I'm almost near completion on my rose garden overhaul. Last year, I had at least 2 dozens roses in my main rose bed, most of them hybrid teas. This winter was particularly brutal, especially the Easter freeze which hit after the roses were already budding. Many of the HTs suffered dieback, and Peace unfortunately died altogether. It probably didn't help that most of my roses, even the BS resistant ones like Belinda's Dream, got hit hard with disease before winter came. I think that probably contributed significantly to the damage. So once the warm weather returned, I vowed to re-think this garden and to replace the HTs with more hardy OGRs which had also proven to be disease resistant through the years (while I am not totally organic yet, I am loathe to use fungicides.)

Luckily, I was able to give away most of the HTs I removed from my garden. Unfortunately my Iceberg climber, which had put on such a spectacular spring flush in 2006, developed RMV over the summer and was exhibiting spindly growth this spring. It was shovel pruned with regret.

I had always purchased container grown plants in the past, mainly from local stores in my area, but having read about the benefits of own roots, I decided to finally venture into this territory. I settled on the Hybrid Musks Penelope and Clytemnestra for the back corners of my bed, where there is some shade during part of each day, and for the sunny center of the bed I was able to locate an own root of the cemetery rose, Manchester Guardian Angel. I was able to purchase all three from Eldritch Wood Nursery in Magnolia, TX. They also have a store on eBay (their user name is countryrose368). I would heartily recommend them, as each rose is actively growing and even blooming. (However, a fourth rose which I purchased from them, Dame De Couer, did die this week--I'm currently not sure of the cause). Because these own roots were purchased in bands, I realized that my garden would look pretty bare for the next year, and so I did end up leaving 5 of my former roses (Circus, Mojave, Montezuma, Ambassador, and Fourth of July) in this bed, as all were showing good growth and multiple blooms. That way, I would have at least have some roses to enjoy this year! To round out this bed, I was able to purchase 3 own roots from The Uncommon Rose before they closed their doors (2 October Moons and a Hugh Dickson). All of these are also growing rapidly and blooming, so I am very pleased with all my own roots thus far.

For the past 2 years, this rose bed has been limited to roses, but this year, as part of my re-thinking of its purpose, I decided to add additional interest in the form of clematis and perennials. I was able to purchase 5 different clematis from Bluestone Perennials during their Memorial Day sale (Gravetye Beauty, Mme. Julia Correvon, Huldine, Venosa Violacea, and Duchess of Albany--all pruning group 3 clematis). I also added Variegated Sweet flags, Agastache 'Golden Jubilee', Shasta Daisy 'Wirral Pride', Sedum Matrona, and Titan Blue Vinca. Overall, I'm very pleased with the effect, though most of the perennials, like the roses, are still small and have yet to grow into their own. Next year, I'm very hopeful that everything will be growing nicely and that this garden will be full of many colorful blooms to enjoy (and photograph!)

In my garden, the first spring flush is over-only sporadic blooms are appearing on a few shrubs. This first flush was spectacular-almost every bush was full of blooms, save for a few stragglers. Unfortunately, May has been an overly wet and cool month, so a few of the hybrid teas are showing signs of mildew. Last year the main rose garden was fairly blackspot free-only the trellis garden, where Coral Dawn and Radox Bouquet are located, suffered from BS. This year, however, both Coral Dawn and Radox are BS free-and the main garden has been riddled with pockets of BS on normally disease free shrubs-puzzling, but probably attributable to the amount of rainfall we received coupled with cool, even chilly nights. It is hot here now, with less rain-so the garden is beginning to revert to its 'summer self' again.

The most exciting addition to the rose garden this spring is a Burgundy Iceberg which I was fortunate enough to locate. I confess I did not know it existed until I came upon it in a little nursery in a small town in the very northeast corner of Arkansas. It was in bloom and the luscious, velvety burgundy petals immediately drew my eye. I was startled to discover it was indeed a Burgundy Iceberg-but stupidly, I didn't buy it that day. It wasn't until I returned home and looked it up on HelpMeFind that I discovered how truly rare this find was. I went back the next week and luckily, it was still there! The saleslady didn't know anything about the rose-she just told me it had been located in the 'prove' garden as a test of its ability to grow and bloom. She said it was the only one they had received. And, best of all, I got it for only $10.50. A true find! It is now planted in a pot on my gazebo and I am looking forward to enjoying it there all summer-and for many summers to come.