Proper watering is one of the most important aspects of growing and caring for roses. In order to stay healthy roses need almost as much water as people do.

Common sense will tell you roses need more water during hot weather. When temperatures are hotter the soil dries out faster. No matter what the temperature, established roses will need to be watered if rain alone does not provide at least an inch of rain each week. Newly planted roses should be watered thoroughly every day for the first two months. Read the rest of this entry »

Taking a little more time when planting roses will get them off to a good start and is one of the secrets to growing roses. While roses such as the shrub roses are practically carefree, caring for roses can be more demanding than caring for other flowering plants. Read the rest of this entry »

English Roses, often called David Austin Roses, or simply Austin Roses are a group of roses introduced in 1969 by David Austin, a rose hybridizer.

David Austin has tried to create roses that combine the best of both old garden roses and modern roses. His idea was to create roses that produced flowers with the form of the old garden roses, repeat flowering like the modern roses, a variety of colors, such as yellows which are not common among the old garden rose, and the strong fragrances of some of the old garden roses. He accomplished this by crossing old garden roses, particularly those from the 18th and 19th centuries, with modern roses from the 20th century. Read the rest of this entry »

Flowering vines and other climbing plants come in all shapes and sizes, all colors, and in both perennial and annual varieties.

Some of the more popular perennial flowering vines are climbing roses, clematis, honeysuckle and wisteria. Annual flowering vines like morning-glory, moonflower and hyacinth bean, grow for just one season, but these are easy to grow, inexpensive and allow you to change your landscape each year. Read the rest of this entry »

It is hard to believe how warm the weather still is. Thursday is Thanksgiving and I still have roses blooming!

This rose is an old garden rose, called climbing Cramoisi Superieur. It is a china rose, which are supposed to be especially well suited to the southern climate. It has a wonderful fragrance and is very disease resistant. Read the rest of this entry »