Gardening is about enjoying the smell of things growing in the soil, getting dirty without feeling guilty, and generally taking the time to soak up a little peace and serenity. 

~Lindley Karstens

See you next Friday!!!

Happy Gardening!

Flower Power Friday.....Watching My Garden Grow Continues..........

Well last Friday I was suppose to be transplanting some Peonies and Lilies, but I got called into work and couldn't do the transplants.  The new job is taking a lot out of me so it's taking a bit longer to get things done. 

Sea Holly

 

 

At this point I have transplanted 1 Tree Peony, 3 Peony Shrubs, 2 Peony roots, 5 Sea Hollies and 1 Herbstonne.  Those were all done on Wednesday.  Friday as your reading this I will be transplanting about 7- 10 small Coneflowers, 2 Poppies and several Lilies.  I generally do my transplanting in the morning hours when it is coolest or on cloudy days. 

 

Herbstonne

 

 I went to my favorite garden center and decided I wanted to try to grow Roses.  I've always wanted a Rose garden, but living in Maine growing Hybrid Tea Roses are very difficult.  But I'm up for a challenge and I'm trying two this year.  They are both Floribunda Roses that are everblooming.  One is called Angel Face which is a lavender color and has a sweet fruity scent and the other is Julia Child which is a yellow color and has a licorice scent.  I wanted to get Hybrid Tea Roses, but didn't see anything I liked.  The Floribunda Rose are Roses that form large clusters of blooms on one branch.  They too are sensitive to Maine's climate, but hear again I'm up for the challenge.  I did order a book about Roses which I think will help a lot on understanding the flower and it's habits and diseases.  One thing I do know is that in the fall I will create a kind of cage to wrap around each rose bush and fill with hay and leaves to protect it from the Maine winter.  I may also wrap burlap around them for extra protection.  Next year I will get on the ball and look for some Hybrid Tea Roses.  Probably through a catalog.

 

I will be heading to my garden center next Friday to pick out my tomato plants to ready them for planting after the new moon on May 25th.

 

Some interesting critters I stumbled upon this week.  I was getting ready to mow my lawn for the first time this season and my Mom and I were removing some black plastic when I saw a garter snake which I imagine was trying to stay warm,  Mom who is horrified of snakes did not see it and stepped right on it's head and didn't even realize she was stepping on a snake.  Thinking quickly of what to say to her without her panicking I told her to step back quickly and that is when she saw the garter snake and let out a screech!  The snake was still chilled some and wasn't moving very fast, but did move out of the way as I busted a stitch laughing.   It was funny cause she didn't even feel it under her foot.  The snake was a least a foot long.  But as they say karma is a bitch.  When I was transplanting one of the Peonies from what was the snake garden (snakes lived under the large rock) well here's how it went.......I dug out the Peony pulled away the weeds that had grown around it and picked it up into the wheel barrow and moved it to the new location where I picked it up out of the wheel barrow and put it into the hole and filled with soil then raked to clean it up and watered.  As I was watering I saw what at first I thought was a earthworm then realized it was a small brown snake coming up from the roots of the Peony I just planted.  That little (about 6 inches or so) snake could have popped out at any time and could have bitten me, but it stayed put until I watered........I see both of these snakes in my yard often and I will try to photograph them....maybe.

 

 

 

 

The Bluebirds I mentioned last week are slowly getting used to my presence and we now have an Eastern Phoebe nesting under the roof of my front porch.  We've had an Eastern Phoebe nest there a few years ago and had several babies.  This year I can only see 2 eggs.  One already fell out of the nest.

 

 

Never a dull moment in the garden.......

So next week I should have pretty much all plants transplanted and finishing up on cleaning and weeding.  I'll have photos to show next week on my progress.

 

 

 

 

Quote of the Week................

In the garden I tend to drop my thoughts here and there.  To the flowers I whisper the secrets I keep and the hopes I breathe.  I know they are there to eavesdrop for the angels. 

                                                 ~Dodinsky

Have a Beautiful Weekend!!!