Oh, how I wish you could visit this spring. We could stroll through my garden with clippers in hand, and I would cut you a bouquet. You would smell roses, peonies and iris, along with the heady, clove scent of the dianthus because I grow several kinds.
Never have the roses been lovelier. Even a little blackspot can’t mar the view. Because the spring temperatures have been so cooperative without too much heat, I’ve sprayed a bit of EcoSmart Organic fungicide I bought somewhere. It has rosemary oil as the fungicide with insecticidal soap as the sticking agent, and I’m not sure it will be effective, but I’m willing to give it a try. I could also spray some Neem oil which might help as a bit of fungicide and a natural miticide for those nasty beasties. I rarely spray because horticultural oils are generally a problem in our hot climate. They burn leaves, and burned leaves are not much prettier than blackspotted ones. Plus, they don’t always work, and I won’t spray chemical fungicides.
The roses pretty much make it on their own. The garden is huge, especially in spring when it needs the most maintenance. For the most part, I choose disease resistant rose cultivars and pluck off any leaves with blackspot or powdery mildew making sure I dispose of them in the trash, not the compost. I do make exceptions and plant the occasional David Austin or a prized heirloom I simply must have. I cover any legginess due to blackspot with understory plants.
Everything is very crowded in the cottage garden to prevent weeds–you thought it was just because I’m a girl who can’t say no, didn’t you?
I also go out at least once a day and pluck a few weeds. Bermuda and Johnson grasses with their roots to forever are my nemeses. However, after 20+ years of amending the soil here, I’ve dug most of them into a sort of submission. I will dig to China if I must.
I wish I could lengthen the days of this lovely weather. The cool nights and warms days with plenty of rain make Oklahoma look like a prairie paradise.
Forget the recent tornadoes and hail. Let’s gaze instead upon the flowers, and the trees with their fresh green leaves. No dust to be seen for miles around.
I know this time will soon end so I hang onto every precious minute. Transplanting small plants from the gravel walkways. Sowing seeds. I’m trying a new sunflower, ‘Strawberry Blonde,’ in the lower wilder, part of the garden. I hope she looks like her picture, but I’m realistic. One should never fall for a pretty face. I also replaced the pump in the deck fountain and set up the red one at the center of the potager. I’m planting herbs and Salvia ‘Rhea’ around it to disguise how crooked the base is this year because I don’t want to dump all the water and start over. Green camo is the new thing don’t you know?
I hope you get out into the garden too for spring won’t last very long. Enjoy it while you can.
Also, don’t forget my contest to win five, different Fiskars garden tools. That’s right . . . five. You can enter by leaving a comment. If you also tweet or facebook share it, leave another comment for another entry. Thanks!
Oh, Dee, I’m so happy for you to be surrounded by such spring beauty! You really did suffer in the heat of last summer, so it’s good to hear your soul sing! And with good reason! Your garden is truly a paradise, which you have selected, nurtured and created. Lovely! xoxo
Such beautiful photos!!!
All SO incredibly beautiful. as for the bucket, it just adds another pretty color to the garden. Rosa looks great – like she’s been born again. : )
Dee..your garden is so beautiful….I could walk around there for hours and never get tired of all the flowers…enjoyed the pictures……
Mona
Hi Dee,
Such a lovely visit I had in your garden today..thanks!
Good color pick for the arbor…I like greens that have gray in them for the garden..very soothing.
Do let us know when you find the name of your Iris…wonderful blue!
glimpsesofglory-karen.blogspot.com/
Everything is looking so pretty!! We are certainly enjoying this VERY delicious spring as well. .much more than the spring of 2011!
You have captured the overall essence of your beautiful garden. Now, if only, you could incorporate a ‘scratch and sniff’ feature in your posts, I would be totally satiated.
I never thought “you were a girl who could never say no” even though I’ll bet you rarely say no to a pretty plant you think you could grow in your garden. I’d love to come walk the paths of it with you some spring, soon.
I would love to come smell your roses and other flowers, Dee. The arbors are all wonderful, and the new green color is perfect, that color echo is pure artistry. This is a fine time of year, and true gardeners like to see the rose and ignore the thorns.
Dee, your garden looks amazing– lush, healthy, and beautifully colorful. It has been a wonderful Spring, hasn’t it? Rain at all the right times, etc. I appreciate neat and well-kept your garden looks– showing time spent filling the orange bucket! (which is what I need to do, big time)
I do enjoy all your columns. I’m so happy for you, that you have the rose-covered cottage you dreamed of. So many of the things you write strike a note with me, thoughts and feelings I can relate to, personally. Thanks so much for sharing your garden in pictures and stories.
Nancy
Everything looks beautiful Dee!
Wonderful. Gorgeous. All your love of flowers and hard work show. Bet your thumbs are deep green!
All your flowers looks so pretty, looking at all you pictures makes me want to start some more Spring blooming flowers.
I wish I could stroll through your garden too. It is stunning this spring. I love the paint job on that arch. It does accentuate the artemesia etc. I have trained myself not to see blackspot on roses. Doesn’t matter where you see roses the inevitable blackspot is sure to try to move in so I choose not to see it. I have several of those buckets about the garden. Mine are white though. They come in so handy. May your great weather stretch way in to summer and beyond. Have a great weekend..
Wow. It looks wonderful! So lush. I wish I could visit this spring too. Next Garden Bloggers meet-up in Oklahoma?
And I had you pegged as a girl that can’t say no.
“Dig into submission,” exactly!! Love that. It’s how it feels sometimes, but in a good way. Your garden is mouthwatering, Dee. We’re enjoying this very special Oklahoma springtime too, hoping the almanac is correct and we’re in for an equally gorgeous summer! xoxo
Love our garden…I just came inside to grab some lunch and a glass of water…and your pictures were food for my soul.
Oh thank you Charlotte. You made my day.