Two years of neglect

Sunday, Jun. 06, 2010 – 10:11 p.m.

2010-06-06 10:11

Holy Crap, it’s been a long time since I posted here. It’s been over two years and all I can say is that I have not done a lot with the roses since my last posting. In fact, one of the beds (the one with the Rosa Mundi/Madame Hardy/Rembrandt in it) is completely overrun by grass and weeds. We will get to that later.

So the rose show was three weeks ago and I had NO roses to show. I missed the previous two years (or was it three?) local shows because I was out of town. This year, I got up early to pick roses and found one rose that MIGHT have been up to the challenge. That really bummed me out.

In the last couple of years, while I have been busy doing other stuff, the rose beds suffered… a lot. I lost a bunch of bushes in the process. Gone are:

  • French Lace
  • Peace
  • Orange Garnet
  • Artistry
  • King of Hearts
  • Caesar Chavez
  • Kitty Hawk
  • Souvenir de Saint Anne
  • two yellow minis whose names are escaping me
  • Dolly Parton
  • A number of the roses in pots

Among the “not looking too good” catagory:

  • Queen Elizabeth
  • Mr Lincoln
  • Fragrant Cloud
  • Voodoo
  • Perfect Moment
  • Double Delight (own root)… Actually moved that one to the end of a bed where a yellow mini used to be
  • Double Delight (by Iceberg)

There are probably more I am forgetting.

Disney Land is a new addition to the garden; Lara’s wanted one (and bought it) so we put it in the bed with the lavender, in the corner closest to the gate. In pots, there is a Rugosa Blanc Double de Courbert. I got it last year and it has been in a pot this whole time. Actually, last year I set up a neat thing on the kitchen steps with the pots of the minis and the like, lining the outside stairs with them. Even set up watering hoses to keep them watered. Hmmmm… at some point in the past two years, I had to replace the waterline into the house and had them put a faucet on the south side of the house.

Kathi, Lara’s sister, came down to visit last week for Memorial day and the three of us managed to clean up three of the beds. They did intense battle with The Fairy and White Pet bushes where they cleaned out most of the dead stuff. It was hard work. I retied and pruned the Souvenir dela Malmaison (having actually done a lot of cutting on it in the winter) and it is looking better. We put down the pine bark mulch.

The upper ties on many of the beds are rotting out. Need to replace them

Speaking of replacing… I finally got around to getting the siding replaced on the house. Went with insulated vinyl siding. Got the roof replaced as well, along with getting the windows replaced with hi R-factor vinyl windows.

That was all done around Thanksgiving of last year (2009).

I think this is enought for now