BUSY BEES AND PUZZLING ROSES

A little gardening blog for you.

After some trials and tribulations in recent weeks, I finally got some much needed time in my garden today. I weeded, hoed, deadheaded and generally had a good look at everything and there’s lots happening out there.

Whilst I was kneeling down weeding round the lupins, a bee decided it was time for work. I was so close to him but he completely ignored me. I spent a very pleasant 10 mins watching this little fella going about his business. He was gathering nectar from the lupin and he was so methodical in his pursuit of pollen, it was fascinating. He literally went from one blossom to the next in a circular fashion, gradually working his way up the plant. As he landed on a flower, he parted the petals with his back legs, gathered his pollen and moved on to the next doing the same thing over and over again.







I caught some movement out of the corner of my left eye, and a completely different species of bee was also going about his business on my centaurea.



I wandered round the garden taking a few pics of a few things that have made some good progress.
This is my little survivor. My Orange Parfum rose that I thought had died. I doubt he’ll give much of a show this year, but he does seem healthy.



Clematis ‘Voluceau’



My buddleia was very hard pruned in March. Down to about 12 inches. It’s growing so well now. Lovely and upright and about 5 foot tall. No blooms to show you, but I’m well pleased with it.



My spuds are doing rather well in their little black sacks too. I can’t believe how many leaves they produce….and Soooooooooooo bushy, lol. Another rose that needed some TLC in front of the spuds with some buds on, so I’m in for some more lovely blooms.



The Iceberg didn’t like all the rain we had yesterday so has decided to sulk today. I’m not too hopeful that the blooms will lift again now. I still love it though.



But, my Frycassia patio rose, obviously did like the rain and it’s looking beautiful.



Delphinium. The first I’ve ever grown. The blossoms aren’t as tightly packed as I thought they’d be, but I still quite like it.



My Jasmine ‘Stephanense’ is beginning to flower now too.



So, if you’ve read this far, you’re probably wondering where the puzzling roses come in. Go on, admit it..you are, aren’t you? Yeah, you must be curious by now, lol.

Well, here’s the puzzle.
I have this rose…(and isn’t it beautiful?)



and I also have this rose…(not the same mini rose that I posted a pic of previously).



Now the puzzle is…..wait for it…...are you waiting…...still there?
OK.

..........................


They’re on the same plant!!!!!!!!!!!!



Now, I swear I haven’t planted two roses in the same pot. It’s a small 6 incher so I wouldn’t even plant one rose in it, never mind two. A few years ago, I bought one of those house rose gift type plants and it didn’t do well, so I stuck it outside and forgot about it. It was red, I definitely remember that. Anyway, this rose hasn’t bloomed for a couple of years (at least, not that I’ve seen) but as it’s always had leaves on, I kept it and this year, put it in the blue pot in my group of pots. As I’ve not had much gardening time recently, I hadn’t noticed anything amiss with this although I did see that it had buds on it. I was astounded to see this today. There are four distinct stems in the pot, but obviously I can’t see any bud union as these house things seem to be potted differently. So, have I got some sort of sport here or are there two roses in the pot? The pink one has a cluster at the top, yet a single stem with bud at the bottom. The reds are single. Both the pink and the red have large green leaves and lighter coloured smaller leaves.

So, what d’ya reckon, eh?

And, I was wondering. When you were kids, did you grow carrot tops? You know, mum was cooking the sunday roast and you stuck the top end of the carrots in a saucer of water and grew the lovely ferny plant, lol. Well, I did. All the time. What I never grew was a swede!

But today, I found a swede at the back of my veg basket (I really must clear this basket more often, lol. My last find was dried chillies, ha, ha). So I went back to my childhood, cut the top off and stuck it in water. Will it grow? In fact, can I plant it in the garden? (and do you know, I almost cut the top off a carrot to join it, lol).



My day in the garden finished with a couple of the old aircraft from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight going over.

The Lancaster.



The Dakota.



Is it a bird? Is it a plane?

Well, both of course, but I really liked the fluke of catching the bird in the foreground and everything in shadow.



So that’s it. My day in my garden. The cherry on top though was the postie brought me two new rose books. The RHS Encyclopedia of Roses and the Botanica’s Roses so now I have about 6000 pictures of roses to drool over.

Wonderful pictures of your wonderful little patch Lorraine. I, too, have watched the bees for hours ... pity I am not as industrious as they are, eh? Re the rose, Mia is the expert, but I think this is just a case of when they grafted the new pink rose on to the old budstock, the "parent" rose (i.e. the red one) was stronger (and a stronger colour) so it has reverted a bit. Strangely, there's one exactly the same grown by a nurse in the Hospice who asked me about it only on Monday! Still, buy one get one free, eh? I am so very glad you are enjoying your garden again!!! It is keeping my sanity down here, I can tell you. I go out there and forget everything and everybody.

Lovley little post this one. Thoroughly enjoyed it and your photos make me SICK. especially the lupins and the bee on the centaura. I cant grow lupins here, mind you, I wasnt veyr succesful with them in the UK either which is a shame as I love them.

I cant beleive you like iceberg????? I can never beleive its poularity... I mean its got no colour, no smell and is prone to disease.... whats the upside?

as for your hybrid rose, well mum is right (has she ever been wrong? is ones mother ever wrong we ask?) it is undoubtably where a stronger rootstock was used to graft on to and is not that uncommon. I have an Alec's Red which was red the first year only and is now various shades of pink, with the odd red bloom - the leaves are different on the different parts and that is the clue that this is what has happend.I have two 'la redoubte' (fabulous rose)next to each other and one is pink, the other is white. I also have a rosa mundi versicolour that was pink and white striped (as it should be) for several years and is now such a violent colour of purple that I am thinking of having it out. That one is a bit odd and must be my soil because that isnt a hybrid rose.

I love delphinums.... Mum did a super cross stich once of a ginger cat in some delphiniums and ive loved them ever since but slugs seem to wreak havoc with mine...have you got a pic of that mum? and where is that embroidery anyway?

your spuds look good and hte whole garden is something to be proud of. As I said elsewhere, I could really do a reverse one of these transformed garden threads at the moment.

whats your favourite rose Lorraine? anybody in fact? whats everyones favourite?

Gorgeous photos Lorraine - you are obviously in gardening mode
at the moemnt.

You know, I never even thought of the root stock for the rose. Doh!!!! You'd think I'd know by now, wouldn't you But, although I do know about that kind of thing, I'd never have expected it in a pokey little rose like that.

My Alec's Red better not revert, that's all I can say. Grrrrrrrr!!!

I have a few fave roses, Maria. I love the Alexander, the Alec's Red and yes, the Iceberg as I adore white roses. But, I think my Gertrude Jekyll just pips them.

Lovely pictures of the bees, they are fascinating to watch - so industrious.
All your plants look very happy and healthy, including the bonus rose lol.

I was outside yesterday and thinking how much has come out in the last week or so. Have charged my camera batteries so must get out there if it doesn't rain.

well actually I think the poky little ones are the worst for it!! GJ is a superb rose I agree.... mum and i visited a painter lady once, who had an open garden and she had GJ growing all round the house, mum and ilater found out the lady was 90 odd years old!!!

I find alexander a bit robust but I ahd the alexanDRA for a while in the Uk and its a single rose and delicious.

I reckon Mme G wins if for me, then tequila sunrise and then valencia and Im pretty fond of fragrant cloud too although its an oldie. I change the rankings each year...

(i can hear you all chortling)

I love your photos of the bee and the planes too. ll your plants look lovely and very healthy.
I have never had any interest in gardening but after seeing other peoples photos on here It has inspired me to try and do something in ours. My dh has been looking for a hobby for when he can't run so am trying to encourage him to sort the garden out , he has more patience than me!
I only have one rose in my garden , no idea whats its called but it is white.

Brilliant pics, can almost smell them. Liking the planes too.
My favourite has got to be whatever anyone gives me, I've not had much luck with roses in this garden, but I do like an old fashioned rose, will invest in some one day as they are v pricey. I like any raspberyy ripple type and apricot coloured ones. I'm going to get a bit of one of my Mums climbers sometime, it's a vulgar pink (suits me) but has the most gorgeous perfume.
Rosa Mundi, is that what I think it is? if so it might just not like it in France.

I love roses, any roses, but to be a real rose, it has to smell nice....i love camelia's, the leaves are so green...well my mummy's were when i was a kid.....my big brother...one of them....bought her a bunch or bouquet and she rooted it, or something...and shoved it in the soil, it was amazing for years...

I love these pics.

My eldest daughter adores yellow roses, i always thought red was a sign of love and yellow was jealousy and white for purity....

Is there a rose called the 'friendship rose'? if so i love that too.

super garden Lorraine..i really have to come for a closer look and a sleepover x

Gorgeous pics of your plants, Lorraine. I'm forever outside taking photos of the bees on my cornflowers. Can't wait for the buddleias to start flowering so I can get some (hopefully) decent butterfly shots!

I love that Lancaster!!!! It's my fave plane in the whole world.

I was only watching a lovely furry bee with an orange bum today on my lavender. We saw the Dakota today but was a bit too far for a pic. Bob and my Dad are off to the airshow on Saturday so may get some pics then.

some great pictures there lorraine . i used to really hate roses and when we moved into this house in 1984 the front garden was full of roses and i dug them all up !!!!! eeek what was i thinking , ,,now though i love them .
i adore yellow ones but i never get to know the names of them . i have one called either silver wedding or silver anniversary that we bought with some money we got from family for our 25th wedding anniversary , its not doing too well though ,its in a huge pot and i think it needs to be in the garden itself not the pot

A rose will do fine in a pot, Kim. But you need to top dress it every year and feed it from March until July.

they get plenty of feed but not top dressing , what does that mean , put a blouse on it ??????????????

Gorgeous photos Lorraine. Love roses too but only have 2 small bushes in our garden but don't know their names.
Have never grown carrot tops, but my mum does try and grow carnations by cutting a piece off when she has flowers and putting it into glass of water until the ferny bits show.

kimb wrote:they get plenty of feed but not top dressing , what does that mean ?

Remove the top few inches of compost and replace with fresh, hun. That's all. A simple job but makes a lot of difference.

oh right , thats a problem then as i have put lots of little succulents in the pot to cover up all the soil ,looks pretty but maybe thats whats taking all the goodness away from the rose , mmm think i might move it