It took this Bourbon antique rose of ours almost four years to get established, and this is the reward: the start of its spring blooms with more to come. Since it’s a repeat, after its springtime flush is done, it should bloom sporadically the rest of the year, until another big bloom in the fall.
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Posted in Antique Roses, Rancho Roly Poly
The antique roses are budding like crazy, even Zephirine Drouhin, which has taken a leisurely four years to finally get settled, has thirty or more buds on it. Old Blush, always prolific, is already blooming away. But nature ain’t a greenhouse. Here come the thrips (also called thunderflies) to chew their way through a bud or five. We must await salvation: the ladybugs who will eat the thrips.
LCRA’s chief meteorologist Bob Rose says another mini- drought-breaker like we had about nine days ago isn’t in the cards, just more humidity and a light rain later this week followed by a bit more this weekend thanks to a Pacific cold front combined with a low pressure trough out of New Mexico:
"Rain amounts Saturday through Sunday will be a little heavier, generally in the range of 0.5 to 1 inch, with isolated heavier totals. As of now, however, I’m not seeing the development of a heavy rain event. High temperatures both days will be in the middle 70s"
At least we’re going to get nice spring weather the next couple of weeks, highs in the 70s and lows in the 60s. And with the perennials greening up and the antique roses budding out, it should be even nicer.
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Posted in Antique Roses, Weather/Climate
Tagged Antique Roses, Bob Rose, Central Texas weather, LCRA, meteorologist
I do believe another Ducher (white) and a Souvenir de la Malmaison (pale pink) will do it for fresh antique roses this spring. Souvenir is a Bourbon and they generally aren’t disease-resistent enough to thrive at the Rancho, but Souvenir was doing fine before the deer ate it. Besides it’s one of the few roses named in my great great grandmother’s 1850s pocket diary as one she used to form an arbor near the house. The other Bourbon, a reddish-pink climber called Zephirine Drouhin, survived the deer, and looks ready to go gang busters by late March. The Ducher is a China, the hardiest of all we’ve found. Add a few perrenials, a Blackfoot daisy or a Barbadoes Cherry, and we’re good to go. Nandina frames them. Blue jasmine added for highlights. Local pictures when available.
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Posted in Antique Roses, Rancho Roly Poly
Everybody’s been picking on the Associated Press lately for faux sources and questionable stories out of Iraq. This is more of a dumb mistake, and I might have to remove it if they complain about me using it here. But as a rose grower I couldn’t resist. The AP’s caption to this photo: "Some early rose buds are coated in ice at the Tyler Rose Garden on Jan. 15, 2007, in Tyler, Texas. (AP Photo/Dr. Scott M. Lieberman)." Poor Dr. Lieberman must have supplied the photo and some dunce at the bureau in Dallas confused rose buds with these rose hips, which are the aftermath of flowering not the precursor. Some people make tea out of them, but nobody can make flowers out of them. Duh.
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Posted in Antique Roses, Texana
Tagged Associated Press, rose hips, Tyler Rose Graden
Never a dull moment at the rancho. If the appliances aren’t failing, or the trees falling, then the white-tailed deer have broken into the back yard again. Indeed, the deer have returned, smashing their way through the makeshift lattice work I installed last summer to try to save money (always a big mistake) rather than fix the section of privacy fence that a falling tree eclipsed. The deer are hungry and thirsty of course. It’s cold and dry. And the juniper pollen in the air has kept me inside like the Prisoner of Zenda (if that’s not too obscure a reference these days), so I would not have known about the deer but for Mr. Boy’s sharp eyes this morning before he left for school. Of course they have eaten the antique roses to stems again. This time I have called in a carpenter to come replace the fence, but of course he can’t come until tomorrow. I believe I will invest in either a Wrist Rocket sling shot or a Red Ryder BB gun to harrass the deer in the meantime. Shooting anything more powerful–like a .38 for instance–is illegal in the city limits and the Bambi lovers would go berserk if their precious marauders were severely injured. Don’t need to be arrested or draw an animal rights demo out on the sidewalk. So patience is in order until the carpenter comes tomorrow morning.
UPDATE The carpenter came, did his work, and for about $600 we have a new cedar privacy fence which should keep the deer out for good. The first one who tries to jump it will wind up hung up in a large shrub, but you never know. Bambi is used to roaming at will in our neighborhood protected by city law, too few animal control folks to do anything, and the morons who sprinkle corn on their lawns. Oh, well.
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Posted in Antique Roses, Mr. Boy, Rancho Roly Poly, Weather/Climate
Tagged Antique Roses, Red Ryder BB gun, white-tailed deer, Wrist Rocket slingshot
Well, the freeze covers are on the four outdoor faucets, and I’ll snip off all the antique roses in bloom before dark, because the temp is forecast to drop below freezing after dark and eventually down to 24 degrees with winds gusting to 25 mph. A hard freeze of about eight hours altogether. Then lighter freezes are expected tomorrow night through Sunday night and that will probably be the end of the freezes for a while. Unusual to have four in a row this early in the winter in Central Texas. But people farther north have it worse, with snow and ice, as well. Including a rare blizzard in Oklahoma, making travel nearly impossible.
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Posted in Antique Roses, Rancho Roly Poly, Weather/Climate
Tagged Antique Roses, freeze
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 