We had plenty of rain in February which after the five years of drought in California is absolutely delightful. But with the all the rain accompanied by plenty of gray days powdery mildew and rose rust, the for our area most common rose diseases, were on the rise. In my no-spray rose garden I don’t do anything about them just observe the roses closely and in the long run ruthlessly get rid of the rose varieties that are disease prone in my climate.
Rosa ‘Belinda’s Dream’ produced beautiful roses despite the weather, but through all the rain the outer rose petals became brown and mushy. So I cut some rose flowers at an early stage and brought them indoors to enjoy up close.
I noticed that usually the green fillers last much longer in florist bouquets then the flowers themselves and I think it is a good idea to reuse them in arrangements consisting out of flowers cut from my own garden again. That comes especially handy in my case since I don’t have so many plants growing in my garden whose foliage can be used as filler greens in garden bouquets.
Rosa ‘Marie Pavie’ had set the most buds already and I am sure she will be my first rose this year to break out into her spring flush. The fresh light green buds together with all the healthy new foliage of this rose are a joy to look at.
I love how the buds of ‘Marie Pavie’ stand out against the gray backdrop of my Queen Palm trunk.
Bud of rosa ‘Bewitched’ revealing already its saturated clear pink color.
Another shot of rosa ‘Bewitched’ caught in the moment when the sepals of the bud peel back already. Now it won’t take long anymore until the rose bloom will fully open.
This is one of the new rose babies from last year, rosa ‘Gruss an Aachen’. It also seems to be wanting to be an early bloomer, but unfortunately, the rose has suffered from powdery mildew quite a bit last month.
The rose that was blooming the most already is ‘Madame Alfred Carriere’. I am just so in love with this one. And the fact that she is able to bloom in the winter time makes her even more precious.
I find the cream-white blooms with the blush pink shading are simply irresistible. There is just one catch in my garden. The rose is planted in quite a bit of shade and therefore is turning her blooms to face the sunlight, which is away from the garden. So what I get to see mostly are their backs. But even in this perspective, they are very beautiful.
To me, the flowers of ‘Madame Alfred Carriere’ have a very old fashioned feel. They are a little informal and appear almost translucent. They are also wonderful as cut flowers (see my New Year’s bouquet of ‘Madame Alfred Carriere’ here) but they don’t last all that long in the vase. That can be forgiven though since I get so many blooms that I can replenish my vases easily.
Rosa ‘Pope John Paul II’ is also producing new buds already. This rose was always one of the healthiest in my garden, but it is not responding well to all the rain. Unfortunately, for the first time, it has some rose rust. So I guess if you are living a wetter humid climate this rose might not be the one for you.
Next up is rosa ‘Grandmother’s Hat’. Do you notice the exceptionally long and big sepals? I think they give the rose buds a very elegant appearance.
This is rosa ‘Souvenir de la Malmaison’. I want to grow this rose so badly, because I have seen absolutely wonderful photos of its blooms, but it doesn’t look very promising. Also new to my garden from last year so far it is a very puny little plant to begin with and it is suffering from black spot, which is a little unusual for my area. When I got the plant as a rose band there were two cutting that had rooted in the pot. By now one seems to have died and the other one seems to be a weak one, too.
In addition to all that is being said before, I would like to share that this is already my second trial with this rose. This first rose band died after a short time. Even though in general Bourbon roses, the rose class this rose belongs to, should thrive in my climate, but ‘Souvenir de la Malmaison’ does not seem to follow this rule.
I am curious, dear readers, what is your experience with growing rosa ‘Souvenir de la Malmaison’? Is this rose doing well for you or does it give you trouble, too?
Quite the opposite to the previous rose, ‘Rhodologue Jules Gravereaux’ is doing excellent in my garden. The flowers of this Tea rose are always exquisite and I am looking forward to seeing this bud fully open.
The last rose that I am featuring in today’s post is ‘Captain Christy’, one of the rare old Hybrid Tea roses.
And here you see the rose in the bud stage. I love how the rain droplets are lining up on the edge of the biggest sepal.
‘Captain Christy’ also has a more informal bloom form which I think is very charming and its light pink color is one of my favorites in the rose kingdom. Sadly, the plant itself is a weak grower, which I tried to nurse along in a container for a long time, but the vigor doesn’t improve. Mine is an own-root rose and I think to cultivate this one successfully it needs to be grafted on a more vigorous root stock.
I am sure that next month I will have already quite a few roses blooming and I am looking very much forward to that. We are expecting a very warm week with highest temperatures reaching 83 degrees Fahrenheit/28 degrees Celsius, which will push the rose buds to open up very quickly.
Thanks for your visit, I hope you have enjoyed my monthly rose report and read it with interest.
See you in the garden!
Warm regards,
Christina
