thevictoriangardener: Mai 2018

Dienstag, 15. Mai 2018

Garden Bloggers´ Bloom Day: May 2018

Dear readers,

I wish you all a happy Garden Bloggers´ Bloom Day, hoping that you are enjoying many blooms in your gardens this month. May is one of my favorite months and you might guess why. As a rose lover I have been looking forward to this the whole year- rose blooms and fragrance everywhere in my garden. Whereas at some months in the year I hardly find any blooms to share with you, this month there is so much going on and so much to share. Nevertheless, as you might have realised, I haven´t posted much, even though I really intended to. So far, this month hasn´t only been about enjoying rose blooms, but has also been about doing a lot of work in the garden. I have been watering the garden a lot as it has been very dry and warm over the last couple of weeks. I also spent much time on tidying up the garden. Furthermore, I was struggling with some rose pests (many rose buds were eaten off by caterpillar and other insects). Since I don´t spray my garden I had to cut back all the affected shoots and buds. I am happy that I have finally finished most of the tasks I had intended to do and finally have some time to work on my blog. I would have really preferred to write several smaller posts, but as I haven´t found the time, but would nevertheless like to share all my roses with you, this is going to be a very long post with many pictures (especially rose pictures). I for myself can never get enough of roses and rose pictures and I hope that you feel the same.

Before I lavish you with rose pictures, I just wanted to give you a short update on my garden. Unfortunately some plants died as winter in Vienna started off very mild and then ended with very cold spells in February and March. Unfortunately all but one of my rose plants I had taken from cuttings (it were over ten plants) died as they were bitten by the severe frost in late winter. They really looked good till April or so, but then they gradually died. Although the winter of 2016/2017 was colder than this year´s winter, the cuttings survived the winter of 2016/2017 without problems. This is why I didn´t worry about the roses this winter, but as it seems they could´t cope with these mild months followed by super cold days (-15 degrees) this year. I feel a bit sad that so many of the cuttings have died, as taking cuttings from roses and caring for them for almost two years was an effort and also because they bloomed so beautifully last year, but at least I now know that I should plant cuttings out earlier instead of leaving them in pots. Fortunately, all the roses in the garden have survived the winter without any problems and compared to last year have developed into quite large plants. I am very pleased with the borders I created and planted in autumn 2016. As I have hoped, they are looking better every year. Since the roses have established and grown, there is some height to the borders now and they don´t have that ´newly planted look`anymore. My new borders are also doing fine, but still look ´new` and need their time to establish. As you will also see in the pictures, I have finally finished the second brick wall on my terrace.

Thanks to Carol from https://www.maydreamsgardens.com for hosting Garden Bloggers´Bloom Day!

Enjoy the wonderful month of May!

Best wishes,

Lisa

Rosa Jaques Cartier

Rosa Jacques Cartier

Rosa Variegata di Bologna

Rosa mundi

Rosa Mme Boll

Rosa Variegata di Bologna

Rosa Blairii Number Two

Rosa Blairii Number Two. I planted this bourbon rose in autumn 2016 as a barefoot plant and as it flowers on old wood, this was the first time it flowered for me. I am so pleased with it. The flowers are really gorgeous, a beautiful soft pink and a very lovely old rose fragrance.

Rosa Blairii Number Two

Rosa Young Lycidas in a container on my terrace. It looks rather red in the picture, but actually its colour is more purple.

Rosa Mme Boll

Rose Mme Boll

Rose Kathleen Harrop and Rosa Reine de Violette

Rosa Reine de Violette

Rosa Harlow Carr

Rosa John Hopper

Rosa Mary Rose

Rosa Mary Rose in my grandma´s garden: My mum and I gave this rose to her two years ago and it is thriving . My grandma is very happy with the rose.

Rosa Mary Rose at my grandparent´s agdren

Rosa Minerva

This dianthus plant I bought during my England vacation last year. It smells divine.

Rosa Yolande de Aragon

Rosa Mme Caroline Testout, climbing up the brick wall on my terrace.

Sweet pea Gwendoline. I am so happy about my self-sowed sweet peas. Last year my sweet peas were a total disaster. During my England vacation I saw so many pretty sweet peas and thus thought I will give growing sweet peas another try the following year. I bough many sweet pea seeds in England and this year I put so much effort into growing them. I sowed them in October already, watered and fertilized them a lot and they are already blooming and smelling divine.

Sweet pea Just Julia

Rosa Chapeau de Napoleon

Rosa Tour de Malakoff and Rosa Chapeau de Napoleon: I bought these two roses in England during my England vacation last year. I took them back to Austria in my suitcase and as you can see they are doing fine. One rose I bought at the shop at Sissinghurst and one at Mottisfont. Whenever I see the two roses I get reminded of my beautiful England journey.