I was very disappointed, baffled and surprised though that ‘Georgetown Tea’, a Tea Rose and ‘Madame Alfred Carriere’, a Tea Noisette Rose were not flowering this January. Genetically these roses have the potential to bloom through the winter in our climate and neither of them did this year. That is quite puzzling to me and the only reason I can think of is that they didn’t have enough fertilizer either even though these roses I did fertilize in December the last time. I believe that the root competition with the palm trees which are growing nearby is simply too strong and that I didn’t put down enough organic fertilizer for them to be able to bloom.
Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed each rose flower that I got from my garden last month and I hope you do vicariously through the photos, too.
My best bloomer was rosa ‘Pope John Paul II’. In the winter time because of the cooler temperatures the rose produces light green buds, that later turn into pure white flowers.
I am completely crazy for these light green shades in the bud stage of this rose. I think they look so elegant.
I only have seen this coveted green tint in florist roses, but not in roses that you can grow in your own garden. There is only one exception and that is rosa ‘John F. Kennedy’, which I had in my previous garden in Menlo Park, California. Unfortunately, it was such a weak and sickly rose that I hardly got any blooms from it and for that reason, I didn’t acquire this rose for my new garden in San Diego again.
If you know of any garden roses that have this green tint in the bud stage or even in an open flower, please share the name of the variety with me. I am more than happy to try it out in my garden.
This bloom is a little further open and you see that it has almost lost the green shimmer on its petals and it is turning into a white rose.
Here is one fully open bloom. ‘Pope John Paul II’ is a very healthy and floriferous Hybrid Tea rose in my climate. And if this weren’t enough he smells heavenly of citrus.
Rosa ‘Belinda’s Dream’ seen from the side.
A bud of rosa ‘Bewitched’. I love that the tips of the sepals are red picking up the color of the bud and that they curl down in this noble way.
The last bloom of rosa ‘Auckland Metro’ from the winter flush.
A little pale in the face: Rosa ‘Mary Rose’, a rose bred by the famous English rose breeder David Austin. She is also growing in a container and ran out of food, which I believe contributed to the uncommon very light pink color.
This is rosa ‘Neptune’ a mauve, lavender colored Hybrid Tea rose. I have a soft spot for lavender colored roses. To me, they are the real rose divas, not because they are especially difficult to grow, but because this color simply wants to stand out and doesn’t blend well with other rose colors except white in my opinion.
I grow many soft pink roses in my garden and think the lavender looks awful together with them. So I guess in the future I have to devote an extra rose bed to the lavender roses only filled with companions that they are willing to tolerate at their side.
‘Neptune’ had trouble to open properly in the low light intensity conditions in January, a problem which I also have observed in others of my roses.
Same bloom a little bit more open, but still lopsided.
But finally, he got his act together and opened up more regularly. I recall cutting two of the blooms of this rose before heavy rainfall set in and they looked so lovely on our dining room table and smelled divine.
We truly had plenty of rain in January, which is absolutely wonderful after so many years of drought. It continued into February so far and more is in the forecast, which all calls for a fabulous rose spring flush. As for the February roses, however, I guess there might be even less than there have been in January, but you never know, the roses might surprise me. Find out when I blog about the roses that have bloomed in February in the beginning of next month.
See you in the garden!
Warm regards,
Christina