In the evening, when the light is as soft as a kitten’s paw, is the best time to entertain photography adventure. Tonight, no wind to blow the plants, and only mosquitoes to spoil the mood. The children call to me in the garden and often find me lying on my side on the paths or in the dirt. They think me strange, but I just dust myself off, hang my camera around my neck and smile.
Cl. ‘Old Blush’ at left is very happy this spring. I have not fertilized her or anything. I’m afraid she would grow even larger. Won’t you come on into the garden and play?
‘Zepherine Droughin,’ below, waits at the other arbor, her cerise pink petticoats shimmering in the perfect light. She had a little taken off the top and sides this weekend, and I fed her alfalfa pellets. The alfalfa is something new I’m trying this year to beef up the roses. ZD does not like the Bayer Advanced All in One fertilizer. I made the nearly fatal mistake of trying it on her last summer, and she was not pleased. Her canes died back, and she quit growing and flowering.
Some roses like the Bayer. Some don’t.
The ones grown with veggies, of course, don’t get Bayer. It is a systemic fertilizer, fungicide and insecticide. It does not work on thrips. I have a lot of thrips, and I won’t spray. Thrips are hardest on the lighter colored roses, like the light pinks and the yellows. They only spoil the first blooms before going away. Where they go, I don’t know . . . but now, I’m starting to sound like Dr. Suess, so I’m going to stop.
Below is another reason I won’t spray. This is a bee caught by a flower spider. I don’t want to kill the beneficial insects along with the thrips even when the beneficials kill each other. I’ve read you can spray neem oil mixed with insecticidal soap to interrupt the feeding and reproductive life cycle of thrips. I don’t know what the effect would be on beneficials, but I’ve read it isn’t as likely to hurt ladybeetles and spiders because they feed on insects instead of plants. However, the jury appears to still be out on bees because they could bring it back to the hive in pollen. You can spray neem oil in Oklahoma, but only on days cooler than 80 degrees. Otherwise, like all horticultural oils, you’ll burn the foliage. Believe me, I’ve done it. Neem oil is also a natural fungicide, but it stinks.
But, back to the light. In these autumn ferns (Dryopteris erythrosora,) golden light appears to shine through their leaves. However, this is their true color. They’ve recovered from winter, and every year, they grow larger and larger in circumference. I like them next to the peach coral bells (Heuchera) in the background. Planted long ago, I’ve lost the cultivar names of both the ferns and coral bells.
These are Ma’s pink iris. For such an old variety, they are heavily ruffled. When I met HH, these iris were planted out by the mailbox next to the road in very compacted soil. I moved them and put them in the garden where they flourished.
They belonged to HH’s maternal grandmother and then, his mother. Along with a French lilac, she gave him some of Ma’s iris rhizomes when he moved out to the country. We also still have the lilac, although the late frost spoiled most of the blossoms this year.
I can’t really see HH digging a hole and patting the rhizomes into place. He does not like to plant anything. I like to think his mother placed them next to the mailbox as a nice greeting for visitors so long ago.
“Light as soft as a kitten’s paw” I love that! That’s my favorite time of the evening, when the light is fading. You’ve captured some lovely pictures from your garden.
Thank you.~~Dee
The things we do for our blogs eh? Like crawling in the mud. 😉 It’s nice to see that your roses are in flower already, mine have started too. I do not spray my roses. I’ve found that if you buy healthy and disease resistant roses, you don’t have to spray at all.
Those Irises are gorgeous and they come with a fun story.
Yolanda Elizabet, my children would tell you I do everything for my blog and nothing for them. It isn’t true, I swear! In our climate, some roses just can’t fight the blackspot.~~Dee
That is surely one of the loveliest photos of a rose covered arbor I’ve ever seen. Beautifully done Dee (for both creating it and photographing it)! I don’t know about neem oil?? It sounds a little like the dormant oil everyone recommends spraying our aspen trees with?? Your garden is really pretty, thanks for the tour.
Kathleen, thank you. It looked good this year. Neem oil works if your weather isn’t too warm.~~Dee
I wrote an article for our horticultural calendar on beneficial insects. The Aggie Horticulture website has a lot of good information. Green lacewings eat thrips. The website is http://aggiehorticulture.tamu.edu This is a great post. I can just picture you lying on the ground trying to get a shot.
Deb, I went to read your article about beneficials, but the link only led to the master page. I surfed around a bit and couldn’t find it. I bet it was really good because you know your stuff.~~Dee
What a beautiful pink-themed post!
Not an exaggeration– my eyes boggled at the “Old Bush.” And I don’t mean to be rude to your other plants, but that picture alone pretty much overshadowed the rest of the post. Definitely a tribute to nature and all her splendor. Your photo looks so much like a painting that I actually had to look closer to see that it was, indeed, a photograph. I think of old English cottage garden paintings. I will say, though, that the venerable irises that you have are also lovely, and the story behind them only increases the charm. Truly an heirloom flower! I’d love to be greeted by those little old ladies.
If I had a nice camera and amazing plant life around my house, I’d be rolling in the dust and taking pictures, as well :3 Thank you for sharing your wonderful photos!
Hanako, no offense taken. I chose that photo precisely because it was my best opening. A nice point and shoot camera will take wonderful garden photos too. I had a little Sony first that I took everywhere before I got my new SLR for Christmas, and I still have it in the car with me all the time. David from A Photographer’s Garden Blog did a comparison post that was very good about this subject. The main thing is take those photos. They won’t wait.~~Dee
Old Blush looks fabulous Dee! I am still gardening like a Trojan, I will post piccies by the weekend – promise 🙂
Sarah, I can’t wait to see them.~~Dee
Ahhhh, what a treat to follow along the path with you.
I have a young Zepherine, young enough that it hasn’t bloomed yet. But this year, I suspect I’ll begin to get a few blooms. Not my favorite colored rose, but one of the absolutely most heavenly smelling roses in existence, to my nose’s way of thinking. My neighbor Mike has a wonderful Zepherine that I wander over and sniff throughout the summer. Mine was a gift from him last year for my birthday.It would be quite amazing if it managed to grow to the graceful dimensions of yours.
We’re big on alfalfa pellets here too. And this past fall we got ahold of some nitrogen rich bales of pea vine hay which became a protective winter mulch around the roses, keeping the splatters of rain from bouncing fungal spores up onto the plants. Much less blackspot so far this spring than usual, and this has been a cold, wet spring. Methinks this preventive stuff is worth the effort.
Thanks again for the delightful journey, Dee. What a treat to visit your garden and imagine you lost in the reverie of picturing it from every sort of contorted angle.
David, you’ve taught me a lot about composition. The amazing thing is that I’ll take a photo and think, “That picture is great. It captures it exactly.” Then, when I pull it up on the computer, not so good. Other shots I think are so-so, turn out to be winners. I really like the color of Zepherine in the early a.m., and, oh the scent, that’s the best of all. Not too sweet.~~Dee
Beautiful photos. The rose covered arbor reminds me of my childhood visits to my grandmother’s. She had an arbor similar to yours, with pink roses growing on it. It was beautiful. I learned some more about caring for roses from your post. I need all the help I can get.
BTW, I can’t believe I missed your GTS post. I not only missed yours, but several others–and I go down the list religiously. Must have spaced out and lost track!
Aiyana
Aiyana, I sometimes don’t get it up until afternoon. That’s why you missed it.~~Dee
I love your flowers. The roses are beautiful and the iris are too(-:
Cindee, thanks for coming by, and please keep coming back.~~Dee
Dee – Your roses are fabulous! I’m impressed that you’ve convinced them over the arbor. Take a look at my Monster Roses–just posted.
How long do yours bloom? These only bloom for about three or four weeks in May.
Robin at Bumblebee
Hi Bumblebee! Your monster roses are very impressive. I think the yellow one is ‘Mermaid,’ but I’m not sure. As to bloom time, it depends on the weather and the rose. ZD blooms heavy in the spring and sporadically throughout the summer with a little more bloom in the fall. Cl. ‘Old Blush’ takes a breather after this show and then blooms more in the fall with a few blooms during the summer. I have a mystery apricot that only blooms once. The others bloom about once a month except during the very hot month of August.~~Dee
I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one whose kids complain that their mom is always in the garden. Your prone position really pays off in beautiful shots. I think I’m going to have to bite the bullet and get a Rose. My daughter has asked for one. Because so much of my property is shaded, I may end up with Zepherine, which my mom has. I really like it (nearly thornless, yes!), so I appreciate your advice about no Bayer fertilizer for it.
‘Double Knockouts’ don’t mind shade MMD, and they’re cherry red. They don’t climb though.~~Dee
Well, now I’m actually getting to the spot where it lets me leave a comment, but for some reason it takes a long time to get me there! Perhaps it is on my end. I just haven’t had this trouble anywhere else yet. Anyway, to the comment! I absolutely loved your previous post (hoes). It was so hilarious, Dee. I laughed out loud.
And to the treating of bugs: this year so far I have just let bugs kill off whatever. Guess I haven’t had enough trouble yet to warrant true concern. I’m so scared of my dogs getting hold of whatever I’m using, that I’d almost just rather let the plant die… But that’s silly too. When the fire ants hit, I will have to rethink this strategy of doing nothing! Actually, last week I took photos at a cemetary, and had pustules of sores on my poor feet due to their nibbling on me before I grew aware of them. Hate those fire ants!
Brenda
Gee, Brenda, thanks for being so nice and working so hard to comment. It shouldn’t be that hard. I’ve noticed the site is moving slowly today. I’m glad you like my hoe post. Sorry about the fire ants. We don’t have those yet.~~Dee
Such fun in the garden. I can just see you lying on the ground gettng such great shots are worth all the chatter of the children. I can just hear them telling their friends that their “crazy Mom” is lying about the garden. Beautiful rose on the arbor. The irises are gorgeous too. Don’t you just love kitten soft lighting. It makes for lovely viewing of the garden whether upright or prone.
Lisa, it was fun, and yes, they think I’m nuts.~~Dee
Dee, you’ve created several images for me here: you lying on the ground taking photos, your roses all abloom, and your non-digging husband and his mother’s irises. The personal details are what bring the garden to life sometimes. Thank you!
Pam, when I re-read it this a.m., I thought, goodness that one wandered down a path or two while stopping to smell the roses. I’m glad you liked it though.~~Dee