A Few Blooms for Friday

We had a half inch of rain last night. It was a wonderful sight to see the water drops on the foliage of the plants. They are responding to the moisture and I am beginning to see the promise of a few more blooms. This rose was planted earlier this spring. I haven't added a hybrid tea to my garden for quite some time but I loved the soft peach of 'Medallion'.

The English rose 'Abraham Darby' has started to bloom again. This plant was full of buds when the late April freeze hit it. I have a clematis 'Mr. President' growing up through this rose and it has a couple of new blooms on it.

One of the new daylilies that I purchased this spring has a first bloom on it. This one is 'Brooke's Bright Star' hybridized by Bill Waldrop in Georgia. I am finding blooms on several of the daylilies now.

As I was walking around the garden this morning and I came close to the row of crepe myrtles I could hear a constant buzz. The blooms were full of honey bees. He is a little hard to see in this photo which certainly shows that I am not that good with a camera but I was so glad to know that the honey bees were close enough to be gathering pollen from the garden.

Clematis and Roses

Clematis 'H. F. Young'

Clematis are fairly new to our garden. The more that I add the more I enjoy them. This is the second year for H. F. Young and the blooms so far have been beautiful. I added four new clematis last year and there are three more on the way to plant this year. So far most of them are paired with roses but I read about letting them climb through other shrubs so that may be the next combination I will try.

Zephirine Drouhin

The first bloom on Zephirine Drouhin will be followed by many more from the look of the canes. This rose is supposed to be a repeat bloomer with a strong fragrance. I have often admired the pictures of beautiful roses climbing on arbors full of blooms. I will post pictures later when she is in full bloom.



Roses to Enjoy

We are having such lovely fall weather. It has been wonderful working outside this weekend. The roses are still blooming but the corn has been harvested this week and there were light frosts last weekend.

I love these full open blooms of the English roses...

and I am glad there there are still a few more to open...

Each new bud now is a real joy to see knowing that there may be only a few more.

The yellow knockout roses have been really pretty the last couple of weeks. I planted daffodils in a bed near them yesterday and their scent made the job more enjoyable.

We planted about 350 daffodils yesterday, and that job in itself and the leaves that are starting to fall are reminders that I need to get busy and use any of the nice days that I have. I still have several jobs to finish before this garden season ends.

Roses Respond

I have grown roses for most of the 38 years that we have lived on this farm. I had roses here before I knew what Japanese beetles were. After their initial invasion I gave up on the roses and lost most of them. In the past couple of years I have added a few of the English roses that were supposed to be more care free. But the truth is there is no such thing.

After the rainly spring that we had there was some black spot showing up and then the annual arrival of the dreaded beetles.

About two weeks ago I deceided that if I were to get to enjoy any roses at all I would have to resume some preventive measures. And the roses have responded.

Even 'Peace' that has been here for more years than I can recall is blooming again. Notice that there is a daylily planted to its left, what you can't see is that there is another one to its right. I had given this rose up for dead. It still doesn't have the strongest canes but its will to survive and beautify its place in the garden is stll there.

Knocking Themselves Out!

The double pink knockouts are beautiful today. Across from them are some of the pink knockout roses. I am really enjoying their bloom while I wait for the daylilies to take the stage.