A Very Blustery Day (Weeks!)

The weather in Barstow can be funny. Actually you have to laugh at it to keep from crying. It is either blistering hot, freezing cold or very windy. We are now in the VERY windy mode. The wind has been blowing non-stop for almost two weeks! Not just a slight breeze, strong wind with (the paper says) 30-40 mile an hour gusts. We have spent most of that time inside, watching movies, reading and I have been cooking. Boring... I want to work in the garden, but it is to cold and windy. Maybe tomorrow.....

More From The Garden II

I still have the neighbor's camera, so I thought I would do an update. This is the honeysuckle I had on before. It is coming along well, I have fertilized it and.... well click on the picture to enlarge it and see!

A couple more of the Bearded Iris. The one on the bottom is really nice, great two tone.

James really likes Old English roses. I think they were the original garden roses before Hybrid's. I'm not exactly sure. They grow like wild roses, spindly and long. What we really like are the buds. They look like this.......
This is called Heaven On Earth. This has a nice smell, it keeps this great cabbage shape until it fully opens.

This is another Old English rose. It is called Evelyn. It is one of the prettiest we have. Beautiful dual colors and it opens to a show. These are two pictures of different stages in this roses growth. You can see the cabbage pattern in the top picture. In the bottom picture you can see what these Old English roses can do when they open. Beautiful pink interior; white exterior a great smell!

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The only problem I have found with these Old English roses is that they are not as disease resistant as the newer hybrid varieties. The are very susceptible to thrips (small bugs which rune the buds), so extra care is needed in pest eradication. Click on this picture to enlarge it for a closeup view of the inside.

This rose is call About Face. As you can tell we don't like to pick to many run of the mill "normal" plants. This is no exception. The petals of this rose are two toned. The outer part is dark orange/copper. This inside is a pale yellow. The two colors together make for one Hell-Of -A rose. It smell nice to!

This is Hello Dolly! Great pink Hybrid Tea that puts up lots of large blooms. It has a mild scent, but it makes up for it with the great flowers.

This is John F. Kennedy. Beautiful white Hybrid Tea with a strong rose smell. It is my only white rose. For some reason I have more trouble with this one than most. I'm not sure what I am doing wrong, but the buds always look kinda burnt. Not sure if it needs more water or less sun? Maybe pests? I will have to work on it. Still, it is a nice rose.

Easter Flowers

Darlene, James' mother, wanted a bouquet of flowers to take with her to church on Easter. This is what we came up with from our garden. Looks pretty good, Huh? They are coming along nicely.

More Of Our Garden

More pictures of our garden starting with this honeysuckle. We have two different types of honeysuckle, the more common one has not bloomed yet. This variety does not have a fragrance, but it's flowers are nice to look at. The hummingbirds loves this bush, they are at it constantly. This will bloom all summer long, even in Barstow!

This is a Spanish Broom. It does well in the desert. It blooms at the beginning of spring and it's fragrance can be found in any corner of our yard. It works well in this climate.

We have a whole bed of bearded Iris. These are the first ones to bloom.

My Peach tree. Last year a late freeze wiped out my peach crop and nearly killed the tree. This year, I actually have some peaches growing.

These are Asian Pears. We bought a tree that has five different types of Asian Pears grafted onto one tree. Last year it was too young to do much, I am expecting better things this time around. I will thin these out when they get a little bigger.

The Garden Grows... Roses

The first signs of success are making themselves know in our garden. James and I have a lot of time on our hands and we like to keep busy with nature. We have planted over 55 rose bushes on his mom's property! Too many, really. They can be a lot to keep up with. However, we have worked with roses for a long time and we know a few things. We have a pretty good system and they do alright. We usually pick roses for their scent. The stronger the better. Some make it in on just their beauty alone, but most have to have some kind of smell.
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This Hybrid Tea is called Chrysler Imperial. I was not familiar with this rose until we planted it here. WOW! It has become one of my favorites. Beautiful blooms and hands down the best fragrance of all of our roses. You can smell this one on the other side of the yard. This plant almost died over the winter, (a tractor ran over it), but it has come back strong with a little tender loving care!

This Hybrid Tea is called Double Delight. It is another great smelling rose. The picture does not do it justice, it has white on its lower petals that turn red toward the top. Very striking.

This Hybrid Tea is Blue Ribbon. It is a light purple/bluish color. This rose was also damaged with the tractor but pulled through. It has a nice clean scent and above average petals in the bloom.

This Hybrid Tea is Rio Samba. This bush puts up a lot of flowers. The smell is average, and the amount of petals is average. We picked the bush for the bright colors; beautiful yellow/orange/red.

This climbing rose is Joseph's Coat. We have this rose trained on the front fence. It is the first bloomer every year. As long as it is well fed, it will put on a show all summer. The buds are beautiful colors of yellow/pink/red. As the bloom opens, the colors change. Very nice.

This Hybrid Tea is called Love Rose. The scent is average/above average. The petal count is average. We added this rose to our collection because of the two tone petals. If you look at the second picture, you can see the inside of the petals is red, while the back of the petal is a creamy white. It looks great when it is open.