Peace 
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.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
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
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
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