Rose Bloom Clusters

I love the perfect, large, single blooms put out by many hybrid tea types of roses.  They stand out so well alone in a vase.  However, nothing in the plant world moves me more than a cluster of fragrant blooms on a rose bush.  They are natural bouquets to delight the heart of any passerby.

Many of my roses bloom in clusters.  Above is just one of many.  This is Compassion who is out-doing herself this year.  This cluster is so fragrant that it begs to have a nose buried in it.

Belinda's Dream is yet another rose that blooms in cluster profusion.  The blooms are also huge and fragrant.

Earthsong also often has nice clusters of bloom that are a much deeper pink than this photo looks on the computer.

Mrs. B. R. Cant makes clusters of these cabbage-like globes of color.  My newer camera just doesn't capture the color of these very well.  These flowers are such a deep rose color tinged with silvery pink that they really stand out.

Super Dorothy makes tight, grape-like clusters of small and frilly flowers.  You almost feel like you can cut a cluster off and eat it.

Dublin Bay also makes velvety-red bunches of blooms that are extremely long-lasting on the plant.  This plant is putting on a stellar show this late spring.

Cramoisi Superieur also puts out sweet little groups of bloom with a hint of cloves in the fragrance.  I love this little rose because Paw-paw had them planted all around his yard.  As a kid, I remember picking blooms off and smelling them and then giving them to Maw-maw.  Fragrances are such nostalgic things for me and bring back many wonderful memories.

May State of the Roses Post

Before anyone should think that all my roses look fabulous, be it known that I'm only showing pictures in this post of my better looking plants or those that I have good pictures of.  My Double Delight looks so bad that I haven't shown any pictures of it this year.  Some of my other roses, such as Mrs. B.R. Cant, Westerland, Madame Alfred Carriere, Gertrude Jekyll, Compassion, Prosperity, Buff Beauty, and Crepuscule, are all in-between flushes.  With that disclaimer in place, on to the show!  The following pictures were all taken within the last day or two.

This is Abraham Darby looking better at this time of year than ever in his life.  Usually, by late May blackspot has this bush looking very poor.  I think it's because we've had an exceptionally dry May that this hasn't happened this year.  Plus, I'm trying to keep this plant pruned back very far so it is continually putting on new, spotless leaves and growth.

Belinda's Dream is performing up to her usually stellar standard.  The blooms are as huge as normal and they have been continual this year.

Dublin Bay is putting out a second flush of bloom right now that will be amazing in about a week or so.  It's really doing well for me this year too.  I've trained the branches quite horizontally along the chain-link fence and he's putting out far more blooms than last year at this same time.

Ducher is also blooming like crazy right now.  Of course, this bush always blooms well for me through the heat.  Because it hasn't been as hot as usual, the blooms haven't started crisping yet and are larger than normal for this time of year.  As usual, no disease to speak of.

Yet another stellar performance month out of Earthsong.  The blooms have kept a deeper color because of the cooler weather.  Such a perfect plant!  I don't think there is a spot on any leaf on this entire bush right now.

Golden Celebration is performing about like Abraham Darby this year and I think for the same reasons.

Julia Child is putting out her best flush of blooms of the whole year right now.  She is such a sweet plant.  The other plants around her tend to shade her out some in the late summer, but at this time she is getting the perfect amount of sun.

Something To Sing About

Earthsong is my next rose that is at peak bloom right now.  In the April flush, Earthsong exhibits its deepest pink colors.  This rose is in bloom continually from April till frost, but the colors are richest now.

The blooms are large, fully double, and fragrant.  This rose really takes our Southern heat well and the blooms don't diminish in size as the temperatures get hotter.  

The bush form is full with no "naked legs."  I prune it back while deadheading the old blooms and this keeps it bushier. 

Earthsong is another of the Griffith Buck roses that are gaining in popularity these days.  It's classified as a shrub rose, though it looks like a grandiflora rose.  The blooms are held up over the foliage in a pleasing fashion, though the stems aren't overly long.  They don't last exceptionally long, but there are plenty of replacements as they blow away. 

The stems are a neatly contrasting red against the purple-rimmed leaves, especially in early spring before the blooms start.  This is one of my top five best performing roses and is highly recommended for Louisiana.  It supposedly does really well in colder areas of the country too.  My specimen has had almost no leaf loss due to blackspot, though it will get some spots late in the summer.  As noted before, I do not spray my roses with fungicide, so blackspot resistance is something I really appreciate. 

End of Season Awards

It's almost November and the flowering season is nearing its end.  That means it's time to give out some of the awards for best performance of the year.  These awards go out to the flowering plants that performed best for the longest period of time.  Longevity is the key here.  These are not necessarily my favorite flowers, but they have merited favor by looking good for the duration.

In the perennial category, there is a two-way tie for the win.  First up is Arizona Sun gaillardia.  This plant brightened up the flower bed from mid-spring all the way till now and is still going.  It has never been without blooms and is in a bed where I don't have irrigation.  It's taken all nature can throw at it and kept on smiling. 

The other winner is lantana.  I'm not breaking it down into varieties because all three of my lantana varieties did equally well.  They too have bloomed from mid-spring on and with little to no care at all.  Above is Ham and Eggs.

The lantanas bloom like crazy and are never without the constant buzz of insect and hummingbird wings.  Above is a mix of Miss Huff and (I think) Dallas Red.

In the annual category we have a surprise winner.  I didn't even plant this vinca, but it hasn't taken this slight to heart and has performed through heat and drought without a blink.  I've never watered it and it has happily bloomed away from it's crack in the concrete.  It is constantly covered in bloom and has a very pleasant form.  No other annual in my yard has looked this good for such a long time.  Next year I will definitely plant a bunch of these. 

In the shrub category, a couple of roses share the honor.  None of my other shrubs bloom as often or as long as these roses.  Above is Earthsong.  It keeps large blooms even in the heat of summer, gets no disease, has a pleasant fragrance, and asks for little care.  It has almost never been without at least a couple of blooms.

Belinda's Dream has a similar description.  Huge blooms, nice fragrance, pleasing bush form, no disease, and carefree.  It puts on a new flush of blooms at least once per month and the blooms are not diminished by heat.  It has not been touched by blackspot, even without fungicide. 

Honorable mention in the shrub category goes to my Royal Red buddleia ("butterfly bush.")  It has also bloomed all year, spreading sweet fragrance to people and sweet nectar to butterflies and hummingbirds for the duration.  I don't have a decent picture of it to post here. 

In the tree category, the winner is my Chaste Vitex tree.  Such lovely flowers, interesting foliage, a pleasing form, and sweet fragrance.  I also love that it attracts the friendly flyers that I delight to see. 

Earthsong In Summer

Mid-summer is a good time for me to gauge which roses will truly thrive in my climate.  It's the most brutal time of year for roses to endure in the Deep South.  We have extreme temperatures, off-the-chart high humidity, sometimes flooding rains, and sometimes long droughts.  The conditions are also perfect for that number one enemy of roses - blackspot.  Since I don't spray, this is about the best time to get an evaluation of what roses will make the cut for me.  One rose that is definitely passing with flying colors is the Griffith Buck rose, Earthsong. 

The blooms are this deep pink color and they have a sweet fragrance, though it is not extremely strong.  The flowers fade to a lighter pink in the sun, but they still retain attractive coloration.  I've seen no insect damage at all to the plant.

Here is a whole bush shot of mine.  It doesn't have a full, bushy shape and grows somewhat like a grandiflora.  I've determined to start pruning mine like a grandiflora/hybrid tea from this point onward.  The leaves are almost completely free of blackspot, though it sometimes gets a very small smattering of the disease.  I keep a layer of mulch around it's base and water with a drip irrigator when needed.  Once or twice a year I'll put a cup or two of alfalfa pellets around the base of the plant.  This is about the only care I give for any of my roses.  One of the things I really like about Earthsong is that the blooms don't seem to get smaller in the heat of summer like so many other roses do. 

The Griffith Buck roses were bred to take cold, so I like to recommend them to my Northern friends.  This is one of Buck's best ones.  These are some tough bushes because they take our Southern heat just as well as the Northern freezes.  A hardy family of roses and very worthy of consideration as easy to grow options in the landscape.  It's so sad to me that these are not readily offered in most area nurseries.  I recommend you look at Chamblee's web site to purchase this rose and many other Buck roses.

This last picture was taken back in May at the peak bloom of this rose.  I'm including it so you can see what it looks like at its best.  The smaller, lighter pink blooms are from an adjacent Super Dorothy rose.  Earthsong nearly always blooms in these luscious clusters early in the year. 

Earthsong

This rose has one of the most poetic names of all roses - Earthsong.  It's a rose developed by Dr. Griffith Buck, a horticulturist at Iowa State University.  Buck spent many years trying to get roses that are disease resistant, repeat blooming, and could really take cold weather without protection.  The result was a large group of shrub roses that are, naturally, called the Buck roses.  It just so happens that these tough roses also can take the heat and humidity of the South just as easily as they take the cold of the North.  Earthsong is the only Buck rose that I currently have and it performs stellarly.  From spring till frost it produces deep, hot pink roses with a semi-open bloom and a sweet fragrance.  My records show that last year it only got a little blackspot on its leaves in the late fall and lost no leaves from it - with no spraying.  Any people from colder climates that may read this blog should seriously consider this rose.  First I present a couple of single bloom photos:

Here's a shot of the whole bush as it looks now: