CRAB APPLES AND EVEN MORE ROSES

Look at the colour of the sky in this photograph!  It's been windy and/or raining most of this week (and it's gone cold) but just for a moment this happened.

The photo is of a Malus Evereste which will, given time, be trained into a fine espalier.  The squirrels made short work of these last year, so I don't know how long the fruits will stay around for.



The title of this weeks post promises more roses, so same as usual then, I hear you mutter.   I've chosen ones that are easy, healthy and floriferous, but lacking the romance of an historic provenance or glamorous name, these are some unsung (at least by me) heroes of the rose garden. 

I am unreasonably prejudiced against any rose named to encourage it's purchase as a gift.* All very well if you are given one by your nearest and dearest on said occasion, but seemingly inappropriate to buy for oneself as a general garden plant.

* See Ruby Anniversary, Golden Wedding, Mum in a Million etc 

Nevertheless my garden is home to several Rosa 'Champagne Moment'.  It's a very pretty peachy cream floribunda which is very healthy.  No black spot at all.  If it were scented it would be perfect, but unfortunately it isn't.






I'm taking a short interlude for a picture of this very tall purple aster, 'Dark Desire', as it is such a striking colour.  It was bred locally to me by Norwell Nurseries, which has lots of interesting asters.


Going back to the Roses, here is Rosa 'Golden Showers', another perfectly good rose that has been saddled with a name that makes me wince.  It is usually the first to flower here (maybe because it's on a south facing wall) and seems to never be without a bloom or two throughout the Summer.


My final rose is Rosa 'Iceberg'.   It's may be ubiquitous and therefore not a very imaginative choice, but it's a brilliant rose, as I'm sure you know.  


Unfortunately the scent isn't that strong, but just look at the flower power on this one bush.  It seems to flower even better the second time around.



This photo is a record of my gardening activity for this week, which was tidying up these late spring borders in the Knot garden.  The iris produce loads of tatty dead leaves which need removing, and this border was harbouring quite a lot of weeds.   A few aubretia grown from seed this year have been added and some inexpensive allium bulbs from Wilkos will be planted out soon.  On the left of the photo is a yew topiary in the making which could do with a trim this week.  


There was one solitary iris flowering.

That's all from my garden this week, so thanks as always to the Propagator for hosting Six on Saturday.

Comments

  1. Thank you for articulating this problem with rose naming, I realise that I feel exactly the same way about it. Nonetheless Champagne Moment is very pretty, even if the name conjures up interminable wedding reception dinners. I do hope my Malus Evereste looks like that one day - mine has about five or six miniscule apples, but it's only one year old. How old is yours?

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    1. The Malus was bought partially trained so I think it's about four years old now. Wedding reception dinners is exactly the right image! If only it was just called Champagne that would be an improvement.

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  2. Fortunately you say that this beautiful blue sky only lasted a moment because I was jealous. The gloomy and autumnal weather is back here too, of course, and this weekend is going to be wet and windy. I like this climbing rose 'Golden Showers' against the wall, it's very well pruned

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  3. I do know what you mean about 'Occasion' Roses. Despite my misgivings, they often turn out to be good performers - I suppose if you're aiming to sell a Rose on mass, you'd better make it a good one!

    Anyway, the Roses are looking great!

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    1. I find I can overcome my objections if the price is right - hence the Champagne Moment.

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  4. Hi Hortus - it's been a while since I checked in on your garden but I'm so glad I did. I'm very taken with the colouring of 'Champagne Moment' - it's exquisite.

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  5. Kind of glad to see that you have an Iceberg, though it is very much bigger and in much better shape than mine. And agree with you about Ruby Anniversary etc. What nonsense!

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    1. They do seem to love a heavy clay soil, so we can keep them happy here.

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  6. A fine selection of roses (I also agree about the greetings card-like names). I've spent a while looking at the photo of the Malus and the blue sky - it's strangely warming on a gloomy sodden day like today.

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    1. I'm hoping we may see a bit of blue sky tomorrow, although we are getting some wind too.

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  7. Your roses are beautiful, your Iceberg are much better than mine, I'll have to give mine extra attention!

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  8. Gorgeous roses as others have also stated.

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  9. I totally agree about Iceberg roses. I know they are overused, but they are so reliable and the two we inherited which are by our front door are just wonderful and don't require any attention apart from pruning. They don't get black spot like our other roses and they flower constantly.

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    1. I’m glad Iceberg does well for you too. I’d like to try Gertrude Jekyll to see if it’s as reliable.

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  10. It's a bit sad that someone who thinks a plant is a good gift for a gardener would choose one for its name rather than its quality. Huge numbers of people do though, so it's not surprising growers go for it. It's far from being confined to roses, Camellias are nearly as bad.

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    1. I’m going to be looking out for naff Camelia names now.

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