@Marlorena and @Victoria Sponge, Burgundy Ice does look good with the alliums, but it’s got a way to go yet to hide their bare stalks. It is fairly spindly at the moment, so I’m hoping it will bush out more too, VS. Marlorena, your Wild Rover is so much darker than mine, not surprising really!
@Lizzie277 I really like the wider shots showing your roses in the context of your garden, so I’ve copied it 😀 Here are a few shots of my West Garden, so-called because it is on the west side of the house, the ‘hot’ border is mainly south-facing. Apart from the light suiting more vibrant/clashing colours (delete according to taste) the hot border is a fair distance from the dining terrace so stuff needs to stand out.
Hot Border long shots (ignore the attempt at home-made pergolas) followed by closer ones:
Plus Oranges and Lemons border next to dining terrace, mainly lemons at the moment, plus more metal bits hanging around:
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
...great pictures of roses everyone, thanks so much,.. love all the reds, oranges and yellows.. ..impressive @Nollie ..lots of interesting things going on there.. ..I especially like your new obelisks and that grassy meandering path disappearing between borders, so you cannot see what's around the corner.. I like that very much..
..upthread, love the Arthur Bell yellow... the r. glauca seedlings.. and CP Margarita.. I always hear such good things about this rose...
@Marlorena it’s so cold and a lot windier today on my balcony too.. especially on the 8th floor.. I’m worried about frost overnight because the temperature is dipping to 2/3C and with wind chill there’s very likely to be frost.. is it worth covering my roses with something to avoid the younger buds being damaged? But then I’m also worried that covers may damage the branches when it’s being blown in the wind..or off the plant altogether.
@celcius_kkw Adrian... no I wouldn't cover them... more damage is done that way than by the weather... roses are well able to withstand some frost and considerable gales ... should a bud or two be lost, you'll soon get more with the type of roses you have...
I have sometimes covered a small rose with an umbrella, mainly to protect from heavy rain spoiling the blooms.. but other than that, best left alone...
However, disclaimer, I have no experience of gardening on the 8th floor...
My roses seem to be a bit behind this year. They spent much of their time dig up and chucked in pots last year as we were moving. The roses are now in the ground and most have buds. This is the first rose to start and it’s one that was already here when we moved in. Think I could do with tying it up to the house.
@Mr. Vine Eye Thank you. I got 8 small lupin plugs free with my order from JParkers last year, they are "dwarf" type (not really, maybe more compact but nothing I would call dwarf), mixed colours. I was too kind-hearted to throw them away so I grew them on to see the colours. This year, I treat the best of them as summer bedding in gaps between young roses.
@Nollie Your garden is beautiful, I love the long shots.
It is surprisingly mild here, 13°C, moderate wind and light clouds. Colder temperatures expected tomorrow but sunny. 4°C forecasted for the night, all should be fine but I have to remember to take tomatoes back home from the greenhouse.
After taking advice here and from my brother, I did some rose maintenenace in the winter just gone and it has definitely paid dividends. Many of them really performing well this year.
1. Unidentified 1 This was overrun by the hydrangea to the right and the photinia to the left and sending out random flower shoots 2m in the air. I cut back the adjacent bushes and cut the rose to a lower framework and this year it has flower buds forming at the same level, a few have opened already:
2. Unidentified 2 I moved this last summer, mid summer and it flowered quite quickly. This year has grown vigorously and looks like it has a new lease of life. The stems are woody as anything and my brother thinks it is at least 15 years old.
3. David Austin "Strawberry Hill" I bought this last July (2 of them) to attach to trellis which I bought to flank our front door (which actually is by the street path / walkway). It has tripled in size and has the most amazing blooms with a wonderful fragrance. The flowers must be a good 4" wide but they do fade fairly quickly.
4. Rosa Rugosa (not sure of variety) We inherited these and for 10 years they grew unchecked, over the years, the flowers became lesser and they got taller and taller and I really saw it as hedging and not a flowering plant. This winter just gone I cut down to 4' (from about 7') and removed all the dead canes and the oldest thick/dark ones ... it thinned things out a hell of a lot - at least 50% of the "material" there was dead or half dead - but the reward this year seems to be much healthier looking plants, with richer foliage and a tonne of blooms forming. I hate the thorns on this as they don't just scratch, they seem to have mustard or something in them too, but when it flowers it's wonderful.
Posts
@Lizzie277 I really like the wider shots showing your roses in the context of your garden, so I’ve copied it 😀 Here are a few shots of my West Garden, so-called because it is on the west side of the house, the ‘hot’ border is mainly south-facing. Apart from the light suiting more vibrant/clashing colours (delete according to taste) the hot border is a fair distance from the dining terrace so stuff needs to stand out.
Hot Border long shots (ignore the attempt at home-made pergolas) followed by closer ones:
Plus Oranges and Lemons border next to dining terrace, mainly lemons at the moment, plus more metal bits hanging around:
..impressive @Nollie ..lots of interesting things going on there..
..I especially like your new obelisks and that grassy meandering path disappearing between borders, so you cannot see what's around the corner.. I like that very much..
..upthread, love the Arthur Bell yellow... the r. glauca seedlings.. and CP Margarita.. I always hear such good things about this rose...
..blowing a gale here today...
Adrian... no I wouldn't cover them... more damage is done that way than by the weather... roses are well able to withstand some frost and considerable gales ... should a bud or two be lost, you'll soon get more with the type of roses you have...
I have sometimes covered a small rose with an umbrella, mainly to protect from heavy rain spoiling the blooms.. but other than that, best left alone...
However, disclaimer, I have no experience of gardening on the 8th floor...
1. Unidentified 1
This was overrun by the hydrangea to the right and the photinia to the left and sending out random flower shoots 2m in the air. I cut back the adjacent bushes and cut the rose to a lower framework and this year it has flower buds forming at the same level, a few have opened already:
2. Unidentified 2
I moved this last summer, mid summer and it flowered quite quickly. This year has grown vigorously and looks like it has a new lease of life. The stems are woody as anything and my brother thinks it is at least 15 years old.
3. David Austin "Strawberry Hill"
I bought this last July (2 of them) to attach to trellis which I bought to flank our front door (which actually is by the street path / walkway). It has tripled in size and has the most amazing blooms with a wonderful fragrance. The flowers must be a good 4" wide but they do fade fairly quickly.
4. Rosa Rugosa (not sure of variety)
We inherited these and for 10 years they grew unchecked, over the years, the flowers became lesser and they got taller and taller and I really saw it as hedging and not a flowering plant. This winter just gone I cut down to 4' (from about 7') and removed all the dead canes and the oldest thick/dark ones ... it thinned things out a hell of a lot - at least 50% of the "material" there was dead or half dead - but the reward this year seems to be much healthier looking plants, with richer foliage and a tonne of blooms forming. I hate the thorns on this as they don't just scratch, they seem to have mustard or something in them too, but when it flowers it's wonderful.
I do have others but they aren't flowering yet.