Into the Rose Garden

It's that time of year again. The Rose Garden is in full bloom. Just have a look at some of these beauties.

There was no pruning done this year before the rose bushes started to get going. So the bushes were allowed to grow at their whim and put out a wonderful display. Although this created a mess of branches and runners going every-which-way, it made the garden more natural and honestly, just a lovely riot of untamed colour. 

The bushes will be cut back once they have finished their initial blooming, which will most likely cause them to put forth another growth spurt and more blooms later in the summer. Which is not a bad thing. 
 

First up is our Peace Rose. It's a gorgeous salmon or peach colour that becomes more yellow in the center as it opens up. 

This one starts out dark and then fades to a more delicate pink as it fully opens. It has the most wonderful scent as well.

This is one of the yearly favourites, called "Rio Samba". It has been in the garden for a number of years and each year it puts forth a beautiful display. It doesn't have much of a scent, but it makes up for it in striking patterns and strong stems. And large thorns.

Here is the same "Rio Samba" once it has fully opened. 

This beautifully full rose is a David Austin variety. David Austin roses are known for their fullness, or "double rose" as they often have twice the petal count as other rose types. 

Another David Austin rose; this time in peach (and it the rain). 

This pink stipes-and-speckles rose has the sweetest, almost innocent scent. It has been in the garden for as long as I can remember (which is a fairly long time). We have dubbed it the Candy Cane rose because of it's stripes. It blooms twice; once in late May and then again towards the end of August. It has clusters of flowers that don't last as long as the other roses in the garden, but it makes up for in the number of blooms it puts forth. It's probably one of my favourites in the garden. 

This dark rose is a new addition to the Rose Garden this year. I took Dad to the garden center to pick out a Father's Day gift. He saw this and immediately put it in our shopping cart. It's called "Purple Tiger". It took to it's new home just fine and put out a beautiful display of blooms despite being replanted in mid-June.

This is just a small sample of the roses in bloom this year in the Rose Garden. The weather has been so warm the past week that most of time I am just focusing on staying cool and keeping hydrated. Hope you enjoyed this short trip into the Rose Garden.

Apartment Green Space

One of the drawbacks to living in an apartment is a reduced amount of garden space. Enter GreenWallNL and these unique and interesting living wall sculptures.

Based on the larger Vertical Garden designs by Patrick Blanc that are appearing around the world, the Netherlands based designer built her own small scale version in her living room and began experimenting with different plant types, water levels and required lighting. After much positive feedback from friends and family as well as being featured on HGTV, she decided to create DIY kits for people to build their own at home.

The wooden black frame comes ready to be planted. Instructions are included with the kit. Choose you own plants from your local garden store (suggested plants include ferns, ivy, and asparagus . . . but it's up to you - as long as the roots don't grow too deep). The frame is easy to water from the backside; just remove the frame from the wall and add a tiny bit of water when needed. The bottom of the frame is made watertight, but to be safe keep the frame down from the wall for half an hour to ensure no water spills.

These would look great hung in a series of three or four, staggered and in various sizes. Or, switch them around from time to time to keep it interesting. Sort of an interactive living art work sculpture.

. . .How Does Your Garden Grow?

Yesterday I spent the morning working on my planter boxes. They were looking a little bare; it seems my plants are not filling in the spaces as I hoped they would. So the quick fix? Buy more plants of course! I always buy perennials because I don't see the point of buying the same plant again year after year. Which is why I don't plant marigolds or petunias or geraniums (sorry Dad).

I was looking for some flowering plants that would spread out and provide good ground

Garden Tools Letter Press Notes by paperlovelypress coverage instead of growing upwards. I decided on some Blue Star Creeper and some Creeping Speedwell, both of which sound like they will fit the job. I also selected some blue and white Lithodora, pink Saxifraga, Dwarf Bellflower and Blue Eyed Grass. I bought two purple lavender plants, but I don't think they will flower until next year.

Most of these plants will have/should have blue or pale purple flowers so the color palette will be unified. I say 'should have' because the tulips I planted last fall that were supposed to be pink came up orange. Soil content? Mislabelling? not sure.

Today I was visiting one of my favourite websites Etsy.com and saw that the front page had a lovely collection of gardening themed items. I've included a few with links for you to enjoy as well.

Happy Gardening

Engraved Stone Garden Markers for Herbs by sjengraving

Puddin'