Hot Hot Hot Weather Roses

For 3 days since last Saturday, my garden was experiencing the sizzling hot tropical weather. It was unbelievably warm for an alpine region especially for the month of May. Day temperature was 33 degrees celcius and that broke the record of July, from the summer of 2006.

It is very rare that I'm sweating so much unless working out on the cross trainer, but the last few days, suddenly my sweat glands decided to work extra hours that a new deo stick was called for and I found out by accident that deo sticks can also help keep sweaty palm dry. Question is; how often do you get that nervous until the palm of the hands get all sweaty and clammy?

We are currently enjoying a little over 15 hours of sunlight and the day will get longer and longer in the coming days. When the sun is exactly on top of the house, it is a bit like sitting inside a pizza oven. To be in a pizza oven during the weekend is a real torture. Being in an alpine country, the house is not equiped with fan or air-conditioning and a few days a year of over 28 degrees celcius is tolerable, but when it get over 30's and became too warm for comfort, I felt like a melting wax, soft and spilling all over the floor totally out of shape. The coolest part of the house is the wine cellar but this is not a place to chill out because there are no windows in there and the air is quite stale and musty.

So, the best place to be during such extreme warm days is out in the garden. Even though the air is hot outdoor, at least it is moving air with a plus of perfume in the air from the roses and other seasonal flowering shrubs. The only set back is that, during such warm days the pollen count in the air is also very high. After a train of 20 or more continuous sneezing, I ran back into the house until once again I'm spilling all over the place like a melting wax before running out into the garden once again seeking some cooling comfort under the trees.

Quite interesting in the last few days is that when the sun goes down, the night temperature did not drop below 20 degrees celcius. It remained warm the whole night through and very rare that I could sleep at night with all windows wide open, as if in a holiday chalet somewhere in the equator region minus the mosquito. That doesn't mean we don't have mosquito here. It is just too early for mosquito season but the night moths and other tiny little flying insects like the fruit flies are all over the lamps and constantly diving into our drinks. Those tiny flying insect will also fly straight into my eyes like a head on crash. I also noticed the fruit flies are very attracted to the wine glasses full or empty and then they float lifeless, probably drowned from the alcohol contents.

The extreme yo-yo difference between cold nights and warm days since early spring had caused a lot of confusion to the outdoor nature. The late emergence of predator bugs and other destructive pest are just one of the little signs of global climate changes, and when they did appeared, I saw the neighbour's cat had caught one of the blinchli as it is called here and brought the reptile home as a present to his people.

In other parts of the world this blinchli is also known as blind worm but actually it is not blind at all and it is not even a worm. It is a reptile; Anguis Fragilis, predators to the destructive slugs and other soft bodied insects. Whenever I'm working in the garden and saw one that's patrolling the garden, I usually dropped everything and ran into the house, close all doors and put on some music trying to erase their picture in my head. They are harmless animal but they look like a small snake. I have a phobia when snakes are concerned.

Some roses are very sensitive to the temperature changes especially during the time when they are forming their flower buds.

This year, there are so many roses in the garden that are showing the side effects of unstable temperatures. I’m seeing more and more vegetative centre or phyllode on the banksia Purezza blooms as they unfurl their petals. Phyllode means an expanded petiole taking on the function of a leaf bladeProliferation is not really a pretty sight but there is really no cure for it because this is what happened when the climate and temperatures rise and drop unpredictablably. Some roses are just too sensitive to such changes. You don't see such malformations on commercially sold roses from your local florist. This is because those florist roses are cultivated in a controlled green house environment to achieve the "cookie cutter" perfection uniform buds and flower formation.

Home grown garden roses on the other hand must learn to adapt to local climatic and temperature changes. Roses are basically very easy plant to grow and maintained. Once established roses are very draught tolerant and they don't really require much attention at all. The number one factor which roses required most is at least 6 hours of sun for them to really thrive. They are quite flexible about their other requirements, and most of them will still produce flowers even without fertilisers or deadheading. Of course a few minutes tending to their basic needs will boost and perk up their performance. Given the right amount of care and feeding, they without fail will reward you with abundance of awe.

All my roses are standing up well in such current heat basking in the hot sun except for the newcomer Madame Lombard who's showing some kind of heat stress and dropping petals before unfurling
This is probably because her bareroots are still not strong enough to support all the blooms she's making. By right I should remove all the flowers so the plant can concentrate on establishing roots first, but I am so curious to see how the flowers look like and which colour group it fall into before I decide her permanent position in the garden. This is not the fault of the rose but only me and myself to be blamed.
Souvenir de la Malmaison is definitely the number one rose that prefers hot sunny days instead of wet weather. It hasn't look so good like this for a long time because rain followed by sunny spells spoils the petals and make the plant look nightmarishly ugly with mumified balled up blooms. The extreme difference between warm and cool temperature since spring started had also made this rose very confused during buds formation. Actually there are so many roses in the garden looking a bit chaotic in their petals arrangements due to the weather phenomena.

With a fairly stable temperature, Souvenir de la Malmaison in my humble opinion is one of those most breathtaking roses to adorn the garden with a fragrance I can only describe as dreamy and sedating. The petals imperfection shown in the picture above clearly reflect the kind of weather in the last 2 months. Isn't that amazing? Roses not only speak the language of romance but they also record the weather pattern in their petals.
Similar to Souvenir de la Malmaison thin petals, Hermosa (picture above) is another one which cannot take the extreme weather changes in my garden's wet and rainy micro climate. With the last couple of days of really hot weather, the petals successfully unfurl and the blooms opened up beautifully. The thin petals, almost like tissue papers are easily saturated by rain, causing them to stick together. When the weather dries up, the wet and saturated outer petals stuck together, forming an outer shell or hard case and thus preventing the inner petals to open up. Further dampness after the hard case developed usually lead to central petals fouling and the whole flower just rot in waste.

This is just a tiny observation from my backyard which relate to bigger issues of global warming potential. My world is your world too. Help reduce carbon footprint. Recycle whenever you can.
Green up your world, colour it with flowers and enjoy your garden.

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Copyright © Rosesarerae All Rights Reserved

Spring in here!!

We have had a l-o-n-g winter, starting with the first snow storm that hit us on the last day of October 2008. In my region, that snow fall caught many people by surprise. There was a great deal of damage to those unprepared for an unusually early snow blanket. The heavy snow broke branches, knocked down several trees and flattened part of my garden. It was a big shock when I came home and saw several of my few years old standard rose trees snapped in half.

After months of restless wait, and not able to do anything in the garden, finally I woke up to be greeted by a weak sunshine with a clear blue sky, a typical day of early spring . The air was crispy fresh and the quicksilver rised up for the first time to 12degrees celcius by mid noon.

There are still snow on the north facing shadow side of the opposite hill, but our south aspect sunny exposed garden are now beginning to show some colours and signs of life waking up from a long winter hibernation.

Abracadabra! ....and the winter spell in my garden is officially broken. The whole south facing slope is now covered with nodding white blooms of snowdrops.
Crocusus are popping up all over the place enriching the joy of spring arrival with patches of colours, ....even in unexpected placesThis white Heleborus Niger also known as Christmas Rose, seemed to be ahead of Foetidus and the others cultivars.
Miss Spade and Mr. Fork are still waiting for the ground to fully thaw before they can start getting into gardening action, digging new planting holes and uprooting weedy resprouting brambles but Unermüdliche rose, which arrived from Italy in late February, though still living in a small pot, surprisingly made an impatient jumpstart ahead of others.
These are just small signs of new beginning to the gardening year with so many more exciting and promising days ahead. It is the time of year to celebrate growth, to be out and about enjoying the outdoors, the fresh air and a good dose of natural vitamin D from the sun.

Of course, the joy of spring can be a different story for those with seasonal allergic reactions.
http://rae-dogblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/dog-spring-allergy.html

Nozomi - a rose with a sad story Part I

She's calling out for spring but watch out those grabbers.

There is a story behind every rose. Nozomi was a toddler when she died on a train journey on her way to her uncle after both her parents died during the war. Her uncle, Dr. Onodera was then an amateur rose hybridizer, created this rose in honour of his niece.

I will update the story of Nozomi when she bloom in mid spring,.....in about 6 weeks :((

Spring has popped up in Geneva

Its already spring in Geneva, 3 hours drive south west from my garden. Some people may say "false spring" as there can still be one or 2 more hard frost or even snow....but the snowdrops are always ahead of forsythia or other flowers that appear in late winter. Crocus are also blooming Wild daisies are all over the grassy areas....and most interestingly, as usual my GPS took me to this road as I go around searching for parking. This is not a rose garden but a small lane
As I stepped out of the car, I spotted this bush that's towering to at least 3 meters tall. Looks like a a very mature hybrid tea bush with lots of intact blooms. Some looked a bit worn out after the winter battering but there are a few good looking buds unscathed by the winter frost.
I can't get a better picture than this as it is a very very tall bush but you can see bits of the leaves shows some frost burnt. A closer look at the buds that looked like its about to open up as the temperature gets milder and warmer.

Roses growing on high altitude

Rose report from the mountain village of 1200 meters above sea level

I am back in the tiny mountain village of Alagna Valsesia, which is 1200metres on the southern flank of Europe's second highest peak - the Monte Rosa.

The history of this village and its people goes back to more than 1000 years ago. They were originally german speakers from scattered parts of Switzerland. Even though their geographic culinary is very Italian, the Valser people are very proud of their ancestors tradition and way of life. They really love their rugged terrains.

Despite the waves of modernisation that took place over the years, Alagna and the surrounding villages basically retained much of it rustic charm. During the early 19 century, the Queen Margharita of Italy spent most of her summer months at the foot of the Monte Rosa. The queen must have enjoyed the outdoor and mountaineering, that in 1890 she commissioned a mountain refuge be built atop the punta Gnifetti at 4560m. It became the highest mountain refuge in Europe.

The refuge is still in use today after much restructuring, providing shelter to hundreds of climbers during peak summer months. Scientists from all over the world use the refuge as a base for studying the affects of high altitude on humans.

After many years of coming back to this village, Alagna for me is by far the best out of bounds off piste skiing. There are very few ski resorts in the world which offer 3000m of lift accessed vertical!!

I am here not only for freeride freestyle heli-skiing, but also studying and documenting the roses that are growing around the village at this high altitude.
This year, during the time of my visit, the amount of snow is astounding. You can see how the pergola below bowed down under the weight of snow. I can't hardly see anything except a few taller upright growers hybrid teas roses that are growing against the walls

When not documenting roses, I'm somewhere up there with my skis http://rae-dogblog.blogspot.com/

Rosy Inheritance

Some people collect stamps, shoes, handbags, books, antique cars, motorbikes.....all sorts of things A to Z.

I used to collect shoes and handbags until my closet exploded! These days I go about like "men's style" small thin wallet tucked in nicely in the inner pocket of my jacket. Handbags made me look clumsy, what more with the laptop bag and file bag and sandwich in one hand and car keys and and and.... I am now a simplified person. Less is more.

I have always been collecting plants since I was a kid. It started with cactus, succulent and seeds of all sorts. Later on, I bought my first house and by default I inherited everything that's planted by the previous owner. It didn't take me long before I ripped off the tennis court and expanded the garden.
Few years after that, I ran out of space. Its time to move on and built a house in a middle of a vineyard. I started the new garden on a blank canvas. As of today, the terraced flat areas are filled up neck in neck and and I am forced to cultivate a less than practical adjoining areas, a small woodland clearing and 60 degrees steep slopes meaning whatever plants that are going to be grown there must be easy care and low maintenance. Being an an avid rose collector, so I began a quest searching and collecting rare and antique roses that are low maintenance.

My friends asked "How many roses are you going to grow??

"until I ran out of space"

"That's a lot of work" they said

"not necessarily" was my answer

A lot of people I knew are convinced that roses are high maintenance plants, but this is a general misconception. Gardening is a constant maintenance work even when done on a recreational basis. 4 hours on the golf course is also work, plus the extra hours spent working on putting and chipping practices leaving patches on the lawn. Plants are living growing things. Some plants are known to travel from one corner of the garden and popped up in another place. Some plants are thugs and they smother other plants. It is always a matter of selecting the right plant for the right usage.

This unidentified old rose which I inherited through the property is a good example. It is one of the many rose shrubs that is growing all over the place in the vineyard. It is also a fine example of a very cold hardy rose and able to take the exposed windy location very well. As seen in the picture below, it is growing just behind the retaining wall and thrived by itself for years getting water from the rain and sharing whatever fertilizer the grape vines received. This is a very low maintenance rose. The plant practically takes care of itself and very disease resistant too.
Nobody from the vineyards hands are able to identify this rose. The older generation who started the vineyards are long gone. Roses are commonly used by wine growers to detect the spores of powdery mildew which will catch the roses first before infecting the grapes. So I am quite sure this roses must have been part of the vineyard culture for a long time. The grape vines surrounding it has been replace a couple of times in the last many decades. I am slowly going through the records of the vineyard tracing its history, the variety of grapes introduced over the last decades, the bills and payments slips but I still haven't come across anything about the roses.

After a few years of studying the plant, leaves, blooms and other characteristics of my inherited roses, I am quite sure this one in particular is Celesté from Alba group of roses. I could be wrong, I have been wrong before. Identifying roses is very tricky. 9 of 10 characteristic may match but the last one is always the doubt factor because so many roses share similar characteristics and for an untrained eyes like mine, they all look the same! There are conflicting thoughts from expert rosarians too.

Why bother finding the name? A rose is a rose, but that is like saying all individual human beings are the same....and we know that is not true. Roses are like human. They have genetic codes and these codes determines their survival care.

According to: Die Rose: Geschichte, Arten, Kultur und Verwendung (The Rose: History, Kinds, Culture and Use); alba. Céleste, light incarnate, medium size, full, flat cup form, one of the most beautiful in this group

According to: Roses (Phillips & Rix); Celeste, (Celestial) An Alba which originated in Holland around the end of the 18th century. It makes a large rounded bush up to 2 m high, with grey-green leaves typical of R. x alba, and exceptionally beautiful, sweetly scented flowers.Illustrated by Redoute under the name R. damascena 'Aurore'.

According to: Classic Roses - An Illustrated Encyclopedia and Grower's Manual of Old Roses, Shrub Roses & Climbers; Celestial ('Celeste') Alba. Very ancient. Description and cultivation... flowers: soft pink...

According to the Rose Bible: Description; Don't prune bush low or they'll spend the next season reaching the height at which they're comfortable before blossoming.

Looking at the size of the woody canes, I guess my Inheritance has never met the secateurs.

According to the book: Gardening with old roses; Soft pink ... definitely performs better in light or dappled shade.

-->but my inherited rose is growing in full sun, in a most exposed windy location on top of a hill between rows and rows of grapes.

According to: The Ultimate Rose Book; Céleste ('Celestial') Alba. Description... an especially delicate clear shade of pink...

According to: The Ultimate Rose Book; Celestial Alba. Parentage: Unknown. (aka 'Celeste') Origin unknown, possibly The Netherlands. Description and cultivation... flowers: soft, even pink... Elongated red fruit...

--> I must remember to take picture of the hips soon

According to: Der Rosenfreund 1873 ed. Rosa alba. Celestial, medium size, full, pale pink-flesh-coloured, flat cup form; can be regarded as one of the most beautiful of this group. Very suitable for pillars and pyramids.

According to: Der Rosenzüchter, oder die Cultur der Rosen Alba. Celestial, medium size, full, pale pink, flesh-coloured, flat cup form.

According to: The Rose Garden (First Edition 1848) Rosa alba. Celestial; flowers flesh colour, beautifully tinted with the most delicate pink, of medium size, double; form, cupped. Habit, erect; growth, moderate.

According to: The Rose Garden (First Edition 1848) Rosa alba. New Celestial; flowers bright pinkish rose, large and showy.

According to: Rosenlexikon; Céleste (alba) ; flesh-white, medium size, double, cup form, 2 m.Celestial (damask) ? ? ; vivid pink, mediums ize, double = Rose céleste.Celestial (alba) in England ? ; flesh-white = Maiden's Blush

According to: The Essential Earthman; Gertrude Jekyll's donkey, Jack, once ate the side off a large plant of [Celestial], and Vita Sackville-West once observed that if she had to settle for just one alba it would be 'Celestial.' These were both great authorities on roses. Others prefer 'Maiden's Blush' or (as the French call it) 'Cuisse de Nymphe Emue,' which is to say the thigh of a passionate nymph. It is quite similar to 'Celestial,' perhaps more a bluish color....

I have grown Maiden's Blush for a few years now in an effort to compare the 2 roses. From a distance they look similar. They leaves and young canes look the same but the blooms are different. Maiden's Blush has got more petal count, compact and somewhat not as flat as Celesté


http://www.apictureofroses.com/cms/class/alba.htm

Read my other blog - Pooch

Talking in my head

A few of my gardening friends in the US and the UK already sprung into spring and started their gardening activities. It will be another month here before the ground warm up and ready for plantings. We usually get snow up to the first week of March. 4 more weeks....and that feels like light years!!

I really feel like I'm slowly decomposing under piles of snow. Its getting a bit depressing with too many grey and sunless day. This picture below was taken during the early days of winter. There was still some colours at the beginning of winter. At the moment everything is just twigs and sticks.
Today, the weather is not really that bad, it started frosty grey but the sun came out this morning though it is frozen cold out there. This week we had a record freezing temperature since years. This will make the spring arrival even later than usual.

I went to check the forsythia to see if there are some fat buds unfortunately they too are still very sleepy. No signs of crocus or early spring bulb poking out from under the snow blanket either.

"Kaboom the cat" helped digging in the snow searching for some signs of spring

While the cat is busy working in the garden, the dog is having a great time in the snow. Read my other blog - Pooch: I'm not a toy dog. I'm just a midget!

The wild birds really brought some life to the very very sleepy garden......This is (don't laugh) Long Tail Tit or Aegithalos Caudatus, a very tiny bird and oh so sweet looking.As I put down my thoughts into words, I realised my gardening activities meant much more than a place I dig around and plant things. It is not only a place where I chill out amongst my plants collection but also a place I could connect myself to many many things in life.

The thing I missed most is the outdoor freedom, sights and sound of nature, surrounded by trees, wild birds singing, buzzing bees, all the insects, pest and slugs that eat up my seedlings and plants, far far away from honking noise, no hustle bustle shoulder brushing or getting my feathers ruffled the wrong way, no Q&A, no worry if I'm being politically correct or not, no staring into the closet and asking "what should I wear today" because the garden plants really don't care if I'm dressed up to the nines or not. It is my backyard and I can be as sloppy as I want.....and the birds don't care either
The other thing I missed most is TALKING IN MY HEAD. Sounds like a crazy thing isn't it? Maybe I am a nutcase! This "talking in my head" happen only when I'm doing something in a repetitious way such as pulling weeds or digging a planting hole. Going on the tread mill is also a repetitative movement but somewhat its not the same feeling like "talking in my head" while I'm toiling in the garden.

Some people talk in their heads while driving but I can't do that because my brain function differently to stay alert and concentrate on the ever increasing numbers of speed cameras that's popping up like mushroom all over the place.

There are others who talk in their heads while walking as walk is a repetitive movement but not me probably because my eyes are busy enjoying the surrounding views. Walking the dog can be a good time to reflect whatever that's in my mind but also that doesn't work because I have to constantly follow the pooch to make sure he doesn't roll on some stinky stuff. I still don't understand why my dog really like that "canal number 15"

Apparently, a lot of people talk to themselves whether loudly or silently in their heads. This is a big relieve to know. I thought I was going nuts or something but Nut is also ancient Egyptian goddess of the sky!

Interestingly, talking in the head is actually a sign that the person is sorting out his/her thoughts, kind of mentally organising their mental notes etc.

I don't feel too weird about myself anymore since I read this article
http://health.yahoo.com/experts/depression/12522/does-talking-to-yourself-mean-youre-crazy/

Clearly after 3 months of winter, and now the 4th month.....my lifestyle is getting a little bit crammed in the winter jackets and indoor heating. I'm entitled to get a little depressed and affected by the long dark grey days of winter. I probably would be in the loony bin without my glass house winter garden.

I think its about time I head south for some sun.....

Madame Lombard and Unermüdliche arrived in my garden!!

I am over the moon.... so excited, I even did the moon dance!


2 days after I got back from my Italian rosescapades, Tino from La Campanella rose nursery called saying that 2 of my roses are still in their nursery and that he will parcel them over.

Later he sent me the tracking number so I could keep track of the roses journey. For 5 days I was like a little kid waiting for Santa Claus to deliver the christmas present.

Finally yesterday, I got home and the box was patiently waiting to release the joy that's tightly packed inside.

I flipped twice over the moon. Double joy!!
Madame Lombard and Unermüdlich finally made it to my garden.

Yay!! The roses are showing signs of growth even while in the box. They seem impatient to start the rose season.

According to Walter Branchi, the well known Italian Tea Rose collector; Unermüdliche is a special rose that is tireless in its flowering (instancabile nella fioritura...) but of course his garden location is in the warm south, a climate that is similar to Rome. I look forward to see how this rose perform in my climate, hopefully this rose will live up to her name and bloom tirelessly.....

Since Madame Lombard's hardiness is just on the border zone, she will join Rosette Delizy & Rival de Paestum in the glass house. A bit of extra work pushing pots in and out of the winter garden but then hey! if I don't try it, I'll never find out anything about these roses.

Special thanks to Tino from La Campanella. You made my day! .....all the best.

Follow up to where I last picked up

We are still in the depth of winter. Grey and cold but the good thing about my location is that we occasionally get that warm air http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foehn_windpushed pushing up from the south. When this happened, it is almost like a short break from the dreary days of winter grey, with sunny clear blue sky, walking around with just a layer of clothing but this joy of tee shirt temperature is very short. The moment the sun goes down, the quicksilver will plunge down again to normal 0°C or thereabout winter temperature and life gets back to parkas and down jackets.

Took the dog for his walk and feed some ducks down at the river earlier today.


Nothing much going on in the garden at the moment. Almost everything in hibernation.
I've potted up all the bareroots roses I brought back from Italy in temporary pots until I can plant them out in the garden when the ground is workable. We have had frozen temperature for a long stretch of weeks and the pots was frozen solid. There was 2 days of föhn last week and I could see the ice thawing but it will be snowing again soon.


I also found Stanwell Perpetual left over rose bud from last autumn still hanging on despited all the freeze and thaw. Amazing.


The Pieris are busy making buds to break the winter spell.

When I was at the garden centre the other day buying soil for potting up the bareroses, I bought some primula aka primrose to cheer up my very monotonus green winter garden (actually more about cheering up my own self lol )
They came in all kinds of cheerful eye candy colours. This must be the answer to bridge the gap for colour starving souls.

Rosette Delizy breaking bud eye growth.
Nature's way revealing spring is just around the corner??


To my delight, some of my other newly bought bareroots roses are also showing some reddish cooked shrimp coloured tiny red shoots.

O joy!! Spring cleaning is looming in the air :(