Three for Thursday

Hawkeye Belle

August is not rose season for me, but since it is Three for Thursday I thought I would report progress on The Rose Bank.  When we had work done on our house foundation that end of the house had to be regraded, and my thought was to eliminate lawn mowing on that slope I could cover it with roses.  The blackberry thicket that had been growing there has been more persistent than I expected, but I have been fairly successful in keeping them cut back as I encouraged the roses.

I planted Hawkeye Belle this spring and she is doing beautifully.  She was very happy for all the rain we have had for the past few days. This rose is one of the hardy, disease resistant roses hybridized by Griffith Buck of the State University of Iowa. A good repeat bloomer which is rare among my roses.

Pink Grootendorst rugosa

Pink Grootendorst went in last spring. I thought rugosas would be a good bet for helping to cover this slope. This rugosa has wonderful little dianthus-like blossoms with pinked edges.  The rain has beaten down the roses – but after more than three days of rain everything in the garden is beaten down.  Even the weedy asters have been happy for a drink.

Double Red Knockout rose

For some reason my camera doesn’t like red roses very much, but I am among those who applaud the Knockouts. This rose is a lush red. I first saw it down in Houston when we visited daughter Kate and her family a couple of years ago. While I loved the idea of an everblooming red rose I feared it would not be hardy here. On the bank this rose is somewhat sheltered from the worst of the winter winds and it is doing better than the red Knockout on the Rose Walk which is more exposed. Perhaps that is one reason it is thriving.

To see what other trios are thriving this August Thursday visit Cindy at My Corner of Katy. Thank you Cindy!

Bloom Day August 2010

The cutting garden

I don’t think a cutting garden is really supposed to look like this. A cutting garden is supposed to give each plant room to breathe.  But here are scarlet bee balm, Hot Crayon Color zinnias from Renee’s Garden, bachelor’s buttons, gomphrena, and Hot Biscuits amaranth from Seed Savers looking like they are at a crowded cocktail party.  Golden rod and tansy and mint in the surrounding  field – all blooming.

Gomphrena

I thought Gomphrena would be great for bouquets so I bought two six packs from LaSalle’s Florist who has wonderful bedding plants in the summer. I did not realize this is also known as globe amaranth.  I stuck a couple of the plants next to the bush beans, and put one or two in planters. They have done beautifully and I plan to grow them again.

'Mothlight' hydrangea

I now have  four hydrangeas. I planted ‘Mothlight’ several years ago, and with very little help from me she is thriving, as you can see.  I only wish the weeping birch didn’t weep right on top of her.

'Limelight' hydrangea

‘Limelight’ joined a very small oakleaf hydrangea last summer. I’m happy to say that all three hydrangeas that will make up my erstwhile hydrangea hedge are doing very well and blooming, but Pinky Winky and the oakleaf are very small still.

Cosmos, 'Blue Paradise' phlox and Stargazer lilies

In the same bed with Mothlight and the weeping birch is my new ‘blue and white section.’  I took out a rampant spirea shrub and since I had no real plan for what to do next I thought I would just make sure everything was blue or white. With maybe a touch of yellow.  This is not give an excellent photo. The  new ‘Blue Paradise’ phlox is going by, but I think it will be more substantial in August next year.  You can also see a new sulphur yellow achillea and the Stargazers. I had forgotten about that  touch of pink.

Connecticut yankee delphiniums and cosmos

I didn’t expect the new ‘Connecticut Yankees’ to do much this year, but they are making a noble effort. I can always count on Renee’s cosmos to cover a lot of ground. This section is to the left of the previous photo and now we will go still further left.

Annual Veronica

The corner of this bed is filled with two varieties of cotoneaster.  I should have had faith that one type would be more than sufficient, if only I would have patience. Now they are both totally grown together and will never be separated. There was a bare spot in the corner that I filled with this pretty annual veronica from LaSalle’s.  It is very similar to the ‘Blue Eyes” veronica, an old variety, that came to me at a plant swap years ago as ‘blue eyed grass’ so I planted it in the lawn where it has spread, but rarely blooms because of the mowing. I promised myself I would dig up a little bit and put it in a more perennial spot, but I haven’t done it yet.

Achillea 'The Pearl' and Julie's dianthus

Achillea ‘The Pearl’ is such a depandable and useful plant, in the garden and in arrangements.  You can see one little pink dianthus that I had gotten at the Bridge of Flowers plant sale. Julie said it would bloom and bloom. And it has. It is a lovely little thing.  Other cheddar pinks are also still putting out a few bloom.

Champlain

I don’t know what this little Champlain (Canadian Explorer) rose is doing blooming at this time of year, especially since it is about to be eaten up by the Apart rugosa that has sent new shoots out. Right here.

Linda Campbell rugosa

I was also stunned to see this one blossom of Linda Campbell, a rose in the Sunken Garden, that I thought had died years ago – along with almost everything else in the Sunken Garden.  I will dig this up in the fall, and I think I will put it on the Rose Bank.

Rugosa alba

At the top edge of the Sunken Garden is a partial hedge of Rugosa alba.  This plant hopped down from above,

Rugosa alba

and this one looks like it is trying to make the leap.  It sure shows how tenacious rugosas and their roots are!

Pink Grootendorst rugosa

She doesn’t have a lot of blooms at this time of the year, but I really like Pink Grootendorst. She is on the new Rose Bank and has grown immensely since I planted her last year – just as I had hoped.  Double Red Knockouts are also blooming on the Rose Bank.

Sweet Peas

Saltwater Taffy Swirl sweet peas from Renee got off to a slow start, but they are beautiful right now. Fragrant, too.

Morning Glories

I love having morning glories right outside the window where we can see them in the morning. Going strong.

This ‘Terra Cotta’ achillea has been going strong too.  I have pink achilleas in the Lawn Beds and a deep pink in the Herb Bed. Of course, there is wild white yarrow growing by the roadsides.  Along with Queen Anne’s lace.

Thomas Affleck rose

Thomas Affleck, planted at the end of the Herb Bed last spring, has settled in nicely and has been in bloom all summer. The Fairy is another rose that blooms all summer dependably. I have two, one in each Lawn Bed.

Castor Bean

The Castor Bean was supposed to fill the whole circle in the middle of the lawn, but it has been slow going. Even though it has not reached a height of six or more feet as I had hoped, the color and size of the leaves still make a pretty dramatic impact.

Phlox and Cosmos

I think every perennial garden should have phlox.  This is a nameless pink phlox I got at the Bridge of Flowers last year and it is magnificent. This year I bought Blue Paradise at the Bridge of Flowers sale, and my own Miss Lingaard, a white phlox, which blooms in June, is still putting out some flowers.  I’ve already started thinking about what phlox I can add next year – and where I will find a place to put it.  This spot in the garden is very pink, which is unusual for an August garden. In addition to the pink phlox, there are two varieties of pink cosmos, pink echinacea, a few cheddar pinks, a pink achillea and the pink The Fairy rose.

'Fairy Tale Pink' daylily

Of course the daylilies are still blooming, nastursiums and Black Beauty lilies, and pots filled with petunias, Million Bells, geraniums, annual salvia, blooming mint, oregano, and circle garlic. All of a sudden I realize August is a really good month in my garden.

I thank Carol over at May Dreams Gardens for inspiring me, and so many others to keep this record for ourselves, and let us all see how seasons progress across the country.

Cherokee or Prairie Rose

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.

Bloom Day After Buffalo

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 – and Her Sisters

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.

Late Boys, Early Raspberries and Runaways

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

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.

Gardens Are More Than Plants

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

No Rain at the Annual Rose Viewing

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!

Rose Viewing Preview

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.