Rosa setigera

Rosa setigera, otherwise known as the Cherokee rose or Prairie rose is the only climbing rose native to North America.  Its range is from Canada to Texas, as far west as Nebraska and Kansas.  I bought my plant at Nasami Farm in Whately last year. My rose collection was calling out for a native American rose.  I was told that although this is listed as a climber most people let it just grow into a mounded tangle.

R. setigera foliage

I didn’t really know what this rose would look like, but the foliage was quite different from the usual rose foliage.

R. setigera

This spring the rugosas started blooming in early June and the other varieties followed. We had a good show  for the Annual Rose Viewing the last Sunday in June. But no Cherokee rose.  I wondered if I had watered it enough; it is in quite a dry spot.  Then when I finally got my feet under me after my return from Buffalo, there it was, in full graceful bloom. The single blossoms in shades of pink are about two inches across on arching branches.  I don’t know if this late bloom date is typical, or another manifestation of all the odd weather this year.

Crimson Pirate Daylily

After days of talking to the 70 other bloggers who gathered in Buffalo for a preview of the Buffalo Garden Walk I have a whole new appreciation for Bloom Day, created and hosted by Carol (who I got to meet!) of May Dreams Gardens.  For other mortals talk about the weather is banal chit chat, but for us bloggers, and all gardeners, it is shop talk. It is a topic filled with endless fascination – and we see the effects on Bloom.

Sweet peas

We saw daylilies in full bloom everywhere in Buffalo, but mine were just starting, in spite of the odd weather this spring which seemed to push the season two weeks early. My daylily bank is looking very colorful right now.  On the other hand, Renee’s sweet peas are just starting too.  They are sturdy though – growing in the midst of weeds and cauliflower.

Achillea 'Terra Cotta'

I’ve fallen in love with Achillea.  Terra Cotta is a new variety I planted this spring in the new Front Garden, right next to the yellow loosestrife.

I have other pink achilleas.

Achillea 'The Pearl'

Achillea ‘The Pearl’ is useful in flower arrangements.

Bee Balm

I planted this clump of scarlet bee balm in the new cutting garden near the vegetable garden where it is very happy.

Hydrangea 'Mothlight'

I love the flowers of ‘Mothlight.’

Hydrangea - oakleaf

Last summer I bought a tiny oakleaf hydrangea at Nasami.  It is still only about 16 inches high – but blooming!  This hydrangea, as well as ‘Limelight’, and ‘Pinky Winky are planted between the peony hedge and the road.  When they get bigger, as hydrangeas do, they will be another solution to lawn eradication.  They will be mulched and the lawn will be gone.

Phlox 'Blue Paradise'

I bought ‘Blue Paradise’ at the Bridge of Flowers plant sale. It is a stunner on the Bridge. It is a part of my new blue and white section which includes delphiniums that bloom earlier. You can see the daisies and white cosmos here as well. I had not anticipated how nice it would look against the cotinus.

Hawkeye Belle

Some of the roses are still blooming. In addition to Hawkeye Belle, I have Thomas Affleck, Double Red Knockout, The Fairy, White Meideland, Ghislaine de Feligonde, Betty Prior, Champlain, Apart, Martin Frobisher, Leda , Mrs. Doreen Pike, and the farmgirls.

Visit May Dreams Gardens to see what is blooming in Heath, Buffalo and everywhere!

Quietness

Quietness is a Griffith Buck rose I saw last fall at the New York Botanical Garden. I knew I had to have it.  I ordered it from Chamblee Roses,  planted it this spring, and it is just starting to bloom.  The pale color and beautiful shape are perfectly serene.  I will be serene because Buck roses are very hardy.  Other Buck roses in my garden are Applejack, Hawk eye Belle, Prairie Harvest and Carefree Beauty.

Carefree Beauty

I planted Buck’s Carefree Beauty last year. It has not grown very much, but it does bloom – huge blossoms.

Hawkeye Belle

Hawkeye Belle was planted on the new Rose Bank this spring and is settling in. She also has delicate pink flowers. Hooray for Dr. Griffith Buck. He had an eye for roses, and compassion for gardeners who wanted a hardy disease resistant rose.

Drew and Anthony in the raspberries

All week we had been waiting for our daughter Kate and her family to arrive. We knew they had been at her husband’s family reunion at a state park in NY, celebrating his parents 80th and 90th birthday – and their 60th wedding anniversary. I expected them to arrive mid-week, but there was no word. We called Kate’s cell phone. We sent emails. We sent Facebook messages. No word. No word. No word. Had they been carjacked? We did internet research and found phone numbers for two of Greg’s sisters.  We called. We left messages. Finally, we heard. They stayed in the park (no Internet in the park!) camping after the official Sunday party, visiting and enjoying the park and the family.  And learning that Greg’s very proper parents had more than a whirlwind courtship. They met on a group date, went out together twice more before they had to part to their respective, distant homes. They corresponded and arranged a wedding that took place six weeks later.  Those mad romantic fools!

Drew and Anthony

Kate, Greg, Anthony and Drew finally arrived on the Fourth of July. A whirl to measure them on the door – and learn that Drew grew 7 inches in the last year and is now just a mite taller than his brother! Then off to a Mohawk Trails Concert with classical music, Broadway music – and Small Change joined by famous jazz French hornist (and Heathan) John Clark playing their special music. I don’t know how to classify it, but the boys, and we, had a great time!

Once home we sent the boys off to pick raspberries. Usually when they are here they pick blueberries, but the raspberries are early this year. You can see I really need to thin the raspberries better. Thinning and pruning sufficiently are two of my weaknesses. I find it so hard to cut back when the plants have been successful and grown vigorously. We had those raspberries on ice cream in the Cottage Ornee after supper. The evening was cooling down and the Cottage caught the breeze. The ice cream was still really good after a hot Fourth.

As we walked from the raspberry patch to the house the boys noticed a runaway rose.  This rose has not runaway into the field from it’s nearest neighbor, but from . . .  ?  It looks like one of the Farm Girls who grow some distance away. Did a bird spread the seed?

I used to think this was an apothecary rose, but now I am doubtful. Whatever it is, it is thriving in a very wet spot and spreading by root into the adjoining field.

The roses Terri Pettingill gave me from her mother’s house in Maine have never really thrived here, but this  one is sending roots out into the field as well.  Controlling roses is trickier than I ever thought it would be, and sometimes it requires a ruthlessness I have not been able to muster.

Rosa Mundi 6-30

Rosa Mundi is an ancient striped gallica rose – rosa gallica versicolor.  A good friend gave me this rose many years ago and has proved its hardiness by surviving this long. It has not increased in size, but it returns to bloom every June.  It is listed as hardy to Zone 4, so why hasn’t it thrived?  If I am honest I must assess the planting site. Although it is said to be tolerant of some shade, I think this spot next to the Cottage Ornee is too shady. Nor does it get the water that roses love because it is too close to the Cottage which has a fairly deep overhang.  I keep thinking I should move it to a more congenial spot.  I am starting a list of plants that should be moved this fall.  Rosa Mundi, possibly named after the Fair Rosamund, mistress of Henry II who lived in the 12th century must be moved.  This fall I will give the fragrant Fair Rosamund a better bed.

Kousa Dogwood - Bonifaz garden

It takes more than plants to make a garden. First, it takes time.

Deirdre Bonifaz  and her husband Cristobal moved to Conway in 1985. For Deirdre it was a return to a part of the world she knew as a youngster. In the 1950s her father had moved the family from New York to a West Whately farm, to be closer to the soil and the essentials of life. ‘He was a man ahead of his time,” Deirdre said thinking of all the back to the landers who would  come to this area a decade and more later.

After graduating from high school she went off to college – and continued traveling  after her marriage to Cristobal.  Her husband’s work as a lawyer took him to many exotic places; her first child was born in Ethiopia.

By the time she and her husband bought their old house in Conway she had satisfied all her wanderlust. The house had been built by an apothecary in the 18^th century, but had other owners including a farmer who built a large dairy barn behind the house. The barn was in serious disrepair and in spite of their heroic efforts to restore it the barn came down in 1995.

The gardens became more expansive at that difficult time for Bonifaz. At the same time they were taking down the barn, her mother was dying.  When the last of the barn debris was taken away she was left with the stone barn foundation. Here she planned a Walled Garden and dedicated it to the memory of her mother.

The second thing a garden needs is love.  Over the years, as the gardens grew, other memorial plantings were added. Bonifaz’s garden is a living testament to the love for family. The most notable is the Walled Garden with its magnificent roses.

Nina Newington, a skilled and knowledgeable gardener with a specialty in roses, was still living in our area in the 90s. She worked with Bonifaz to plant hardy antique roses in the protection of the barn foundation walls. Newington liked the roses from Pickering Nursery in Canada because they were so sturdy.  There was never any trouble ordering and having the roses cross the border.

I know that William Baffin is a vigorous climber, but I have never seen anything like the exuberant growth of the one in this garden. “Nina had me put up a support to hold it because she knew it would be needed,” Bonifaz said.  The support is made of sturdy timbers about six feet tall in a kind of pergola that hold the rose bush that climbs over the foundation wall to a height of at least ten feet.

When I asked her how she cared for the roses to get such vigor and growth she said, “I don’t fertilize except to put three or four shovelfuls of good compost around the base of each rose in the fall. In the spring I spread it around the bush.”  She then allowed as how she did fertilize The Fairy during the summer, but not the other roses.

Other roses in the Walled Garden include Madame Alfred Carriere, a large white climber, Madame Hardy another white with a beautiful green button ‘eye’,  the pale pink New Dawn climber and Goldfinch, all white and gold.

A third element necessary for a beautiful garden is variety, which Bonifaz and her husband have provided in their plantings of fruit trees, blooming trees, shrubs, perennials, and built structures.

Bonifaz says she spends a lot of time on the beautifully laid brick patio at the end of the new barn/garage that houses her husband’s legal office. There, surrounded by lilacs, Salvia ‘May Night’, irises, lady’s mantle and other perennials she, her husband, and guests can enjoy meals and talk.

I was taken with the pergola supporting more roses, and the new rustic supports for tomato plants.

Herb Garden

Perhaps thinking of the apothecary who built the house, and all apothecaries who used medicinal plants, Bonifaz has planted a small fenced herb garden laid out with geometric beds that is as useful as it is beautiful. “I was inspired by a medieval garden I saw,” she said.

The Bonifaz garden is just one of the gardens that will inspire visitors on the 22^nd Annual Franklin Land Trust Farm and Garden tour on Saturday and Sunday, June 26 and 27. The event will include six private gardens, five unique farms, two studios, one of which is a fascinating woodworking studio, and the Boyden One Room Schoolhouse in Conway.   The event runs from 10:00 to 4:00 each day.  This year the tour centers on Conway and West Whately. For full information about tickets logon to www.franklinlandtrust.org or call Linda Alvord at (413) 625-9151 or email lalvord@franklinlandtrust.org.

Tomato supports

Between the Rows  June 19, 2010

The Rose Walk

The sky was gray and a few guests came early to the Rose Viewing, hoping to beat the rain, but blue skies arrived, as well as muggy temperatures, and more guests. It is always a pleasure to show people around the garden myself, but visitors can also go around with a rose list and map that my husband makes. Since I look on the Rose Viewing as a quasi-educational event I am always pleased to see people making notes on their rose list. I am also happy to be able to recommend nurseries like the Antique Rose Emporium in Texas which sends container grown roses through the mail in the spring. The advantage to container grown roses is that if the weather is bad, sleety, frosty or even too darn hot, the container plants can be kept watered and happy until they can be put safely in the ground.

Red Meidiland rose

There was a lot of discussion about whether the roses were all early, but after the spell of high temperatures that send the roses rushing into bloom, it got turned cold again. Another fire in the woodstove. It stayed cool and most of the roses relaxed, content with their more normal bloom times.  Remember our house and garden are more than 1600 feet above sea level and that means that nights are cool through most of the summer. One rose that is blooming early is this red Meidiland landscape rose that came as a sample from the hybridizer more than 15 years ago.  Usually it has only a few blossoms to show at the Rose Viewing which is always the last Sunday in June.  It has survived nicely, as has the White Meidiland next to it, but our weather is severe enough that it hasn’t attained the spread it is known for. You can image that this brilliant scarlet rose is quite a delightful shock when the other roses are in shades of pink and white.

In the Cottage Ornee

As delightful as it is to wander among the roses, enjoying all the fragrance, the day was hot, and it was equally delightful to sit down in the Cottage Ornee and visit. The Cottage quite magically seems to capture every wayward breeze, the lemonade was cold, the strawberries sweet, and the cookies delicious. If I do say so myself.  Then Sheila brought her handmade goat cheeses and Cheryl, pictured above with our neighbors the McCutchens, brought Strawberry Shortcake!

Pink Grootendorst Rugosa

We are making the final preparations for the Annual Rose Viewing tomorrow afternoon. I haven’t finished dead heading, but here is a preview of some of the roses in bloom.

Ghislaine de Feligonde rambler

Fantin-Latour alba

Ispahan damask

Red Meidelland landscape rose

Madame Plantier alba

These roses and more will be awaiting admirers at the Annual Rose Viewing at the End of Knott Road in Heath, Sunday, June 27, 1-4 pm. Take some time to smell the roses.

Purington Pink rose

Last year, about this time, I asked our wonderful Heath librarian Don Purington if the offer of a pink rose from his family farm still stood. Lucky for me it did. He not only introduced me to his mother Barbara, but my visit to Woodslawn Farm, also led to my meeting his sister Carol and a new friendship. Carol is a poet, a reader, and a great conversationalist.  She was struck by polio on her first day of school when she was six years old, and has spent the past 54 years in an iron lung.  Her survival is a testament to her medical care,  her own strength and stamina, the love of her large family, and the wisdom she has developed over the years. Carol and I have had jolly visits together, thoughtful and gay by turns – including a joyful celebration of her 60th birthday.

Though Carol’s friendship was the unexpected gift, Barbara gave me more than one rose.  Purington’s pink, pictured above is the rose that grows outside her kitchen window. It is about five feet tall and a substantial bush. Mine is till small, but it came through the winter and is fragrantly blooming on the new Rose Bank.

Purington Rambler

Also on the Rose Bank is the Purington Rambler which grows in a tangle on the stone wall outside Carol’s room. There it can tumble over the edge of the wall. On the Rose Bank it will sprawl and become a moundy tangle. It has taken hold magnificently.

I planted two other Purington roses on the Rose Walk.  Barbara said the yellow rose usually didn’t survive  transplanting, but I got really lucky and it has come through the winter.  It is too small to bloom and I am still trying to coddle it, but I have great hopes for next year.  The other rose is also pink, but not yet flowering.  Keep watching.

While I have used Carol’s poetry on Muse Day before, I cannot again mention Carol’s poetry, collected in several books including A Pattern in this Place: Words of a Pioneer Woman with illustrations by her sister-in-law Stephanie B. Purington, without giving at least a tiny sample. Carol specializes in haiku.

“I set my bucket

Beside  the spring,

Kneel to watch its surface flicker

With leaf-cut sunlight -

The peace of God enfolds me.

Ryan left for home with his father last night – but not before a final flurry of activity. He helped me move the chicks out of the brooding box and into a larger space. The henhouse has two sections, one for the laying hens, and the equally large ‘entry’ which we arrange so the chicks only have 2/3 of the space. It is so dark in the this area, with the brooding box still in place, that I couldn’t get a photo of the happy chicks – who are now beginning to fly. Ryan is holding a Barred Rock, but the Black Stars are very adventurous birds.

Pitcher plants

Ryan and I went searching for adventure and visited the Rowe bog where carniverous pitcher plants grow right next to the road.  I tried to identify this variety, and there are over 100, but have been unsuccessful so far. Any help you can give is welcome.  I never visited the bog when the flowers were in their glory, never realized they were so pretty, even if they are looking away from the road. The bulbous structure at the bottom is the carniverous part and is unlike photos I have found of other pitcher plants.  More research is required.

Ryan at Birch Glen Stables

The final adventure for Ryan this trip was a riding lesson at Birch Glen Stables. This wonderful place is ‘right around the corner’ from us and Joan Schoenhals is a patient and encouraging instructor. Riders begin at the beginning – with grooming the horse, and learning about the ‘tack’ which is to say the saddle and bridle and everything. Joan is attentive, and Ryan certainly is concentrating. We thought he had a good feel for handling the horse – and after only about 45 minutes actually on the horse!  This summer Ryan is the first grandson to visit, so he is the first one to have a lesson, but soon the other boys will arrive and we’ll see if they enjoy riding, too.

Thomas Affleck

Now that Ryan’s visit has ended, we start the final push before the Annual Rose Viewing. Last summer I planted Thomas Affleck at the end of the Herb Garden in front of the house because the description of the Antique Rose Emporium said they were fragrant and should be planted where that fragrance could be enjoyed often. The rose has done well and I didn’t even realize how many flowers and buds were on the bush until I cleared out the bolted spinach that I planted in front of it – knowing that the spinach would be out before the Rose Viewing. It looks great, but it isn’t fragrant. At least not this year – or so far. I find that the intensity of the fragrance for any rose varies from year to year.