Showing posts with label Moondance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Moondance. Show all posts

Monday, May 14, 2012

May Showers, June Flowers?

Remember when it used to be April showers, May flowers? What a strange year of weather so far. It was pouring again today, on one of the best Spring flush days. It's too warm to have all this wet weather! Can't you just hear the blackspot cackling in the background?

Things are still looking pretty so far. Those knock-outs really pop in the front garden. I like that they start blooming before the rest, adds length to the spring garden time.



My variagated dogwood used to be in the front garden and would fill up the background, all the way up to the window. Had to move it this winter to the backyard because it got too huge. So far he seems to like his new home next to the catmint that refuses to die and Madame Plantier that is fixin to bloom. I think she's almost doubled in size since last year.


When we redo the siding this year, we are using a color called Granite Gray versus white. Will be much better to show off the white roses. Moondance kind of fades into the background currently.


Summer of Love had 1 bloom yesterday and filled up today with one of the blooms the size of a soft ball.


Gotta love that Mills Magic Mix. In my garden, the timing is what is critical for the stuff though. You have to drench the roses about two weeks before they are due to bloom. I think I hit it pretty close to the mark this Spring. Now if I can just remember for Fall.


Gorgeous Perfect Moment hybrid tea from Jackson & Perkins. This rose absolutely glows and I love the burnt edges....although I don't think they are supposed to be so crispy looking, but I love the look. Had to try quite a few different shots with different exposure levels to capture the color. Still didn't really do it justice.

This shot is just using the AV mode on my Canon Rebel (macro lens) with aperture of f/6.3. The color is too pink, not very accurate.



This is more true to color using the manual mode: 1/200 second at f/5.6. The rose is more orangey than pink and those burnt edges really are black. Much better!

 

Monday, March 12, 2012

Rose in Focus: Moondance

When we first moved into our house I had a dream of only having white flowers and roses around the house. I soon got tired of this idea and started buying color. But I still have some very beautiful flowers left from my moon garden dream. One of those flowers is the floribunda rose "Moondance". I purchased three of them from Jackson & Perkins, bare-root. They are now going on 4 years old and very vigorous. Yes, they get blackspot but when they are in full-health they are glorious.


The color is pure white on the outside and soft butter yellow in the middle. The rose turns more white as it fades. The foliage is a very dark green.

This shot was after a baking soda bath. You can see the spots on the leaves. Which, by the way, doesn't work in my garden and just ruins my photos. Won't be doing that again!

Moondance plays nicely with others



Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Side rose bed...uh, oh

On the side of our house, I have full sun. Great for my Hybrid Teas, Grandifloras and Floribundas. I planted a row of them behind a row of boxwood. Usually this strip of roses looks something like this....



But, this summer it was decimated by blackspot. Can't really explain why, must have been something about the wet weather. I got so frustrated at one point in August last year, when I was trimming my boxwood with hedge clippers, I hacked the crap out of the roses too. I have no idea what this will do to them this year...usually they are kept nicely pruned, now they just look sad, regardless of it being Winter. This is what they look like currently:

Some of my best roses are in this bunch, so I'm crossing my fingers that my temper tantrum didn't spoil them.


Chicago Peace
 

Moondance
 

Heaven on Earth
 

Playboy adn Traviata