Category: Garden Dreams

Florentina Transplated

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Florentina, a climbing Kordes rose. (photo credit unknown)

Since moving to the beach earlier this year, I purchased and planted 2 potted roses to decorate my barren balcony. How hard it was for me to surrender my splendid rose garden back in Pennsylvania! Ironically, my $5 Walmart special rose, known as Miranda Lambert, a hybrid tea, has bloomed beautifully over and over again; yet, my $40 mail ordered climbing rose, known as Florentina, hasn’t bloomed once! Go figure!

After fussing over her and trying numerous tactics imploring her to produce a rose bud, I finally decided to seek permission from the HOA to transplant her to a garden bed here in my condominium community. Thankfully, the Board graciously agreed to accommodate my rose plea. On one warm day last week (it is reaching the 60’s and low 70’s here in Myrtle Beach), I relocated Florentina from her pot to a sunny garden bed. I read online that the more petals a rose has, the more light it will need to flourish.  Although the morning sunlight was sufficient for Miranda, Florentina, my climbing rose, evidently has higher standards. Get it.. climbing rose..higher standards? 😉20171124_124223[1]Florentina has numerous petals (more so than Miranda Lambert) so I am hopeful she was producing blind shoots (canes with no buds) due to inadequate sunlight on my balcony. In the few days since transitioning her to new soil, she has produced numerous fresh leaflets. In time, I hope to finally see her reach her full potential by producing blooms of scarlet red…

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Florentina should produce blooms of scarlet ruffles. (photo credit unknown)

In the meantime, I will enjoy the ongoing blooms Miranda Lambert continues to bless me with.

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Miranda Lambert, a hybrid tea rose, produces fragrant petals of pink.

Extra! Extra! Read All About It

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The first issue of the Ever-Blooming Roses magazine arrived in the mail today! I enjoyed pouring over the pictures and proof reading the articles (again!). Overall, I think it turned out pretty good for my first time creating a magazine. Have you ordered one for yourself or a gardening friend yet? You can do so here Ever-Blooming Roses Magazine! 

While you are at it, you may want to browse my books too.  After all, ’tis the season to give inspiring gardening books!  Here are their links…

Ever-Blooming Roses: Despite Life’s Prickles

Ever-Blooming Roses: During the Good, the Bad, and the Bugly

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Painting Roses

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Now that I only have two roses to tend to on my Myrtle Beach balcony (compared to my once sprawling rose garden I sold in Pennsylvania), I find myself longing to capture the thrill of more bountiful blooms. In the past, I would photograph my own roses constantly posing in my garden or travel to the nearby Hershey Gardens to film the pleasantry of petals, but considering the nearest rose garden is approximately 2 hours away, I ponder the possibilities of painting roses instead.  Thankfully, YouTube provides much guidance and inspiration as I embark on creating and collecting a unique rose garden…on paper!

Tyler Municipal Rose Garden

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As we sojourned along our way from the Carolina’s to the Houston area to assist survivors of Hurricane Harvey, my husband I and spent the night in Tyler, Texas so that I could enjoy Tyler Municipal Rose Garden’s 4, 000 rose bushes. The heat was palpable this particular September day; nevertheless, I still managed to photograph many remarkable roses while a mockingbird sang over me.

To learn more about this lovely rose garden, visit http://parksandrec.cityoftyler.org/ConventionTourismFacilities/RoseGardenCenter.aspx

A Rose For Your Balcony @ The Beach

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downloadAfter relocating to Myrtle Beach from Pennsylvania in recent weeks, today I was finally afforded the opportunity to choose a rose for my new balcony.  It certainly was difficult surrendering my gorgeous rose garden in Pennsylvania, but I suppose a balcony at the beach will make up for such a loss! 😉 Because my balcony faces North and only gets direct morning sunlight verses seemingly endless hours of afternoon and evening sun, I needed to research roses that can handle some shade in addition to a very hot and humid climate. As if that wasn’t difficult enough, I needed a disease-resistant rose since I am figuring roses in a humid climate will be prone to black spot among other diseases. And, just for kicks and giggles, it would be a big bonus if it were fragrant too.  After some perusing through print and online catalogs, I finally decided to order a David Austin English rose known as ‘The Alnwick Rose’. This pink beauty has 120 petals and met all my requirements! I am hopeful it will perform well and thrive in my new  container garden on a balcony at the beach!

Here are more pictures of The Alnwick Rose:

The Last Pruning

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As an unusually warm February day invited me to take off my jacket to embrace the glow of the sun, I found myself inspecting my wintered roses. Despite being in the hardiness zone 6b and it still being technically winter, my roses were bursting with eye buds as well as signs of eager growth. Generally speaking, it is best to wait till the forsythia begin blooming before doing any pruning – at least for this area. You never know in this wacky Pennsylvania weather when a large snow storm could strike. Last year, I had blooms and black spot in January, then over 20″ of snow dropped on just one February day.

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Spring 2016

Nevertheless, this particular warm February day, my heart warred as it wrestled with joyful signs of Spring, but also feelings of remorse. After having our home on the market a few months, we received an offer and settle in April. Although there will be much I miss about our home of 10 years, my rose garden will be sorely missed. We hope to do some traveling while settling somewhere in the South – most likely the Myrtle Beach area, which is hardiness zone 8a/b – a whole 2 zones warmer (that much I am looking forward to)! Alas, if we move there, we would purchase a condo with a balcony. Because if I have to give up my rose garden, I require at least a balcony. It wouldn’t surprise me if rose bushes mysteriously pop up around the condominium community too! 😉

While perusing my eager rose babies, I decided to clean up the garden and do some pruning. After all, they still are mine and I long to see a stunning Spring flush one last time before we have to say our goodbyes. Oh, how I hope the young lady who purchased this safe haven, this small glimpse of heaven, will come to cherish it as I have. I can’t even comprehend anyone ripping out rose bushes to settle for ordinary grass. Yet, I realize not everyone is “obsessed with roses” as my friends and family notate about me.

Upon completing my work in the garden, I dusted off the dirt that gathered around my lower limbs, discussed with my husband my accomplishments, and then cried.