04/9/15

To See Beauty

To See Beauty – Take Time

“Take time to smell the roses” is an expression most of us have heard all of our lives. Rose blooms with their various scents are wonderful, no doubt about it. But roses, and other living things, and perhaps the whole world, have other wonderful parts and phases, if one takes the time to see them.

Here in Albuquerque, we had a warm winter with very little wind. Being outside was so enjoyable on many days. Pruning the roses early was a great temptation, but I refused to give in to that because I have seen in prior years the results of late freezes (May in one year). So, I took my camera out rather than pruning shears, and spent some time looking at things I had never studied in great detail before. It was a perfect opportunity to see beauty in frequently overlooked things.

Although I have always thought rose hips were fascinating, I had never seen them in the detail I noted this year. I had the opportunity to see beauty in rose hips.

This rose hip, from the climbing rose ‘Fourth of July’ was my favorite from this year.

This image is from my “Living Jewels” series.

To See Beauty – Rose Hip

03/13/15

Finding Beauty

Finding Beauty in the Unexpected: More Rose Hips

Finding beauty. What is beauty, anyway? And who gets to decide what it is? Beauty, of course, “is in the eye of the beholder,” and there may be as many definitions as there are beholders.

This year I have spent more time than ever looking at rose hips and spent blooms on roses in the yard than ever in the past. Maybe that is because the weather has been so beautiful, and yet I am not ready to prune the roses. Maybe it is because I have had the time to photograph them, and have found them interesting subjects. No matter why I have looked at them more, one thing is certain: I have learned a lot more about them than I knew before, such as there is such wide variability between varieties; each variety is pretty distinctive in its hip expression; all have their own unique form of beauty. I will admit that finding beauty sometimes took a little looking, however.

I think the one hip I found most beautiful from the very beginning was this one on ‘Fourth of July.’

Hip of climbing rose, ‘Fourth of July’

Others are intrinsically interesting, especially in juxtaposition with new leaves beginning to emerge. This one is the hybrid rugosa, ‘Buffalo Gal:’

Hip and emerging leaves on hybrid rugosa, ‘Buffalo Gal’

And, for some, you may have to work just a bit harder at finding beauty. This is a hip of the Austin rose, ‘Othello,’ a beautiful rose with a fabulous scent. To be honest, I was amazed when I saw these hips. I have had the rose for some time, a gift, but this is the first year I ever “saw” these hips. It was an eye-opening experience! 🙂 )))))))))

Hip of Austin rose, ‘Othello‘

Once I actually do prune the roses, watch for it, you know it’s coming, get ready – a gallery of the 2014-2015 rose hips collection from my very small yard!

03/12/15

Still Too Early to Prune Roses

When to Prune Roses in the High Desert – A Constant Dilemma

When to prune roses is a constant dilemma in the High Desert. Although this blog is titled “Southwest Desert Gardening,” there are so many different environments in the large sense and microclimates in the small sense, that no universal recommendations are possible. Roses are already reported to be blooming in Tucson, Arizona, and the good folks in Santa Fe will prune their roses even later than we do here in Albuquerque. My mom lives less than a mile from me as the crow flies, and she has already pruned her roses; her yard runs 5°-10°F warmer than mine. Within my very small yard are several microclimates. It is very warm against a south-facing wall, and quite cool against a north-facing wall; that is always the last place the snow melts in my yard.

The “Average Last Frost-Free Date” has generally – in the past – been agreed to be April 15. That has to be seen as truly an average for a large area, and it may not apply to many spots in that large area. It probably does apply to where I live, but I have friends in Corrales who regularly get freezes well into May, and sometimes even later. I generally prune around the beginning of April, and do not fertilize until well past mid-April. There have been years when I lost a lot of new growth in May from a late freeze.

A couple of weeks ago we had several days of very warm temperatures for February. A lot of my roses sent out new growth in response. Then we got a significant snow, with a few days of colder temps. Much of that new growth died. Had I pruned those roses, there would be many fewer spots for new growth to replace that killed in the cold. As it is, when it is time to prune, the result will be “no harm, no foul.”

The combination of warm days, plus too early to prune roses, has produced some wonderfully interesting photographic opportunities this year, however. I have already shown a variety of rose hips and “winter beauty.”

The images for today’s post are from the modern shrub rose, ‘Route 66.’ The flowers are purple with a white eye, and have a strong, very pleasant scent. It is one of the first in my yard to bloom in the spring. As I was looking things over, I spotted a bud from last year that froze in the fall before it ever completely opened. You can tell, even as dried as it is, that the flower would have been purple. Because it did not bloom, a true hip did not form. I also found a “spray” of hips on ‘Route 66.’ When I do prune roses, this will be one of the first.

Frozen, dried bud of shrub rose, ‘Route 66’

Rose hips from spray of shrub rose ‘Route 66’

Fully formed hip of ‘Route 66’ with lush new growth

03/10/15

Rose Hips

Rose Hips: Little Jewels in the Garden

Rose hips have been valued for a variety of reasons, but not frequently just as something interesting to look at or a thing of beauty to photograph. On this blog, I have looked at “Winter Beauty” and, on my photography blog at the interesting transition from “Winter to Spring.” Now I would like to show you some rose hips for their beauty and intrinsically interesting nature. If you have seen one, you have not seen them all!

Hip of Climbing Rose, ‘Fourth of July’

All hips do not look the same, even on the same bush. I will show you some examples now.

These two hips from the same bush of ‘Buffalo Gal’ look rather different. The larger one appears fully developed, and shows some the rugosa characteristics on the outside.

: Hip of hybrid rugosa, ‘Buffalo Gal’

: Hip of hybrid rugosa, ‘Buffalo Gal’

Here are two hips from the Climbing Floribunda, ‘Dream Weaver:’

: Hip of Climbing Floribunda, ‘Dream Weaver’

: Hip of Climbing Floribunda, ‘Dream Weaver’

Two hips from the modern shrub rose, ‘Flower Girl:’

: Tiny hip of modern shrub rose, ‘Flower Girl’

: Tiny hip of modern shrub rose, ‘Flower Girl’

Two hips from the modern shrub rose, ‘Route 66’

: Hip of the modern shrub rose, ‘Route 66’

: Hip of the modern shrub rose, ‘Route 66’

These “almost hips” are from the early David Austin shrub, ‘The Squire:’

: From the David Austin shrub, ‘The Squire’

: From the David Austin shrub, ‘The Squire’

Finally, three hips from the miniature rose, ‘Yoyo:’

: Hip of Miniature Rose, ‘Yoyo’

: Hip of Miniature Rose, ‘Yoyo,’ with dusting of snow

: Hip of Miniature Rose, ‘Yoyo’

In 2014 I did photograph some images that were an overview of some hips in the garden.

Hips of Miniature Rose ‘Yoyo,’ my registered sport of ‘Gizmo.’

Rose hips can be quite beautiful, unique, and intriguing!

02/27/15

Snow and Ice

Ice after Snow – Not So Good for the Garden!

Ice this afternoon followed the snow this morning. I was happy to wake up to five inches of snow. We have needed precipitation for so long, that even I was delighted to see snow. Some images from this morning can be seen at my photography blog.

Although the temperature did not warm to above freezing at my house today, some of the snow on the roof began to melt, and icicles formed at the edge. They began to drip droplets onto some of my roses, where that water immediately formed ice. This is not something you want to see happening.

Some of you who have followed this blog from its beginning may recall the damage done to my old garden rose, ‘Mermaid,’ when a 22 inch snow began to melt, refreeze, melt, refreeze, until ‘Mermaid,’ was pulled off the wall and laid out across my patio by the weight of the ice. It is why I now do something that most people would say I should not do – I prune ‘Mermaid’ back in late fall. It has proven to be a good strategy for this particular rose in this one particular spot.

(Some images of ‘Mermaid’ and the damage may be seen at the following links. Those images were taken with an old Nikon Coolpix, the first digital camera I owned. Thus, the odd settings that those of you who know your way around cameras will note.

Saga of Mermaid, Part 3
Saga of Mermaid, Part 4
Saga of Mermaid, Part 5
Saga of Mermaid, Part 6
Saga of Mermaid, Part 7
Saga of Mermaid, Part 9 )

Here in the high desert, Albuquerque, we do not prune until late March and preferably early April. That is because of the threat of late freezes. When I do prune this year, I will have damage from today to remove. At the time of this writing, it appears that ‘St. Patrick’ will have the most damage.

‘St. Patrick’ with ice and icicles

You see two different ice formations on ‘St. Patrick.’ The icicles are clear, and are not that big of a threat at that size. But, you can also see in this image a branch that was bent by the weight of the ice, and then droplets continued to drip from the icicles on the roof, weighing down the branch even more. Here’s a hint – you cannot shake ice off a branch like that, in the way you can shake snow off. That branch is broken by the weight of the ice. Those of you who are rosarians will understand that I had really wanted ‘St. Patrick’ to have a really good year in 2015. It may yet; it is far too early to tell for sure. But this ice is potentially a major setback for this rose bush.

Icicles on Veterans’ Honor

The icicles at this size are not a major problem for ‘Veterans’ Honor.’ However, this image shows why we do not prune until later. The leaves you see are last year’s leaves. But, if you look closely, you see new growth (red) appearing along the cane. This new growth will not survive the freezing temperatures. That is okay; there are still a lot of places for new growth when spring does arrive. Many places for new growth would have been removed had this hybrid tea been pruned. I’m not a bit worried about this rose, at least as of today. Who knows what weather lies ahead? But, for today, it is okay.

Continue reading →

02/23/15

Another Rose Hip

Rose Hip of Miniature Rose, ‘Incognito’

Rose hip of miniature rose, ‘Incognito,’ that surprised me with all of the petals of the bloom still attached, here in February. Every now and then I’ll see a rose hip with one or two petals still attached, but it is not common to find so many petals still attached.

Rose hip of ‘Incognito,’ with petals still attached

Here in the high desert, we do not prune our roses until much later, late March for some of the own-root roses and mid April for most of the hybrid teas.

Last week was exceptionally warm here, and I spent time out cleaning up flower beds, removing some dead and/or crossing canes in some of the roses, and enjoying looking at and photographing some of the remains of last year’s blooms. This was one I found exceptionally interesting. I hope you enjoy seeing it also.

For those of you who prefer more dramatic:

For those who prefer more dramatic, a different process of Incognito rose hip

02/16/15

Winter Beauty

Winter Beauty: Seeds, Hips, and Spent Blooms

Winter beauty in the garden is often overlooked. While things can appear brown and dry in the winter, especially in the high desert of the Southwest, bits of color can be found as well.

Spent bloom, Veterans’ Honor

Hip of climbing rose, ‘Fourth of July’

Clematis seed head and seeds

Here in Albuquerque, we have had some unusually warm days for an extended period of time, and roses in particular are beginning to show leaf buds way too early this year. If it stays warm, that will not be a problem. If we get the almost-invariable cold snap at this point in time, the plants could be damaged and blooms delayed. Hopefully, that will not happen!

As I was out surveying just how many plants in my yard are way ahead of schedule this year, I photographed some remains of last year’s blooms. I personally find them quite beautiful, and I hope you enjoy seeing them.

11/8/10

Rose Hips: Autumn Beauty

Rose Hips

When people think about the beauty of roses, we often do not think of the beautiful hips, which provide food for birds in the winter (among other uses). They are beautiful and colorful in their own right.