A few plants that give so much yet require very little...

Well despite the thripes I do have some pretty rose blooms to show off on this lovely crisp spring Friday morning!

I spent the other day doing another round of dead heading and went to spray a horticultural oil on the unopened buds that didn't show signs of thripes to see if it would help. I filled up my pump sprayer only to find the wand is nowhere to be found. So oh well. Maybe the cool weather we have had this week will slow them down? I still have a few roses that haven't even started to bloom yet in fact many of my plants are just starting including the larkspur. I just love larkspur don't you?! Purple must be a dominate color in plants because though they started from the mixed variety I think the purple shades are really the only ones that come up anymore. Well that's just as well and only fitting I suppose in my garden.

This little beauty is 'Souv. d'un Ami', a tea rose dating back to 1846, is light to medium pink. This is a rose I don't really mention a whole lot and I don't know why as she is such a pretty healthy little thing. Very good repeat bloomer, healthy, and never asks for much and yet rewards me with such beautiful blooms. Ami

Here we have 'Peggy Martin',  a found rose that can reach 12-15 ft though I believe she can easily get much larger. This rose is named after the woman whose rose garden was destroyed after the storm surge that hit during Katrina, this rose was the only one to survive! To read about the complete story click here.

This rose absolutely amazes me and I can see how it survived. I have had this rose as well as 4 others sitting in the original pots since last spring. They are waiting to be planted in a spot along where our new fence is going up and I wanted to wait to plant them till then. 'Peggy Martin' is the only one doing well in fact so well she has exploded out of her container! Look at those long arching canes on her! Those are from last year and now the new ones sticking straight up from the container! The other 3 roses well let's just say I can't even compare. The others have a lot of die back and look sickly so much so that I'm afraid they might not make it if I don't do something soon. I have this rose sitting in my herb bed for now (the others in sitting in another bed), I have to pull up a chair to lay her canes on just to keep them off the ground. I can't wait to get this rose in the ground and have her climbing along my new picket fence coming next month!! Did I mention she is nearly thornless?!

Here we have those common but beautiful pink Knockout roses. I cut these back hard early spring this year to about 18". You don't have to but the 3 in the middle were a bit spindly and so I cut them all back to promote new stronger canes from the base and it worked. I have Nepta 'Walkers Low' planted in front and 'Becky' Shasta Daisies between. This is one rose that I never worry about thripes ruining.

This is one of my favorite plants. The picture doesn't do it justice. I saw this plant from someone on the gardenweb and knew I had to have it in my garden. This is Verbena Bonariensis or 'Verbena on a Stick', it grows pretty tall about 3-4 ft, very airy so it blends very nicely with other plants. It grows in zones 6-9 and is long blooming, mine bloom from spring till fall here in my zone 8 garden. There is another variety called Verbena Buenos Aires that grows a little shorter with the blooms closer to the foliage. I started this plant from 1 teeny tiny little seed which was all I had left in a packet that I had sown the year before but for some reason they never took. Last spring I found one seed left in the packet and through it in the soil saying "oh well" and forgot about it. Well that one little seed took! I now have about 10 plants this year all from that one little (and they are tiny seeds) seed! They reseed so nicely without being invasive. I just moved the plants around the garden to spread them around. The butterflies and humming birds love them too!

Well I am afraid that is all for today! For all you folks out there wanting to grow roses but are afraid you'll kill them you need to try 'Peggy Martin', next to Knockouts I really don't think you can hurt this rose. She is one outstanding rose! I plan to take cuttings of her and fill my garden with her!

Happy Gardening!