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Fri, Nov 23, 12 at 1:26
| I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Yesterday it was my intention to spend the day digging holes for the roses we have arriving at the end of the month. But the day dawning gray and wet, with rain forecast for the afternoon, I decided we would celebrate the holiday after all. So we cleaned house a bit and I cooked risotto, which isn't turkey (and I'm vegetarian anyway) but is adored by everyone in my family. In the afternoon I was a little at a loss until I curled up with a volume of portraits by Gilbert Stuart, he of the George Washington paintings....very American.
We have been enjoying a very warm fall with good amounts of both sun and rain. The roses are continuing to bloom, the grass is green and lush, the ornamental sages are in flower. At the same time the persimmons are ripening and the wisteria foliage on the pergola in front of the house is turning luminous golden yellow, so that we have as much color as we ever enjoy in the garden. A downside of the generally very welcome weather is that 'Alba Maxima' has rust for the first time ever. This is only the second time in a decade that I've seen this disease in my garden. 'Awakening' is the double sport of 'New Dawn', and like its parent in every way except the flower form. Both these roses are difficult for me because they refuse either to climb or to allow themselves to be shaped into decent shrubs: I probably am to blame for this, although a gardening buddy says he has the same problem. This plant is growing rather agreeably, however, flopping on the ground close to the corner of the shed it was supposed to be trained onto and wandering over to a young Italian cypress that I have a fantasy of one day being able to make it climb up, make a kind of sparse thicket of rose. 'Awakening' and 'New Dawn' aren't my great favorites among my roses. But they do have their moments. They bloom later than most of my roses and when not a whole lot is happening in the garden. 'Awakening' is producing just a few blooms at a time this fall, but the flowers are perfect, shapely, healthy, large, and full. The color I would describe as translucent soft pink on an opaque creamy white ground; and the color shading, the folds of the petals and the shadows they create make a lovely picture. No scent beyond the green apple fragrance which I've never cared for, but to have such roses in November is a treat. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by harborrose 8a-PNW (My Page) on Fri, Nov 23, 12 at 3:04
| How wonderful to have roses so late in the year, Melissa and I'm glad for your sun and rain and still growing garden. Here we've had torrents of rain, wind and a parade of gloomy days, finally putting an end to the autumn reds and yellows of the trees. My remaining spot of blazing color are the trunk and branches of the small coral bark maple outside my windows. That tree always helps me through the winter gray time. It's always so much fun to read about your garden and life so far away from my own! |
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| I always enjoy your posts so much,Melissa, and can relate so much to your situation and garden.Autumn and spring are the two most beautiful seasons, at least here in Italy, followed by winter,with summer being the least pleasant (though I, too, want to start working on the "architectural" green aspect of my garden, which you mentioned in the thread about "dry-grown" teas in the Mediterrean,so summer will be less bleak ).I'm getting some very good re-bloom this year myself,and am SO grateful that it has been raining...regards, bart |
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- Posted by floridarosez9 10 (My Page) on Fri, Nov 23, 12 at 13:07
| I envy you your rain. We are again in drought here, not having gotten the deluges the rest of Florida got. Now is the busy time in Florida gardens. I have thousands of seeds started, and the roses are still regrowing their leaves they lost during the summer heat. Some, like the Chinas, Noisettes, and Belinda's dream continue to bloom heavily. Others are resting. My little nursery where I purchased my pansies, petunias, and snaps has quit with annual seedlings. She says it was too labor intensive for the money she made. I have talked her into me buying the seeds, she will grow them to the plug stage, and then I bring them home and continue to grow them out. We'll see how that goes. I already started everything but those three from seed. I found those too difficult from seed since I don't have misting tables. |
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- Posted by melissa_thefarm NItaly (My Page) on Sat, Nov 24, 12 at 14:12
| Gean, the first winter I spent at the farm I developed a terrible hunger for green, as almost all our native trees and shrubs are deciduous. I have always loved the leaves of camellias, holly, and so forth anyway. So I planted box and sarcococca and bay laurel and felt better in subsequent years. Fall color is almost a lost cause here as well, though I have hopes for a recently planted pear as well as the persimmons scattered through the garden. Some of the roses are quite respectable as well. Your maple sounds very satisfying. Bart, I'm grateful for the rain we've had this fall as well, though I did notice that the principal drainage ditch running through the big garden is getting mighty deep and looking like it might cave in this winter. We need to bring in some rocks, which is an additional project I'd just as soon not have. It sounds like you've been enjoying your garden this fall. I liked your comments on that thread on dry-grown Teas about how your modern rose--was it 'Westerland'?--didn't mix well with the Teas because of its large foliage and overall bigness that didn't assort well with their more delicate growth. I thought that was a very good point. Florida, it sounds like you have a rewarding relationship with your nursery(wo)man. I hope you get the rain you need. When I came to Florida in July half the county was under water from one of the tropical storms, but that was a while back. This afternoon we finished preparing the planting holes for the eighty roses we have coming at the end of this month. That was a job, as my triceps and the muscles over my ribs will be letting me know tomorrow. But it's done. Now we must hope that SDA, the horrible Italian postal package service that I call Sadista, will condescend to get the order to us in a semi-reasonable time. They have a kind of attitude that delivery is optional. Melissa |
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| Melissa, I meant to ask you-did you say you ordered your roses from Serbia? Was it Petrovic Roses, by any chance? I just found their site, and their prices seem to me incredibly low!!! Makes me wonder what the plants are like...But it might be worth a try...In any case, I'd like to know what company you ordered from. I am very pleased with my usual companies, and don't plan to stop ordering from them, but I might want to try this Petrovic company, too, for some of the more widely available roses. We get some nice fall colour here in my area, but I, too, am beginning to look at evergreens that might do well in my garden. I just planted out 6 cypress trees, which I adore,and probably will be adding more in the future. Sadly, I don't think I could get away with azaleas or camellias; I don't have acid soil and it's too dry. However I may be forced to try a camellia; years ago my husband gave me a beautiful red one, which I've been growing in a pot at the house, but these last few years it has not bloomed well (excessively small flowers that do not completely open and drop off too soon, and few of them...), so it may be just getting too big for a pot. I don't have much time to fuss over potted plants, and therefore it's not surprising that my success in this field is scanty...regards, bart |
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- Posted by melissa_thefarm NItaly (My Page) on Sun, Nov 25, 12 at 5:32
| Hello, Bart! I recommend that you not try your camellia in the ground but rather leave it in the pot, as we do with ours. Usual Italian conditions in the hills are a combination of everything camellias hate most: compact clay soils tending to an alkaline ph, summer drought, sun. We tried hard to grow them in the ground, with consistent failure. Actually we lost our two little potted sasanquas in the freeze last February because my husband stuck them in an unheated building without protection, rather than covering them and leaving them outside. I really want to get similar kinds again, as they're wonderfully cheerful right in the gloomiest time of the year, blooming during the rain and fogs of late November and December. I don't shine at pot culture either, but you might do some research and see how to keep camellias happy grown that way, as I think it can be done. You're right, the Serbian nursery is Petrovic. I've heard varying things about the quality of the roses over the last several years, among others from an Italian friend who has made a number of very large orders. I'll be able to tell you about these when I get them. The owner knows English: I've been corresponding with him about my order in that language. It's a serious nursery, and they have an impressive collection of old roses in the cold-hardy classes. As I wrote, my chief current concern is whether SDA will deliver them in reasonable condition. P.S. My gardener buddy who ordered from Petrovic has made sure that I benefited from his orders as well: I now have a number of roses grown from cuttings or that my friend himself propagated from his Petrovic roses. Share the joy! Melissa P.P.S. Are you talking about Italian cypresses? They do really well here, even though we're a bit north of their usual range, settling in happily at once and growing steadily. It's really gratifying when a good tree makes it clear that it loves your garden conditions. I imagine that they'll do very well for you too. Last note: who do you order your roses from? La Campanella has always done well by me, and I hear very good things about S'Orrosa--which I'm misspelling! But I believe there are several good Italian nurseries, some of them of fairly recent date. The rose scene, especially for old and warm climate roses, appears to have opened up in recent years, after a low point when Walter Branchi closed down. The last few years I've been so busy with cuttings gotten from other gardeners that I haven't bought much. |
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| Floridarosez, I have germinated and grown pansies and snapdragons under florescent lights in a sweater box. The box provides the helpful humidity. So if your nursery woman eventually decides to quit, you could try that. Cath |
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- Posted by floridarosez9 10 (My Page) on Mon, Nov 26, 12 at 9:10
| Thanks, Cath. I actually don't have as much trouble with pansies as I do the snaps and petunias. I grow hybrid Daddy petunias and hybrid Madame Butterfly snaps, and I think they're harder to start than most. My problem is space as I do at least five flats (48 plants to a flat) of each. Plus, with her mister tables she brings them on so much faster than I can. She has a huge tank she puts liquid fert in and they get misted several times a day. They grow like gangbusters for her. However, if push comes to shove and this doesn't work out, I may have to set up lights and misting tables. I can't do without my annuals. |
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| Hi, Melissa. I find it kind of hard to respond sometimes on forums (especially this one,which is so big!),so please forgive my tardiness.Thanks for the advice about the camellia.I suspect that you're right. I quickly gave up trying rugosas, for example; they just wouldn't grow,so a camellia would probably be worse. By the way, do you grow the HP Reine des Violettes? I've been having trouble getting mine to flower well,and I wonder if soil PH has anything to do with the problem. It doesn't have chlorosis, though, so maybe it's just not enough water/ nutrients. Yep, I mean Italian cypress! I got 6 of the variety "Totem",in the hopes that these will stay skinny and tall,resist disease and not need pruning to maintain their shape. I hope that they will be as beautiful as the regular sempervirens, however. I plan to get more; maybe I'll try the plain sempervirens,too,just to see. Please let me know what you think of the Petrovic roses! With those prices, they certainly seem to be worth a try! Not that I'll stop ordering from my favourite companies: Loubert and La Roseraie du Des�rt in France,Lens Roses in Belgium.I've never ordered (yet) from La Campanella, but Nino Sanremo seems good. I never heard of one called SOrrosa... must check on Internet.regards, bart |
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- Posted by melissa_thefarm NItaly (My Page) on Sat, Dec 1, 12 at 1:28
| Bart, Good to hear from you. I enjoy these exchanges of information. I don't know what Italian cypresses we're buying: just whatever the nursery folk find on their purchasing expeditions and bring home. The older ones are definitely columnar types, probably not the pencil-thin clones that I'm assuming number 'Totem' among their number; but a recent group that my husband bought may be the simple species, which is also upright but broader and doesn't have the candle-flame form of the fastigate types. I would like a few really skinny ones for variety. I do love Italian cypresses, and they love our garden. No other tree adds so much dignity and sobriety to a composition, and they look perfect growing out in the middle of fields and woods. Box is like that too: it can look completely formal or completely wild. Nino San Remo sends excellent plants, but when I ordered from them back in 2005 and 2006 they had their stocks completely mixed up: I have never gotten so many wrong roses from a nursery, and they weren't able (though willing) to correct their mistakes, either. I hear that in recent years this hasn't been a problem, but I haven't quite gotten up the nerve to order from them again, though I was considering getting a few warm climate climbers from them this fall. I don't think you propagate from cuttings, do you? Because I would be interested in a cutting swap now or later. I have a grafted 'Reine des Violettes' from Tuincentrum Lottum in the Netherlands which I believe is on Mulftiflora, and a cutting-grown plant. Both are growing in some of the better ground in the garden. The grafted plant is growing and flowering well--it had several blooms on it a week ago before the rain started--while the own-root plant, which was put in the ground a year ago, has hardly grown. So you may be right about this variety needing more water and nutrients. Neither of my RdV's suffers from chlorosis. By the way, along with them are planted 'Jacques Cartier'/'Marchesa Boccella' and 'Enfant de France', both on their own roots, and they're doing very well. I think the copious rain this fall has been good for all these old Hybrid Perpetuals. Melissa |
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| I've had mixed experiences with various Italian rose people, too,in one case I'm not even sure that the "mistake" made was an honest one! But Nino Sanremo seems good , though I've only ordered a couple of times from them. I definitely want to "encourage" the serious people here in Italy!!! I like box a lot, too...maybe I should add some of that to my garden.There are two plants of it growing wild nearby, so it might do well. As of now, I haven't yet started doing cuttings; at present I don't think I have the time for it, but I would like to learn how to do it in the future,and one of my goals for my garden is, in fact, to grow some of the rarer roses and encourage people to propogate them so these roses will not go extinct, so in the future I hope we can do some cutting exchanges...regards, bart |
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