Why I Oughta...

Earlier this growing season, I discovered that most of our Disneyland Roses were having their foliage destroyed by someone or something.  The leaves were spotted and some of them were eaten-up and looked like lace.  Here's a post from June 2023 that shows one of those eaten-up leaves .   I applied a granular fertilizer all season - starting in early Spring - and I wasn't sure if the foliage damage was a result of the granules clinging to wet leaves, but it seemed far-fetched.   The foliage-eating continued all season, but by July, I decided to take some action and switched from just straight Rose Fertilizer to a 2-in-1 feed and care product from BioAdvance .  My hunch was that SOMETHING was eating the leaves and the 2-in-1 is a 'systemic' product. That means it isn't something that takes root immediately and eliminates the pests.  Rather, it feeds the roses and - via the roots - takes up the insecticide and carries it to all the plant material.  I've used a simi

Every Fall, I've gone about protecting our Disneyland Roses (Floribunda Roses) from Winter using an insulation method of laying Fall leaves around the bush.  Typically, I take a small ring of chicken wire and create a ring.  Anchored by a bamboo pole, I erect the chicken wire ring around the rose and fill the center with leaves that I pick up off the lawn.  Some of those leaves are chopped up with the mower, some are just raked up and piled in there. This post from November 2022 shows how I set up that Winter Protection for roses last year .   H ere's another post showing Fall 2020 that shows similar chicken wire rings and leaves that I used to overwinter the crowns of our Disneyland Roses. That system seemed to work just fine.  It wasn't elegant, but (*knock on wood*) I haven't lost a Disneyland Rose yet.  But, my roses are starting to get large and unwieldy.  That has made the chicken wire rings more challenging every year.  So, I went off on the Web to see if there

The last few Falls, I've divided a great number of Summer Beauty Alliums .  This year, I didn't get to all that many, but I *did* add a few 'free' plants.   There was a pair of them flanking the Baby Blue Spruce in back that were getting pretty big.  You can see them below - on the right in the first photo and more in the middle in the second: I dug them both up and divided each - then replaced them in their spots.  Those two new plants - via division - went in on that side of the garden.  One behind the fence - Hosta Replacement.  The other by the Disneyland Roses. Two 'free plants'.  That I KNOW perform.  That's like free money, right? With these two, I BELIEVE that I've wrapped up Fall Planting posts. What's the total from below?   Holy crap.  I planted 68 new things.  Created 26 new plants via division.  Adding 94 total things to the garden in a four-week sprint.  30 ground cover plants make up almost 1/3rd of the 94.  Wow. 94 things in the garde

With all the #FallPlanting posts running here for a few weeks, I wanted to sneak in a post showing some of the things that are happening in the garden, yard and even on our block as the trees turn from green to yellows, oranges, reds and...well...even browns.  Dormancy is just about here and the garden is putting itself to bed.   Below are a number of photos that I took in late October (25, 26), but this post is going up more than a week later.  Since then, we've had a couple of HARD FROSTS.  Bringing the growing season to a close.   Here's a look around: I'm not sure what to think is going on with all of the Japanese Maples.  Some of them appear to be "just fine".  While others...they...well...could be dying?  And others have been picked at by the (dang!) rabbits.  Starting with the First Ghost Acer palmatum planted back by the firepit.  This one has received the least attention, but seems to be doing fine moisture and sun-exposure-wise.  But, those tender, tasty

Yesterday, I shared a few photos of the Disneyland Floribunda Rose in its native environment : a flower bed in New Orleans Square in Disneyland Park.  Today, I'm taking a look at the three (more) mature Disneyland Roses that we have planted in full sun on the southside of our house.  They, too are in bloom; having just started their third flush of pink/salmon/orange flowers on medium-length stems. Below are a few photos showing these floribunda roses: This is the third 'flush' of blooms for the season. Early June - First Blooms Early August - Second Blooms Late August/Early September - Third Blooms (this post) In 2022 (last season), I was seeing blooms last all the way into early November.   It seems that this third flush of blooms is a bit earlier than 2022 ( last year, I saw them all the way at the end of September ), so perhaps that fourth bloom will be pulled a bit forward, too.  While I was out there admiring the Disneyland Roses, I also sprinkled them with rose food

Over where Frontierland blends with New Orleans Square in Disneyland Park, you'll find a series of rectangular raised beds that are surrounded by low, wrought-iron fencing.  Inside those beds (at least...during the Summer) are the one-and-only Disneyland Rose.  They have a somewhat formal planting with a low boxwood hedge around the perimiter with the taller Disneyland Roses in the middle.  See below for some photos showing the park's namesake Floribunda roses: I have posted about 'in situ' Disneyland Roses before with a bed of them being planted out by the street here in 2019  along Harbor Boulevard.   The Disneyland Roses that we have at home aren't quite this tall, but with six now planted, I'm hoping that we'll get there...eventually.   I've covered other " Horticulture at Disney Parks " things here on the blog and these photos of the Disneyland Rose inside of Disneyland Park are now tagged there , too.  

The three Disneyland Roses (Floribunda roses) that are planted in full sun on the south side of our house are currently in the midst of their second bloom cycle of the growing season.  The first set of blooms this season were in early/mid June .  Now, about six-weeks later, we're seeing the next flush of pink/orange/salmon blooms.  See below for a look at some of the Disneyland Roses in mid-Summer: Here, below, is a look at the three Disneyland Roses (along with the pair of Sugar Tyme Crabapple trees that are in espalier) along the side of our house: In 2022, I saw four bloom cycles - June, August, late September and again in early November .  Yes...November.   My plan is to feed these this week and then one more time (September) before putting a stop to the seasonal fertilizer for the season.  

It was just six-or-so weeks ago that I planted three small, bareroot Disneyland Roses in our front porch beds .  I wasn't expecting much out of these in their first season.  When they arrived, they were, indeed, bareroot.  But, they were also pretty bare in terms of foliage.  Two of the Floribunda roses that arrived via UPS showed some tiny, yellow flowers.  I applied some rooting compound, buried them deep - per the instructions I found - and hoped for the best. I was assuming that I'd see mostly foliage growth this first year.  Something like 60% below-ground growth (roots) and 40% above-ground growth (leaves).  But, to my surprise, I'm seeing blooms.  See below for a look at one of the new Disneyland Roses.    I've stuck to a feeding schedule - once per month - with a granular rose food.  And, this soil was amended pretty heavily last Fall with a mix of 10 bags of composted manure and 4 bags of mushroom compost .  Along with a heavy dose of municipal biosolids this

Our Disneyland Roses (at least the ones that have been planted with southern exposure a few seasons back) get their first flush of flower blooms in early June.  They bloomed in early/mid June in 2022 and in early/mid (10th of the month) June in 2021, too .  This year is no different as the first sets of blooms have hit our Floribunda roses.  Below are some photos - first showing some of the flowers that I clipped off and have put in a vase in our kitchen. The Disneyland Rose - in Zone 5b - get at least three full flushes of blooms.  June (now) is the first.  And the last one is in October.   There is another one in-between in August or so.  At least...that's what I think happens.  Perhaps they get four flushes?  I'll have to observe more closely this year.  While the bloom schedule is right on track, I'm seeing something that is new to me:  leaves being eaten up and destroyed by SOMETHING.  See below for a look at the tattered foliage: Pest?  Fungus?  Slugs?  Roseslugs?  A

I've been trying to feed our Disneyland Roses every month over the past few growing seasons.  In mid-April, I applied the first granular fertilizer and this past weekend, I laid down the second feeding using this Vigoro Rose Food granules.  I fed both the existing Disneyland Roses (3 of them) on the side of the house and a very light sprinkle around the three newly planted bareroot ones in the front porch bed . The three more-mature Disneyland Roses are leaf'ing out and growing vigorously this Spring - see below for a look at the one closest to the front of the house:

A couple of weeks ago, I was able to create the chicken wire ring to help protect one of our Disneyland Rose bushes (They are a Floribunda Rose) on the southside of our house.  I picked - at that time - the middle one of the three to protect.  I've done this a number of years now and I'm NOT certain that it does anything really.  But...it doesn't take much effort and I'd hate to lose these flowers, so I decided to do all three this year.   That's what you see below:  all three Disneyland Rose bushes now protected by a ring of 2' tall, 1" chicken wire.  Then, filled with leaf litter to help create (hopefully) an insulation blanket for Winter.    I still have a tiny bit of leaf collection/pickup/mulching to do, but I'm hoping these 'settle' a bit so I can put more leaves in the bins. 

Hard to believe that it is mid-November and that we're still getting roses off of our Disneyland Roses.  Here, below, is a little set of flowers and buds that I cut off yesterday morning - right as the weather around here is beginning to turn towards Winter.   This past week, we've had temperatures in the 60's and 70's during the day, but now we're facing the harsh reality:  Winter is arriving.  This Disneyland Rose bush is putting on its final show:  This past week, I took a couple of chicken wire cages off of some hostas that have gone dormant and connected them together to make a Disneyland Rose winter protection cage.  The last time I showed these roses in our sideyard was in September when I talked about prepping for Winter .   This past Winter, I protected *some* of the roses and left others unprotected.  This year...I'm going to just try to do what I can do.  I started with one - the middle one.  You can see that cage below and how I've started to fil

A year and a month ago, I planted a pair of Crabapple trees along the side of our house on the southside.  After some hemming-and-hawing about what kind of trees I should plant in this spot (knowing I wanted to espalier them), I decided to plant Sugar Tyme Crabapple trees .  Why?  Because they're on the list of species that are both suitable for our Zone AND have 'excellent' disease resistance.  In the 13 months since planting, I've shown these trees in various posts - both about the trees as well as posts showing off the Disneyland Roses.  The most recent post was just last month when I was showing off the late-season blooms on the floribunda roses .    My plan for these is to create a Palmette Verrier shape , which calls for the bottom branches to be the longest, followed up each level with a shorter horizontal branch terminating in a vertical segment.  So far, I've trained out four levels on one of the trees and three levels on the second tree.  The wall these