Monday, January 24, 2011

The Roses

Years ago Far Guy built me a garden structure which we used as an entrance into the gardens from the parking lot. He used some pine timbers that were really thick and wide.  I had this idea to mount some old implement wheels to the sides and have my climbing roses climb up.  We went by my cousin Danny’s place, he had some old wheels that were perfect, they used to belong to my Uncle Ervin. 

IMG_0896 Oh..that looks too cold and snowy..

IMG_5572

Lets just fast forward to summer! There it is in the wild gardens!

IMG_5999

The roses have been there a long time, they are Canadian Climbers, ‘William Baffin’ roses.  They do not like the warmth of the steel wheels..the ones on the east side to the left do the best.  The canes die back some each winter and must be trimmed every spring..if I were more diligent about pruning and forcing the canes to go in the right direction ..perhaps they would look better.

The flowers are only slightly fragrant.  These roses bloom from July till frost.

IMG_6535

I love the roses and buds before they have opened.

IMG_6536

Then they unfurl, they are a wonderful from their own root rose (not a grafted rose) hardy for our area where it gets 30 some below zero every winter.  Deer also love to nibble away at these roses..they must be tasty too:)

16 comments:

Cat and DOG Chat With Caren said...

your garden is just beautiful! I would soooo love to have a lot of land! It looks so romantic with the roses!

Country Gal said...

Lovely garden! I might be planting rose bushes this year ! Love all the photos!
Have a great day !

DayPhoto said...

Beautiful! Now I want an arbor like yours.

Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com

Karen said...

I love those rustic type additions to the garden. Yours is lovely:)
I have a rotting, leaning arbour that the clematis hold up in the summer.

Patsy said...

This must be an old breed of rose and they are sweet. We did old roses when we lived in Texas on a arbor loved them.

Nezzy (Cow Patty Surprise) said...

Oh thank you for the little bit of summer and your beautiful flowers. I just adore your 'lawn feature'!!! Those are the touches that make a garden interesting year 'round.

Now, don't get me started on roses but we had a winter several years ago that wiped out seventeen of my roses. I will only plant own root roses from that day forth..AMEN!!!

God bless ya and have a great day baskin' in these warm memories!!!

Lanny said...

Oh what a great way to use metal wheels. My brother brought me a pair years ago, they were part of my front porch until it got redone, years ago. Now they sit waiting for inspiration.

I am a huge convert to "on their own root" roses. I'm not enough of a fusser to deal with the other type or even a special "rose" garden for that matter. I'm very much drawn to the mix it all up type garden.

Your picture makes the sun nearly palpable.

Darlene said...

I love the way you used the wheels. Your garden is lovely, and a nice reminder that summer will be here eventually!

DJan said...

It's so amazing to me that a picture of a rose unfurled like that one ignites my nose to remember what a rose smells like! My favorite smell in the whole world... :-)

Gail said...

What a beautiful way to highlight your roses.

Thanks for reminding me, summer will come.

Leilani Schuck Weatherington said...

Sad climbing rose story (short version). Beautiful climbing rose on trellis. Someone who does not know what they are doing (not me!) decides it is too big. Prunes the heck out of it. Following spring, the climbing rose canes are all dead, but the root stock on which they were grafted springs to life with a hideous rose (ok, no rose is actually hideous, but this is just a wimply totally unimpressive, well, root stock rose.) VBS.

Anonymous said...

Oh, those wheels look brilliant in your sunny garden!

CiCi said...

I still think of you as the plant lady. When I first found your blog you still had the giant greenhouse. The picture of the rose bud is so pretty, what a wonderful color. Maybe I could find some Canadian Climbers at a nursery here in Nebraska this spring.

Judy said...

Love the pink...so bright and cheery...I had a Grandpa Ervin...not a popular name...

Rae said...

Far Guy is one handy dandy man. He can build and create just about anything. I really like that wheel arbor he made.

Anything with a rustic look appeals to me. It fits nicely in your garden. I bet it is really pretty covered with blooms.

I've been having problems with my climbing roses the past several summers. It never occurred to me that it might be the metal trellis they were vining on being too hot in the sun. Thanks for the lesson.

L. D. said...

I bought my William Baffin in Grand Marias, Minnesota. I knew if it could grow up there that it could grow in Iowa. I like the wagon wheels on the gate.