Month: November 2007
Rose de Rescht – An Intense, Old Rose Fragrance
Rose de Rescht is one of my favorite roses. She is one of the first roses to bloom on May and is continuing to bloom into the frost. She blooms in repeat flushes with short rest periods. She is a Portland rose and is three to four feet tall and two to three feet wide after four years. The fragrance is amazing–a heavy, sweet, damask perfume. I have a few in the ground and a few in containers–both work equally well. As you can see in the picture, the flowers are quite full. When dead heading, just pinch off the faded blossom as the new blossom will appear not far from the old blossom.
English Gardens: Elements of Organic Gardening by HRH Prince of Wales
I read the following review of Prince Charles’s new book in the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/23/garden/23highgrove.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
After reading the review, I couldn’t wait to get it, as it had already been printed in the UK, but not yet in the US. I pre-ordered it and waited with baited breath. When it finally arrived a few weeks later, I was not disappointed. It was a trove of wonderful information that was applicable to my very own suburban garden. Okay, my less than half an acre doesn’t compare to Highgrove, but the Prince does have about one full-time gardener per acre or two. One thing that the Prince can’t do organically–even with a royal staff–is keep a proper lawn. Instead, he keeps green spaces that that are mowed. A proper lawn–a monoculture of a specific grass–is just too prone to disease and weeds to manage organically.
Garden to Vase by Linda Beutler
I purchased Garden to Vase: Growing and using your own cut flowers by Linda Beutler earlier this year. It is the first book on cut flowers that is addressed to the gardener, unlike most flower arranging books that assume you are buying the flowers from a florist. While not all of the information is from first-hand knowledge, it is enough of a start for you to experiment on your own. You can find the book on at:
A Tree Falls Down in New Jersey
Given that I haven’t poste since last winter, I guess I only have time for this blog in the off-season.
Last year, the trauma of the garden was a 100+ year-old oak tree falling in the backyard. Our wonderful arborists from Savatree (http://www.savatree.com/) check our trees every year, and both of these trees were quite sound.
Then in the spring, after a heavy rainstorm, we heard a giant cracking sound in the backyard and actually saw the tree falling. This, as the arborist categorized it for insurance purposes, was truly an act of God. As if this wasn’t bad enough, it had grown intertwined at the base to a 100+ year-old tulip tree. Removing a tree that has fallen down, assuming that it hasn’t fallen down on your house, is a pretty minor job. However, removing a giant tulip tree with no other trees around it, is a major job that requires heavy machinery. The arborists did everything possible to avoid this, but it was unavoidable. The heavy machinery, to say the least, destroyed significant parts of the backyard and garden, not to mention the damage to the driveway. Speakng of insurance, the people at Chubb (http://www.chubb.com/) were wonderful about the whole affair.
The gardening challenge was multi-fold: the back corner of the garden which was formerly full-shade was now full-sun.
To be continued…
Heirloom Gardener 
