Tag: roses

March in two gardens for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

Post author By Barbara
Post date March 15, 2012
24 Comments on March in two gardens for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

The simmering heat of Summer should be behind us on this our 13th combined post for March’s Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day. Instead we are battling temperatures in the high 30’s this week – 39° today again and not even a hint of a breeze! We are both looking for that zing again that has us babbling on about our gardens. The heat has taken its toll, but with the resilience we have seen, it is all about lessons learnt and knowledge gained.

Here’s whats blooming in Christine’s Garden in March 2012

Its supposed to be Autumn in Cape Town … but today was another of those days that was so hot it was impossible to do much other than wish for cooler weather! I worry about some of the plants when it gets this hot. Some absolutely love the heat (the thatching reed seems to grow inches every day) whilst others hang their pretty heads from heat exhaustion. I’m itching to get back into the garden so I hope that cooler weather is on its way. Here is what is flowering in my garden right now …

[one_half]Lots of Gaura in bloom now[/one_half]

[one_half_last]The new, cute daisies I planted[/one_half_last]

[one_half]The first Japanese Anemone opened[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Calibrachoa going strong[/one_half_last]

[one_half]The lovely blue Hydrangea[/one_half]

[one_half_last]And the bright pink one[/one_half_last]

[one_half]My favourite – the Mexican Petunia[/one_half]

[one_half_last]And the regular Petunia[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Patio rose in red …[/one_half]

[one_half_last]and one in pink[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Abutilon is still in bloom[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Hibiscus attracts the birds[/one_half_last]

[one_half]I like this very blue Lobelia[/one_half]

[one_half_last]My roses are doing great[/one_half_last]

[one_half]I’m trying something new …[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Dahlias are flowering[/one_half_last]

[one_half]A promise of things to come[/one_half]

[one_half_last]I really love these [/one_half_last]

[one_half]More Icebergs showing off[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Heliotropium ends the show[/one_half_last]

That’s all from me … let’s see what’s flowering in Barbie’s Garden!

Here’s what’s blooming in Barbie’s garden in March 2012

It might not be my best show, but at least there is still a bit of colour. However, the same flowers are on show, so this is my cue to start planning my garden and be a bit more adventurous with creepers and ground covers and salvias and flowering herbs and fruit trees with beautiful blossoms. Most of my herbs are going to flower so….A fresh new face is needed!!

[one_half]Tansy – a great insect repellant[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Sweet Basil gone to flower[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Spearmint in flower[/one_half]

[one_half_last]The last of the sunflowers[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Chives in flower[/one_half]

[one_half_last]The last of the Cosmos[/one_half_last]

[one_half]The Alyssum in the grass patch looking nice[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Calibrachoa has lost its Vooma[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Still love my Salvia Hot Lips![/one_half]

[one_half_last]The Awakening of the pink Guara[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Cleome never stops flowering[/one_half]

[one_half_last]My Coral Nymph salvia survived the heat[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Pineapple sage flowering[/one_half]

[one_half_last]A small self-seeded borage plant in bloom[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Roses are not at their best, I’m afraid[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Comfrey-a great plant and a delicate bloom[/one_half_last]

About Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

Join Carol and friends over at May Dreams Gardens for March Garden Bloggers Bloom Day to see what other gardeners around the world have blooming in their gardens today. And if you haven’t joined yet and have some blooms you’d like to show off, please join in the fun of showcasing your blooms! We’d love to see what YOU have blooming in YOUR garden right now!

Thank you for joining us!

[note_box]PS: Please join us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter – we’ll be so happy if you do![/note_box]

Happy Gardening!
xxx

Tags flowers, garden bloggers bloom day, roses

Christine's garden Gardening

A New Rose

What would you say about a rose that is always in bloom, always the perfect colour red, is never plagued by bugs or beetles and needs zero water? If that sounds good, how about it has no thorns, needs no fertiliser, thrives in full sun or full shade and will never die? It doesn’t get black spot – or any other spot for that matter and it is immune to all diseases.

Need a spot of colour in a drab area? Simple, just move the rose for instant colour. Want the blooms in a bunch or spread out? Rosa hybrid “Beaded” will happily oblige! You could even bring it indoors and place it in the vase and return it to the garden when you please.

But if that all sounds too good to be true, that’s because it is …

These cute hand-beaded roses were loving created by rural women with no other form of income. Add a charming salesman and the fact that I’m a sucker for helping people, so it is that I introduced this new rose to my garden in a bed where we wait for plants to fill in.

They are pretty, I think. Hand beaded with care, I liked the roses the most. Other “flowers” on offer were Arum Lilies, Agapanthus, Strelizias, Sun flowers … most of which were too gaudy for my taste.

And as is typical of road-side sellers I was offered the tortoise at a “very special price” if I bought all the roses. *Sigh*, I am a salesman’s dream 🙂

Happy Gardening
xxx

Tags non-garden plant things, non-plant garden things, roses

30 Day Challenge Barbie's garden Gardening

The 30 Day Challenge – Day 3

Post author By Barbara
Post date November 9, 2011
4 Comments on The 30 Day Challenge – Day 3

Today, I am grateful for colour.

There are times I am blown away by the choice of colours that nature combines. Who would have put purple and orange together or green and yellow? But the beauty of mother nature is that she has not learned it from a book or was told by the Arts teacher at school what colours go together and which do not! I have also broken out of my structured way of thinking and added colour everywhere in my home – my walls are painted red and green and blue and orange!! So THANK YOU for colour – it brings life and love!!

This photo was taken at Duncan’s Roses, Elgin – The Open Gardens Day

About the 30 Day Challenge

My Two Gardens gardening buddy, Christine, and Cat of The Whimsical Gardener, has invited Garden Bloggers the world over to join in the 30 day challenge of posting a photograph and sentiment of that which you are thankful for – every day for 30 days. We all have something to be thankful for. See Christine’s and my posts filed under “30 Day Challenge“.

Tags 30 day challenge, Duncan's Roses, roses

Christine's garden Fertiliser Gardening Home page features Perenniels

The Rookie Rose Grower

My first roses which I planted were three Iceberg standard roses. I blogged about them when they first started blooming here and of course when they were first planted in March this year here. They’ve produced lovely blooms throughout the year but I’ve never been overly impressed with the actual plants since day one. They were not particularly good looking specimens, but once they were in the garden they were mine and I resolved to care for them and make it work.

Here is how the newly planted roses looked in March 2011 (not great, huh?)

According to all the South African literature on roses, the last week in July is the final date for hard pruning roses. I educated myself as best I could, reading books, magazine articles, blogs and I even watched a few videos on how best to prune roses. Suitably intimidated, I nonetheless did the big chop, as I was told to at the end of July. They looked pretty pathetic after the pruning – three sticks with a few twigs – and I was very apprehensive about my “prune job”, to say the least.

So how did I do?

Here is how they look right now, October 2011:

There are plenty of buds on the roses, lots of growth and, if I say so myself, they look about one hundred times better than the plants I was sold back in March (see first photo above), so I’m quite happy. I’ve subsequently done some finger pruning (which I read about) and removed some extra buds, so I’m hoping over the next few weeks my roses will continue to flourish.

[one_half]First bloom of the season[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Love how pure the white looks[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Lots of new buds[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Beautiful Iceberg rose[/one_half_last]

[one_third]All the new growth[/one_third]

[one_third]From 5 twigs to this[/one_third]

[one_third_last]I think its looking good[/one_third_last]

[one_half]Another beauty about to unfurl[/one_half]

[one_half_last]I like them best at this stage[/one_half_last]

Today I’ve mulched, fed, finger pruned and watered and I’m hoping for good growth and lots more blooms over the next few months. I’m even contemplating buying a few new rose bushes – pink this time, and not standards.

How are your roses doing?
xxx

Tags iceberg roses, roses

Barbie's garden Design Do it yourself Gardening Home page features Miscellaneous Perenniels

Before and After

I have been watching the growth of my garden and, with the gentle prodding from our friends, I had to do this post to showcase the tremendous change that happened in my small part of the world in the short 6 months since I started my whirlwind, one-woman landscaping exploit. I will do each part separate: I have divided the garden into front, veggie patch (along the side), the fruit tree area (back east section) and the back garden (the entertainment area).

The Front Garden

BEFORE:

Remember the front area with the huge lavender bushes that took over the whole bed? They also hid the dry river bed that I so lovingly created…for no one to see! The grass was dry and patchy. I loved my garden like this….. funny how we grow as gardeners! These pictures were taken right in the beginning of our blog in January.

[one_half]Remember my huge lavender bushes?[/one_half]

[one_half_last]My pride and joy, but outgrew their place[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Already starting to look tatty and woody[/one_half]

[one_half_last]The protea bush and the patchy lawn[/one_half_last]

THE ACTION:

The action starts in earnest round about April – it all began with the Leopard Trees then the redesigning begins……

[one_half]The hard work starts ….[/one_half]

[one_half_last]The lavenders are a memory now[/one_half_last]

[one_half]My rose patch at the end of June[/one_half]

[one_half_last]The new grass patch in June this year[/one_half_last]

AFTER:

These photos were taken this week, so this is how my garden is looking like NOW!

[one_half]Its all looking so green and healthy[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Tall corn flowers are temporary as gap filler[/one_half_last]

[one_half]My rose patch is thick and bursting with health![/one_half]

[one_half_last]Can’t wait for the roses to bloom[/one_half_last]

[one_half]I love how lush and full it all is![/one_half]

[one_half_last]The fuchsia is also happy and well mulched![/one_half_last]

I am really pleased that all the love and care you give to your garden, it gives it right back! The mulching and feeding and watering. It is all so rewarding.

Wait until you see the before and after photos of the back garden – you will not believe it is the same garden! Well, I’ll leave that for tomorrow’s post!

Unfortunately, my roses are still shy, so I will have to wait some more before I do a rose post!

Happy gardening to you all xxx

Let’s all send our love to Christine who misses her home and animals and her garden and her gardening buddies!! Send her home safe on angels wings xxx

Tags Design, flowers, garden, gardening, grasses, mulch, plants, roses, trees

Barbie's garden Gardening Home page features Perenniels

How are my roses?

Thank you to Diana from Elephants Eye for reminding me to take lots of photos of my roses!!! I am waiting for them to give me a splendid display! I should be able to post it tomorrow too! I have been nipping some the new shoots to encourage growth and using my home-made bug spray on the aphids who think they can stay …..!

Just read a really nice article on Roses in one of my favourite gardening mags:

Rose grooming and growing

Roses are queen of the October garden
They need at least 6 hours of sunshine a day
Roses can flower up to 10 months in a year
They need 10 litres of water a week
Fertilize monthly during summer
August to April use organic pesticides for thrips, red spider mite, aphids and beetles
Dead head regularly to encourage new floweing
Winter prune at the end of July (this is only for our Southern Hemisphere gardening friends)
Groom in January!

Happy Gardening xxxx

PS: I miss Christine too xx

Tags aphids, blooms, flowers, garden, gardening, roses

Barbie's garden Gardening Home page features Perenniels

Rose pruning

After that terrible storm, it was such a pleasure to see the sun rays out again. I hurried into the garden – with my Barbie Gum Boots and a mug of coffee – and took note of what needed my urgent attention over the weekend. I just recovered from a bout of flu, so I had to select my garden task wisely! So my important task was to prune the rose bushes. We are now in mid-winter so it is time! I usually ask the plants for forgiveness before I start cutting anything off them. So with pruning secateurs I started removing all those thorny branches. I always knew I had to prune them back hard, but never had any formal training nor the confidence. I did, however, follow the instructions from the DVD series from The Gardener Magazine and I felt more confident and knowledgeable this time. Ludwig, from Ludwig’s Roses, was the guest speaker on the DVD series and a huge big AHA moment came to me when I saw how he pruned the roses – from the light prune to a hard prune. This time I wanted to prune – HARD!

This is where the decision-making dilemma starts. The BIG question is – What branches are superfluous?

1. Hard pruning means we decide that about 75% of the upper branches are superfluous from a 2m tall rose bush, and we select 3 to 4 basal stems. cut them down to 50cm and remove all the other inside growth.
2. Medium hard pruning entails removal 50% superfluous wood by selecting 4 to 5 basal stems or branches cutting them down to about 70 cm and leaving some of shortened side stems.
3. With light pruning one removes about 30% of the wood.

[one_half]Roses needing a haircut

[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Saved the last few roses

[/one_half_last]

[one_half]First stage with excess cut off

[/one_half]

[one_half_last]After the big cut!

[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Final cut – not much left!

[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Now I can see my Fuchsia bush

[/one_half_last]

I believe I have succeeded in doing this job right! Let’s see how the roses fare! Now I can enjoy my Fuchsias this winter – they are looking really beautiful and with the extra light, I hope they will flourish!

Hope you have a happy gardening week xxx

Tags hard pruning, pruning, rose pruning, roses

Barbie's garden Bugs & Pests Gardening Home page features Miscellaneous Perenniels

Autumn showers

I took myself into the garden this morning to bring cheer and colour into the day. It is gloomy when it rains and I guess my spirit tends to drop on cloudy days – so I’m definitely not a winter person. But, I somehow love the rain and how the garden looks when its wet and drippy! Even the little bugs in the garden are somehow enjoying the autumn showers. I wanted to share my wet garden with you!

[one_half]Sprinkled roses[/one_half]

[one_half_last]A thirsty fly[/one_half_last]

[one_half]Droopy wormwood[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Aphids finding shelter[/one_half_last]

Enjoy your wet wonderland!

Tags aphids, autumn showers, fly, roses, Wormwood

Barbie's garden Christine's garden Gardening Gardening Courses Products

Back to School

Back to School – we sign up for Gardening Courses: Both Barbie and I are very excited – we have been offered an opportunity to do distance learning gardening courses via www.My-Garden-School.com. MyGardenSchool is a unique online horticultural classroom offering various gardening courses taught by some of the world’s most acclaimed authors. “MyGardenSchool provides you with your very own online horticultural classroom to help you create your dream garden. Whether you want to grow organic vegetables, create enviable flower borders, learn about flower photography or simply give a good home to egg laying chickens, you will have personal contact with some of the world’s top tutors, receiving inspirational lessons, brought into your home digitally”.

We were very excited to receive this offer and after “sleeping on it” have both decided to accept, as we are keen to learn and think this will be a wonderful opportunity for us. After battling a bit to choose which course I want to do – for me it was a choice between “Understanding Garden Roses by David Austin” (Tutor is Michael Marriot) and “Designing with Plants” (Tutor is Caroline Tilston), but after watching the intro video on the website I’ve finally decided on doing the course on Designing with Plants. Barbie is signed up to do the Recycling in the Garden course (Tutor is Angela Youngman).

The next courses start on 28 May and once we start will be blogging about the experience. The courses comprise 4 weekly lectures via video tutorial and in written form. We will be getting set assignments which we will need to upload to MyGardenSchool where they are then marked by the tutors. According the the site; Using the latest multi-media technology, the courses comprise high quality videos and visuals as well as expert and interesting content.

I think it’s going to be a lot of fun and … well you know we have a lot to learn, so can only be beneficial to us.

[one_half]The Home Page[/one_half]

[one_half_last]The Courses Page[/one_half_last]

If you can’t wait to see what we have to say about the courses and feel like joining in, visit their website at My Garden School or to see courses available go to Courses available from My Garden School. I know there are at least two other courses I will consider doing after I do this first one if I am happy with the way this first one goes. I’d really love to learn more about Garden Roses and the courses Flower Photography and Getting to Grips with Climbers also interest me.

Happy Gardening
xxx

Tags distance learning, gardening, gardening courses, My Garden School, roses

Annuals Barbie's garden Christine's garden Gardening Home page features Reviews

Best roses in town!

Hi Chris, I loved the post you did on the trip we did to Fairholme Nursery, in Elgin. I took so many photographs that day, it took me the best part of the week to download them all, colour correct, crop and file them! Here are the photos of trip we did to Duncan’s Roses – the most beautiful roses I have seen for sale! It is worth the trip out of town to just browse around these well-kept and beautifully maintained roses. You can definitely feel the love here and the care given to each and every rose bush.

Duncan’s Roses are well-known in the area and I can see that with the quality of plants and the love that goes into them. They even have ducks and chickens running around in the back garden. Very inspiring, indeed!

If you are in the Western Cape, do take a trip to Elgin, and visit this beautiful oasis!

Duncan’s Roses, PO Box 52, Grabouw 7160

Tel: 021 848 9949

e-mail info@duncansroses.co.za

[one_half][/one_half]