Roses

The first flush of blooms have passed on my roses after the first week of May.  How did it go?..... well.....AMAZING! 

Eden Rose ....This was the first year my climbing eden rose bloomed.  The three trellises were covered with blooms.  All the pictures you've seen of this rose don't lie; my pictures don't do it justice.  This has to be the best variety of old timey cabbage style English roses for the south.  The color is amazing.  The underside of the petals are creamy white and the tips are this perfect blush, lightening to a paler pink as they open.  And when they do open, they don't show any of the stamens.  They stay in their perfect cabbage form until they brown on the stem.  For weeks they didn't drop ANY PETALS!  You may remember the tornadoes that hit the south this spring.  Well before they hit, I made sure to take some of the blooms indoors as cut flowers, thinking that the wind would surely have to whip every petal to the ground.  The blooms are just so loaded with petals, you think that they would have to be fragile.  But the next morning, I was shocked to see that they didn't even flinch from the wind.  The cut flowers lasted a week in a vase, and probably would have lasted longer if I changed the water regularly.  The ONLY negative thing I could even potentially find in eden is that it isn't fragrant....but seriously with such traits, who cares!?  I'll buy a candle.  This rose is a 10 star for me!

 

Dream Weaver is the climber I have in the front of my house.  I had to figure out how I was going to train it around a plastic column.  I found some garden velcro tape that worked well.  I like this rose's frilly petals.

I also have several Heaven on Earth Roses.  These guys change from a salmon color to more peachy pink in the heat.  They repeat all summer and have big cabbage shaped blooms.  I love their repeating power, but they drop their petals too with a light breeze and make the garden look messy due to the good petals on the ground.

Above: Heave on Earth w/ double pink knockout rose in back

 Baby Blanket is great for my steep slope.  Its supposed to be a ground cover rose and worked great for that purpose.  This is a very pretty rose and was actually a baby blanket for a rabbit's den this spring until the cat made quick work of getting those rascals out of my garden.  ;)

 I have a mystery rose that I bought in a duo box from costco.  One survived, I wish I knew what it was.  It's really small and the petals don't drop.  Very neat color the lightest peachy blush.  Can you name it?

Finally, I have to say I don't give the knockout enough credit.  The color of this guy is so vibrant it creates a reflection on your skin and you can't help but smile.  It's a great rose, but ya'll all know what it looks like.

I did have a bit of a pest issue this year with the bud worms again eating half of my buds.   This time I knew what they were immediately.  The Bayer 3 in 1 rose product doesn't protect you from these suckers.  If you find holes in your buds, and sometimes fresh stems, and don't see the pest that's causing it, go out at night with a flashlight around 4am and you'll see them munching on your buds.  You'll know where they are by the juices glistening in the light.  I fixed this problem quick with Sevn (early season before all the butterflies and bees were out) and then dropped this below ground granular pest killer.  I think that stuff killed my earth worms though.  :(