A Rose (Top Gun) and a Motivational Tip for the Day

On 4 Feb 2021 By SCLMRoseIn #MotivationalTips, #PositiveThinking, #ThursdayThoughts, #ThursdayTips, Blogging, Hobby, Inspirational1 Comment

Name of Rose: Top Gun

Class: Shrub

Registration Name: Rosa cv. ‘WEKmoridahor

Parentage: ‘Memorial Day’ x ‘Home Run’

Hybridizer: Tom Carruth

Date of Introduction: 2016

‘Top Gun’ rose is a true breeding breakthrough. True to its name, this new rose tops in disease resistance and flower power. It even shows resistance to rose rosette disease. ‘Top Gun’ offers intense red with dark red veining flowers that seems to glisten in clusters of 3-5 blooms, 3” in diameter with moderate, fruity fragrance. ‘Top Gun’ produces clusters of single to semi-double, and is quick to repeat bloom cycles so you’ll enjoy constant color in your garden, even into late fall. It has large, glossy, full, dark green foliage of 3-7 leaflets that greatly enhanced disease resistance. This tough-as-nails landscape rose grows 3-4 ft. tall x 4-5 ft. wide.

Looking for a tough, easy-care rose with loads of brilliant glistening blooms? ‘Top Gun’ rose knocks out the competition in test gardens. ‘Top Gun’ exhibited excellent natural resistance to powdery mildew, downy mildew, rust, black spot and even rose rosette disease, so common in other “tough” roses. This new introduction is a top choice for beginning gardeners or gardeners who want a healthy low-maintenance shrub rose that can be grown without chemicals. It’s true best performing shrub rose you can grow.

I have two growing in pots and they are constantly in blooms and make a great statement with that vivid red petals with yellow stamens!

Tip of the Day – Do a good deed. Helping others helps you. Acts of kindness spark release of the hormone oxytocin, which is good for heart health. You’ll get a psychological boost, too.

Rosey things to do in September and October

On 7 Sep 2018 By SCLMRoseIn #amwriting, #Author's Life, Blogging, Fall Season, Rose Care, Rose Culture, Rose Gardening2 Comments

Warm, sunny days and cool nights make our roses bloom larger and more brilliantly colored. However, we still have to do our part to make it happen.

The summer heat typically continues into the month of September in the Charleston area. Up north where I came from, the temperature usually cools off after Labor Day weekend. Regardless of where you are, to prepare your roses for the coming winter, if rain does not come, you have to supplement the rain. Your roses will need daily watering in order to avoid stress. Water deeply, often and well. If you plan to exhibit or showcase your roses in any of the fall rose shows, you have to water daily as this will increase the substance of your blooms. Deep watering is needed, or the little feeder roots on the plant will grow toward the surface seeking moisture. Well-hydrated roses fare better during the winter months.

To get your roses growing for the fall flush, a variety of fertilizers can be used. Granular fertilizers, if used, should be discontinued after early Sept. A balanced water-soluble fertilizer should be applied every two weeks through the end of September. Fish emulsion can be used along with the water-soluble fertilizer. After the initial growth spurt, the roses will benefit from the reduction of nitrogen with the use of a bloom booster formulation, one with the high middle number to get larger blooms of intense color. Discontinue fertilizers from October through mid-March.

The fall “pruning” is better described as a cutback because the bushes are not taken down as far as the spring pruning. The growth should be reduced by ¼ to 1/3 depending on whether it is a very large established bush or a new bush planted in the previous spring. Do remove any spindly stems, blind eye clusters and dead stems or canes. The cutback should be done in late Aug. or early Sept. for gorgeous fall blooms. It will take about 6 weeks for the large roses to recycle and between four to five weeks for minis and minifloras.

Continue the spray program through the entire fall to keep leaves free of disease. Choices of spray material should include a systemic and a contact material used together. The systemic should be alternated. In order to treat blackspot, spray every other day for three or four times and then go back to your regular spray program. If insects become a problem, a spray program will need to be initiated for control. Premixed Bayer Advanced Garden Rose and Insect Killer is an excellent choice for control of aphids, leafhoppers, scale and thrip.

Continue to cut roses for bouquets through the end of October. Some growers prefer to let rose hips form by removing only the petals of spent roses. This signal the plants that the dormant season is coming. The plants sense this as the days become cooler and shorter.

Fall is a good time to test your soil in order to be sure that your soil pH has not been changed in a negative way before winter and its challenges to your roses begins. Directions for testing: Take samples from several spots in the garden using clean plastic shovel and bucket. Combine the samples, mixing well. Send a sandwich bag of the composite sample to your extension agent’s office. Be sure to tell them that the test is for roses and request recommendations with your test.

Start thinking about new roses for the coming year. Check the rose catalogs and order your roses now to get the best selection.

Prepare your Christmas wish list. For the special person on your Christmas wish list who loves roses, give that special person “Stop and Smell the Roses”, a beautiful book full of roses in full color, over 80 photos with 101 motivational tips for a happy and healthy lifestyle. You can order the hard copy at Barnes and Noble. Paperback and Kindle are available at Amazon. Order “Stop and Smell the Roses” today.

Until next time. Stop and smell the roses.

Rosalinda

Rose Gardening Tips – Weed Control

On 22 Aug 2018 By SCLMRoseIn #amwriting, Blogging, Rose Care, Rose Culture, Rose Gardening, Weed ControlLeave a comment

A weed is a plant that you don’t want. There’s an old saying that if a weed can’t grow in a garden, no other plant will grow there either. When my roses look very healthy, my weeds are just as healthy.

At this time of the year, weeds are one of the biggest problems in the rose bed. The best way to control it is to pull it out and then mulch the bed right away so it has no time to resprout. Weed is an abhorrence in the rose garden. A garden free of weeds is a sight to behold. Roses will tolerate some of them but the most invasive ones will choke your roses. They take out the nutrients that you feed your roses. Have you noticed that weeds grow luxuriantly in your rose bed? That’s because they are sharing the meal with your roses.

Years ago, I never put mulch in the garden. I like to see the soil around the rose bushes. However, as time goes by, I found out that I never stopped weeding. You became a slave in your own garden. There was no time to sit and enjoy the garden. By the time I finished the last bed, the first bed was full of weeds again. That’s when I decided to put down mulch. I use cedar mulch and the rose beds look much better with it. Mulch also retains moisture.

How about Roundup? Roundup is an herbicide. From what I read, it does more damage to your roses than at first believed. It does not show right away but comes up later on. If you are using it in other parts of your garden, take extra precaution to avoid contact with your roses. There are cases among rosarians who use Roundup where all their roses died or began their slow death. Just a mist of the Roundup will leave a death sentence to your precious roses. So be extra careful! I also heard that it kills some plants nearby not just roses.

Hoeing is another method to control weed. For those gardeners who are environmentally conscious, this is the best method of weed control. The only problem here is that you can be too close to the rose bushes and may damage their roots. Another disadvantage is loosened soil, if too close to the rose bush, it will encourage suckers. Suckers are growth coming from the rootstock (below the graft). Also hoeing the rose bed can sometimes wake up the weed seeds that are buried under the undisturbed soil and lets them germinate.

Whatever method you use, as soon as you clean up the bed, you should mulch immediately and make it at least 3″ thick to discourage the weed from sprouting again.

Until next time. Stop and smell the roses.

Rosalinda Morgan

Limited Time Offer for Stop and Smell the Roses – One Week Only

On 16 Jul 201816 Aug 2018 By SCLMRoseIn #Author's Life, #Inspirational, #mondaymotivation, #MotivationalMonday, #MotivationalTips, #PositiveThinking, Blogging, Book Promotion, KindleLeave a comment

Stop and Smell the Roses Front Cover

Starting Monday, July 16, 2018 at 8:00 a.m. PDT and ends on Sunday, July 22, 2018 at 8:00 a.m. PDT when it goes back to its regular price of $4.99. you can order the kindle copy of Stop and Smell the Roses for $1.99 at Amazon.com. Click here to buy now.

Feeling stressed out? Stop and smell the roses and 100 other tips in a new motivational book to help you get inspired to make positive changes in your lives to make you happy, healthy and successful. In a frenetic world we live in, we find ourselves overwhelmed, overworked and stressed out. Isn’t it time to change our bad habits? Most of our health problems are due to our unhealthy lifestyle. Studies show that stressful living causes health problems.

Inspire yourself into a healthy lifestyle! Stop and Smell the Roses!

Do you know that roses have curative powers? In the olden days, roses were used to make all sorts of medicinal potions to cure maladies and drive away bad spirits. A bouquet of roses uplifts the spirits any day of the year. Even a single rose in a room will liven it up on dreary days. When we are in distress, a rose will cheer us up.

“Stop and Smell the Roses” includes some of the roses I grow in my garden. There are 33 roses featured in the book in full color. If you are unable to visit a rose garden, this is the next best thing.

Find out how you can improve your well-being by following simple tips for stress-free living. I invite you to my garden. So take a break and stop and smell the roses.

Take advantage of the Limited Time Offer. Get your copy today!

Until next time. Stop and smell the roses.

Rosalinda Morgan

A Rose (Rosa Banksiae) and a Tip for a Happy and Healthy Lifestyle

On 8 Jul 2018 By SCLMRoseIn #amblogging, #amwriting, #Inspirational, #MotivationalTips, #PositiveThinking, Blogging, Rose Gardening, RosesLeave a comment

Rosa Banksiae

Class: Rose Species

Syns: R. banksiana, Banksian rose, Banks’ Rose, Lady Banks’

Cultivated since 1796

Rosa banksiae is one of the best shrubs for a wall and in a few years will reach the top of most houses. It produces an abundance of pretty small roses with the sweetest fragrance you can imagine. The flowers are borne on last year’s wood and so it is well-advised not to prune in the spring. Only dead or useless branches have to be trimmed. The date of introduction is not known but the double white form was first described in the Botanical Magazine for 1818 as Lady Banks’ Rose and one of the sweetest of roses. It has also been known as a native of China and had been introduced in 1807 by William Kerr. The double yellow was introduced in 1824.

Definitely not for the small property, this vigorous species rose offers a spectacular spring show in warm-climate gardens that can accommodate its rampant growth habit. There are four different forms of R. banksiae, varying by flower color and flower form.

· R. banksiae normalis is considered to be the “wild” form, with single white flowers.

· R. banksiae banksiae (also known as ‘Banksiae Alba’, R. banksiae alba, R.banksiae alba-plena, White Banksia, or White Lady Banks’ Rose) offers exceptionally fragrant, double white flowers.

· R. banksiae lutea (R. banksiae lutea-plena, Yellow Lady Banks’ Rose) is the most well-known form of Rosa banksiae in cultivation with small, fully double, bright yellow flowers that come in clusters. They are only slightly fragrant.

· R. Banksiae lutescens has single light yellow blooms.

All four have small, oval buds that open to clustered, 1-inch wide, rosette-form flowers, usually blooming in early or midspring to late spring. Slender, thornless canes carry semi-evergreen to evergreen, shiny, dark green leaves with narrow leaflets. They are rarely bothered by diseases.

All four forms of this specie rose have a vigorous, rambling habit and can grow up to 30 ft, so they’re usually used as 20 to 30-foot climbers. They need a sturdy support, such as a well-built pergola or arbor; they also like to scramble into trees. It is a great rose for zone 8 to 10.

I saw Rosa banksiae in Charleston, SC on my first visit there in 1989. We went on a House and Garden Tour and at one of the gardens we visited, ‘Yellow Lady Banks’ was growing almost to the roof of the house against the wall. We wandered along some tiny street and I saw ‘Yellow Lady Banks’ rose by the gate and I took the above photo. Fast forward to 2011 – when I joined the Charleston Lowcountry Rose Society, I discovered the owner of that rose is one of our members.

Tip of the Day – Learn to be cheerful even if you don’t feel like it.

Until next time. Stop and smell the roses.

Rosalinda

FOURTH OF JULY – A ROSE TO CELEBRATE OUR INDEPENDENCE

On 3 Jul 20133 Jul 2013 By SCLMRoseIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Striped Red and White Rose

Parentage: R. ‘Roller Coaster’ x R. ‘Altissimo’.

Fourth of July is a special day for our country. We celebrate our freedom that we cherish and that our veterans fought and died heroically and some are still fighting to preserve what we enjoy today. Won’t it be nice to honor our country by having “Fourth of July” rose in our garden? Yes, a rose by the name of “Fourth of July”. As a gardener, I designed my front garden in the theme of Red, White and Blue. I have white alyssum, blue pansies and red roses.

“Fourth of July” is a semi-double, gorgeous ruffled petals climber that looks like a burst of fireworks when in bloom. It has long, pointed buds and 3″ and 4″ blooms with striped red and white petals and glossy, dark green foliage. It is a vigorous plant and can grow 10 to 14 ft. high. It is the first climber to be honored as a 1999 All-America Selection winner for a long time. I planted mine next to a palm tree hoping it would climb the palm tree but the canes were growing away from the tree so I pegged the long cane last week. Pegging or bending the cane down and pegging it to the ground encourages more lateral stems and more blooms. Next year, I plan to dig it up and move it next to the pillar supporting my front terrace and train it to climb the pillar.

“Fourth of July” has strong apple fragrance, a very refreshing scent. Color is dramatic. It is a stunning plant, a real traffic stopper. It is an excellent repeat blooming rose with sensational flowers all season long. It is the best climber around winning awards at rose show around the country. You can plant them attached to an arch, pergola or trellis for a stunning display of colorful blooms. Some gardeners use them as a shrub in the entranceway to the garden. To grow them as a shrub, prune them heavily in the spring.

Best grown in medium moisture, slightly acidic, well-drained garden loams in full sun to part shade. Water deeply and regularly (mornings are best). Good air circulation is important because it promotes vigorous and healthy growth and helps prevent diseases. Summer mulch helps retain moisture, keeps roots cool and discourages weeds. Remove spent flowers to encourage rebloom. Remove and destroy diseased leaves from plants, as practicable, and clean up and destroy dead leaves from the ground around the plants both during the growing season and as part of winterizing your roses in late fall. It is very disease resistant and winter hardy. Few roses can command attention like Fourth of July. It only has 10-16 petals but when Fourth of July is in bloom, it is quite a show.

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