Roses are a pain in the #$%@

8 different varieties of climbers and floribundas

My apologies for the amount of time between this blog post and the last one.  After the garden tour concluded, we had our 63rd Annual Flower and Garden Show and are that wrapped up we (this is the Mill Bay Garden Club I’m referring to!) we had our Potluck Picnic and Annual General Meeting.  That was last Tuesday and apart from some member-only garden tours of each other’s gardens over the summer, that’s it for me as President until September.  One more year as President then I’m going to take it easy!

This leaves me with some time to actually do my paid work – imagine! – and to head back out to the garden to enjoy the summer.

We’ve had a wet spring and with that always comes that darned black spot on roses as well as other disgusting little chews and disease.  Roses like regular waterings but they don’t like rainy springs.

I do love roses – like I love Iris, hostas, and too many etc. to count! – but roses are fussy things.  They need to be pruned just so, they need a bit of lime and a bit of alfalfa meal or pellets and good watering, but not on the leaves, and some need bending and staking and in general they can be a pain in the backside.  But, Oh, how I love them.  I love them all!  This year my favourites are Abraham Darby (the scent is marvelous) and always and continual favourite is Gertrude Jekyll, I love Julio Iglesias, (striped red and white with a glorious scent), Westerland, Winchester Cathedral,

Royal Sunset - my new climbing rose covered in blooms her first year

and particularly Diana, Princess of Wales.  I have 26 rose bushes (not counting several Bonica-type shrub roses) and despite all their Diva-like and demanding qualities, I love each one.

Clematis and 'Evelyn' - I love peach roses

The beautiful, disease-free, highly scented, heavy blooming and just lovely 'Gertrude Jekyll'

I could go on and on.  Ok, just a few more…….this year ‘James Galway’ is just spectacular.  It took three years to have him reliably climb up one of the posts for the Parthenon, but it was worth it.  Don Juan is a new addition to our garden, but he’s blooming and starting to climb and is such a deep, rich red it takes my breath away.  My new Grimm Brother’s Fairy Tale Floribunda rose settled right in to spectacular blooms.

For what its worth, I bought most of these roses at Select Roses in Langley, BC.  Brad Jalbert and his father do an amazing job at producing a huge variety of healthy roses.  (no, I’m not related to Brad nor am I getting paid in free roses, ha!).

One sad note.  The only rose that has really suffered from this wet spring was my favourite floribunda – ‘Julia Child’.  This is the most wonderful of many-petaled, fragrant roses and I’ve sung her praises for years and years.  Julia has just had a bad year this year with all sorts of afflictions and petal drop, etc.  She won’t die, she’s a tough old gal and did manage a few blooms.  But you know she isn’t at the top of her game when this yellow rose blooms almost red!  She is mostly pruned back now, will recover over the hotter summer, I hope, and will rise to a better year next year.

Two beauties we saw on a Garden Tour today

Japanese Iris, a Youtube Slide Show, and a Flower Show

Iris ensata 'Caprician Butterfly'

Japanese Water Iris ‘Caprician Butterfly’

Ok, this is my latest, HAVE TO HAVE plant.  I have two beautiful Japanese Iris, one so pure white it just takes your breath away.  A visitor on the Garden Tour had a picture of this Caprician Butterfly with her and upon close inspection of the picture, I must have it in my garden.  AmericanMeadows has it, but doesn’t ship to Canada, same for a few nurseries in England.  I’d be pleased to do whatever to buy or trade for it.  Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Here are some visitors inspecting the iris bed on the garden tour yesterday

but that Iris bed is just Siberian Iris and Bearded Iris.  A few more Japanese Iris – particularly by the pond – are indeed required!

In the last blog I gave everyone a zip file link to a beautiful slide show of our garden created by my good friend Bob Ianson.  Not everyone can open a zip file so we loaded it up to YouTube – here’s a much easier YouTube link anyone can open -

dumontgardens

A day of rest today and then I start gearing up to help produce the 63rd Annual Community Flower and Garden Show in Cobble Hill on Saturday, June 12th.  It was originally run by a group of leaders in Shawnigan Lake but was eventually moved to the larger Cobble Hill Hall and is now produced by the Mill Bay Garden Club.  Its an ambitious all-day event with a big Flower Show (over 65 classes), and Silent Auction, lots of vendors selling plants and garden-related items on the Cobble Hill fairgrounds, a Strawberry Tea, a pancake breakfast, etc.  Full details at

www.icangarden.com/clubs/mbgc

Its fun and multi-faceted and requires many volunteers.  This is the garden club’s last big production until the fall so, after our AGM and Picnic later in June I look forward to a little break before starting up the volunteering duties again in September.

Here’s a great picture Hubby took looking towards the iris bed and including the biggest rhodo bed that runs alongside the river……

Two funny things that came to light during the tour yesterday……… One, I had a visitor, a knowledgeable, well-known plantsman, politely come up to me and show me a very sick plant I hadn’t seen at the back of the long bed.  It’s a specialty cotinus coqqvgria ‘Young lady’.  Most are almost maroon and known as a Smoke Bush, but this was a lovely variation that is an almost kelly green.  Well, it was.  The poor thing contracted some awful virus and once I stopped and looked anyone could see it needed to be on the burn pile.  Secondly, I asked a very knowledgeable gardening friend what a particular plant was in the long bed.  It looked like a Phlomis on drugs.  Huge almost velvety leaves.  He politely informed me its the type of plant that produces burs that get stuck in dog’s coats and that its a weed.  Both are on the burn pile as we speak!

Here is me talking to some of the visitors in easter egg pink/purple

If you live on Southern Vancouver Island or the Gulf Islands, we hope to see you at the Flower and Garden Show at Cobble Hill Hall.  The pricing and quality on the plants for sale is just excellent!

Over 550 people enjoyed the Garden Tour

Visitors examining the Iris Bed

Well, it’s about 6:30 p.m. PDT on Vancouver Island and the 16th Annual Cowichan Valley Garden Tour in aid of Cowichan Family Life Association is history.  By all reports, it was one of the best.  Over 550 people toured our gardens over a 5 hour period, nearly everyone bought a raffle ticket and nearly everyone made a small donation for cookies and coffee or tea so the first objective, which was raising money for an exceedingly good cause was met.

The day was filled with great gardening chat – questions and comments and compliments – oh my!  The weather didn’t cooperate 100% nor did it rain so hard as to deter attendance.  Heck, if you call yourself even a part-time gardener, a few rain drops are nothing!

Most asked questions in the ‘what is it’ category were for the big Thalicrum we have, or the Aralia tree, or the Daphne burkwoodi ‘Moonlight’.  Most compliments were for my husband’s rhodo collection, the Iris – both bearded and Siberian – or the overall ambience of the property.

Many asked who did the upkeep and weeding and we said ‘we did’.  No real gardeners were astonished, but many taking the tour just to enjoy the plants and flowers were amazed the two people could do all the ‘work’.  You have to be a real gardener to understand it’s not work at all, but an ongoing marvelous and magnificant obsession.  (ya sure, tell that to my aching back and fingers).

Aching digits notwithstanding, it was a lovely day.  One of my good friends from Victoria, Bob Ianson took a glorious slideshow of the property on the pre-tour yesterday and if you can open a zip file (Firefox works very well) then please enjoy this glorious, fantastic overview of our garden -

http://tinyurl.com/2wj77q7

Thanks to all the well wishers and all who helped to get the garden ready to go. Stayed tuned as I continue my gardening journey.  Here come the roses!

Its Thursday night, with garden pre-tour on Saturday

The pond on Thursday evening looking towards the little waterfall

I write this blog as much for me as for my visitors.  While sharing bits and pieces of my experience while preparing for the upcoming Garden Tour, I’ve taken more pictures, and recorded progress much more faithfully than I would have without the blog.  Its an online diary of sorts and I will be glad to look back on it to compare growth and challenges in future years.

This morning I sat down at the computer to see that one of my waiting emails said ‘Never Again’ in the subject line.  I knew exactly who it was from and what the email was about.  The email was from a fellow gardener whose garden is also on the Sunday tour and I knew he would be complaining at this stage about all the work.  I feel exactly the same.

I love trees and shrubs in pots. This is a new Japanese Maple 'Orangelo' and the Yellow Bird Dogwood

I guess how much work has to do with your own personal outlook on how weed-free is weed-free, how much staging you want to do, how much deadheading, trimming, etc.  Everyone’s standards as to a ‘show-ready’ garden are different.  My friend and I fall into that unfortunate category of ‘everything has to be perfect’ so, of course, we suffer more.

How much work also depends, to a certain extent, on your financial situation.  If you happen to have the funds, you can certainly hire professional gardeners to do the weeding, gentle soil disturbance so the beds look superb, staging so no common hosta overshadows a showy heuchera, etc. etc.  If you have the funds, you can buy endless cords of mulch to cover all manner of sins and you can buy mature, ready-to-go, and even in-bloom plant material to wow your guests.  If you are like most of us, quite a bit of the foregoing does not apply!

This darned IToh peony just doesn't want to bloom despite lovely, fat buds

I am pretty sure that all types of peonies will not be in bloom on Sunday, and that’s a darn shame.  After three amazing and wonderful friends spent their entire afternoon yesterday deadheading all the spent blooms on the rhodos and doing final clean-up in the long bed, it seems the really spectacular rhodos are over.  The bearded iris should hold their own and the Siberian are at their best right now with hopes of staying till Sunday but, pardon the rough language, the rest is a crapshoot.  I have over 25 (I think its 27) various types of roses, mostly climbers, floribundas, and David Austin.  Each and very one has lovely big buds, but I doubt they will be in bloom.  But ah, the hostas!  They are everywhere and looking their best right now – they start to get a little ratty by July.  No amount of fussing and hard work can make a plant bloom – so we just have to accentuate the positive! as Fred Astaire said (I think).

Siberian Iris 'Shaker's Prayer' - just glorious

I have walked the entire garden so many times I’m almost getting tired of seeing it!  No doubt I will patrol it another 20 times before Saturday rolls around.  You’re right, the actual tour for the public isn’t until Sunday, but there is a pre-tour for volunteer workers, media, directors of the charity, etc. etc. on Saturday so it has to be ready by then.

I always seem to make it sound like I do this alone.  I don’t.  While I am fussing over the plants, shrubs, and trees, my husband is weed-eating, installing a music system, mowing and raking the lawn, erecting overhangs for my tomatoes, constructing an entire temporary greenhouse to grow on the containers and then taking it down today.  He’s swept patios, moved chairs, and raked up all matter of plant detritus.  With 2 acres, I simply could not do this alone……

A lovely groundcover from Montreal - What is it Patti?

Whereas I am not the type of gardener who will actually steal cuttings from plants in public parks or on garden tours, I am not above bringing home some things on the airlines that perhaps aren’t on the list of allowed items.  This lovely groundcover which is currently covered in white flowers is a picture this time of year in my sister’s Montreal front garden.  I so admired it, we pulled up some during a visit, put it in a wet Kleenex and I took it with me to Toronto for a week of business (it sat in the hotel bathroom in a little soil in their bathroom glass) and then I brought it home and planted it.  I think that was two years ago and its going great and has spread.  Below you can see it in its driveway plot bed.  Its much admired by friends who come by and I have been giving out some clumps, but no one seems to know what it is.  Any Easterners reading this who may know the name?  Patti?

Groundcover between Barberry and Rhodo

Here’s a good shot looking towards the river including the patio and my goofy but glorious Aralia tree.  Its a peaceful scene before 400-500 visitors come stampeding through.  I can hardly wait for the actual tour – there’s nothing better than discussing plants with other gardeners and those who just plain enjoy plants.  And yes, I’ll have my Reader’s Digest A – Z and my little diary of what is planted where and some of the more unusual plants have tags from Lee Valley.

The Aralia tree in the sunset

Ok, one more day.  I still need to finish tidying up a rather far flung rhodo bed, to sweep off the patios, set up the ticket-taker station, etc. but the BIG work is done.  Probably time for one more blog after the pre-tour the night before the big event and for sure I’ll do a post mortem!

Tickets for the tour are $15.00 and if you live on Vancouver Island or want to wander over from the Mainland, you can buy tickets at Buckerfield’s, Dinter’s Nursery, Marigold Nursery, 49th Parallel Grocery, Volume One Bookstore, Third Addition Gifts & Toys, Sandpiper Garden and Glass, Long Lake Nursery, Elk Lake Garden Centre, Cannor Nursery, Dig This – Broadmead, Market Square, Oak Bay, and through the Cowichan Family Life Association. If you are reading this from out of town and want tickets, please just ‘comment’ on this blog and I’ll respond and I can help you obtain tickets.