I promised you a rose garden report
I so hoped I'd have a pretty rose garden to show my readers by now, but reality prevailed.
Early this year we moved more than a dozen rose bushes from the front yard to the back because they were all in the wrong places—scratching people coming up our front walk, getting in the way of the faucet, growing where they're hard to water, etc.
We moved them while they were dormant and arranged them in an area of the yard separated by concrete curb and covered with shredded bark. The soil seemed decent, and I added my homemade compost. Like magic, all but one eventually put out leaves and several even bloomed this summer.
I use the word "magic:" because I have never had much luck growing roses with the exception of pioneer roses, miniature roses, and my son's Chrysler Imperial rose. In fact, I never would have been foolish enough to try a rose garden if I hadn't needed a place to put all the bushes that were already here. I hate to discard living plants.
I meant to fertilize them all summer but just never got around to it, which is normal for me. I did manage to keep them watered, even without an irrigation system installed yet.
Here's one that bloomed and not from the rootstock. Yellow is not my favorite color, but I'll take it!
Once I got all the weeds pulled this summer, I spent my gardening time on the rose garden and pond/waterfall area. I have a huge time-sucking project along the fence there: pulling the dirt away from the fence. Attention previous owners: Rickety old fences do not make long-term retaining walls!
I've managed to kill most of the whitetop that was flourishing there. I've thoroughly sprayed the salt grass two and a half times (half the grass the third time in case you're wondering), but it's not giving up yet. When it's dead I'm going to have to pull it out by hand.
Then there's all the weed cloth that (see previous paragraph) doesn't keep weeds from growing. I'm pulling out as much of it as I can and resigning myself to the fact that I'll be finding pieces of it as long as I'm gardening here.
And now that we've had a hard freeze, the roses will be on their own until next April. Maybe, just maybe, I'll manage to get them fertilized then.
Early this year we moved more than a dozen rose bushes from the front yard to the back because they were all in the wrong places—scratching people coming up our front walk, getting in the way of the faucet, growing where they're hard to water, etc.
We moved them while they were dormant and arranged them in an area of the yard separated by concrete curb and covered with shredded bark. The soil seemed decent, and I added my homemade compost. Like magic, all but one eventually put out leaves and several even bloomed this summer.
I use the word "magic:" because I have never had much luck growing roses with the exception of pioneer roses, miniature roses, and my son's Chrysler Imperial rose. In fact, I never would have been foolish enough to try a rose garden if I hadn't needed a place to put all the bushes that were already here. I hate to discard living plants.
I meant to fertilize them all summer but just never got around to it, which is normal for me. I did manage to keep them watered, even without an irrigation system installed yet.
Results
Only a few of them bloomed. At least one is a miniature rose, so it will be out of place. The worst thing is I suspect many of them are rootstock roses—that is, the hybrid roses of various colors that were grafted onto rootstock have died and the branches coming up from the roots are plain red ones.Here's one that bloomed and not from the rootstock. Yellow is not my favorite color, but I'll take it!
Excuses
Once I got all the weeds pulled this summer, I spent my gardening time on the rose garden and pond/waterfall area. I have a huge time-sucking project along the fence there: pulling the dirt away from the fence. Attention previous owners: Rickety old fences do not make long-term retaining walls!I've managed to kill most of the whitetop that was flourishing there. I've thoroughly sprayed the salt grass two and a half times (half the grass the third time in case you're wondering), but it's not giving up yet. When it's dead I'm going to have to pull it out by hand.
Then there's all the weed cloth that (see previous paragraph) doesn't keep weeds from growing. I'm pulling out as much of it as I can and resigning myself to the fact that I'll be finding pieces of it as long as I'm gardening here.
And now that we've had a hard freeze, the roses will be on their own until next April. Maybe, just maybe, I'll manage to get them fertilized then.
Posted by Laurel at 11/5/2011 3:11 PM 
Categories: Gardening, Flowers, Cheapskate Gardening, Rabbitbrush Ranch II
Tags: Reno Northern Nevada
Categories: Gardening, Flowers, Cheapskate Gardening, Rabbitbrush Ranch II
Tags: Reno Northern Nevada
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