Monday, June 16, 2008

A Marvelous (Albeit Cool) Monday

The 'Polar Joy' tree rose above snuck up on me today. I hadn't noticed it blooming yet and was smitten by the violet pink blooms, elevated 4' above ground level. Developed by Bailey Nurseries and part of our rose evaluations, 'Polar Joy' is very hardy and unlike other tree roses that are grafted, this is the same rose from root to flowers. Our Easy Elegance series from Bailey has bounced back very well despite severe winter injury. 'Funny Face' is to the left and many others are in full bloom too. We're continuing to do evaluations and planted quite a few 'Home Run' roses (not part of this evaluation) to fill some of the gaps. It's nice to have a low maintenance rose collection and it currently falls in line with the amount of attention we can actually dedicate to it; minimal.

It was quite cool this morning with everyone starting the day wearing flannel or sweatshirts. It was one of those days that was hot when the sun was out and cold when it was cloudy. Regardless, we had a great Grumpy work day as always and had about 10 members of the Janesville Noon Rotary club come help plant in the afternoon. We put lots of plants in the ground and hope to continue unimpeded with our momentum on a daily basis.

Check out our 'Henry Kelsey' climbing rose with semi-double, slightly fragrant red blooms. The long arching canes of this shrub rose (introduced in 1981) are easily trained and secured on a pillar, post, trellis or fence. The primary flush of blooms is in June with some scattered blooms thru summer. Regardless, we always appreciate this ultra-hardy climber this time of year. Squeezing one more plant in....I like this annual stonecrop (Sedum 'Lemon Coral') which has a spiky, layered look of chartreuse topped with yellow blooms. This looks to be a good groundcover or in the case illustrated below, a superior edger/spiller for a container.

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