The Last Roses of Summer

The roses have been giving me some final blooms
this week. Seems they wanted to give one last hurrah
before the cold weather comes in and takes them.

“ Almost Black” looks like pure velvet when it
is in bud stage.

Then unfurls to a deep red with dark highlights
around the petals.

The new “Iceberg” rose that was planted this spring
has been blooming better than my Knockout roses
this summer.

Since I love white blooms in the garden I have
been in love with this rose this summer.

“Easy Does It” is another new rose planted this
summer and it has been non stop in blooming also.

I am not a favorite of the colors of orange in flowers
but Easy Does It has so many shades to the petals
that it has really grown on me. She looks pretty with
a few water drops from a watering. Looks like she has
company on one of the petals.

“Crimson Bouquet” is my favorite of the red
roses. It blooms in waves throughout the summer
and it smells divine. She has a few chewed leaves
now.

I have had the Crimson Bouquet rose for years and
it is very hardy and has never failed me yet.

Gertrude Jekyll is also a new rose and I love how it
has produced waves of blooms this summer.

I love how Gertrude’s petals keep unfolding from the
tight buds into a full bloom of many petals.

Even the climbing rose “New Dawn” has graced me with
a few new blooms.

New Dawn usually only blooms once for me so
it is having a finale bloom to say goodbye to summer.

As I mentioned my Knockout roses have been a
very big disappointment this summer.

With exception to this Rainbow Knockout which has
bloomed very well.
The new Sunny Yellow knockout only bloomed twice
and the red and pink singles and double Knockouts
shrubs have just had a few blooms in all.

Along with the roses having one last blooming
event this lone Shasta Daisy came out to say
goodbye for the summer.

Today is also “Fertilizer Friday” at Tootsie’s
so join us in Flaunting the last Flowers of
this summer.
Fall is really here now although we have had days in
the nineties this week but a big change is on the
agenda tonight. We so need the rain that I am hoping
this cold front will bring in.

The Last Rose of Summer

'Tis the last rose of summer, left blooming all alone
All her lovely companions are faded and gone.
No flower of her kindred, no rose bud is nigh
To reflect back her blushes and give sigh for sigh.
I'll not leave thee, thou lone one! to pine on the stem
Since the lovely are sleeping, go sleep thou with them
'Thus kindly I scatter thy leaves o'er the bed
Where thy mates of the garden lie scentless and dead.

 ~Thomas Moore~

Happy Gardening Everyone !

Lona

Sunday Blooms Remembered

Some Sunday blooms for a rainy day.
There is a promise of a beautiful week ahead
for gardening and time outdoors soaking up
some sunlight and warmer temperatures.




How far you go in life depends on your being tender with
the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with
the striving, and tolerant of the weak and strong.
Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.
~ George Washington Carver ~












































Happy Gardening Everyone!

To All Of The Flowers I've Known And Lost

Just call me Mrs. Brown Thumb.
What is that old song that says
"To all of the Women I've Known and Lost" ?
Well after going through my flower picture files and

notes this is and apology to all of the flowers that

I have known and lost.
Even with all the best intentions and with all of the
knowledge I possessed at a given time in some poor
plants life, it seems that I have lost quite a few over
the years.

How you might ask does one kill a hardy, tough,
grow anywhere perennial like Hollyhocks?
Well moving them three times in one summer
and then forgetting to water them just might be a clue.
Planting them in the shade behind the garage does not
seem to help them grow to great heights and form
beautiful blooms.
They were moved once again last Fall to new sunny
location. Will this red one be amongst the six replanted?
Who knows but one can always hope.
Then let us not mention the six 'Queeny Purple'
dwarf hollyhocks that were started from seed.
They grew wonderfully all summer in the garden
but every one of them failed to come back last summer.






Now this little anemone just disappeared into
thin air. I think a garden fairy loved it so much that
it came one night to borrow it and forgot to bring it
back.
"That is my excuse and I am sticking to it."




Now this hardy Geranium I remember well
and it took a lot of work to get rid of this lovely.

There has been many perennials that have been
lost and I will not bore you with them all.
Thank your lucky stars that I do not have pictures
of them either. The carnage is too horrific for
innocent gardeners to view.





This dear 'Ruutel' Clematis only lived to
the tender age of two summers.
And least we forget two 'Autumn Joy' clematis
have met there demise by my hand.





I will take full credit for killing this Trumpet vine.
After years of growth and suckers coming up 30
yards away, not to mention the drainage lines it clogged,
I tried and tried for five years to kill it and its little suckers.


But it seems I am more famous with my brown thumb
by the name of ' The Killer of Roses".





'Queen Elizabeth' did not like her visit to my
garden.





'Irish Gold' literally turn red with anger.
Well it could have actually been it froze back
last winter to the graft and turned red.





'Senior Prom' did not stay for the final waltz.
And an 'Autumn Rose' did not stay to the following
Spring let alone the next Autumn.





Alas 'Pink Beauty Rose' was a beauty.
Maybe it is that the color of pink in roses that
just hate me. I do see a color theme here in the roses.
No excuses , I just managed to kill them all somehow.





How in the world does someone kill a knockout rose?
Again you just move it three times in one summer and
forget to water. Simple really.




Two Mimosa trees have gone to early deaths.
One do to the mess it left.
Note to gardeners: do not plant them in garden
beds or near roofs and sidewalks. They are beautiful
but messy. Another one due to a new septic system had to
meet its Waterloo.
No they are not invasive in my yard
and two others are planted FAR, FAR away from the house.





Caladium's bulbs just will not over winter in my
basement. Maybe they are too stuck up to stay
among the cobwebs and dry air.





Now it looks as though 'Capistrano' Rhododendron
may be bidding me a fond ado after this winter.
She has slowly been disassociating her self from
me the last two years and this winter her frail limbs
are broken from the snow and wind.
Losing her will be so sad.





The number of flowers I have lost over the years
are too many to even write them here.
As gardeners we know you win some
and you sadly lose some.
" Oh come on now, don't you all stand there
all puffed up and tell me you never lost a plant ". LOL!

Good Luck and Happy Gardening Everyone!

Everything Is Coming Up Roses

" Ebb Tide'


I just had to do a posting on Roses for the New
Year. It is in the low 20's with a wind chill reading
that I do not even want to think about.
And snow upon the ground once more so
all I want to think about are flowers and Spring. LOL!

So instead of groaning about the weather I decided
to dig into the ole flower vault and bring out some
of the roses I am missing so much right now and
do a posting on 'coming up roses'.





'Scentimental' reminds me of peppermint candy or
candy canes but the naming it Scentimental is a
little deceiving because it has such a light
fragrance.





' Double Delight' is bound to perk up anyone.





As 'Double Delight's' blooms age the petals
take on a neon pink tinge all over, which I for one
like less than when it first opens.
It has a mild fragrance.






'New Dawn' loves to climb all over my old garden
building but her blooms fall away fast and it usually
only blooms for me in a massive burst in June and
just a few blooms in August.
It has a very mild fragrance.





'New Blaze Improved ' is a climber that grows over a trellis
that helps hide an air conditioner. The new
improved variety is still a disappointment to
me because it only blooms once for me so I am
looking for a replacement that will bloom more
than once. If anyone has any great climbing
rose selections for zone 5 please let me know.
New Blaze will be demoted to the garden shed
with New Dawn.
Maybe I should stay away from any
roses with the word new or improved in the name.





'Lavender Simplicity' rose has been moved a few
times and has taken it in stride but other than being
proven tough by my handling and Ohio's cold winter's
the poor thing hasn't had much of a chance to just set
and grow so I will not pass judgment on it just yet.

'Almost Black' is new and although a very deep
red it is not even almost black. It was moved twice
in its first season after my evaluation of the flower
beds in the fall and the moving of a lot of flowers so
they would compliment each other and undo the
random sticking in of plants that were bought on a
whim.
The final decision was made to create a rose
garden bed and add in some different colors of roses
especially after the Ebb Tide rose took over the side
of the garage and the Irish Yellow roses nearby decided
to put on red blooms last summer, which was a
great unwanted surprise.
So the bed beside the garage will become a rose
garden bed next Spring. I will use all of those new
gardening catalogs to find some roses for it this
winter and envision a lovely rose garden.

I am looking for a white rose, another yellow one
and even some orange or peach ones to add to the
rose garden. The new ' Cinco de mayo ' Floribunda
rose looks like a possible addition.





The Knockout roses have become some of my
favorite roses. They have no fragrance to speak of
but they give me blooms all summer and into fall
until a freeze claims them, so any rose that will give
me continuous bloom is a winner to me and I can look
to other flowers like the phlox's to give
me some fragrance in the garden.





' Rainbow ' knockout has flowers ranging from
color shades of pink into yellow and even a touch
of orange at stages in the blooming.
It looked just a wonderful in September as it did
in June.






Knockout Red 'Rosa Radrazz'

Knockout pink 'Rosa Radcon'

A double bloom pink Knockout
A new yellow knockout will be one of the ones
added to the rose garden next spring.

The last rose is one that I have had for many years
and has put up with many moves, ice storms and freezes.
The ' Crimson Bouquet' a Grandiflora rose puts
on a big show of beautiful shaped blooms in June
and also in September with a few blooms in between.
It has a very strong fragrance and is just perfect for

those of you who like to dry rose blooms for potpourri.




This has been a wonderful year and I have made
many friends on Blotanical and on gardening blogs.
I would like to thank you all for making my year a
much better one. Thank you for your friendship
and sharing your gardens and your generous advice
throughout the year. If I needed an answer to a
gardening question or a problem I knew I could count
on your help to provide me with the answers.
Thank you for sharing your frienship, pictures and
your seeds.
My wish to you all is a New Year filled with love,
good health, family, friends, and many flowers.
I wish a New Year for you filled with all that your
heart desires.
I am looking forward to a New Year with
you and meeting even more wonderful friends.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL
AND HAPPY GARDENING IN A NEW YEAR !

And by the way another reason for my posting
about 'Coming Up Roses'
Ohio State is in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on
New Year's day so............

GO BUCKS !!!!