Sherry - gorgeous pictures - thanks!

Re Le Vesuve, I only cut dead parts out of mine - they eventually get to be about 8 ft tall here by 7-8 ft wide, and stand up by themselves. Could you try that? Actually, much of the dead canes are at the bottom, and the bush uses them as supports, so I don't cut those either (after I got going on them one year the bush fell over, as I had cut out its supporting foundation, so I thought better of that strategy). It is a gorgeous rose here if just left alone - just a thought.

Jackie

I think the Capitaine was perfectly described: he is a lady-killer. I covet him now. Good job on everything!

Annabeth

Thank you for posting those beautimous rose pics. Your garden is stunning. The deep rose with the purple and lavender is just lovely. Your LeVesuve is so pleasing to the eye. Thank you again.
Jeannie

Beautiful photos!

Le Vesuve has been the most successful rose in my garden. It has grown to such monumental proportions that I find it frightening. I have sworn to cut it back to control it, but I tend to be a bit of a lazy gardener, so I have only threatened so far, and those thorns are enough reason to give me pause.

We had a large tree fall and smash her to bits this last winter. It was almost a relief, because I had dreaded getting near enough to prune it back, so it became much a much more manageable job. (I almost fell face first in it one time while standing on tiptoes on the brick edging to deadhead near the top, and it really shook me up.) I had my son even it up, and it doesn't seem to have slown it down one bit. It is blooming like crazy again, and I am sure that in no time it will be back up to about 8'. The real downside of the tree smash is that it left tons of tiny, dead, thorny twigs everywhere. What a pain (and painful) mess to clean up!

It blooms all summer long in rapid flushes, and almost zero blackspot-something really important since I don't spray. I also think the canes and thorns are a beautiful color-although quite scary. It's funny that when I was choosing my first roses, "thornless" was a characteristic that I didn't consider important. Oh, how our priorities change, especially with an unruly bush.

Beautiful!
And enabling of many companion plants

Thank you, Sherry, for those gorgeous pics. I love deep pink roses. The photography is excellent, so are the plants. I'm still looking for a dark pink and fragrant rose that likes alkaline soil. Thanks again for those delightful pics.

Sherry, your garden is fabulous. I am so jealous of your larkspur returns. My SIL who lives a few miles from you does well with them also but mine seem to live a short life and never return. Argh. She has even sewn them for me and they never make it. LOL.

Sherry, what a treat these pictures are! I do check your blog, which is always a great read, with beautiful pictures, but it's nice to see these here. I planted day lilies last spring when I saw how beautiful yours were. They had a few blooms at that time, but nothing since then and no sign of blooms now even though my irises are blooming and so are most of the roses. I did fertilize them. Am I just being too impatient? By the way, your Mme. Abel Chateney is splendid. I have no more room but I wish now I had planted this rose.

Regarding Le Vesuve's thorns, I fell into one of my bushes before falling down a hill some time ago, and I have to say its thorns are really nasty. It took months for some of the deepest cuts to heal and now I approach it with great caution. It hasn't begun to bloom much yet compared to the other tea roses in spite of fertilizing, but I think it likes being warm.

Ingrid

Thank you, thank you, all!

Jackie, unless someone says otherwise I'm just going to leave the dieback - for now. Other roses in my garden haven't responded that way - though this spring does seem to have more dieback than previous years. Even a local friend mentioned having it in her garden.

Annabeth, I'm glad you agree. Capitaine used to be in too much shade, and he wasn't near as handsome. If I have any more failures, I know who the replacement will be. :))

Jeannie, I think you mean Lauren (the deep rose with purple and lavender). It is a pretty, little flower on the bush in the mauve color range - and hard for me to photograph because of the exploding colors - digitally, that is.

Angela, mine isn't that tall yet but is BS-free here, too, and I can see why a near fall into Le Vesuve could give you a panic attack at the remembrance of it. I didn't know about thornless roses either. How could there be such a thing as a thornless rose? But I have had several without realizing it. I only realize after working on a bush for a while, reaching in and among the canes, and then notice I'm not scratched and bloody. My worst seems to be Maman Cochet, Climbing. Big prickles on the canes and small sharp ones under the leaves. I forgot myself and did some trimming on her a few weeks ago without pruning gloves. Golly, was I sorry! I couldn't touch her without getting stuck - painfully.

Vettin, I really enjoy enabling. How convenient that you like being enabled! Glad you liked the campanions.

Strawberry Hill, my soil is neutral even though I thought for a long time that it was alkaline. But even so, I had to ditch several roses that didn't like it.

Patricia, when all those larkspur seedlings sprouted, I just thought they were weeds. Then as I was reaching to start pulling them, it dawned on me that I had one plant in that spot last spring that I grew from seeds. Rocket is the name, I think. I had plants sprout 50 feet away. Probably the seeds can't survive your winter temps, right? It was so nice to get the purple larkspur in the rose photos. For so long I've been drooling over others' roses-with-companion photos. It's a thrill to have my own.

Ingrid, I thought of you when posting the Capitaine photos since he's an SDLM sport. Do you have him? He is so gorgeous. Your daylilies may be ones that bloom mid-season or later, or maybe they're the dormant kind that needed more winter chill to be strong enough to come back. I hope it's the former and not the latter. If you get more (and I hope you will - I almost enjoy them more than the roses), try to stick to the evergreens. Semi-evergreens work, too, but lose some of their foliage in the winter - though maybe not your winters. If you remember the names, you can find out what they are here.

http://www.daylilydb.com/?script=3

Spelling counts.

Sherry

Here is a link that might be useful: If only sweat were irrigation...

Top class, Sherry.
By the way, for absolutely ages, I thought your name was Sherry O'Cala and you had a bit of the celt somewhere. Only when I saw your blog did I realse that Ocala is an actual place!
Lovely, as always.

Campanula, that's funny. Actually, I do have the celt from one grandmother. Shiels (great grandma arrived here in 1886) and Briggs. Ocala derived its name from the Timucua indian village named "ocali" which is believed to mean "Big Hammock". We have an abundance of oaks here. Here's a bit of Florida ecology for you.

http://www.floridahorsebacktrailrides.com/Hammock%20Definition.htm

Sherry

Here is a link that might be useful: If only sweat were irrigation...