Sunny and warm

NOTE:  You may click on any of the photos in this blog to enlarge them.  To return to the blog, click on the x-box in the upper right-hand corner of the photo.

It was a great day for an open garden, and the roses were thankful to see some faces besides Mike C's for a change.  A warm early June day brought out the best in the assembled roses and people.  Maryann and I swapped places in taking the photos shown below.  Experienced rose growers John and Juliana had to depart early, so we missed getting their photos for posterity.  This, however, won't be our last open garden of the season.

Laveryne  & Maryann

Mike & Laveryne

Tina's NEW rose garden

Yesterday evening was our first opportunity to see Tina's brand new garden.  She planted the roses just 4 months ago, but the design and preparation steps done beforehand looked to be considerable.  Rumor has it that a cooperating husband as well as a tractor were employed.  As you can see in the photos below, the results made it all worthwhile.  The roses were looking very good in the early evening light.

LEFT HALF --  September 27, 2018

RIGHT HALF --  September 27, 2018

The lucky attendees are shown below, as well as a stitched-up photo showing the garden from a different angle.  Click on the stitched photo, because it looks better with enlargement.  Many thanks to Tina for hosting us in her impressive garden.

L to R:   Howard, Melanie,
Emily, TINA, Maryann

An expanded view

A busy Summer

This evening we held our third open garden event of the Summer, and hopefully it won't be the last.  Mike C was the host today, and attendees were a mix of old-time rose growers as well as a couple of aspiring newcomers.   Even after a long string of, shall we say, ABOVE average hot days, Mike's roses still looked pretty decent because they're watered daily.  The photos below capture the scene; the second photo was taken by a guest photographer -- Maryann.

Maryann, Laveryne, Melanie,
Gene, Howard

Mike
Out standing in his field

Roses are hardy plants too

Today we were invited to TWO gardens for a cultural exchange with members of the Salem Hardy Plant Society.   What was nice was that both gardens had dedicated beds for some well maintained roses -- way to go, people!  "Beth's garden" and "Mary and Art's garden" were walking distance apart in the same neighborhood.  Beth and Mary are seen in the photos below wearing their maroon gardening aprons of the Hardy Plant Society.  Notice the huge climbing/rambling Cecile Brunner rose behind the ladies taking up the full width of the 1st photo.  There's some  classic boxwood hedges there complementing the roses too.  The 2nd photo  shows the depth of the garden and some rural countryside in the distance.

Beth, Maryann, Laveryne

A pretty rose garden protected
by a "deer fence"

Next we trek over to visit Mary and Art's garden to see more roses and a friendly family pet.  Here we get another look at the vineyards that we also saw from Beth's garden.  To thank our special hosts today, I'm going to provide you with a BIG BONUS LINK to the website of the Salem Hardy Plant Society:  https://salemhardyplantsociety.org/

Laveryne, Mary, Maryann
and a very friendly dog

Laveryne with room to roam.
Art is wearing a white shirt.

Master Gardener meets Rose People

It's been nearly 3 years since we last visited Laveryne and her beautiful garden as part of our open garden tour.  Laveryne is a rare individual who is both a Master Gardener AND a rose person.  Just look at the display of blooms (roses, shrubs, perennials, trees) as we walk up the driveway to begin the tour, and then as we turn the corner on a path leading to the back yard --

We chat in the back yard prior to a closer look at the wonders ahead  (L. to R. --  Fred, Wes, Laveryne, Brad, Joyce, Maryann; and Mike behind the camera) --

Breathtaking views of the backyard, first looking westward and then a "stitched" photo showing the view looking eastward (you may click on any of these photos for enlargement) --

Some tame critters enjoying the garden --

Friends and Roses (times 2)

Open garden of August 15, 2017:    We're going to double-up on the annual visit  to Mike's garden -- this year's meeting was held on a very pleasant August evening.  Among other guests, we had esteemed visitors from the Dallas Garden Club, shown below with Maryann -- rare folks flanked by some rare roses:

Open garden of June 26, 2016;    We've been waiting for a mellow evening to have our first meeting of the year.  The weather finally cooperated yesterday evening, and we met at Mike's place for a visit with old friends  amidst a  slightly different kind of garden.  Remember that honorary membership in the Salem Rose Society is granted to anyone who attends one of our meeting-in-the-garden events (no dues and no hassle).

The spirit of the evening is captured in the following photo collage, and we are again indebted to befunky.com for providing the collage making tools.  Of note are the attendees shown in the upper right photo:  Pilane (emeritus president of the Society) and Maryann (current president).  The bottom photo shows a good portion of the rose garden in the background.  To see why the garden is "slightly different", just click on the following link (but don't forget to come back here).  Link: A rose garden that has its own blog

A collage to end the season

We bid farewell to another rose growing season.  Photos of some of the garden visits of this past year are presented in the collage shown below.  Just keep reading this blog for the specifics of each garden  and even more photos.  A special thanks to the smart people at BeFunky, whose website befunky.com allows anyone to use their free online collage making tools.

Resplendent roses at St. Timothy's Church

Congratulations to Mike G for his careful tending of the roses at St. Timothy's.  Quite a few folks were on hand for this late afternoon's tour of the garden, led by Mike.  That's him to the right in the first photo below, and that's one of the resident roses in the second photo.   The 5 o'clock light of a mildly overcast afternoon brought out the color of this 'Chicago Peace' rose, and it was absolutely glowing.

John, Harriet, Larie, Laveryne, Maryann, Mike G

The 'Chicago Peace' rose

The photo below captures the wide length of the rose bed.  Mike lets the roses grow to a good size, as you can see when you compare the rose bushes to the height of the onlookers.

But the garden has some depth, too.  At both ends, the bed wraps around with many more rose bushes.  The photos below show the extensions on either side.

Left flank and front

Right flank and front

Redemption

Laveryne was the gracious host of yesterday evening's open garden.  It had been two years since we last visited her garden, so I finally got a chance to redeem myself for the "issues" that I had with my camera when photographing that event.  Also, it was not long after that visit that I started using the photo "stitching"  computer software that came on a CD when I bought the camera.  You'll see the results below.

First let me say that Laveryne is affiliated with the Marion County Master Gardener Association and also the Salem Hardy Plant Society.  Her Master Gardener skills show throughout the garden, and her roses are complemented by an outstanding collection of perennials, shrubs, and trees.

As you see in the two photos below, quite a few rose bushes greet visitors as they approach the front yard.  Laveryne is seen identifying the roses for a group of SRS members and friends. 

Front yard

Maryann, Laveryne, Mike G, Harriet, Brad, Arlene

Hopefully, the next two stitched photos do justice to a spectacular  back yard.

Annual open garden at Mike C's

A small group of us enjoyed the many and varied roses at Mike C's garden this evening.  The discussions were dynamic, and Bill walked away with some highly coveted cuttings -- his reward for having hosted our previous open garden.  The stitched photo below captures the spirit of the evening.  You may want to look back one year to the post of July 25, 2014 (titled Tall roses, and some short ones too), where a "guest photographer" caught a couple images of the elusive Mike C.  And wouldn't you know it, Mike has a rose blog with lots of photos that you are welcome to read, and here's the link: mikesroses-salem.blogspot.com

Bill,      Candy,      Maryann                                                                      

Bill's garden is looking very nice

The tour of Bill's garden was of a self-guided nature this year due to family commitments.  However, Bill was able to spare a brief period with Maryann and her photographer/blogger comrade today, the last day of May.  As seen in the photo below, the garden is a masterpiece.  The neighborhood is very lucky to have this in its midst.

Below are a couple more photos, taken at closer range.  If Bill looks familiar, maybe you have seen him over at the Bush Pasture Park Rose Garden, where he volunteers as the caretaker of the large group of "Miss Sally's Roses".    Also, for a look back in time, click on the tab at the top of the blog, the one that says GARDEN TOURS & PHOTOS.   Once there, browse down to the area of Vintage photos from Summer of 2011.   You'll see a photo of Bill's garden (and people) from 4 years ago.

Happy New Rose Year !

With the benign weather that we had this late Winter and early Spring, you bet we would take advantage of it.  We were at Maryann's "rose ranch" today for some rose pruning tips, the candidate rose being a healthy medium-sized shrub along the back fence.  It was a bit overgrown and needed some thinning out, but at the same time needed to retain a semblance of its original height and shape.

All things considered, it was a masterful pruning job, as you will see in the before and after photos below:

Virginia, Martha, Maryann, Anne, Craig
(BEFORE)

Martha and Maryann
(AFTER)

With a mound of clippings lying about, and with some showing some healthy new leaf buds, Maryann demonstrated how to score the bottom of a selected cutting (left photo), while three prepared cuttings (right photo) await some rooting hormone powder or planting as-is.

An evening with the Masters

We had a very enjoyable time yesterday evening at the Marion Demonstration Garden right here in the center of Salem (on Center street, no less).  As stated by the powers that be, namely the Oregon State University Extension Service, this garden is a project of the Marion County Master Gardener Association.  We are fortunate to have 2 of their master gardeners as members of the Salem Rose Society.  So, thanks Laveryne and Fred for facilitating our private tour of the garden, especially because one of their 20+ demonstration plots is a strikingly beautiful large bed of roses.

We'll set the scene with a photo of some of the beds (below left) which were adjacent to where we first gathered (below right) for an early evening snack enjoyed by a mingling of master gardeners and rose gardeners.  Notice the handsome "Rose Garden" sign in the lower-left of the second photo.

The next photo shows how well positioned the large rose bed is in the overall context of the gardens.

And now for a closer look at the roses themselves, with Laveryne introducing us to the various rose varieties.  There were an awful lot of blooms for late August, so congratulations are due to the master gardeners for their dedication to the roses.

For more information about the Master Gardener program, here's a couple of links to pertinent web-sites:  

OSU Extension Service (Marion County)    and    Marion County Master Gardener Association

Tall roses, and some short ones too

We were at Mike C's (yours truly) garden for a visit yesterday evening.  Most of the roses there have been grown from seed, and some have risen to great heights over the years.  For example, the first photo below shows Craig (who is 6' 2" tall) standing behind an unnamed rose seedling that is 8 feet tall and whose "seed parent" is the pink-flowered 'Queen Elizabeth' rose seen at the extreme left of the photo.  The unnamed seedling is in its 6th growing season.

Maryann      Martha     Craig

Martha  Mike H   Craig  Maryann  Emily

The photo below shows you what a typical rose looks like in its first growing season -- I'm pointing at one that is just about ready to open its very first bloom.  This is a 4 month old seedling whose "seed parent" is the 'Red Galaxy' rose.  In the photo on the right I am showing Emily a rose-gall on a species rose named Rosa glauca (more photos are on Google Images  -- search for: robin's pincushion).  You can look back at a couple of previous posts in this blog for more photos and information:  December 12, 2011  (I hope they're friendly wasps)  and  May 11, 2012  (Garden visitors).

Emily   Martha   Mike C

Emily         Mike C

St. Timothy's revisited

We were fortunate yesterday in more ways than one.  Not only did the rose garden at St. Timothy's Church put on a fabulous display, but some rather heavy rain held off until we were finished with our tour.

Congratulations are due to Mike G for making this garden a very special place, as you will see in the photos below.  First, let me remind you that our previous visits here are described in GARDEN TOURS & PHOTOS (our visit in 2013 -- click on the tab at the top of this blog) and also in the post of August 15, 2012 titled An Afternoon at St. Timothy's (our visit in 2012).  

It was difficult to select the best photos from yesterday's visit, but this means that the ones shown below survived some very vigorous judging:

The rose garden at St. Timothy's Church
June 25, 2014

The photo to the left below may be a bit staged, but we do that to get the 3 Mikes in a row.  From left to right are John, Mike H, Mike C, Gene, and Mike G.  In the photo to the right are Maryann, Gene, and Mike G.

 And now for some pretty roses.  The photo to the left shows a rose bush that Mike G grew from seed and which he named 'Miss C' (for his wife).  The parent of this rose is a rose grown from seed by Mike C, which he named 'Red Galaxy' (for all the red galaxies out there).  The rose shown on the right hardly needs an introduction -- it is the great 'Double Delight'.