Rose garden, May 2018

The rose garden is my favorite in late May, the roses are all in bloom for the first time and the perennials help them show off. This was the first area of the yard that I started to work on in 2016 and looking back at the changes makes me happy, feels good to see the progression.

West fence, looking north

North fence, looking east

In the corner of the fences

Looking down the slope is the biggest change because the railroad tie retaining wall is gone and the whole shape of the slope is new. That's a major work in progress for this year.

North fence, looking east down the slope

In the main rose garden, I've only added a few more plants - a clematis in the corner, phlox to replace the fern leaf lavender that didn't survive the first winter, and three more bearded irises.

Clematis and rose in the mailbox corner

The irises have been amazing this year, now they're mostly done and time to deadhead because some are re-bloomers.

New bearded irises, earlier in May

Bearded iris, earlier in May

Bearded iris, earlier in May

Last bearded iris still blooming

All three of the peonies that I planted in the fall of 2016 finally bloomed this year, now I want more!

Peonies

Peony

Peony and catmint

We cut the roses way back in March, this year and last year, and that does seem to keep them healthier. We did take one out along the north fence, now trying to decide what to do with the gap. 

I mulched with wood chips in the fall and that keeps the weeds fairly well under control, but still have some grass and bindweed to pull out. I also put in a new drip line this week, the old one sprung a big leak last year, so the rose garden is all ready for summer! 

Rose and catmint

Update on 2016 projects

May is the month when my garden really wakes up, although everything is blooming later this year than in recent years. All three of my big project areas from last year have grown in so much: the rose garden, the back corner - which expanded into a larger meadow - and the sunny hillside. I'm really enjoying all of them, doing some weeding but not much other maintenance now. A garden is never done, but it's nice to be able to enjoy these areas as they are while I'm doing a lot of work on new projects.

The rose garden is now more than just roses! I have a small gap to fill in on the west fence where my fern leaf lavender plants did not survive the winter - darn, I loved them. I'm looking at replacing them with dwarf phlox, but haven't decided yet. Also yarrow did not survive in the north fence section, so I need to find a little more groundcover there.

These pictures are from January 2016, May 2016 and May 2017.

Rose garden, west fence, looking north

Rose garden, north fence, looking east

Rose garden, lower section looking east

My favorite part of the rose garden is the corner with bearded irises and peonies getting ready to bloom.

Corner of the rose garden

The sunny hillside has grown in so much! I've had to move some of kinnikinnick and penstemon around because the lupine and raspberries grew so quickly. The hot lips salvia survived the winter, barely - it's much smaller now but hopefully will grow quickly again. Yarrow again did not survive, maybe because they were specialty varieties and not the straight species.

Sunny hillside, looking south - January 2016, May 2016, May 2017

A closer look at the raspberries:

Raspberries, looking downhill (east)

I was a little worried about the meadow early in the spring and ended up weeded out a lot of shotweed. I've also been weeding out some grass and creeping buttercup, but now the native seeds are growing in. There are also non-native poppies because I let them go to seed last year along the bottom of the hillside; I'll deadhead so they don't take over. The shrubs under the arborvitae and across the middle are growing nicely too, as well as the trees (shore pines in the corner, crab apple and vine maple in the middle).

May 2016 and May 2017, looking south

May 2016 and May 2017, looking north

There is a forest of poppies all the way in the back corner too, I can't remember planting seeds there but must have. The invasive knotweed that was here is almost all gone, just a few pieces that I'm digging up as I find them. 

Mystery poppies

Progress in the rose garden: late summer

I've taken pictures three times now and not gotten around to writing about the rose garden - and then the pictures get old because flowers come and go so quick! I just looked back at my last post about this area, it's been over 3 months, and the plantings in front of the roses look completely different.

I love how quickly some of the perennials are growing in, and what a long blooming season the roses have. They'll likely still be blooming in October. 

Looking north

In the middle

Looking east

Lower section, looking east

Most of the seeds that I planted in late winter grew well, especially the thyme. I transplanted them in a few different batches but found that those that were transplanted earlier have grown larger. Here's the full list that I grew from seed:

• Calamintha "Marvelette Blue" 
• Calamintha "Marvelette White"
• Nepeta nervosa "Pink Cat"
• Veronica hybrida "Blue Bouquet"
• Mother-of-thyme, thymus Serpyllum
• Columbine Blue Star, Aquilegia caerulea
• Columbine Origami Red & White, Aquilegia x hybrida 'Origami Red & White'

Aquilegia, hiding behind the fern leaf lavender

I was tempted by a creeping bellflower in July and planted two of them: Campanula portenschlagiana ‘Catharina’

Bellflower, reblooming

My only recent plant acquisitions for this area, early in August were five bearded irises: Hemstitched, Slovak Prince, Speeding Again, Jesse's Song, and Italic Light. All blue, except the last which was a freeby, and all either reblooming or scented or both.

Oops, always more plants - also a few succulents that my mom sent home with me in June and I had growing in pots until recently. Those are at the top of the lower section of roses, which gets a lot of foot traffic so I hope they are tough enough. I'm pretty good at not actually stepping on them though.

Mystery succulents

A pretty mystery

I've been very pleased with how long most of the new plants are blooming for, or reblooming. There has been nice color all summer, and will be fun to see how early it starts next year - and how big everything gets when it's full grown.

Yarrow, reblooming

Creeping phlox, reblooming - and thyme

Heron's bill, slow growing but keeps blooming

I did some deadheading of the roses and raking up fallen leaves and flowers this week, but foresee a lot more to come in the fall. At least I should be able to stop watering soon!

Progress in the rose garden, part 4

It's been a month since my last update on the rose garden and I've been busy weeding and watering. One of my goals is to reduce both of those, but I know I'll have to do a lot more until my new plants are established and grow big enough to cover the space. I hooked up soaker hoses this week but not sure if they will provide enough water in the right places, I may still need to hand water some plants.

Front fence, looking north

North fence, looking east

Bottom section. looking east

I added a few plants here and there: three each of chives (allium schoenoprasum), white lavender (lavandula angustifolia 'Nana Alba') and yarrow (achillea 'Desert Eve Deep Rose' and 'Desert Eve Red'), plus four creeping thyme that I grew from seed. 

I have more seedlings to plant, white calamint, blue calamint, pink nepeta and red and blue aquilegia - as soon as they get a little bigger. I'm worried about pests - there are definitely rabbits around - and keeping them watered enough when they're so small. 

White lavender

Of the ten ranunculus 'Purple Sensation' bulbs that I planted, only five have come up and they're not growing very quickly. The ranunculus that I had bought early in the spring bloomed nicely but now look dead. I'll see what happens this summer and next spring, but I have read that ranunculus just don't well here, it's not quite cool enough. 

Everything else is growing, slowly but surely. 

Munstead lavender, yarrow and Heron's Bill in the back

Hardy geranium

Fern leaf lavender

I had hoped that the peonies I planted in the fall would bloom, but I knew it was likely too soon. Could be another 2-3 years.

Peonies and white lavender in front

The roses are loving the warm spring we're having. They are already having black spot problems, we spray with neem oil and need to go snip off more infected leaves. But the flowers are gorgeous and the plants are generally healthy.

Wild rose at the very bottom of the lower section of roses, growing a little wild

Progress in the rose garden, part 3

Early rose

Our recent sunny weather has brought out a couple of very early rose blooms, so of course the rose garden will start to look nice now. I've finally been able to plant more too, now waiting for everything to grow. What a difference from late January!

Jan. 28 to April 10, looking north

Jan. 28 to April 10, looking east

From local nurseries:

• 5x Stachys byzantina 'Silky Fleece' - a very short Lamb's Ear 
• 6x Erodium x 'Bishop's Form' - Heron's Bill
• 1x Phlox subulata 'Crimson Beauty' - pink creeping Phlox 
• 2x Phlox subulata 'Emerald Blue' - blue creeping Phlox 
• 3x Ranunculus asiaticus 'Mache' - mixed ranunculus, but these three are all red 
• 3x Lavandula multifida (fern leaf)
• 3x Lavandula 'Munstead'

The ranunculus are very scraggly now, the leaves are not doing well. I suspect it was too early for them to really be outdoors when I planted them. Everything else is growing and starting to spread out.

Bare root plants, from Breck's:

• 5x Salvia nemorosa 'Blauhugel' (Blue Hill)
• 1x Agastache 'Black Adder' - anise hyssop
• 5x Nepeta faassenii 'Walker's Low' - catmint
• 10x Ranunculus 'Purple Sensation' - these are bulbs, not yet coming up

These looked so tiny when they arrived, but they've been in the ground for a week and are starting to grow. There were quite a few more than 5 each of the salvia and catmint, so that may make up for the small size.  I hope they will all make good progress before the dry summer weather arrives.

Catmint

I also divided a giant geranium from a shadier area of the yard and planted four pieces in here. It is a true geranium, possibly 'Johnson's Blue' or 'Rozanne'. I'm leaning more toward 'Johnson's Blue' now, but need to see it bloom again to compare pictures.

Geranium

The peonies that I planted in the fall are doing great too. They were a grab bag, should be one each of pink, red and white, but I don't know what varieties. I hope they'll bloom this year, but peonies often don't the first year.

Peony

I've let the wild geraniums grow on the lower section of the north side, and weeding everything else out. I cut a couple of small blackberries today but otherwise the geranium seems to be crowding out the worse weeds.

Jan. 28 to April 10, looking east at lower section of roses

Now, I need to wait for other plants that I'm growing from seed to get big enough to put outside - and keep up on the weeds! I suppose we'll need to mow the lawn eventually too, before the dandelions go to seed.