Raspberry

Red Raspberry Rubus idaeus 'Heritage' I started out with about ten little sticks and now have plenty to share as they spread rapidly and vigorously. I would even recommend that if you have even more limited space then me to confine the roots, maybe by planting them in sunken 5 gallon buckets with the bottoms sawed off. They love my well drained spot I have them planted in and the yearly dumping of compost every winter before they start growing again. I grow mine like a hedge, with the canes woven into a wire support between posts and every spring before new growth I try to thin out the weak and spindly, dead, and old canes to give nice fat new healthy canes room to take over. They are an ever bearing type and as you can see in the picture they are just beginning to bloom. I will be digging up and potting suckers maybe this weekend for my plant sale but I promised to put aside some for my S-I-L's new organic garden so I do not know how many I will offer for sale. Mine seem trouble free except when it comes to Japanese beetles who will demolish the plants in a day. YIKES!.

5/14/10

5/29/10

6/3/2010

Loads of bee action on the raspberries today. Bees are positively HUMMING. The harvest is looking very promising.

6/12/10

waiting...

6/20/10

6/22/10

6/23/10

This morning, a nice handful have ripened. But this is only the beginning.

8/5/10

Transplanted a raspberry that had escaped the bed and cut it back.

Shasta daisy

Leucanthemum x superbum Alaska I started Alaska from seed directly in the garden. In 2 year's time it's grown bonkers. Shasta daises should be divided every 2-3 years. I will divide this one next year. 

5/18/10

6/3/10

Plant is budding up but the recent storm knocked the plant to the ground and I need to get it tied up. I should of given it some support from the beginning.

6/4/10

I tied up Alaska as the wind had knocked it all down. Next year I will get to it much sooner. It is quite a big plant and not at all easy to tie up after the fact. My arms can't reach that far around.

6/9/10

6/16/10

Blooming today.

6/19/10

Leucanthemum x superbum Becky  I bought this one when I didn't think any of the seeds of Alaska I'd planted were not coming up. I guess the joke is on me. :) They are both very similar plants. I think Becky has a longer bloom time though and II absolutely have to divided this one this year so I will be splitting it up and replanting and selling some of them too. This photo is one of the divisions I've already dug up.

5/18/10

6/3/10

Becky is also budding up. Both the potted up divisions and the plant in the ground.

6/9/10

Note: Shasta daisy in pot is now sold.

6/19/10

Mother plant is now blooming

6/20/10

8/1/10

Seeds

8/5/10

Collecting seeds

Roses

Hybrid Tea

Lady Bird: The is a Jackson and Perkins rose named after Lady Bird Johnson. It is on it's own rootstock so even though it dies down to the ground every winter it comes back just fine as the same rose.

6/3/10

6/5/10

This rose never disappoints.

6/6/10

Florabunda

Unknown Rose: I had the name of this one which I planted this year BUT I've misplaced it for the time being. Hopefully I will locate the name soon.

6/3/10

6/6/10

6/22/10

5/13/10

Rugosas

Rosa rugosa rubra. I grew this rose from seed myself. It suckers freely to make a nice thorny low growing hedge in moist and wet soil but if planted in dry or sandy soil it will not sucker, though still be perfectly healthy. It's a care free rose with a wonderful scent and the petals and hips are edible. The leaves have a nice hay like scent as well when rubbed and the native and not native pollinating insects love the flowers. It starts blooming in May for me and blooms until a hard frost. There is no need to dead head this rose as new blooms and rose hips continually form. It needs no fertilizer and no pesticides although to be honest the Japanese Beatles love to eat the flowers. Using chemicals on these roses will harm them, they are very sensitive to them and so they are perfect if you like to have an edible landscape that is organic.

The hips are very nutritious, chock full of vitamins you need. You will not suffer scurvy if you eat them. They are good in tea, in jelly, and as a snack even when fully ripe and i have heard that when the suckers are very small they can be steamed and eaten too though I've not tried it myself so I can not vouch for that use.

Rosa rugosa var. alba has wonderful fragrance that perfumes the air even before the buds open. Pollinators find this rugosa irresistible. It was also seed grown originally and makes nice suckers and hips.

I harvest well rooted suckers in the fall for sale or trade. The suckers will bloom during the first year of transplanting so you never have to wait long for flowers. My rugosas stay about 3 feet tall and get no taller then that though they get wider. They are VERY hardy and seem to do well in all kinds of conditions though I have not tried them in hot sunny dry places as I have not hot and dry places in my yard. However I have someone I shipped white ones to last fall in CA and they say they are blooming and growing gangbusters. I sell my well rooted suckers for $3 a piece plus shipping, bare root, after the plants go dormant in the fall but can also pot some up for summer sales too for $5. I DO wait until the suckers bloom for the first time so I can identify the right color as I have white too and they love to mingle. I am always happy to barter too. When I have some ready, I will list it on the side of my blog.

6/6/10

R.rugosa rubra hip

6/19/10

R. rugosa var. alba

6/6/10

hip

8/4/10

The roses are starting another big flush of bloom, they smell so sweet. The Japanese beetles have disappeared so the flowers are no longer being eaten.

HIPS

7/18/10

I harvested rose hips and processed to make juice for jelly. Froze the Juice for now.

Daylilly

Unknown Daylily
7/18/10

7/3/10
View for front yard with daylilies :)


'Rocket City'

6/24/10

'Lemon Lime'

6/23/10

'Tall Buttercup'

6/21/10

The new flowers are storm battered!

6/22/10
A not so beat up flower.

'Gordon Biggs'

6/20/10

Stella de Oro: I have PLENTY of these, and am willing to divide and sell clumps anytime if people want them. I have them lined all along my parking space. They are tough, hardy, and oh so easy to grow.

6/3/10

6/6/10

6/11/10

 'Jolyene Nichole'
6/18/10
Blooming for the first time for me.

'Gold Spider'
6/18/10
Blooming

Seedlings

5/17/10

Daylilly seedlings found in the garden. They are likely going to be Stella d oro look-a-likes but you never know. I'll grow them on until they are bigger then plant them in the garden until I can see the blooms. You NEVER know what nature likes to throw your way and I'd hate to toss out a fine gift.

6/5/10

Seedlings are doing fine and showing growth.

6/20/10

6/23/10

Seedling of  'Gold Spider'. I don't know who the daddy was, I let the bees do the work.

7/3/10

I really don't know if I will keep this seedling from gold spider as its flowers are never really normal. Sometimes they look normal and sometimes they look like this. I may just compost this one.

My new favorite!!! This one was also from a seed off of 'Gold Spider' but looks quite a bit different. I love the deep peachy color. It's a lot shorter too and and leaves don't curve back.

6/23/10

Another seedling that I have started. This one looks too much like 'Rocket City'. It can stay in my garden but I likely won't do anything with it.

7/3/10