Sugar Moon

This is a new rose for me.  It has beautiful, large blooms, and a great fragrance.  So far I see no evidence of susceptibility to any diseases.

Sugar Moon  Fragrance !!!

March roars in like a hot lion.

Nothing much going on yet.

At the end of January I trimmed everything back.  Yesterday we had record hot weather and there seems to be some damage to the tender new leaves of several of the bushes.  No flowers yet, but there are some buds.

January magic

The Abracadabra rose continues to be the best performer in my garden.  The only other rose in bloom right now is Mr. Lincoln, but poor old Abe came down with a case of rose rust.  Abracadabra produces year round and seems resistant to disease.

I planted the four new roses today, and moved the four roses that weren't so fragrant to the back patio, where they now make up my newly created "Colorful Rose Garden".

Shovel pruning

Today is shovel pruning day. Those roses that don't belong in the "fragrant" garden are being moved to containers to make way for some new acquisitions.

We will see "princess of monaco", "bewitched", "California dreaming" and "Tahitian sunset" relocated. The new roses are "sugar moon", "stainless steel", "just Joey" and "ebb tide".

Prior to planting the new roses I'll remove a large amount of soil and replace it with fresh commercial rose mix, as I am told new roses don't do well in soil where the roots of previous roses were left behind.

All cleaned up

January is the dormant time for roses, however both my "Abracadabra" and "Mr. Lincoln" are in bloom.

For everything else, I trimmed lightly and removed all the leaves, which on many plants showed blackspot or rose rust.  I also removed all the debris and even a little excess soil from the surface, hoping to reduce sources of re-infection.

Soon I'll have a delivery of some new bare-root roses I have on order.  I shall be replacing the aroma-free roses with more roses that are noted for their scent.  I expect I'll find another place to replant the other roses, or I'll put them in containers on the back patio.

Rain and mud

Ive been trying to correct a drainage problem in my front yard and reseed the lawn. Nothing but setbacks as I discover more and more problems with the old underground drain pipes. I'll have to put a stop to my efforts and re-level the dirt so it will look somewhat presentable by Thanksgiving. Rain turned the front into mud, however, and I can't do anything this weekend.

I have ordered new roses to plant in January: Just Joey, Sugar Moon, Stainless Steel, and another. I'll also plant daffodils at the bottom of the slope behind the roses. With a new lawn, new roses, and daffodils, Spring should be nice next year.

Double Delight

Just blooming now.  This is a new rose for me: I bought the bush in July.

Double Delight  Fragrance !!!

BellaRoma

Another beautiful day and a new rose to share.  This rose is pink and yellow with a great fragrance.
It never really bloomed well, but now that it is in a new garden, we will see how it does.  I have high hopes.

Bella Roma   Fragrance: !!!

A foggy, dewy morning.

Dew on Chrysler Imperial

What's in bloom now: October 18th

Some new blooms came out today.

First a note on the weather and housekeeping.  It is foggy in the mornings the last few days, and then warms up to the low '70s.  I noted a lot of rose rust on my "Mr. Lincoln" bush, so I stripped all the leaves off the bush, threw them in the trash, and sprayed the bush.  There doesn't seem to be rust on the other bushes.  The Mr. Lincoln was bought in July and has only bloomed once since I planted it.

First up:

April in Paris   Fragrance !!!

This rose continues to please.  The colors are beautiful and the fragrance is great.  No disease.

Next:

California Dreamin   Fragrance !

This is certainly a pretty rose, but almost no fragrance.  I may want to move it to a pot on the back porch to make room for something more fragrant.  

And next: 

Chrysler Imperial   Fragrance !!!

This is a beautiful, fragrant red rose.  

But today's winner is:

Abracadabra  Fragrance !!!

This rose should be called Adava kedavra because this rose is drop dead beautiful.  And it is a rugged survivor.

Tahitian Sunset

This rose is also in bloom today.  I was told it is very fragrant and resistant to rust and black spot when I bought it, but I don't find it as fragrant as Abracadabra or other roses in my garden.  It does have a little rust and blackspot on it, so I will be treating it and removing those leaves.

Tahitian Sunset  Fragrance !

Black spot and rust showing up on 

Tahitian Sunset

Abracadabra

This rose has been a favorite of mine for a long time.  When I moved into this house 10 years ago, it was here.  It survived a house fire followed by 9 months of no care while the house was being rebuilt.  It survived years of waterlogged soil, then being dug up and put in a pit while a new planter was being built, and a final transplanting to the new planter in July of this year.
All along it has been a prolific bloomer with beautiful flowers and the best fragrance you could want from a rose.  It doesn't seem to get rust or other disease.

Abracadabra  Fragrance !!!

The description of this rose elsewhere on the internet states that it grows single bloom per stem. I have found that that may be true sometimes, but there are also multiple blooms per stem.  It makes a great cut flower when single, but when the multiple blooms come out the air is perfumed.  

New Zealand Rose

This rose is darker pink than other pink roses in my garden, but as it opens it gets lighter.  It has an excellent fragrance.  The blossoms are single at the end of long stems.  I'm very satisfied with this addition to my garden.

Princesse de Monaco

This is quite a pretty rose, and prolific.  It has been blooming regularly since I planted it 6 weeks ago.  The down side is that there is not much of a fragrance.  I have it planted right next to the walkway to the house, and on the other side is "April in Paris", which is equally beautiful, but less of a regular bloomer.  April gets higher marks in my garden than the Princesse because of  its stronger and enchanting fragrance.

Fragrance

As the roses bloom I will start documenting the fragrance.  The intent is for this particular garden to be all fragrant roses.  I shall be moving those less fragrant to another part of the yard to make room for fragrant roses.

My scale will be:

-  I can't smell anything
!  Pleasant fragrance
!! Very pleasant fragrance
!!! A great fragrance rose

Rain today

   We have an unusual (for this time of year) rainy day today.    This is good news and it will wet the hills and reduce the fire risk which is normally greatest around this time of year.  In normal years, we have wildfires first, and then rain that washes the soil off the burned areas, which really is a bad situation.  The rain today should wet the dry vegetation enough to keep it from burning for a few weeks, and then we will, with God's grace, enter the normal rainy season.
   Pictures of new blooms after the rain.

New Zealand: Fragrance !!!

Princesse de Monaco:  Fragrance !

What's in bloom now

Hydrangea in October?

April in Paris:

Princesse de Monaco:

And a beautiful Persimmon:

First Posting

Greetings to all!  This blog will record photos and comments on roses I am growing in Zone 8B.


First, some general comments.


   I am not a skilled gardener nor a rose specialist.  Actually, I do not have as much success with my roses as I would like, so I am going to use this blog document my efforts and improve my results.  I will specialize in hybrid tea roses with fragrance.


Some background:


   8B is a United States Department of Agriculture hardiness zone that describes the climate of places like Austin, Texas and Gainesville Florida, but the climates of those cities are very much unlike that of my garden, even though we are also zone 8B.  Our garden is located in Camarillo, California, about half way between Santa Barbara and Los Angeles.  We have about 300 days of sunshine a year with mild wet winters and  mild dry summers.  
   Besides the USDA zone system, a more detailed climate zone description can be found in the Sunset Western Garden Book.  In this book we are zone 23 which is described as having an eleven month plus growing season with rainy winters.  The nearby Pacific Ocean keeps summers cooler than Los Angeles with negligible frosts.
   We rarely use the air conditioner in the summer, but use the heater just a bit in the winter.  There are a few days of hot, dry Santa Ana winds in the autumn, but it is not as much of a problem here as further inland where seasonal wild fires are a serious threat.  On the other hand, we are far enough from the ocean the coastal fogs do not create much cooling and dampness in the summer.  
   In our garden, besides roses, hydrangea grow quite well.  We also grow citrus, avocados, macadamia nuts and persimmons.  Figs grow well, as do artichokes and asparagus.  


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