'Fair Bianca'
'Fair Bianca' has beautiful flowers, but the plant, after twelve years, is a spindly two footer.
With very similar flowers, 'Bolero' (2004) after six years is a beautiful bloom machine.
This year, despite a very poor winter rainfall total, some roses look better than they ever have, and a few seem to have come back from the dead.
'Rouge Royale' disappeared about 5 years ago, but suddenly it is back, and as fragrant as ever.
Last fall I cut the one remaining dead cane of 'Star of The Nile' to the ground to allow it to vanish. It's back, with three healthy new stems.
Bright!
It has a wonderful sweet myhrr fragrance when it first opens, a fragrance quite similar to 'Fair Bianca'.
Are the malingerers worth the time? Would not a bloom machine like 'Bolero' be a better use of water and space than trying to TLC 'Fair Bianca' into something resembling vigor? Probably. Something for me to meditate upon. How ruthless and efficient need we be, in a garden? Is there room in our garden, in our heart, for a life-long struggler, a semi-failure that never improves?
'Cinco de Mayo'
'Cinco de Mayo' has improved from last year, though I'm still not thrilled with it. Still, improvement warrants patience. I hope to see the flowers as they are in the sales photograph, with purplish highlights. Not yet.
The Diva 'Evelyn' is having a good spring. She's in full flush just in time for two days of 95F+ (35C) temperatures and humidity under 10%. It seem it's either that, or a heavy rain storm that ruins the flush every year.
Delicate 'Windermere' is as enchanting and ephemeral as always.
'Young Lycidas' is very fragrant, and the fragrance is powerful and heady. Plant still looks sad and spindly, but I can wait, given that fragrance. It's also a very willing bloomer.
Flower is okay, but the strong damask fragrance is right up there with the best.
'Jude the Obscure' is another who has reached peak bloom just in time to toast. Unlike 'Evelyn', 'Jude' will not sulk about it.
Clematis 'Wisley' about to peak also, but it might hold up better to the heat than the roses.
This probably hybrid Aloe is usually the last of the spring. Now the Aloes will take a rest for the summer.
The Aloe with Tagetes lemonii and Bougainvillea:
I was pleased to see the new Ceanothus 'Lemon Ball' has beautiful powder-blue flowers.
Rosa 'Laguna' hardly bloomed at all last year. She's back:
The spring bloom of the Tagetes is never as good as the autumn bloom.
Aloe marlothii has three seed pods this year. It will self-pollinate, so those seeds might be marlothiis. I'd better collect them. I had a few more, but the puppies ate them.
'Fair Bianca' has beautiful flowers, but the plant, after twelve years, is a spindly two footer.
With very similar flowers, 'Bolero' (2004) after six years is a beautiful bloom machine.
This year, despite a very poor winter rainfall total, some roses look better than they ever have, and a few seem to have come back from the dead.
'Rouge Royale' disappeared about 5 years ago, but suddenly it is back, and as fragrant as ever.
Last fall I cut the one remaining dead cane of 'Star of The Nile' to the ground to allow it to vanish. It's back, with three healthy new stems.
Bright!
It has a wonderful sweet myhrr fragrance when it first opens, a fragrance quite similar to 'Fair Bianca'.
Are the malingerers worth the time? Would not a bloom machine like 'Bolero' be a better use of water and space than trying to TLC 'Fair Bianca' into something resembling vigor? Probably. Something for me to meditate upon. How ruthless and efficient need we be, in a garden? Is there room in our garden, in our heart, for a life-long struggler, a semi-failure that never improves?
'Cinco de Mayo'
'Cinco de Mayo' has improved from last year, though I'm still not thrilled with it. Still, improvement warrants patience. I hope to see the flowers as they are in the sales photograph, with purplish highlights. Not yet.
The Diva 'Evelyn' is having a good spring. She's in full flush just in time for two days of 95F+ (35C) temperatures and humidity under 10%. It seem it's either that, or a heavy rain storm that ruins the flush every year.
Delicate 'Windermere' is as enchanting and ephemeral as always.
'Young Lycidas' is very fragrant, and the fragrance is powerful and heady. Plant still looks sad and spindly, but I can wait, given that fragrance. It's also a very willing bloomer.
Flower is okay, but the strong damask fragrance is right up there with the best.
'Jude the Obscure' is another who has reached peak bloom just in time to toast. Unlike 'Evelyn', 'Jude' will not sulk about it.
Clematis 'Wisley' about to peak also, but it might hold up better to the heat than the roses.
This probably hybrid Aloe is usually the last of the spring. Now the Aloes will take a rest for the summer.
The Aloe with Tagetes lemonii and Bougainvillea:
I was pleased to see the new Ceanothus 'Lemon Ball' has beautiful powder-blue flowers.
Rosa 'Laguna' hardly bloomed at all last year. She's back:
The spring bloom of the Tagetes is never as good as the autumn bloom.
Aloe marlothii has three seed pods this year. It will self-pollinate, so those seeds might be marlothiis. I'd better collect them. I had a few more, but the puppies ate them.
Ah, roses! It is barely daffodil time up in the north. I do love your Bolero - great habit for a rose. Gardeners everywhere hang on to less than perfect plants, because we are eternally hopeful and optimistic! One day, if we can just get our hands on enough compost, maybe...
ReplyDeleteYes, there's something to be said for hope and optimism. Thanks for reminding me of that--I so often forget it.
DeleteMaybe Aloe grenadensis?
ReplyDeleteYes, it was so labelled, then this discussion; http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/cacti/msg0421021613040.html I know that source tends to random names...
DeleteSo maybe A. camperi...the bloom time is about right... http://www.smgrowers.com/products/plants/plantdisplay.asp?plant_id=3403
but not sure, so I ended up calling it a possible hybrid of unknown origin. We who love these types of plants must learn to live with uncertainty. ;)
Hoover Boo what a lot of a beautiful roses you have in bloom and we are waiting and waiting, they even haven not formed buds yet. But I am impressed by the exotic pictures of Aloes, Bougainville and so on, we can never have that in our garden, only in pots or in the warm greenhouses. Wonderful!
ReplyDeleteYes it is the great pleasure of a Mediterranean climate to be able to grow such a wide variety of plants. It makes for an odd garden at times, but I don't mind!
DeleteBeautiful! I'm told the Austins won't grow well here, but I have to try 'Jude'!
ReplyDeleteThe fragrance is wonderful--I hope it will grow for you. Be patient as it takes some time to rebloom well, but it will, eventually.
DeleteA beautiful array of flowers and the roses are all superb. So many wonderful colours and in the more subtle shades I love Fair Bianca, Evelyn and Jude the Obscure.
ReplyDeletexoxoxo ♡
That's is incredible color coming form the aloe, tagetes and nougainvillea combo.
ReplyDelete