| September 1, 2006 Another 2" of rain over night and still raining. We're getting the fringes of Ernesto. |
| September 2, 2006 Another 1/2" of rain over night but today started off very sunny. Everything is so green and clean. Got some clouds in the afternoon. |
| September 4, 2006 Another 1" of rain over night. Pickin's look slim for the rose show on Saturday. |
| September 5, 2006 Another 1" of rain over night. |
| September 9, 2006 Local rose society rose show was today. I entered 11 roses and got a few red, a few yellow, and a few white ribbons. Clerked for the judging, which was very educational. Bought a miniature gardenia--that's supposed to be hardy here--from a rose society member who had rooted them. |
| September 10, 2006 Rose show ended. Came home with cuttings from several roses: 'Lady E'owyn' (Mini-Flora), 'Miss Flippins' (Miniature), 'Moonstone' (Hybrid tea), 'Baby Secret' (Miniature), 'Soroptimist International' (Minature/Mini-Flora), 'Nancy Jean' (Miniature), 'Jumping Jack Flash' (Miniature), 'Tiffany Lynn' (Mini-Flora), 'Fairhope' (Miniature), 'Miss Megan' (Miniature), and 'Simple Splendor' (Miniature). Will stick them and hope for the best. The rose society rooting champ took three home to try to root for me: another 'Lady E'owyn', 'Jacques Cartier', and a hybrid rugosa whose name escapes me right now. He has three mosses already rooted for me and will overwinter them in his greenhouse: 'Salet' and two others, all of which are repeat bloomers, he says. 'Jacques Cartier' may be the same rose as 'Marchesa Boccella'. Thought I'd try this one and compare. Interestingly, the ARS says this rose must be exhibited as 'Marchesa Boccella', but was entered--and judged--in our show as 'Jacques Cartier'. It was exhibited by one of the judges. |
| September 11, 2006 Put granular Ironite around all anemic looking roses and watered it in. Started foliar/drench feeding with MiracleGro Bloom Booster plant food. Will finish up tomorrow night. Hoping to see improvement by the Roanoke Rose Show on September 23. If I have any decent roses I'm planning on showing them. |
| September 12, 2006 Stuck all of the rose cuttings from the show. They were still very fresh looking. Filled 16oz. plastic cups with sand (not play sand), removed leaves so I had 2 bare leaf nodes, removed the bloom, made a shallow slit in both sides of the end of the stem, dipped that end into Dip and Grow for 5 seconds, then stuck them in a hole I made in the sand with a pencil. Watered well and will let them drain overnight. I'll put them in a clear plastic tote with a lid tomorrow and adjust the lid depending on how much moisture is in the tote. Sprinkled MiracleGro Bloom Booster on the remaining pots I'm working on. Supposed to get rain tonight, tomorrow, and tomorrow night, so I decided to go this route and let the rain water it in. Also put some around some in-ground roses. |
| September 13, 2006 Rain all day with a total of 3 1/2". |
| September 14, 2006 Mowed grass short, overseeded, and fertilized with 15-30-15. Sprayed roses with Bayer Advanced Disease Control. |
| September 15, 2006 Sprayed roses in need with MiracleGro to try to green up the foliage. |
| September 17, 2006 Away for the weekend. Grass is looking good. Rose cuttings OK. 'Baby Secret' has lost all it's leaves. |
| September 18, 2006 Picked up a 'Poulsen's Pearl' at the Rose Society meeting. It's a single Floribunda. |
| September 20, 2006 Visited Elmer Collins' garden today. Gorgeous roses, mostly hybrid teas. He gave me a huge potted (10 gallon pot) 'Louise Estes' (hybrid tea) and even brought it to my house, since it was too tall to fit in my vehicle. He has lots of things rooting for me in his greenhouse, and he gave me some plugs to try that he uses to do some rooting. Also gave me a cutting of 'Stevens' Big Puple' (a dark red hybrid tea which has a VERY strong and delicious scent) and 'Lagerfeld' a light mauve grandiflora/hybrid tea, which also has a very nice scent. I'll try sticking them in a couple of days. Cut several roses for the Roanoke show coming up this weekend and put them in the refrigerator. Moved all the summer front porch plants to the back deck and potted up 22 mums and placed them on the front porch and gazebo entrance. |
| September 23, 2006 Rose show in Roanoke today. Had fun and learned some more. I got a blue ribbon for 'Marchessa Boccella' (first blue and can no longer exhibit as a novice), reds for 'Royal Wedding', 'Iceberg', and 'Carefree Wonder', yellows for 'Julia Child', 'Belinda's Dream', and 'Contesse du Cayla', and a white for a 'Scentsational' mini English box. Vernon Rickert says 'Maggie' can be exhibited as 'Eugène E. Marlitt'. |
| September 25, 2006 Reseeded a few spots in the lawn. |
| September 26, 2006 Tossed ferns and deck rail planters. Tied up all climbers except the pillar roses. |
| September 27, 2006 Finally got around to ordering my free miniature rose from Nor'East Miniatures for joining the ARS. I chose 'Baby Boomer' for obvious reasons, but it's supposed to be a good exhibition rose, too. Will be shipped on 10/2/06. Took down the front porch clematis--took the potted ones to my neighbor. Plan is to put roses in their place next year. Put RoseTone around all roses. |
| September 30, 2006 Sprayed roses with Bayer Advanced and added 1/4 cup Wilt-Pruf to each gallon. Got 'James Galway' really well as one of them has spider mites. Trimmed/edged/mowed. Potted up 'Poulsen's Pearl'. Added water and treated ponds. Tied up allee climbers. Only ones left now are the pillar roses--need more Velcro tape, however. Update on rose cuttings: 'Baby Secret', 'Miss Megan', and 'Jumping Jack Flash' are toast. The rest are looking OK. I think I see some growth on a few. Time will tell. |
