Mello Yellow Monday

My newest contribution to Mellow Yellow Monday  . The beauty loved my Penstemon Husker's Red blooms as much as I do. He/she was flitting around from flower to flower no matter how close I got.  

Taking Cuttings

   This morning, I have been working a couple of hours taking cuttings of the Climbing Peace Rose, Madame Isaac Pereire Rose, New Dawn Rose, and the Unknown red Garden Rose. Also, I am trying cuttings of the Salvia May Night, and Salvia Snowhill for the first time. I already have more cuttings in the bed for the variegated Weigela, and Annabelle Hydrangea. Ocaasionally I list rooted plants on ebay, this helps to support my plant and seed habit,lol. A few of these roses will go to my son, and daughter-in-law if they root. If I get roots in a few weeks, I will be sure and post my method. In the past I have had only about 40% of the rose cuttings root. Roses are kind of hit and miss for me.

Rose "New Dawn"

  Do you have an area of your yard you want to hinder non wanted visitors Something that will snatch them when they least expect, and maybe draw blood? Something that never knows when to let go? A pitbull?.....No, just rose "New Dawn". Well actually its not quite that bad, but if this bugger gets a hold of you, you wont soon forget it when you have to draw near again. It is loaded with sharp thorns. It is an aggressive,tough climber.The only other draw back is that it only shares its glorious blooms one time a yr. from late May to early june. Never to appear again until next season.
    Mine was rooted by my father and given to me. He found it in the yard of an old home once owned by my sister's, husband's aunt. Then they resided they for a time. Mine has been in its present location in my raised bed for approximately 8 years as far as I can remember. It is growing on a 6 foot tall, round metal trellis, that will soon need to be replaced since it is rusting badly. The branches grow thru the sides and arch out gracefully. I know when my husband has been in the flower bed for some reason, and happens to walk by New Dawn. I think the neighbors 1/2 mile down the street also know it,lol.
    The elegant blooms are a soft, pearly pink. It can easily reach 20 feet if allowed to grow unchecked. It is hardy from zone 5-9.It is shade tolerant, resistant to mildew, blackspot, and rust.It blooms on old wood, so wait till it is finished blooming before you prune.In 1997 this rose was voted the most popular rose in the world. Pretty impressive !

Here the rose is at least 6 foot high, but the branches are at least that long to the sides, and arch out gracefully........awaiting naive passersby,lol

More Roses

  I have had this beautiful old rose for so long, I have no idea what its name is, but like all the other roses I have, this seems to be really putting on a show this year.

Update on Rose "Climbing Peace"

  When I went out front today, and seen how full and beautiful this rose is getting, I had to take more pics. Some of these roses are marked so beautifully with soft blushes of pink on the tips of the petals. Some of them are a beautiful soft yellow. Its beautiful.

     I just found some very interesting info on this rose. It seems it has a very rich history. Francis Meilland, a French horticulturist,  pollinated this variety on June 15, 1935. When it seemed the Nazi  invasion of France was about to begin, Meilland sent eyes of the plant to rose growers he knew in Turkey, Germany, US, and Italy to protect the new rose. In 1945, Meilland wrote to Field Marshall Alan Brooke, to thank him for his part in Liberating France. Meilland wanted to give Brooke's name to the new rose. Brooke politely declined the offer stating that his name would soon be forgotten, and a much better, more enduring name would be "Peace". That was the very day the Berlin wall fell, symbolizing the end of  the Second World War in Europe. Later,  the American Rose Society sent each of the 49 delegations at the inaugural meeting of The United Nations in San Francisco a single long stem Peace Rose with the following note:
     " We hope the "Peace" Rose will influence men's thoughts for everlasting world peace."

Dont Overlook The Vignette

     I just realized that I have been so obsessed with just the individual flowers, that I have truly been overlooking the vignettes they create. That is awful to admit. Especially when i love it when gardeners photograph the entire plant along with close-ups so i can see how the plant grows for them, not just the individual flower. Cameron of Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel Blog  is fantastic at observing and taking pictures of  how plants look grouped together.  How could I overlook this in my own garden. This realization finally hit me when I was taking some photo's of the newest blooms in my garden. I had taken what i thought was my last shot, and started to walk away, when I noticed how beautiful the vignette below looked. I love the look of the white lacy flowers such as Baby's Breath intermingled with roses. However I dont have any baby's Breath as yet. I never thought of  Penstemon Husker's Red being a "lacy" type flower. But as I walked by I noticed these beautiful whitish, pink blushed flowers mingling in with the pretty pink Peony. I am going to be looking at my garden in a whole new way.

May Potager Update

   Someone was asking me some questions about the potager we built this year, so I figured it was time for an update. I dont have much done inside as far as ornamental. I hope to work on that more as times goes by. I dont have a gate up...yet. We also dont have the paths in yet. Right now they are just grass that my husband takes a weedeater to. I think we are leaning more to fine gravel paths. I would have preffered brick, but I think my husband didnt have his heart set on the labor,lol. I guess I cant have everything I want,lol. Outside the front I have some Peach Passion Sunflowers planted (they are just starting thru the dirt), purple Coneflowers, Butterfly Weed, Zinnia's, Cosmos, Marigold's, and heavenly Blue Morning Glory on each side of the opening.
Enter in and take a peek. Sorry, there's nothing to eat yet except a few sprigs of lettuce. Those little tomatoes seem to be at a standstill. Almost mocking me, since they know I am anxiously waiting some fresh tomatoes. Step carefully past my ever present, watchdog.

This is the bed I have my bush beans growing. If memory serves me (and a few of you know it does NOT), I believe they are Blue lake.

Here are the Mr. Big Peas. They are doing very well. About 10" tall now and growing up the fence I put together.

This bed shows where The Climbing "Spitfire" Nasturtium from Renee's Seed is growing just to the left corner ( check out the link for the GROW project for more info), the Latham Red raspberry in the center, strawberries, and some lettuce to the front edge. The strawberries I started planting out about 1.5 feet or so out away from the raspberry, because according to the tag it is expected to get about 3 foot wide. Around the tomatoes in the bed to the right, where you can just see the corner of, I have tomatoes, marigold's and nasturtiums planted. Also on th edge are carrots, lettuce, and chives. I think there is also Basil starting up on the ends near the tomatoes.

And here is a close-up of the raspberry.

Sweet William

  This pretty little Sweet William survived major weeding by my daughter and I , and is popping its pretty head up. I forgot all about having it. Now I gotta sow some more.

Salvia Snow Hill

Nice combo of Salvia Snow Hill, Heuchera, and Hosta. I just planted this quart size salvia last fall. I am in love with its delicate white blooms already.

Foxglove

   A few years ago, I started out with a couple Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) in this bed. This year I have several new plants that are blooming for me. I think my first was Camelot Rose. They really brighten this bed. The only problem I have is that this is such a narrow bed. It is only about 24" deep at the deepest part. So I will probably have to transplant these this fall. This bed looks kind of unkempt now with the Bleeding Heart and Hosta's now getting huge.
   Dr. William Withering, born in England in 1741, was credited with the introduction of Digitalis into the practice of  medicine.
   Foxgloves have been a pretty much carefree plant for me. They also grow easily from seed. They are a biennial that grow 3-4 feet in height, and are hardy in zones 4-8. They tolerate sun to partial shade, but this bed they get early morning sun, then only indirect light, as the sun then comes over the front of the house. They form rosettes of fuzzy lance shaped leaves with the flower spike coming up from the center. The individual flowers are about 2 inches long and tube shaped, with an elongated bottom lip. Sometimes they have spotted throats. They are considered poisonous if ingested due to the cardiac drug digitalis in the leaves, flowers and seeds of the plant. So keep that in mind if you have kids or pets that may nibble on things. I have always had cats and dogs, and never had a problem. However, it can cause mild side effects to cardiac arrest and even death. I read that it is not recommended to grow near edible plants because the  pollen is said to have 80% digitalis. Never, ever try to self medicate with this plant.
   I have read it will rebloom if you cut the stem when its done blooming. I Havent tried this, but I may try it on a few plants this year.They prefer moist conditions, so they dont do well in dry areas. There is also a newer introduction called "Foxy". These new hybrids bloom the first year from seed, unlike their relatives which dont bloom until the second year. They actract hummingbirds, and bees, and are deer resistant. I have some of these that I winter sown this year.

Rosa "Climbing Peace"

      I never met a rose I didnt like, and this one is no exception. This rose, along with a couple of others is growing in very poor, clay soil, but does so like a champ. It is extremely vigorous, and hardy in my zone 6-6b garden. I love how the blooms form in a multitude of soft, satiny yellow, ivory, and pinks. My husband lops it back every now and then when it gets in his way. I just dont have the heart,lol. It climbs fairly quickly, and enjoys full sun. Hardy in zones 4-10, and I get to enjoy its blooms all summer long.  When fully open, the blooms are about 4-5". There is a slight fragrance, but not real noticeable to my nose. Most information I have read about this one, says it gets 8-10 feet. Where I have it, it easily goes 11-12 ft. I really need to go in and cut it back to about 8 feet.