Mottisfont HRF Trip to England, Day Two.

Day Two of my trip to England for the Heritage Rose Foundation conference was filled with inspiring presentations by expert rose gardeners.  (Fair warning, the photos in this post are from my visit to RHS Garden Wisley on Day One, and they have nothing to do with what we did on Day Two.)

Lily pond at Wisley

HRF President, Stephen Scanniello, opened the day with a few words, and then he introduced our first speaker, David Stone.  David is retiring as the head gardener at Mottisfont Abbey after 37 years, and he is responsible for much of the beauty that is to be found in the gardens at Mottisfont ... which is where we spent all day on Day Three.  After hearing him speak, those of us who had never been to Mottisfont were very excited to have the chance to see it in person.

Arches with Rosa mulliganii at Wisley.

Detail of Rosa Mulliganii at Wisley.

Fountain and rose arches at Wisley.

Next up was John Wood, Head Gardener at National Trust Hinton Ampner (which would be our first stop on Day Four).  The garden at Hinton Ampner is fairly formal, very different from the one at Mottisfont, reflecting the personalities of the previous owners of the property along with some changes and improvements that John is responsible for.

View to a shady area at Wisley.

I'm not all about roses, here is a Hellebore at Wisley that I really liked!

One of the rose gardens at Wisley.

After lunch, we heard a program by Maurizio Usai, a garden designer in Sardinia and a frequent contributor to the discussions on GardenWeb's Antique Rose Forum.  Maurizio showed us how he designed his garden and how it evolves throughout the year, taking best advantage of Sardinia's Mediterranean climate.

Wisley.

Wisley.

Another rose garden at Wisley.

Our next speaker was Jonny Bass, who is replacing David Stone as the head gardener at Mottisfont.  His program, "The Conservation of a Legacy," detailed his vision for honoring the history in the gardens at Mottisfont and showed how he plans to continue the work of David Stone, and of Graham Stuart Thomas before him.

A rose that caught my eye at Wisley.

A drift of David Austin's 'Morning Mist' at Wisley.

Detail of Morning Mist.

Our final speaker of the day was Peter Boyd, an expert on Scots Roses (Rosa spinosissima and its hybrids).  I admit that I had little interest in this corner of the rose world, but that quickly changed as I saw Peter's beautiful photos and heard about the history of this tough class of rose.  I have one spinosissima hybrid rose in my collection, Double Blush Burnet, which was sent to me by a kind reader from the site of her family's homestead in the upper Midwest.

I never have had an appreciation for Flower Carpet roses till I saw this one

'Flower Carpet Red Velvet' at Wisley

The last event of the evening was a delicious dinner in honor of David Stone.  

I wish this rose was available in the US.

There were so many wonderful things for sale in Wisley's garden center.  It was torture for us to only look and not buy.

It was a long day, but one in which I learned SO much!  As I turned in for the night, I was really excited for our tour of Mottisfont the next day ... which is the subject of my next post ... stay tuned.

Mottisfont Heritage Rose Foundation Conference Trip, Day One (Did you miss me while I was gone?)

I'm b-aa-ck!!

Flew out of here in the afternoon on Saturday the 21st, landing at Heathrow Airport in London early in the morning of Sunday the 22nd.  Met up with my six traveling companions when their flight from Florida arrived shortly thereafter.  Picked up and loaded our rental van, and we set off toward Winchester.  (photos in this post were all taken by me during a visit that some of us made to a private garden on the first evening of the conference.)

Looks eerily like my house, doesn't it?

Nevermind the front yard renovation work, look at all of those roses!

This is 'Compassion' trained to wire on the front bay.

Since we arrived in England so early in the day, and we couldn't check into our hotel till after 3:00, we planned a stop at Wisley, the garden of the Royal Horticultural Society.  The weather was clear and sunny ... perfect for spending hours wandering and marveling at the wonders that Wisley had to offer.

Layers of roses and perennials.

'Lady Hillingdon', climbing form.

Rose on side bay window.

Wisley also has a cafe, where I got my first taste of English food ... full English breakfast, please, and LOTS of coffee.

'Ferdinand Pichard' and lots of other roses!

Detail of 'Ferdinand Pichard'

More artistry with layers and layers of plants.

My favorite part of Wisley was their garden center, with thousands of annuals and perennials available for sale and a dizzying selection of roses.  It was really hard on all of us, since we knew that we could only look and not buy.

Bench under 'Bobbie James' on an arbor and in the treetops.

Roses and perennials.

After Wisley, we went straight to our hotel in Winchester.  Other conference attendees were already there ... it was great to see some familiar faces, and make the acquaintance of other folks that I had heard about but hadn't met in person.

What a lovely view the birds have from their bath.

Roses and clematis.

One of my greatest joys of this trip was meeting Jon (whose garden is shown in all of these photos).  I was busily introducing myself to folks, making small talk.  My introduction and chat with Jon went something like this:

Me, "Connie Hilker from Virginia.  Pleased to meet you."

(insert random small talk here)  Jon made mention of GardenWeb Rose Forums.

Me, "You're on GardenWeb?  Me, too."

Jon, "What is your GardenWeb ID?"

Me, "I'm hartwood."

Jon, with an amazed look on his face, said quietly, "I'm joninwessex."

It was my turn for the amazed look, as both of us realized that we had communicated with each other for years, and neither of us had recognized till that moment who we were actually talking to.  I think I may have squealed as I gave him a big hug.

How many layers do you see in this photo?

Moss rose.

More layers.

After the evening mixer for the Conference attendees, some of us went to visit Jon's garden.  As we arrived, I was instantly struck by how similar his house is to ours.  I showed Jon a photo of our house, and he asked, "Where are the roses?"  (No roses growing on our house ... yet.)

I love Jon's garden shed.

Detail of shed door with roses.

I have never seen another garden like Jon's ... so many layers of roses and perennials.  This garden is small (only about the size of an average backyard) and he has masterfully created a garden that is magic.  It is difficult to capture the intimacy of this garden in photos.  You're going to have to stretch your imagination to comprehend the height and the scale and the fragrance!!

Rosa virginiana plena, one of my favorite roses that I saw in Jon's garden.

Detail of Rosa virginiana plena.

As the sun began to set, we loaded up to return to our hotel for dinner.  Visiting Jon's garden was a Bucket List item for me ... one that I didn't realize I had till then.

So many roses on this wall!

Roses, roses everywhere!

Day One ended quietly, after a late dinner.  All of us had been awake for over 24 hours at that point, with only short cat naps on the plane, and I slept very well that night.

As wonderful as this trip was, it is even better to be back home.  My garden looks good, and I am almost caught up on all of the things that I missed doing while I was away.  My husband took great care of things in my absence.  

As they said at the end of The Wizard of Oz, "There's no place like home."

This is Why Cats Get Stepped On

Alice loves to lounge on the stairs.  At a glance, her striped fur kind of blends in with the pattern on the carpet, especially if I'm moving quickly going down the stairs, and I have nearly stepped on her on many occasions when she's like this. 

Now that I look at this photo again, I can use it as a good example of another facet of old house reality ... so many unfinished details.  The stair skirtboard and the treads are finished.  The balusters on the stair rail are stripped and sanded and ready for primer and paint.  The other half of the balusters are in a pile on a shelf in my basement workshop.  (I removed half of the balusters in 2007, to make it easier for the floor finishing crew to work on the stairs.)  The mitered return ends of each stair tread are in the workshop, too ... sanded and varnished and ready to be reinstalled once the balusters are put back into place.

All of this will be finished one day ... I keep telling myself this ... it's my own little personal pep talk.

An Antique Surprise

The 'Just In' page on the Old Covesville Store web site is one of my favorite places to waste a few minutes of time online, drooling over the incredible pieces that arrive there during the week.  Many of the most special things are sold almost immediately ... this is no surprise, since Covesville's prices are just as amazing as their merchandise.  While scrolling through last week's offerings, this caught my eye:

It is a Hepplewhite cellarette (liquor safe) from the late 1700s.  Do you recognize the design in the inlay on each of the sides?

Roses!

This was one of the pieces that sold immediately, so I can't be tempted by it.  I can, however, marvel at the skill of the cabinet maker to cut and piece veneer into such an intricate design.

I guess someone 200+ years ago probably loved roses as much as I do ... and the lucky new owner of this must love them, too.

Spray Day

Every other Monday, I break out my trusty Mantis Spraymate 12-gallon sprayer to spray my roses with fungicide.  Blackspot is a fungal disease that is a huge problem in this area, and many of the roses I grow are susceptible to it.  A quick spray of fungicide every two weeks is all it takes prevent most blackspot infection on my roses.

I use Honor Guard, a super-concentrated systemic fungicide ... available HERE.  (For smaller gardens, I recommend Bayer Advanced Disease Control, which is a fungicide-only spray, available at Lowes and at specialty nurseries.)

In addition to helping protect the roses from blackspot, Spray Day also gives me the chance to be up close and personal with each rose in my garden.  Most of the time, each rose receives a quick spray of fungicide and I'm on to the next one.  Sometimes I notice things that need attention ... like finding a cane on 'Comte de Champagne' that is infected with Rose Rosette Disease, or seeing this little guy:

The first Japanese Beetle of the season. 

For those who say that spraying roses is too labor intensive, takes too much time, etc., etc., I timed myself this morning.  I put on my shoes and walked out of the house at 8:30, and I put away the sprayer and walked back into the house at 9:45.  One hour and fifteen minutes, start to finish.  In that time, I mixed 11 gallons of solution and sprayed approximately 400 of my 700-or-so roses.  (I did not spray any roses in the Rose Field, or any of my ramblers in their three locations in the garden.)  

One hour and fifteen minutes, twice a month, to help insure the health of my rose garden ... not bad at all!

(Remember, when I say "spray" I am talking only about fungicide.  I do not use ANY type of insecticide in my garden ... no chemical, organic, soap, etc.  My motto is "no insecticides, no exceptions" ... I let the good bugs eat the bad bugs and things balance themselves out nicely without any interference from me.  In the case of the Japanese Beetles, I will probably go after them by hand in the more visible areas of the garden ... or not, depending on my mood.)

Sunday Snapshot: A Job Well Done

This is the view of the Hybrid Tea Garden in our front yard, as seen from our deck shortly after sunrise this morning.

It is finished!

Not almost finished, or finished except for some little niggly detail ...

FINISHED!

It feels wonderful just to say the word "finished" ... and to have this lovely garden as a result makes it even better.

Finished.

Happy Sunday, Everyone!
(and happy Father's Day to all of the dads out there)

Feral Roses

feral  (adjective)
in a wild state, especially after escape from captivity or domestication.

About three miles from my house, at the intersection of two well-traveled country roads, there are rambling roses climbing trees and scrambling through the grass and brambles.

These roses resemble 'Dorothy Perkins', a rambler rose that was introduced in 1901 and has been wildly popular in gardens.  It is vigorous, floriferous, and the only thing that really bothers it is powdery mildew in the summer.

On one side of this intersection, the pink rose is growing through the undergrowth and it cascades from the trees.  On the other side of the intersection, the pink rose has mutated ... and there are FOUR colors of flowers on canes that scamper through the tall grass.

Dark pink, light pink, and white

Dark pink and white

A mutation like this is called a 'Sport'

sport  (noun)
an animal or plant showing abnormal or striking variation from the parent type, especially in form or color, as a result of spontaneous mutation.

The medium pink form of this rose (the original color) has naturalized in many areas of my region.  It's not a wild rose, in the sense that it is native ... it is an introduced plant that has escaped and been spread around.  As a once-bloomer, it has a fantastic show of pink flowers for a couple of weeks or more in early summer.  For the rest of the year, it creeps and grows, gets bush-hogged and run over, and survives on its own.

I have seen sports on the original pink rose before ... sometimes pink to dark pink, other times pink to white.  The change from medium pink to the light pink is subtle, and I don't remember noticing it before.  This is the only place where I have ever seen all of the colors growing happily at the same time.

Each year when I see that these roses are blooming, I try to remember to go back with my camera to photograph them and record the variation in the colors of the flowers.  Each year, I promptly get busy with something else and forget to do this.  By the time I remember, the roses have quit flowering or are past peak.  This year, I'm happy that I finally remembered and that I caught them looking their absolute best!

If I was inclined to do it, cuttings taken from the plants with various colors of this rose are stable and will produce plants with that color flower  (though they sometimes revert to the original color later)  

Here are links to more info on the sports of Dorothy Perkins.
Red Dorothy Perkins
White Dorothy Perkins