OH and I have had our second doses of vaccine now, went well. Slightly sore arm this morning that’s all.
I’ve done some weeding and general tidying up in the garden. The clover on the lawn was starting to go over so I’ve finally given that a cut to neaten it up a bit. The bees are very busy at the moment with the drumstick alliums, buddleia, verbena and lavender anyway.
Malvern Hills is starting to flower again on the new growth, I did some more pruning of the flowered laterals and tying in yesterday.
Covered in Clematis lower down - here’s Justa and Etoile Violette
Can see here I’ve cut back the laterals on Ghislaine de Feligonde, apart from the very top! I could do with one of those long reach grabby pruners - has anyone got one? I’ve pruned Rhapsody in Blue too.
Lady Emma visible at the front, long sideways flowering can tied to bamboo.
The echinacea has come back strongly
Penstemon Firebird with Lady of Shalott visible in the background.
Aster Monch flowering now
The seemingly unstoppable rudbeckia seedlings - remember how I had them absolutely everywhere last year? Even covering the area they were growing with paving has stopped them resurfacing all over again! 😄 I might leave a few.
Necessarily short visit @Marlorena due to OH’s work commitments, but short stays are allowed. Did my obligatory day two test very carefully, then managed to drop it on the floor as I was inserting the swab into the test tube!!
Miracle of miracles, we actually had some rain yesterday evening - not enough to make a difference, everything still brown and dusty, but the rain gods must have been half listening 😆
Francis Dubreuil:
Julia Child:
Palais Biron:
Golden Beauty (JC retains her colour better):
Eufemia, totally lost colour and oddly, has more petals in drought than before:
Forever Royal, picked up a bit after a chop to the ground and now in constant shade:
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
Boscobel continues to amaze, you wouldn't think it was in it's first year. It's been an absolute magnet for sawfly though for some reason. My other roses hardly touched which is bizarre. At least they have been easier to control this way. As I uploaded the picture, I just spotted another one or two which I had missed.
Whenever I find a vertical tear in the tender new stems of roses, I cut them off and that is the only way I've found to avoid these sawfly caterpillars. I do not spray mine. There must be an easier way though; if anyone knows, please share.
Oxford. The City of Dreaming Spires.
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils (roses). Taking a bit of liberty with Wordsworth
I have sparrows nesting and I think they help a lot with the sawfly. I do some night hunts and cut off worst affected leaves - that's where I usually find the grubs.
@Nollie Some of my roses also lost colour. Not going lighter but going almost white or white around the edges. I've been thinking that I was too harsh, criticizing 'Emily Bronte' in DA gardens for this.
'Purple Lodge'/'Palais Biron' 'Purple Skyliner' - some blooms completely white, the rest mauve
It looks jungly here today. And feels too, it's cloudy and very humid. 'La Belle Rouge' noID HT 'Chippendale' 'Starlet Melina' 'Jacqueline Humery' Neighbour's mini right next to my drive border. I like it a lot. @Marlorena do you think it could be 'The Fairy' or is it something more modern? I thought it is too small for 'The Fairy' but it looks like it a lot and it is in its 2nd year only. Or maybe some descendant of 'The Fairy'?
I haven't seen any sawfly larvae this year, or any leaf rolling caterpillars although that's not to say there haven't been any. Ness seems to be under thrip attack (that's what it looks like to me) but never mind.
I've cut back three of my once flowerers, Tuscany, just for height control, William Lobb, to try and promote thicker low growth and Celestial which had collapsed during the rain. I took out several old low branches and doing this made the rest spring off the ground. Not sure if it looks any good but at least it is mostly upright rather than a pile of sweaty branches. It's a healthy rose so I don't think it would be fussed but I had other plants under the branch heap.
@Tack, my Madames IP and AC have mildew still, despite being constantly moist at the roots and in shade, other roses that suffered from it earlier recovered.
I’m not doing any wider shots just now as the garden looks rubbish with all the perennials going over before they got going or dying off in the drought, it feels like the end of the season! Most roses surviving OK with regular water apart from the usually paler, smaller, lesser-petalled blooms and some frying.
Here is a photo of Eufemia to show direct comparison. The first is in May and the following is now. The now blooms are half previous size and it looks like a totally different rose:
Here is Guy Savoy, which copes well in heat, maintains the same size blooms and doesn’t lose colour, if anything the blooms are a deeper colour than before:
@edhelka - your La Belle Rouge is holding colour really well for a red, impressive. I also like the way Purple Lodge/Palais Biron holds a nice shape and petal arrangement even if the colour does change in heat.
Oh and did you see my The Fairy contender earlier, bottom of P.253? I wasn’t sure either, seemed too strongly upright and some of the blooms were a fairly warm coral pink, but neither me or M could think of what else it could have been. I think your neighbour’s looks more typical of hmf photos, but perhaps there is a whole host of fairy offspring out there! 🧚♀️ 🧚♂️
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
@Eustace, I usually find those vertical wounds after the eggs have hatched! I seem to spend my life picking off the slugs, I don’t think I have a rose without them, so lucky you @peteS that they seem to focus on just one! Boscobel looks fabulous. Spraying doesn’t really work anyway as you have to spray the whole of the underside of the leaves, stems and canes and that’s an impossible task if you have lots of roses.
I have three different types though, the curled rose slug are the worst, they devour the whole leaf - stock photo for illustration purposes, just pray these don’t make it to your garden:
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
Posts
Miracle of miracles, we actually had some rain yesterday evening - not enough to make a difference, everything still brown and dusty, but the rain gods must have been half listening 😆
Francis Dubreuil:
Julia Child:
Palais Biron:
Golden Beauty (JC retains her colour better):
Eufemia, totally lost colour and oddly, has more petals in drought than before:
Forever Royal, picked up a bit after a chop to the ground and now in constant shade:
As I uploaded the picture, I just spotted another one or two which I had missed.
'Purple Lodge'/'Palais Biron'
'Purple Skyliner' - some blooms completely white, the rest mauve
It looks jungly here today. And feels too, it's cloudy and very humid.
'La Belle Rouge'
noID HT
'Chippendale'
'Starlet Melina'
'Jacqueline Humery'
Neighbour's mini right next to my drive border. I like it a lot. @Marlorena do you think it could be 'The Fairy' or is it something more modern? I thought it is too small for 'The Fairy' but it looks like it a lot and it is in its 2nd year only. Or maybe some descendant of 'The Fairy'?
Your Boscobel is stunning @peteS
Extremely nice find, that sundial @Tack
I've cut back three of my once flowerers, Tuscany, just for height control, William Lobb, to try and promote thicker low growth and Celestial which had collapsed during the rain. I took out several old low branches and doing this made the rest spring off the ground. Not sure if it looks any good but at least it is mostly upright rather than a pile of sweaty branches. It's a healthy rose so I don't think it would be fussed but I had other plants under the branch heap.
Here is Guy Savoy, which copes well in heat, maintains the same size blooms and doesn’t lose colour, if anything the blooms are a deeper colour than before:
@edhelka - your La Belle Rouge is holding colour really well for a red, impressive. I also like the way Purple Lodge/Palais Biron holds a nice shape and petal arrangement even if the colour does change in heat.
Oh and did you see my The Fairy contender earlier, bottom of P.253? I wasn’t sure either, seemed too strongly upright and some of the blooms were a fairly warm coral pink, but neither me or M could think of what else it could have been. I think your neighbour’s looks more typical of hmf photos, but perhaps there is a whole host of fairy offspring out there! 🧚♀️ 🧚♂️
I have three different types though, the curled rose slug are the worst, they devour the whole leaf - stock photo for illustration purposes, just pray these don’t make it to your garden: