Summer Show Stoppers

The blue delphiniums look great with the red floribunda roses "Opening Night" and bloom most of the summer. Michael enjoys the beautiful colors of "Tropical Sunset", a lovely hybrid tea rose with a lovely fragrance. This rose looks great combined with dahlias in floral arrangements for the house. Another summer flower we have in the rose garden is the tiger lily. Tiger lilies come in many colors and grow five feet tall and also make a great cut flower.

Summer is when the dahlias take the spotlight with large and varied blooms that appear continuously from June through October. The light purple one is Michael's favorite and has an abundance of large flowers. The white dahlia has the largest flowers in the garden, about the size of a dinner plate.

The bicolored dahlia's summery colors look great in the house. Dahlias make great cut flowers; pick them in the early morning or late afternoon. Some garden books say to put them in warm water but I've had good results with cool water. Dahlias are easy to grow and do well in pots. I use large nursery pots to grow them and can place them in the garden when they bloom and hide them out of site when they are dormant.

April in Michael's garden is when the roses are in full bloom

"Brandy" a Hybrid Tea rose with a lovely fragrance

"Peace" another Hybrid Tea rose.

Best wishes from the garden,
John

March 2007

The foxgloves and larkspur are 3' tall and full of buds. The rose buds are showing their color, some for the first time. They are one of the few things on schedule this year and will be in full glory by mid-April. Honey Dijon is one of the new roses we are waiting to see in bloom and enjoy its fragrance. Another is JFK a white rose according to photo.

When ever I see Lillie bulbs on sale and in good shape I buy them, this year the garden will have 90-100 I and Mother Nature have planted in the yard. Many of them are already 2' tall and some forming buds. They range from purple one of Michael's favorite colors to yellow and orange.

I don't normally plant delphiniums but this year I tried them and thanks to the cold weather they seem to be thriving. I picked some of the white and purple already for the house. The cold was not appreciated by other plants like the Epidendron orchids and Kalenchoes. This has been one of the coldest and driest winters ever.

Have a great spring! More photos will come next month.

Michael's rose garden.

Pool garden and the back patio garden.

Best wishes from the garden,
John

Spring

Spring is starting in Michael’s garden. The daffodils and freesia are in full bloom, while the tulips have faded away. The roses are waiting for warmer wheather.

Michael’s favorite flower is the orchid, especially the amythist colored phalaenopsis. The conservatory is full of phalaenopsis this time of year. This is an easy orchid to grow and make a beautiful houseplant.

Because Michael likes amythist color, I have made purple, red and violet the main colors in the rose garden. Purple foxgloves grace the garden all summer long. Other favorites are larkspur, scabiosa, verbena and, of course, roses.

We have about 200 rose bushes in the garden from small minies to two story-high climbing roses. By the end of April, they will be in full bloom and will continue into December. Some of the roses have been in the garden for over 75 years and are old varieties that are rarely seen. The new roses, Mister Lyncoln and Blue Girl, will soon fill the house with their fragrant beauty.

Michael likes to hear about what I’m planting in the garden. In April, I’ll be sowing seeds for Celosia (cock’s comb) and hollyhocks in reds and purple. I’ve found grouping together plants with the same or similar color makes a dramatic statement. Around the pool we have mostly blue and white flowers, Agapanthus, morning glory and hydrangea for the blue, and gardeneas, brugmansia (Angel’s trumpet) and florabunda roses for the white. The combination of brugmansia and gardenea perfume the air night and day.

Best wishes from the garden,
John