"One of the most delightful things about a garden is the anticipation it brings."

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Now I'm really getting excited!

Part of the fun in reading other garden blogs is being reminded of what I will have blooming in my own garden soon. June is usually my favorite month in my own garden, many of my very favorites bloom then. Many of those favorites have already begun blooming in other parts of the world. Since the garden still seems to be running ahead by a couple of weeks I've been excited to see some of these flowers just getting ready to bloom.
Roses are probably my most looked forward to blooms right now. I added a few new ones last year and have already managed to find a spot for a new one this year. I think at this point unless I remove more grass I may be out of room for now.

'Abraham Darby' - is loaded with buds, unfortunately it is also loaded with blackspot. I'm trying an organic spray for it, and hoping it will help.

'Gertrude Jekyll' - even open only this much the fragrance is wonderful.

'Tamora' - my newest rose has the most beautiful buds. I think if it didn't open any further than this it would be fine with me.

My unknown pink rose that came with the house. It had been in a rather shady spot in the backyard. Since moving it to the sunny front yard few years ago it has just gone crazy. It's over 5 feet tall already.

Another good smelling flower are these daylilies. They grow near white Lupine and look beautiful together. The Lupine is just starting to bloom too.

The newly added Allium 'Purple Sensation' seems to be much taller in the full sun places that I planted it. I know I'll be adding more this fall.

I think the Alliums look pretty with the Iris. Cameron of Defining Your Home Garden had this combination on her blog last Fall and I thought I'd try it here since I had no idea where to plant the Alliums.

Something I've noticed in the last couple of weeks are just how bad the aphids are this year. They are on everything. I would be out there everyday with the hose trying to spray them off and I've been to busy to use the dish soap and water spray method (which doesn't always seem that effective to me). A few years ago we released ladybugs into the garden and within about a week the aphids were GONE! The Littlest Gardener and I are going ladybug shopping this week so we can get rid of the aphids the natural way.
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54 comments:

  1. Looks spectacular, black spot did me in here with about 15 rose bushes. gave up, but you know when you think you have dug them all up and pitched them, some of those sneaky roses come back ! Gina

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  2. I bet the roses smell wonderful! They are all gorgeous, but I love the pastel Tamora. Hope the lady bugs get things under control for you. The alliums along with the iris make a beautiful duet.

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  3. Beautiful, Catherine! I love the lupine with the daylilies. Actually, all your combinations are lovely!
    Purple sensation is very eye-catching...love it!

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  4. Your roses are just lovely. I have Abe Darby and Tamora and love the color.

    You are lucky to have a place where you can go and pick up natural pest control. Our local garden centers tell customers that natural is NOT effective. They just want to keep selling the poisons.
    Marnie

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  5. How beautiful! I love the Allium. I love that they self-sow. Watch for the little seedlings. Your David Austin is beautiful. Yes, get the lady bugs. I also have garlic growing here and there. The allium family is supposed to repel aphids. Also sweet alyssum attracts aphids, the alyssum attracts hover flies whose larvae gobble aphids. Ah, the circle of life I rarely see an aphid, but see lots of hover flies. I try to grow pollinator plants like golden marguerite, cilantro, dill.

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  6. Beautiful post Catherine, the first rose pictured is gorgeous. I had a big aphid problem last year, finally I turned the nozzle to 'jet' and blasted them off, I thought it would tear the leaves, but it didn't. It seemed to help a lot, supposedly it doesn't just wash them off but damages their mouths.

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  7. I love your Abraham Darby and was considering it but if it gets black spot maybe not. This is the first time I can remember my roses blooming before the peony.With the rain the large Ebb Tide is getting powder mildew already. Ugh. I sprayed it once but it needs to stop raining for a while.
    The shape of the blooms on your Tamora is so lovely and I like that and its peach color. Looks so pretty with the drops on it.

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  8. The roses look great - I really love the color of 'Abraham Darby'.

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  9. I love roses also. My "Gertrude Jekyll" is my favorite. I love this time of year for all the blooms. A friend of mine went throught her garden in March and dug up many perennials for me and they are all starting to come up and bloom. There is a garden heliotrope that smells soo good, it makes my think of heaven. If you are ever down this way please let me know and I would love to have you stop and see the garden. Enjoy!

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  10. By the way Catherine, I didn't say how beautiful your garden looks! I love the alliums and all your roses look great. Have a good day.
    Kay

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  11. I;m amazed at how many roses you have out in bloom , Katherine. I have two -Parson's Pink China and Nur Mahal as ever the earliest to flower. Im sorry about Abraham Darby as you so enjoyed him last year.Mine has never suffered from blackspot, but Ive grown him hard and have hardly fed him.But this year a nearby bamboo is invading him so I'm going to have to take action !
    Love from Julie

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  12. I hope the organic black spot remedy works for you. I agree, your Tamora rose is absolutely perfect as it is. Those Alliums look great! I tried growing those once, but they never came up.

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  13. Your flowers are looking fabulous, I love the Alliums with the iris. I can't even grow the David Austin roses here, disease pressure is too high, although the flowers are beautiful.

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  14. Your Roses take my breath away.
    Just stunning.
    Saw that post of Camerons also...it's a great combo !

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  15. I vote for less lawn, more roses!
    I think I like Gertrude the best. I love your photos with the water droplets. Very cool that you can get ladybugs so easily!

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  16. Good luck with those lady bugs! After releasing them for a few years in a row we rarely see aphids here. Love the roses! Just stripped many of mine of their foliage to get rid of the blackspot.

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  17. I didn't know that about lady bugs. Good to know. Your roses are so beautiful. I think Tamara is the prettiest but I love them all. I don't have any roses yet so I'll just have to admire yours. They are on my list. Such pretty Allium and I love the comination with the lilies too. Have a great day and fun getting those lady bugs.

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  18. YAY, I love Austins!! I have Tamora, and I've always wanted Gertrude Jekyll, but I haven't found room for her yet.

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  19. Hi Catherine. I love June too. Your roses are so beautiful. A real joy to see. Here, spring has arrived but things are desperately dry.

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  20. I adore roses and alliums of all kinds. Thanks for reminding me about the ladybugs too. I have had far too many aphids this year as well, oh, and the blackspot, ugh!

    Next week I'm driving out to Heirloom Roses. I love their catalog and I cannot wait to see their display garden blooms! I have no space left so now I buy miniatures.

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  21. Lovely Roses and garden pictures today.

    But, your ladybug story caught my eye. So, just where do you get ladybugs. Do they sell them there or something. I'm all for that idea.

    My favorite in bloom is poppies.

    Garden On,
    Kate - The Garde Bell.

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  22. Thank you all for visiting! We just came back from our ladybug shopping and they were hard to find this year. Everywhere seems to be out of them now. It seems like the places that carry them are nurseries. We used to be able to find them at Home Depot, but apparently they don't sell them anymore. We plan to release them later today or later tomorrow. Of course there will be pictures :)

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  23. You are not the only one excited. These are all spectacular. The Tamora with the water droplets? I am in awe. Your garden is gorgeous.

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  24. Hi Catherine, It's always a treat to see what you're doing over there. I'm so glad you enjoy growing roses. I can't say I'm the biggest fan of growing them... now enjoying them is another matter. This is why I really liked your post today! :-) I'm going to have to look for ladybugs, too.

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  25. You take unbelievable pictures! That Garden is gorgeous!

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  26. Perhaps that is why I enjoy your garden so much because of the antcipation of my own flowers.
    Roses hmm not long away now and the clematis are starting.

    I love the idea of ladybird shopping. They always breed in our bathroom windowframe and I struggle to rescue them from the warm bathroom to take outside, although I usually put them in the greenhouse rather than outdoors I think the cold weather would have been too much of a shock at first.

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  27. Catherine, the roses are beautiful. We had inchworms here on all of the rose bushes, they seem to be gone now but created some damage to the buds.

    Eileen

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  28. Ironically, this region is known for its roses. But I have a difficult time with them. Although, I've only lived here five years so there's still hope! As for the alliums, I see blooms on mine. But the stalks came out so scrawny they fold over. Did you order yours online?
    Brenda

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  29. All of your blooms are so great. I like all of the color and the many different kinds of flowers. I really like my allium.

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  30. Mmmmm......as usual, your garden is looking great. Love the alliums and iris together, great idea.

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  31. The roses are beautiful, I love the un-named pink one. Hope the ladybugs work. Your garden is ahead of mine, iris yes, roses not yet.

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  32. Your roses are beautiful. Aphids have increased in this part of the world too. I am planning to plant garlic around the base of the plants to discourage them. Ladybugs are very helpful, but we don't get them at garden centres. I need to collect some ladybugs during my walks in the wild!

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  33. There will never be enough room to grow everything I want in my garden ;-)

    I love your roses. Our Abraham Darby is getting ready to shut down for the summer, but will start blooming again this fall.

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  34. I once planted A. 'Purple Sensation' and now it is everywhere, in a good way. Mine is not as far along as yours, still in bud, but I am anticipating bloom in the next week. Good luck with the aphids, the spider mites have started here.

    Christine in Alaska

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  35. All gorgeous, especially the english roses of course! The allium is striking. I'll have to think of spots to put them in my yard. Sorry for the aphids - in a month I'll be grousing about thrips. Good luck finding some ladybugs - I know you can order them online from Gardens Alive.

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  36. Brenda - The Alliums didn't bend, but they were very slow coming up. I hope yours will bloom nicely for you.

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  37. ooh, now that I've seen your 'Abraham Darby' I can't wait for mine to bloom! I better go out tomorrow and check for buds! I hope you can get the black spot under control ~ he's way too pretty for blemishes like that!
    You have such a nice variety of roses and of course blooming way ahead of ours.
    I don't think anyone could ever have enough alliums. They are so pretty and hardly take up any space. I'll be adding more this fall too.
    I see those bags of live ladybugs at our Lowes & Home Depot stores but I've never bought them. They also sell praying mantis eggs here ~ have you ever tried those? I applaud you for finding a natural solution to the aphids.
    ps. I did not cut 'Josephine' back this spring ~ she had already sprouted new growth on old wood when I first checked on her so of course I just left her alone. Did you cut yours? Is that why you asked?

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  38. What gorgeous colour you have in your garden.
    The city of Victoria released thousands and thousands of ladybugs this week, in an effort to clear up the aphids in city flower beds. Good luck with yours!

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  39. Roses are pretty...I have never had an Allium come up here, need to try again. Aphids, slugs and lopper grasshoppers are annoying me this year..

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  40. Hi Catherine

    My neighbour planted 5 'Gertrude Jekyll', beautiful aren't they.

    My first year with Alliums. Love them.

    Ladybug shopping? Do you go somewhere to find them?

    Hope the weather's OK

    Rob

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  41. Cameron has the best combinations and to see her garden is person is twice as awesome as her blog. I sure hope the ladybugs work for you. Looking forward to seeing the pictures.

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  42. The alliums are beautiful!

    Hope you find a solution to your aphid problem.

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  43. Hi Catherine~~ Yes that old blackspot, hate it. On the upside, lots of new, pristine growth from the base of my infected bushes. As soon as the blooms are finished on the infected branches, I plan to cut the those branches down to the ground and give the new branches time to develop. This almost always works.

    I've got two Gertie blossoms right beside me and oh, if she could only see her namesake. She'd be tickled PINK, don't you think?

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  44. June is my favourite also Catherine. Its the roses, cant wait for my roses! My Gertrude Jekyll has a few hundred buds already to open, shes grown into a climber over an arch and was beautiful last year but I think she is going to surpass herself this year. Your garden is looking lovely,
    betty xx

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  45. Your roses are beautiful. Something we don't have many of because of the deer. It's their favorite delicacy in this salad bar. I planted Allium for the first time this year and they are really blooming great. I'll have to get more too as I put them in 2 different places (from the same package) so they need to be thicker. They really are pretty aren't they?

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  46. Hi Catherine. It's been lovely catching up on your posts - your garden and pond are looking fantastic! It's always interesting to see how similar plants do in different countries too.

    I've planted aliums for the first time this year, but they're way behind yours and only just about to open up.

    I was bought a climbing rose 'Handel' for my birthday recently and can't wait to see how it looks - I hope it's as beautiful as some of yours :)

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  47. Catherine, Your roses are beautiful. I've never grown roses, but looking at yours tempts me to try. I'm so glad you mentioned the lovely fragrance of your yellow daylily; so many people don't realize that some daylilies are fragrant. I have a number of varieties from the Maine hybridizers Joseph and Nick Barth because during the years when most daylily breeders were focusing on ruffles and picotees and doubling, the Barths were breeding for fragrance. -Jean

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  48. Your roses are gorgeous, and I LOVE your combination of allium and iris! Your garden must be a wonderful place to explore.

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  49. Good idea to plant the Allium with the Iris...they look really nice together. I have some white Allium getting close to blooming.

    donna

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  50. Those roses are goregous!!! You many have insipred me to plant some. Thanks for sharing and for stopping by for a Latte'. I'm happy to be your newest follower and look forward to sharing gardening stories.

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