Antique Rose Border

Hi Friends,

Today, I thought I would take you on a little tour around my yard. This time of year something beautiful happens…the roses around my backyard fence explode into the most beautiful pink waves of happiness! They are just beginning to hit their peak, and wouldn’t you know it, we are expecting some rain and wind overnight. I captured this video this morning- before they become casualties…if you listen closely you can hear the birds and my English Cream Golden Retrievers, Charley (blind) and Bravo, make an appearance too…..

About 8 years ago, I began swapping out the roses in my gardens with antique varieties. For years, I tended to high-maintenance hybrid teas… I sprayed, fertilized and pruned them faithfully…with great joy I might add. Between black spot and mildew, something had to give…I didn’t want to give up roses completely, so I did a little research and discovered a wonderful resource within couple of hours from my home. Petals From The Past is a wonderful garden center in Jemison, Alabama that specializes in antique roses, heirloom schrubs and hard to find perennials and herbs. Here is a link if you are curious: petalsfromthepast.com The antique rose varieties are typically more resilliant and less disease prone…in other words, they are easier to keep. I now only have antique varieties. I feed them the around April 1st, again around Memorial Day, and maybe once more after July 4th, with the old-fashioned rose food that you work into the soil around the roots. I water them throughout the summer months and prune them only when my husband threatens to give them a haircut because he can’t mow the grass without becoming a bloody mess from the thorns. On a sidenote… If you live within driving distance of Petals From The Past, it is fun to pack a picnic lunch and make it a day trip. There are tables and grassy areas to spread a quilt- I know because I have done it!!

I am blessed to have a rose that I brought from my grandparents’ home that actually belonged to my great-great grandmother! It is a real treasure! In true old-fashioned form, it only blooms once a year (right now) and it’s fragrance is pure heaven! I’m actually drying the petals for a future project, more to come on that, but isn’t it a beauty…

Continuing on with our tour….I have converted my flower beds from annuals and finiky, so-called perennials, to tried and true varieties. Many of my plants have been passed along to me from fellow gardener friends as they have divided their own plantings. Iris and daylillies beg to be divided when they get too crowded. Other plants I removed from my childhood homeplace with my grandparents before they downsized to something more managable . And still others I have discovered and transplanted from old home sites left behind on our farm…it was once a working dairy farm that belonged to my husband’s great-grandparents. I still use a few annuals like caladiums and impatients in strategically placed planters for puntuations of color. Ferns, such as Maidenhair and Boston, are my favorites to soften porches and I usually sow some zinnias, cosmos and bachlor buttons in a sunny corner to use in cut flower arrangements…

I also enjoy spider warts, hostas, native Southern woods ferns and helebores (lenten roses) in shady places that get morning sun. No Southern garden is complete without lots of hydranges in all varieties… Lace-Caps, Endless Summer, Limelight and Oakleaf…never too much blue and white!!

There is something so calming about being outside and looking at beautiful flowers. Even God enjoyed walking with Adam and Eve in the Garden in the cool of the day. He is a Master Gardener after all. The Bible says that He transplanted it (Eden) from Heaven Himself…

Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. Genesis 2:8

I am in no way saying that my garden can compare to His! It just pleases me to know that God the Father didn’t mind getting His hands in the dirt…and maybe Jesus got some under His fingernails from time to time…

Until next time…..

Hugs,

Michele

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable– if anything is excellent or praiseworthy– think about such things. Philippians 4:8