New Roses for 2012-- a selection

Sunshine Daydreams

Breathes there a man with soul so dead”….that his heart doesn’t leap up at the thought of new roses for the year? This  gardener  already has about 50 roses that live on grey water, unsprayed for the most part, and when sprayed it's either with milk, for black spot, or pepper spray for bugs.( Having established the politically correct  organic credentials for rose growing), let's see a few.

Sunshine Daydreams is a grandiflora described as “yellow to cream”. Not for a pot on the patio but give it some room and it will be a rival to Abbé de Cluny. And, best of all Sunshine Dreams managed to win AARS under no spray conditions. According to the breeder it is almost continuously in bloom. Give it room—5 “by 4’ when mature.

                                               Koko Loko

This one caught my eye lavender and cocoa? Koko Loko. As you can see, it begins one color and ends up the lavenderr you see  at the bottom left. It’s a floribunda, moderately fragrant . “Milk chocolate changing to lavenderr” according to Weeks, the grower, and a good cut flower.Sounds a little like Lavenderr Lassie, an old climber, much loved. Tempted to try it.                                       


                           

Pink Traviata

The next rose is a sport  of Traviata  (a rose  this gardener has successfully grown for about five years). Very tough, floriferous and undemanding. Grown by the unrivalled rose-breeding family, the Meillands, in Provence.

This rose is one of their series of Romantica© roses that are ideally suited to the Central Coast. Almost any plant from Provence seems to thrive here whether it is artichokes (remember the baby purples grown from seed) or roses. This particular rose, Pink Traviata, is a hybrid tea, fragrant,  evoking Violetta,  in Verdi’s opera**  La Traviata“The Woman who Goes Astray”.

 Scratch a rose grower and find a Romantic….. For four generations the Meilland family has been raising memorable, much loved and admired roses. Perhaps the most famous is Peace (which flourishes here), and commemorates the end of WWII . This rose was  originally named for Mme. A. Meilland.(  see   www.meilland.com/en )

                                                       Luscious

This rose is Luscious--magenta and amber, bewitching fragrance, long stems.Hybrid tea. Always a fool for scent, this one sounded like a winner, however, not 100% sure it will do well along the coast, as it was bred in Tyler,Texas. It'll be well suited to the Central Valley, and should like the heat.

                                                                   Ebb Tide

This rose is newish (2006) but not new this year, however the color is so remarkable and the scent---"strong spicy clove scent" -- so endearing, Ebb Tide made the cut.It is a floribunda. (Next blog will discuss David Austin roses for this year, which will include DA's featured rose for the year Darcy Bussell, which is in the same color range)

 If you are after this color, compare the two roses and figure out which will work best for you. Ebb Tide was bred in Australia, which indicates it'll probably flourish here. Carruthers (the breeder)  patented the rose in 2006, and Weeks, a California grower, has been carrying the rose for several years so it must be better than okay. 

Now, to try not to  get carried away  at the nursery.......

                       

** from Dumas fils play.

A Gray Water Rose, Goldfinches, Seed Sprouting Sucesses

Yves Piaget, measured 6 1/2 " across, nutured entirely on gray water. This is a Romantica rose, bred in Provence, of great substance, divine smell and perfectly suited to the Central Coast. (see Romantica roses. Grow Quest website-has a good selection)

Colette, Johann Strauss and Abbe de Cluny also are flourishing on the laundry water.

American Gold Finch

The gold finches are migrating the Pacific Flyway (Central Coast is on it) from Mexico to Canada and vice versa. Flocks of them come through here, coming and going, eating as much nyger seed as the budget permits--about 2 lbs a week at the peak of their migrations. The one that favors our garden is the Lesser Goldfinch, mostly.



Lesser Gold Finch



The French call this bird Chardonneret mineur which suits him better than Lesser. He's small but charming, with a sweet song. According to the  info on the Net, this bird is a permanent resident ---I have news for them--he isn't. He stuffs himself, his wife and his friends and goes elsewhere to nest. Mexico, most likely. He tells his friends where the nyger seeds are, and they come back every year in increasing numbers. Birds are big food gossips --- they invented Twitter. (OMG)



Stuffing Themselves



Stunned with pleasure to report, the baby Purple artichoke seeds (Violetto di Chioggi, Violetta de Provence, Violetta Precoce ) all have sprouted. Soaked for 24 hours, the seeds spouted in four days. Broccoli seeds(Belstar) didn't even take 4 days. Usually, I have zero luck with seeds, so these sproutings are  more miraculous than usual.