Mother Nature has Her Own Ideas

The 1/4 inch of rain was beautiful, much-needed and much-appreciated.
When I thought the flower garden was done for the year, what a nice surprise to see roses.  It is almost Halloween – pretty late in the season for here.
above:  single red rose
below:  miniature yellow rose

Advertisement

Rockin’ Roses

A ‘single’ rose means there are only five petals.  Their beauty is fleeting, they do not last long on the bush.  When the shrub is full of flowers it is quite a sight.  Then there is lots of deadheading, to encourage more blooms.
* * * * *

This small bush is a prolific producer of miniature roses
One of my favorites, sturdy and stalwart.
Again, lots of deadheading to keep it blooming & looking great.
* * * * *

Our most aromatic rose bush, which is why my husband had to buy this one.
* * * * *

Vi’s Violet is another miniature rose bush.
(I happened to find a broken name tag below.)
This plant struggles, but stays alive.  It gives a few blooms every year.
* * * * *

This poor plant had been struggling for a couple of years, and almost did not make it through the winter.  I dug out chives that were threatening to overrun at the base, and dug in bark mulch and added more topsoil.
It looks so much better this year.  A climbing bush that bears miniature red blossoms, this had been one of the most productive roses here.  It now looks to be on the way back to its former glory.

November Rose

With camera in hand, I was looking at the changing colors of leaves on small and large plants.  This miniature rose is so small, I mostly check to see if it is still alive.  I was very surprised to see a flower – in November!

There are still some large rose bushes blooming in town, but my home and gardens are ten miles away in the hills, at much cooler temperatures.  My larger rose bushes are long dormant and I do not expect to see any new growth until spring.

A lot of rain was in the weather forecast, so as the sky clouded up, I cut my solitary tiny rose and put it in a vase.  To keep things in perspective, this hand-blown glass vase is 1.5″ or 4cm tall.  Or should I say it is 4cm short?

It was a very cold day, and the house was relatively so much warmer, that I wondered how my flower would fare.  Even the north-facing kitchen windowsill was not agreeable enough.  By morning, the flower was about spent.

I have run into this before, when I tried to bring a flower from this particular plant to the indoors.  There must be something in its genetic makeup that is conditioned to cooler weather.

Yellow Mini – Rose

I have planted about half a dozen miniature rose bushes, and this one out-shines them all.  The second photo was taken in early June, and the first one just a day ago.  New flushes of flowers keep appearing on this small (about 14 inches in diameter) plant.  I love the cut flowers in my kitchen windowsill.

Almost all of my roses are from Heirloom Roses in St. Paul, Oregon.  These are not-grafted rose bushes all grown on their own rootstock.  I love to peruse the gardens at the nursery, and have shared the place with other plant-loving friends.

My favorites are the mini-roses where the entire plant is often smaller than 12″, and the flowers are proportionally smaller than regular roses, too.