More
of Bob's Occasional Thoughts on Gardening
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Dear Visitors, Thank you for dropping by my Gardens page. On occasion I write things about gardening and haven't set up a space for them to be read and recalled again. This page will be that place to store thoughts. I hope that this finds you loved and at peace, Bob |
| I wrote
this to a GardenWeb.com member who was preparing a bed
for his roses: Fragrance like fine wine must be savored at one's leisure. Mr. Tomtuxman, a hint of the joy of fragrant roses to consider. In my "becoming" rose garden what is charming is to sit on the porch and enjoy the waft of a hundred rose bushes in bloom nearby. Preferably with someone you cherish, a cup of tea, and a mild sweet wind. In your garden please remember to include a place close by your home with comfortable chairs, a small table, and locate it downwind of the evening breeze. And spend an evening leaning back watching the Perseides Meteor Shower gallop across the velvet and diamond sky. Bob, September 23, 2004 |
Ok you guys.... Talk me out of it!Posted by Beth NorCa 9 (My Page) on Mon, Nov 8, 04 at 23:18 I'm driving myself nuts surfing the web for roses..... as if I need any more. But.... I see some more roses I want from Heirloom. Seeing as how nice the batch I just got from them was... I'm debating over some more. (Yikes!) Anybody have any of these? I need to be talked out of a few of them.... or maybe ALL of them! LOL DESIREE
Any discouragement would be greatly appreciated!
Greetings all, Let's see, it was Beth from Northern California that set up the demand, "Talk me out of it!" Beth dear, this is a case of (I wish I could do this more gently...sigh!) OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE ROSEMANIA DISORDER!!!! Take a deep breath, now innnnnnn, hold it......now let it out slowly........there. Can we talk? Are you the lady with roses planted under your stairs? Didn't I pass your place and see you nagging your poor husband to build shelves on your home's walls for pots? If I remember right you went to a local paint store and asked the manager what colors would match your rose garden, right? I know I know, sometimes I mumble to myself when I walk in my rose garden. Your neighbor observed you doing the same thing, she's worried. But it's ok, we know you're just humming your favorite Andrea Bocelli song. Don't take it personally but really; sending your husband to work with a sandwich of bread and rose petals, the poor man, how on Earth will he be able to get through the day. Talk you out of it! Hmmmm, there must be drugs that could be prescribed for this mental condition...Anaphranil! Paxil! No that's too extreme...talk therapy, gentle persuation. Referrals to specialiststststssssss. Yesssssss...ththth My dear, you really don't have a problem with too many roses. It's your guilt getting to you. My suggestion is just like what I tell people when it's cold and rainy...go outside and bar-b-que! In your case, forget planting them in the ground..... Try......AH YES! THAT'S IT! EUREKA! Grow all the new roses in HANGING BASKETS and start a new trend! I'll send a note off to Sunset magazine for a photo tour of your place. We'll call the article, "Beth's Babylon" or something to do with..."The Hanging Gardens of Xochemilcko" or however that legendary Mexican place was spelled, just substitute Beth for the "X" word. Please post pictures on the rose forum and let us know how it's going. You have my sympathy, poor thing. It's a serious problem. Bob You guys are too funny! Like I expected you guys to help me say "no?" LOL Bob, no kidding.... it's a serious problem!! I just can't stop myself. And my husband gave up yrs ago! Yeah, I'm an orange rose nut; almost as bad as Kathy!! DRG, I've often wanted to go up to Heirloom, and some of those other places up north.... but I'm afraid of what I'd come back with. Besides, I can't take a trip longer than a couple of days. Who would take care of the roses I have?? PR, the "pot grotto" is a good idea, actually. That could be an excuse to have my husband make a pond..... oh wait.... too many pine trees around, wouldn't wanna have to keep cleaning those pine needles out of the water. It's bad enough getting them off the roof! WW, I had actually thought about CELTIC PRIDE, but I figured the list is long enough already!! And Harry.... we won't even go there as far as the credit cards are concerned!! (know what I mean??) And don't confuse me with the math problem, I'm already reeling as it is!! LOL I still haven't made up my mind which ones I really want.... but at least I didn't just go ahead and order them all!! (this time) And the rest of the thread continued with ribbing her, cute & funny. |
Planting bare-root roses -- what did I do wrong?Posted by floweryearth z10 FL (My Page) on Sat, Dec 11, 04 at 18:48 Hi, RE: Planting bare-root roses -- what did I do wrong?
Greetings all! Poopy, poopy answers so far. The poor guy just wants to know how to plant roses in Florida. Whatsamatta' youse? Arthur: First a little rose anatomy. When you gets the thing in the box the roots are brown and the sticks are green. The brown parts match the brown soil, that's where they go. Now listen Arthur, I'm gonna tell youse the way to plant dem bare root roses so you'll make all of them grow, right? Start with the soil! Don't EVEN think of planting ANYTHING before you start with the soil! Now, good I got your attention. Let's continue. Roses are like sports cars, but hey, for you Arther, they might have been more like dump trucks, stick with me, I'll help you tune up your garden. Give your roses lotsa drainage, lotsa sun, lotsa water, lotsa foitiliza and they bloom lotsa for you, more than any perennial plant ever. So you dig a BIG hole! Give it at least 3' across and deep. You fill the hole half full with compost, some bone meal, yer goldfish, things like that. Hey, you think I don't know sumpthin? I was diggin' a rose bed last year and I found someone's dentures two feet down. They had the right idea! Now you mix the mess. You throw the soil over it then dig it out and put in again, then it's mixed good all the way to the bottom. Have I worn you out yet? NO? Good, we're gonna plant the thing next. Take yer shovel handle and lay it across the top of the hole, see, and that's the level you want to have the bud union at if you live in Florida. Some people take and bury it a little deeper, it's ok by me. Now Arthur listen....the roots go DOWN! You add enough soil to make the pyramid thing high enough that the roots go around it and over it just like yer gramma's wig, the top of the hole is the level of the soil, dat's where the roots meet the green sticks, dat's de bud union. Put in enough soil to cover the roots so you can let go of the rose and it stays upright. Get up now, yer about half way done. Shovel in the rest of the half soil, half compost over the spread-over-de-pyramid roots. All of it. Take a hose and water it now so the soil fills in the holes around the roots, DON'T STEP ON IT, KEEP IT LOOSE! The water will do the settling, not your foot. Good soil is 50% air. The rose's roots need to breath in the soil spaces so if you EVER put your weight on the soil after that the rose will not perform as well. This goes for all soil beds! If you have to set foot on the worked up soil youse gets a piece of wood a couple feet wide and a yard long and put that down to step on so you never compact the soil, FOREVER! You know, like marriage, until youse dies! Awright, we'z almost home...I can just think of dat beer waitin' for me.... The rose still doesn't have any little feeder roots yet and won't for a couple months. No feeder roots, no water going up to the top floor, you follow me, Arthur? You gotta keep the top from drying out until the roots grow into the soil, right? So here's what you gonna do. Yer gonna COMPLETELY cover the green sticks all the way to the top, all the way over, like what they did to lefty in da movies. This is going to keep lotsa moisture around the stems for a couple months. You can use the surrounding dirt like I do, some people use leaves, sawdust, whatever and then leave it alone for a couple months. You look out in your garden and it looks like piles of elephant poop for a while. Just tell your nosey neighbors it's gopher holes, they'll understand. So you goes about yer business for a couple months...you eat a lot, you go fishin', lay in the sun with all dem snowbirds from New Yawk and one day you looks out in yer garden and you see little green leaves sticken out from the piles. Take yer water hose and rinse off some of the stuff...expose a few inches of the sticks to the hot sun. Wait a couple days and do it again. Keep at it for a couple weeks until the new rose is all uncovered. You've got the balance now. The roots in the soil now can supply enough water to the top of the plant so it'll continue. DON'T FERTILIZE IT YET! Them roots is little tiny babies right now, wait a month or two. If you want to give it a boost spray it with Spray-n-Grow to help it. You can find the link to this on my website. Awright Arthur my man! You gonna be DE MAN on the block with your roses! Have a beer! Bob |