The intricate coloring of the Abutilon ‘Red Tiger’ – aka Red Tiger Plant – would be hard to duplicate unless it was an art piece created in stain glass (Photo by Zack Stack)
This past January I discussed the beautiful and unique Abutilon ‘Red Tiger’, also called a Red Tiger Plant, and how it could be a house plant in the winter and then taken outside. My plant is now outside and coming into full bloom with many flower buds just forming which indicates it will be blooming for a long time.
I have found that once they begin blooming, they continue through the summer and well into the fall. The intricate coloring of the flowers would be hard to duplicate unless it was an art piece created in stain glass. Abutilon ‘Red Tiger’ should be readily available in garden centers and plants should be in bud or bloom.
June is the month when, in most areas of the Pacific Northwest, roses will be at their peak bloom. Portland, Oregon calls itself “The City of Roses” and the Portland Rose Society is celebrating its 124th Annual Rose Show, which is the oldest rose show in the United States and also the largest.
At one time, rose bushes were a mainstay of many home gardens. There would be few home gardens without some rose bushes and they were a very traditional plant to have in the landscape. New varieties would appear every year and gardeners flocked to garden centers to get the newest and the best. In 1986, the rose was designated as the official flower of the United States. Do not think that roses only have color when they bloom. Look at this collage of photos from the garden of Portland rose grower Rich Baer of his bushes with no bloom but great color.
‘Peace’ Rose – Photo by Rich Baer
Roses have occurred throughout recorded history and it is interesting to note that they only occur in the northern hemisphere. The oldest rose identified today and still commercially available is Rosa gallica and in ancient Rome, it was very common to see roses planted at homes as well as in public gardens. In the 1700’s a revolution in rose interest occurred with the increased trade between China and Europe. Rosa chinensis, the China rose, was introduced into Sweden in 1752 and became well known in the rest of Europe around 1793. What made Rosa chinensis so phenomenal was that it was a repeat bloomer as prior to this time; roses were primarily one time bloomers.
More recently, one of the most popular roses of all time, ‘Peace’ has a very interesting history. In 1939, an international conference of rose hybridizers was held in Lyon, France. When the group visited the rose growing firm of Meilland, there was a particular rose that captivated their attention. Shortly thereafter, when it appeared that there would be a Nazi invasion of France, Francis Meilland sent budwood of this plant to rose growers in several countries including the United States. After France was liberated in 1944, plants from this budwood were introduced into the United States and the rose was named ‘Peace’. In 1945, the secretary of the American Rose Society sent each of the 49 delegations at the inaugural meeting of the United Nations a single long-stemmed ‘Peace’ rose with the note: “We hope the ‘Peace’ rose will influence men’s thoughts for everlasting world peace.”
‘Knockout’ Roses – Photo by Rich Baer
Over the years, roses began to lose some of their allure as rose breeders tended to concentrate on plants with strong stems and single “perfect” flowers. Fragrance and disease resistance seemed to have gotten lost. The way we garden has also changed and with homes on smaller lots, there is less space to plant a traditional rose garden. Gardeners began to plant mixed borders or flower beds that were not made up of just one variety but many. Then the “green” movement arrived and the high maintenance of caring for roses with constant spraying made them even less desirable.
The gardening public wanted roses that were fragrant and required little or no spraying and luckily the rose breeders heeded the public and new roses began to appear with both fragrance and disease resistance.
Rosa Glauca – Photo by Rich Baer
One of the most popular roses of all time is “Knockout”. This is a shrub type rose with clusters of cherry red flowers. I have a grouping of “Knockout” in my garden and I have never sprayed them nor have I seen any sign of disease. This would have been unheard of not so many years ago. While it is not the traditional long stem rose, it is a shrub that mixes well with other plants and gives me color all summer.
Another favorite rose in my garden is Rosa glauca which is a species rose. While the flower is a single type, the foliage on this plant is outstanding and many people visiting my garden will comment on it. The leaves tend to be a blue-gray color and provide great contrast to the green foliage surrounding it. This is a large growing plant, mine is probably eight feet tall and almost as wide. The branches tend to be weeping and thus give a fountain effect. Try planting this in the background of a flower or shrub bed. An added bonus is clusters of red hips in the fall.
Monkey Business Rose – Peoples Choice Best Rose – Photo by Rich Baer
As part of the Portland Rose Festival Celebration, there is an event called “Portland’s Best Rose”. This event was held on Sunday, June 10, at the International Rose Test Garden in Washington Park. A group of rose enthusiasts, media people and gardeners, all come together and judge a selection of roses growing in the International Rose Test Garden with the criteria being how the roses look right at this moment. The overall winner designated as Portland’s Best Rose for 2012 was “Monkey Business”. Looking at this photo, it is easy to see why.
A special category is that of fragrance. For this category, the general public was asked to vote along with the “judges”. The winner was “Sugar Moon”. Not only did “Sugar Moon” win at Portland’s Best Rose event, it also won as best fragrance at the Portland Rose Society Rose Show.
Sugar Moon Rose – People Choice Fragrance – Photo by Rich Baer
Growing roses is not difficult. The primary requirement is sun and good drainage. They should be planted with a minimum of five hours of sunlight. Use Black Gold Garden Compost Blend when planting and work it into the ground around the roots as well as on top of the soil. Rose and flower fertilizer will supply the necessary nutrients for a healthy bush and is formulated with alfalfa meal which is prized by many rose growers. Apply in spring when new growth appears, again in mid-summer and a final application in late summer or early fall.
Check out your local garden center for disease resistant roses and you will see how easy it is to work them into your landscape with other blooming plants. There is no need to be on a constant spray program with the new roses available today.
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by another name would smell as sweet”. ~ William Shakespeare
The unique corrugated foliage of Rosa rugosa makes it resistant to black spot and other common diseases.
During World War II the Nazis blockaded English ports so they could not import citrus. As a result many children began to show signs of Vitamin C deficiency, the predecessor to scurvy. Another source of the vitamin had to be found so all local plants were tested. Fruits known as hips from a rural rose bush proved to be packed with vitamins. Ounce for ounce this rose and all other rose fruit contain more Vitamin C than citrus. From the quantities of fruit gathered far and wide, a potent vitamin rich syrup was made that saved the children’s health.
If you’re gardening for self sufficiency, you must have at least one good organically grown rose that bears large hips. The best species for fruit production is Rosa rugosa, known as the Japanese rose. These produce an annual crop of beautiful pink flowers each year followed by fat, luscious fruit.
Rugosas are tough as nails, with foliage that resists the usual fungal diseases that plague other roses. It’s far more cold hardy too, for easy care in northern climates. Rugosas can be found all along the eastern seaboard because the uniquely thick leaves retain moisture despite persistent winds. The whole plant is remarkably tolerant of salt air and alkaline soils too.
Rosa rugosa produces the largest, fleshiest hips with few thorns for painless gathering and preparation.
Rosa rugosa is a long time favorite for rural hedging because the root systems spread out and send up new sprouts. This helps a single individual to spread into a large patch or dense hedge that yields plentiful flowers and fruit. It’s also easy to propagate free copies by simply digging up a piece of root with its sprout attached and transplant to a pot of Black Gold All Purpose Potting Soil.
Hips form in summer and ripen to red-orange in the fall. They are astringent until fully ripe, then become sweet enough to eat off the bush. Once the hips have been exposed to a frost, it’s easier to prepare them.
Use minced rose hips to add raisin-like flavor to baked goods with a bonus of high vitamin content. They also make a famously healthy rose hip jelly for ideal holiday gifts. Fresh brewed rose hip tea with honey is perfect for treating colds or flu.
Rose Hips Cross Section: This cross section shows the seeds and attached hairs that must be removed from the center of each rose hip in order to harvest the fleshy outer layer.
Whether you grow your rose hips, gather them from the wild or out of other peoples’ gardens, you’ll want to preserve them for future use. First pick the hips, wash well, then peel the flesh away from the seeds clustered at the center. These seeds and attached hairs must be discarded so you’re left with clean flesh. You can also sow them into Black Gold Seedling Mix to create an entire hedge of new plants.
To freeze fresh rose hips, cover a cookie sheet with tin foil and scatter the chunks of fresh rose hips so none are touching. Freeze, then remove from the foil and place in conveniently sized Ziploc bags to store in the freezer until needed.
To make rose hip tea, add a few tablespoons of clean fresh or frozen flesh to a sauce pan of boiling water, then turn down the heat to simmer gently for 10 minutes. The resulting tea will be acidic tasting and rich in antibacterial properties. It will also be chock-full of natural vitamins that strengthen the immune system.
If you’re striving for greater self sufficiency, add a rugosa to your home landscape and let it grow large and flower much. Then when winter cold and flu season rolls around after medicinal herbs have died back, you’ll have a storehouse of organically grown hips from your own Japanese rose.
Hemerocallis fulva is also known as the Ditch Daylily, but will grow just about anywhere.
The individual blooms of the Tawny Daylily, Hemerocallis fulva, only last from dawn to dusk, but what a performance they give when properly staged in a garden! Since there are several flowers on each stalk, and multiple stalks in every clump, these easy-to-grow species perennials remain showy for weeks. Though sweeps of Tawny daylilies are familiar along old country roads in the Southeast, they originally traveled from their homeland in Asia, where these daylilies are still used in traditional cooking (think hot and sour soup).
Just below these hollyhock flowers the round seed capsules already forming while above the flowers buds have yet to open.
Hollyhocks have long been America’s favorite flower for country gardens because the Hollyhock seed can be gathered and sown for free. Althea rosea is a biennial, growing from seed the first year with modest blooms, then the plants come back from the roots the second year for a far more magnificent showing. Therefore sow hollyhock every year. The first flowers will be going to seed by the time the last ones open at the top the stalk. Down low you’ll find capsules of small disk-like seeds. As each capsule matures the outer covering becomes fragile and papery when the seed is ready to be gathered to store. They’ll be ready for spring sowing in Black Gold Seedling Mix for an even bigger display next year.
It is not too late to plant some summer flowers and foliage plants from seed. I am always surprised that more people don’t plant Amaranthus Joseph’s Coat as it is very easy to grow from seed, likes the sun, grows fast, and gives great color in late summer and fall. It is the leaves that provide the color and they can be red, yellow, cream, burgundy and a combination of all. We had some friends that had a container of these plants by their entry way last year and the color was spectacular. For some reason, the 4-inch potted plants at garden centers often do not look so good, so I think growing from seed is best.
Your annual bedding plants have a short life cycle. Seed formation is the mechanism that tells them to stop making more blooms. To keep the marigolds, petunias, zinnias and other summer flowers reblooming, inspect them daily. Immediately nip off every flower past its prime. Cut others in bud or bloom to bring indoors. Do this religiously and your annuals will think it’s still June all summer long. Tricking them to flower longer by preventing seed means they’ll need more flower food during the hot months. Generously work in fertilizer every few weeks and keep them well watered for big color lasting well into fall.
Moisture-rich potting mix makes hanging baskets shine and supplies more water in hot summer weather.
Moss baskets make it next to impossible to over water plants, and that’s why they’re different from any other hanging pot. Each basket is composed of a suspended wire framework lined with fibrous material and filled with potting soil. The reason for fiber lining is to allow optimal drainage throughout the whole container, not just where there are drain holes. It also allows you to water daily without guilt, so the soil remains evenly moist without the risk of saturation.
Hanging Basket Liners
Hanging baskets have changed in the last few years. Many are available with coarse Sphagnum moss that is permeable and holds water. Planting through the sides is now standard, making every basket a potential living ball of flowers. These baskets are now standard fare for growers of fuchsias, hanging ferns and begonias.
Stuffed containers must have water-holding mix to perform well.
Baskets pre-lined with coco fiber are also popular and eliminate the time-consuming process of manually lining baskets with coarse, wet Sphagnum moss. This coco fiber is thinner and just as porous, but there’s a down side. The potting soil inside will often dry out more quickly. The dehydration rate increases exponentially in arid climates, particularly during windy or hot weather.
To create baskets that are more weather resilient, select containers at least 14 inches in diameter. This creates a soil mass that is large enough to support a more expansive root zone of long-lived plants, and it reduces moisture loss through the coco fiber. The next step is to select the right potting soil for your local climate.
Hanging Basket Potting Mix
Black Gold Waterhold Cocoblend Potting Soil is ideal for hanging baskets in dry climates. It is formulated for increased water holding ability without compromising drainage. To do so it contains coir, a byproduct of the coconut processing industry that is highly absorptive and able to retain moisture better than ordinary potting soils. It’s OMRI Listed too, so you can use it for organically grown edible flowers, vegetables and herbs.
Vegetable baskets need a lot of space as well as the right mix!
What really makes coir desirable is the speed at which it absorbs water. While dry peat can be a little slow on the uptake, coir literally sucks up every drop you apply. In a hanging basket this means less immediate drainage and more water holding capacity over time. When the dry winds of summer kick in, baskets with this coir blend soil will fare far better.
For those who live in humid, rainy summer climates, over-saturation can be a problem after daily rain or heavy downpours. Potting soil can become super saturated, which limits oxygen availability to the roots until conditions dry out. Black Gold® Moisture Supreme Container Mix was designed for solving this very problem by maximizing oxygenation of the root zone. When you use this blend in your hanging baskets, you are less likely to see fungal diseases and rotting that can occur despite the porosity of the basket liner.
Make this year’s new baskets with Black Gold potting soils formulated for your climatic challenges. Then replace the potting soil in your older baskets to eliminate over-compaction. Once you discover how a climatically formulated potting soil improves your hanging baskets, you’ll never settle for anything else.
Marigolds (Tagetes erecta) include both the small French and the big African marigolds. These common flowers originated with a wildflower from Mexico developed in the Mediterranean region just after the Conquest. Ever since, the marigold has been grown in food gardens as a natural insect repellent. That’s because marigolds repel pests for more efficient organic gardening!
This annual flower species bears a strong, pungent scent that will drive bugs away from other plants close by in the garden. Underground, marigold roots repel microscopic worms called nematodes which attack food plants. Plant your marigolds all around the organic kitchen garden to drive away undesirable pests without hurting important beneficial predators such as praying mantids and ladybugs.
Marigolds are annuals, and for all annual plantings we recommend organic fertilizer formulated for flowers. A seasonal application will keep them happy and blooming throughout the growing season!
If your city has a public rose garden, this should be an excellent time to visit it. In Portland, we have The International Rose Test Garden in Washington Park and it should be at, or near, peak bloom. It is great to visit a large rose garden and marvel at the diversity of color, flower form, fragrance and bloom size. I can never select a favorite but high on my list is the rose ‘Jude the Obscure’. I first saw a large bed of this at Heirloom Roses in St. Paul, Oregon and liked it immediately. It is a David Austin Rose and has the form of an old fashioned rose, a strong fragrance and is a beautiful soft apricot color. It is an excellent bloomer as well.
All roses grow better with the help of alfalfa meal and a good quality rose fertilizer.
For those who live in humid, rainy summer climates, over-saturation can be a problem after daily rain or heavy downpours. Potting soil can become super saturated, which limits oxygen availability to the roots until conditions dry out. 
