Zone 5 Garden Plants

I have plants...lot of plants...in my yard. Most are rose bushes. But, once in a while a plant will catch my eye and my wallet. Over the next several days I will introduce you to plants that thrive, and some that take a dive, in a zone 5 garden.

The photos I will share are pictures of my plants presented as they really are. If you find yourself interested in a plant click on the name below the photo. It will take you to my full review. About Face and Chicago Peace, in a post below this one, have their names linked to full reviews all ready. Check 'em out!

One of my favorite "non-rose" plants...

Viola "Sweet Etain(with a purple pansy planted next to it)

Time Flies...

...when you have 100 things going on. I can't believe I haven't posted since Dec. '08. Since then I have found out I'm going to be a grandma. I've been getting ready for my sister's wedding next weekend. And, I've gone on my Boston and Bar Harbor trip. (That was fun, but exhausting!)

It is spring, so that means I'm out in the yard a lot taking care of all my plants. I can't believe I have added more! My garden was all ready a time consuming monster.

Anyway, that is a brief summary of the days since I've last posted.

Going back through my old posts I noticed I was excited about my one of a kind seedling. Well...drum roll...the blooms are fully double, dusty rose pink. They are very pretty, even if I do say so myself. The plant seems to be disease resistant and cold hardy. If I submit to the American Rose Society I will be naming it "Daddy's Girl". But, it has been called the "Booger Baby rose" since it was an inch high. Just in case you are wondering...booger baby is a family saying for something that is little.

Well, now that I've caught you up I'll try to spend more time here. So many things to do...so little time to get them done.

Here is "booger baby". I'll be posting a better picture of her soon. She didn't fully open until I was gone on my vacation. But, there is another bud ready to bloom.

If you are looking for reviews of roses for a zone 5 garden check out my Epinions profile page.

Rose Pictures

Here are a few of my roses...

Chicago Peace

Peace

About Face

About Face is by far the hardiest rose I have at this time. It has made it through 3 Illinois winters with no protection and been dug up twice to be put in more prominent positions. Yet, it keeps blooming and thriving no matter what.

Roses, Roses and More Roses

For most plants I am the grim reaper. House plants keel over and die as soon as I bring them home. If a plant thrives outdoors it is mainly due to their refusal to give up. The problem? Who knows? Afterall, I water, feed and tend to them. My husband says I just have a black thumb as opposed to a green thumb. That is until I brought home this scraggly little stick that was supposed to be a rose bush. No one could blame me if it died, right? I mean it was already close to its last gasp when I bought it.

To my surprise not only did this little stick grow, it flourished. By the end of summer I had beautiful, scented blooms on my Fragrant Plum. The next spring I brought home more roses, 10 to be exact. When they too started to exceed my black thumb expectations I decided to get serious. I studied diseases, insects, correct pruning methods and anything else I could that pertained to roses. A hard lesson I did learn was that some roses aren't meant for my gardenng zone 5. I lost 4 of the 10 I had brought home to a harsh winter. Today, I have 22 roses, 18 varieties, that have done well for the last three years.

I also found several sites that talked about starting roses from seed. It is not a task for the easily discouraged. Out of 100 seeds I have managed to grow one rose. It is two years old and has already survived one winter in the ground. I'm looking forward to next spring when I will finally be able to see what color blooms it will have. This year the first bud was killed by an unexpected frost. Oh well, just that it is has survived and will be a one of a kind, no other rose exactly like it, is incentive enough to give it the time and care it needs. I look forward to posting my original rose pictures here next spring!

Products I have tried:
Jiffy Professional Greenhouse Kit
Carefree All-In-One Greenhouse
Vigaro Bone Meal
Rl Flo-Master Premium Sprayers
Ortho RosePride Orthenex Insect & Disease Control
Schultz Peat Moss
Jiffy Starter Pellets

My Birthday

Today is my birthday. As I get older (not a good thing) they seem to come with less excitement (a good thing). I remember when flowers, dinner and a night out at a club were mandatory. Now I'm excited that my birthday present from my husband is overhauling the engine to my 1994 Isuzu Trooper. I don't want jewelry, I want a new alternator. No flowers or candy for me, give me some new spark plugs! See the difference in being a 20-something and a 40-something?

There are other differences too. Tomorrow, instead of taking aspirin for a hangover, I'll be taking Alleve for arthritis. I won't have a night out with my friends drinking and dancing. I will be staying in with my family, ordering pizza, playing Trivial Pursuit and talking about things that we found funny, sad or of general interest.

Now that I have the younger generation shaking their head and saying I'll never be that boring let me tell you a secret. It isn't that I have to do those things or "settle" for that present. I could still go out, tie one on and live it up. But, as you get older priorities change. I choose to stay home and be with my family. For me that is living it up. Being surrounded by loved ones, laughing (a lot) and celebrating not just my birthday, but my life as it is now. Got to go...they are waiting.

People

I ventured out of my cornfield friday. Yes, I participated in the Black Friday sales. Unlike many people I made it home safely. A temp employee was killed, and several injured, at a Wal-Mart in Valley Stream on Long Island. Two men shot and killed each other at a Toys R Us in Palm Desert, California. While the latter event may not have been Black Friday related the shoppers were still in danger.

What really gets me about the Wal-Mart incident is that the shoppers were angry and uncooperative when told to leave the store. A man had just died and they didn't care. It was more important to save a few bucks on that item they couldn't afford any other time. Here is a thought...if you can't afford it any other time maybe you shouldn't own it. Instead of getting that 32" flat panel television "settle" for a 27" flat screen TV. Instead of stampeding over people to get that 8 megapixel digital camera "settle" for the 6 megapixel one you can normally afford. When did we become a society of people who care more about things than other people?

I know that mindset has been around since the beginning of time, but it didn't use to be normal, accepted behavior. I would like to know how many people who were at that Wal-Mart went home and bitched to family members that they didn't get their TV. More importantly, I would like to know how many went home, hugged their family members and were thankful that they were alive. I can guess at which happened more often.

Tis the Season

It is the time of year that many look forward to. Am I talking about the holidays? No. It is hunting season. While my husband enjoys the holidays because it means a lot of great food, they take a back seat to duck, goose, deer hunting. If you have a hunter in the house I have a few great holiday gifts to recommend.

One of the items I bought my husband, that he truly likes, is the Bushnell Banner Dusk & Dawn Scope. Another product that even I can enjoy is his Moultrie Digital (Game) Camera. It is a camera that straps to a tree and snaps pictures when something crosses its motion sensor. We've been amazed at how much, and what type of, game there is in his hunting area.

If you need to find something a little cheaper than those two items how about a camouflaged thermos? Is the hunter you know on the water a lot? Then he (or she) should not be without an Avery Floating Shotgun Case. It is cheap insurance for an expensive gun.

As if all of that is not enough...dryer sheets that smell like dirt. H.S. Scents Scent A Way Dryer Sheets cover up a hunter's odor by making his clothes smell like...well...dirt. Did I mention that the whole house smells like that for a while?