November is a beautiful month here in the desert, especially if you love roses as I do. We are enjoying our fall rose blooming season. There are two different seasons for rose bloom in the desert - spring and fall.
The rose above is 'Double Delight' and was growing in my father's rose garden in Southern California.
'Touch of Class' was one of my top performers.
Actually, it was my love of roses that inspired me to choose a career as a horticulturist. My husband and I had bought our first house back in 1992 and it came with 5 mature, yet neglected rose bushes. I decided to nurse those rose bushes back, but had no idea what I was doing, so I went to the library and checked out some books on rose care. After that, I was hooked!
'Rio Samba' was always in my top 10. I loved how their blooms started out orange/red when starting out then turning mostly yellow, ending with cream colored petals brushed with blush pink color.
I loved those five rose bushes so much, that I tore out a large area of grass and planted 40 more roses, (I tend to go a little overboard when it comes to gardening).
I took the photo of this white rose in someone's garden. I believe it is a John F. Kennedy rose.
I tried out different types of roses, seeing which ones did best in our desert climate. I loved variety in my roses and so I had 40 different varieties. Mostly hybrid teas, but some David Austin roses too.
I am typically a low-maintenance gardener. I love a beautiful garden, but with minimal effort on my part. The exception for me is roses; I love spending time with them, fertilizing, enriching the soil, pruning and nursing blooms along.
Medallion, was my favorite peach-toned rose.
In the beginning of January, one of my favorite times during the gardening year begins; time to select and plant bare-root roses. I love choosing which variety I will try.
I was honored by Rothschild Orchid, author of Wisteria and Cow Parsley and Tatyana, author of Tanya's Garden as a recipient of the "Best Blog Award". Rothschild Orchid lives in one of my favorite places - England. Tatyana lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Please visit their blogs, their photos are so beautiful.
I must now pass this award on to other blogs who I think deserve such an award along with these instructions ~
Post the award on your blog along with the name of the person who passed it on to you and link to their blog. Then be sure to leave them a comment to let them know that they have been chosen. Choose blogs which you have recently discovered and you think are great and pass it on to them.
Since I am a rather new blogger, I am nominating gardening blogs that I have enjoyed very much along with their author's wit and wisdom. If you have not already come across these blogs I hope that you will visit them. I am sure you will enjoy them as much as I do.
**This is only a small list of the blogs that I enjoy so much, but if I picked all the blogs that I love, there would hardly be any left for others to forward the award too :0)
Dung hoe
An Obsessive Compulsive Plant Collector
Awake With Charm And Spirit
Flower Hill Farm
A Gardener In Progress
The Queen of Seaford
Mad Blooms
Go Away I'm Gardening
Diary of a Suburban Gardener
Vickie's Michigan Garden
VW Garden
Secret Cottage Garden
Tina's Garden
Garden Chronicles
The Violet Fern
Prefer To Be In The Garden
Faire Garden
Bay Area Tendrils
Sweet Bay
Deb's Garden
37 comments:
That's fun...thanks so much, Noelle! I will definitely do that on my post. Also, your roses are BEAUTIFUL. -Amy
Thank you so very much for the award, I'm so honoured.
Your roses are gorgeous, I especially like the two toned one. Tell me, do all roses have thorns? I haven't grown roses before, since I like everything I grow to be touch-friendly. But they are just so beautiful, I would really like to add some.
Thank you for your comments.
Rebecca, most roses do have thorns. However, there are some roses that are very thorny and some that have very few thorns. I found a list of roses that are supposed to be thornless. I have not grown any of these, so I cannot verify that they are thornless, but here is the list:
Chloris rose,
Crownprincess Victoria rose
Leander rose
Mme Plantier Rose
Reine des Violettes rose,
Cornealia rose
I hope this helps!
Beautiful roses. COngrats on the award!
Hi Noelle, thank you for the BBA! I am touched and delighted to receive it, and will incorporate it in my blog and carry on the tradition.
Re your post: what indeed is it about roses? They hold a unique place in history and folklore and are just achingly beautiful. Yours are stunning.
cheers, catmint
Noelle,
Thanks for the award-Your roses are beautiful-40 roses oh my goodness. For the love of roses!
they do bring such a joy to the garden and yours are exceptional.
vickie
Those roses are simply wonderful. I would imagine that in Arizona they would do great? Less humidity and disease problems? It is so nice to know what inspired you. And thank you so so much for honoring my blog! You have a great blog too and a well deserved award!
Hi Noelle, thanks so much for the award. I have a page, accessible on my sidebar where the awards are kept, sort of like a trophy case! I do appreciate you and your blog!
Now about those roses, wowee! When we lived in southern CA, we had Double Delight and it was my most favorite of all, that scent! Where we now live the roses have a much harder time living without spraying so we only have some Knockouts and Hybrid Musks which are treated like ordinary shrubs rather than prima donnas. Your photos are mouth watering! :-)
Thanks again,
Frances
Gorgeous roses! woah!!And Thankyou! You are such a wonderful spirit! I am honored you regard my blog in such a way!Many thanks and appreciation! and thank you again for the other award, you are very kind! Now..wow..your roses..I am a huge rose fan..I just am in love with them! I looove your photos...they are magical..and very beautiful!I am always wanting to try some new roses..so it is wonderful reading on them! Lovely story and post.. I enjoyed it very much! yes I am abit award-shy..but am very honored.. thankyou!I LOVE your blog and am happy you receieved this award..CONGRATS!!
I think Roses are worth the effort.My mom does ZERO gardening, except for her rose bushes in the front of the house.
These roses you shared are so beautiful...just glorious!
Congrats to you for getting this award and also I would like to thank you for the award, Noelle, I am honored you thought of my little blog. You are as sweet as ever!
Rosey
Thank you very much for the award. :)
We can only dream of growing Hybrid Teas no-spray here, but they are beautiful in the West.
Oh Noelle, Noelle! You are so kind to think of me and I am very touched by your award. I love visiting your blog for its beauty and your practical advice for growing plants naturally and that are suited to the desert climate. Especially now with our gardens in the North East gone to bed so to speak, it is a treat for the eyes and soul to see your blooms. These roses are lovely ... I would grow more except for what I fear must be used to have them succeed. I love the Rugosas for that reason. I hope you can prove me wrong ... can they be grown without the use of ... dare I say sprays of any sort? I am sure they can be grown organically ... I am just too lazy to figure it all out. Lazy may not be the right word as I am heading out soon with a weed whacker! Now that is not so good for the environment or my back! I wish I could afford a horse! Thank you for this lovely post and for your very generous honor towards me. Carol
The roses are so pretty. They all look so fresh, I wish I could see them in person right now. I'm hoping to get rid of more grass next year and will have the perfect spot for a few new roses.
Congrats on your award, I love your blog and all I've learned from it.
Thank you so much for the award! It was very nice of you to think of me and it made my day :)
Your roses are so beautiful! Sometime before January could you write on which varieties you have found to do the best for you here in the Phoenix area? It would be nice to have your personal experience!
Lovely roses-I can't believe you could grow so many in your climate!
I would like enjoy those beautiful roses "live" instead of this rainy northern November.
Love the color of that Rio Samba! -Jean
Thank you everyone for your thoughtful comments. I appreciate them so much.
Nancy, I will be sure to post what types of roses do well in our area. I will cover that at the end of the year when I will post about bare-root roses. Thank you for your comments, I appreciate them!
"Peggy Martin" rose is thornless.
Cl. "Little Pinkie" is thornless.
"Mrs. Dudley Cross" is thornless. She is a real beauty who blooms yellow and turns colors to end up pink.
Congratulations on the award, and a big "Thank You" for passing the honor on to me.
Hi, Congrats on the award. I so envy you... still savoring outdoor blooming roses. :D
Hey, thanks Noelle. I'm enjoying your blog and comments, too. I don't know if I'll post on this award, as I'm still due to post the Honest Scrap meme from Catmint and I only post once a week and I have pretty poinsettia pictures to post that are burning a hole in my pocket (camera) . . . but thanks a lot. I'll just smile about it instead!
Oh, and roses - I already ordered 4 more from David Austin for next spring: Munstead Wood (deep maroon), 2 Princess Alexandria of Kent (hot pink) and a Lady Emma Hamilton (peachy-orange). Plus they're sending a replacement LD Braithwaite (red) for the one they sent last year that had a virus. That will put me at 21 shrubs total. Hee-hee. I'm hooked!
Thanks so much for the list, it's wonderful to know they exist. I will pursue them further next planting season. :)
Hi Noelle - I too have awarded you the Best Blog Award on my site - I love your site - the Roses are beautiful - Gloria
Thank you so much for the award. I will definitely post it on my next post. However, I find it hard to choose my favorite blogs, so I will leave that part for others. Again, Thank you!!!
First, thank you so much for the award - truly flattering and I am very honored. Next, your roses are so beautiful! I know next to nothing about roses - can you recommend one of the books you found most helpful? I really need to plant some because a garden is not complete without roses, right? I planted one wild rose to start with. I especially love the last one - I seem to prefer the single blooms - weird I know.
Also, I love your roses and love learning that you love them too. You post so much about drought-resistant plants that I'd no idea about your roses. Beautiful post.
I would love to see a picture of your garden, when all of these roses are blooming - must be spectacular. Your photos are beautiful! And thanks for the award! WOW - though I don't see how I deserve it when I am seeing all these fantabulous blogs from all over the world. Thanks so much for your encouragement. I'll get around to posting on it in a couple days.
Hello Everyone,
I have truly been overwhelmed by your kind words.
Rosey, I can totally relate to your mom just growing roses and nothing else. I passed by a house today that had 1/2 the front yard torn out just so they could plant roses where the grass should be. I loved it!
Tina, roses do have fewer problems with foliar diseases since we are drier, but we do get some blackspot and powdery mildew, but not too much.
Frances, I think Double Delight is one of my absolute favorites, but I did not have too much success growing mine in AZ. However, the one I planted for my father in Los Angeles did very well. I think almost anything grows well in Southern CA.
Catherine, I would love to see your new rose garden, once you remove some more grass.
North of Sweden, I wish you could visit our rose gardens too!
VW, I totally understand how you feel. I used to love getting rose catalogs and deciding what ones I would choose. I can't wait to see the blooms of your new rose blooms.
Gloria, thank you so very much for the award. You are so kind and I appreciate it very much.
Violet Fern, I would recommend looking at the American Rose Society website at www.ars.org for great rose information. They also have links to regional rose societies that will help you decide what roses will do well in your area.
Deborah, I was happy to give you the award because although I am a rather new reader of your blog, I have enjoyed it very much!
Noelle
simply beautifully captured shots...lovely!
Noelle, beautiful roses and photos! Ironically we have reduced the number of roses in our garden due to the wet winters followed by extremely dry summers and my lack of desire to fight black spot, rust... so those that behave, get to stay. ;) Actually several that are prone to disease yet remain because we love them so... just have to overlook some of it.
Noelle, we wish you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving.
Congrats, it's well deserved! Aren't we lucky to have roses in our Thanksgiving centerpieces?
Hey Noelle, I really like the way you refer to my blog as 'prefer to be in the garden', I've been looking to kick it up a notch, and although I won't change it formally, I've updated my header to reflect the change. Thanks for the great suggestion, even if it was unintentional. :) Rebecca
Im very surprised that roses can do so well in hot climate. Often I thought they were the cold climate type.
I often thought that roses needed special care. Really enjoyed your rose garden.
And thank you for the Best Blog Award. Really appreciate it.
Hi Noelle , I have to repress the urge to go out and buy more roses :) . You Rio is the opposite of my Durban July .. pretty cool .. Ok I'll look for only that rose.
*Sigh* I think I'm in rose heaven! How beautiful they all are. I still have a few stalwarts out there, amazingly enough. I'm hoping to brag that I still have roses in December, but it's starting to get awfully cold. Hang on there roses! We have a lot of goldfinches here too, and they are so adorable, especially in the summer when they are bright yellow.
Morning Noelle, I am very impressed with those roses. Just lovely.
I appreciate the award, you are most kind. I enjoy reading your blog to see plants that are so very different from what we grow in the Southeast. Keep up the good work.
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