I adore roses. Ever since I was a little girl I have longed for a rose garden of my own.
When I went to college, on campus there was a magical rose garden with a lily pool in the center. I used to spend hours there just breathing the scented breeze and enjoying the beauty.
Last year I decided I had waited long enough. I went hog wild buying over 60 packaged roses and planted them on a little hillock by my back porch. Some flourished and some didn't. That did not deter me. I mulched thickly with hay to keep the weeds out and planted wild garlic to keep aphids out and because I think wild garlic tastes better than cultivated varieties. I added a truckload of aged horse and cow manure from a farmer friend's house, alfalfa cubes, and epsom salts to fertilize the bed.
I transplanted violets from the lawn to the rose garden, and I planted tulips and daffodils in clusters last fall.
A friend with a Bobcat dug me a little lily pool which I planted with dwarf waterlilies and added big goldfish. A recirculating fountain was purchased at an auction for $22.
I replaced some of the roses with potted Knockout roses on clearance last year, and I recently bought 10 more potted Knockout roses and 8 more hybrid tea roses on clearance for between $2.50 and $3.25 each.
I am still transplanting violets into the garden, and I plan to plant daisies, more tulips, and more daffodils.
These are photos of the lily pool and garden last year.
And I bought this sign for the garden.
I will take photos in a couple of days of this year's garden if anyone is interested.
Does anyone else love roses like I do?
When I went to college, on campus there was a magical rose garden with a lily pool in the center. I used to spend hours there just breathing the scented breeze and enjoying the beauty.
Last year I decided I had waited long enough. I went hog wild buying over 60 packaged roses and planted them on a little hillock by my back porch. Some flourished and some didn't. That did not deter me. I mulched thickly with hay to keep the weeds out and planted wild garlic to keep aphids out and because I think wild garlic tastes better than cultivated varieties. I added a truckload of aged horse and cow manure from a farmer friend's house, alfalfa cubes, and epsom salts to fertilize the bed.
I transplanted violets from the lawn to the rose garden, and I planted tulips and daffodils in clusters last fall.
A friend with a Bobcat dug me a little lily pool which I planted with dwarf waterlilies and added big goldfish. A recirculating fountain was purchased at an auction for $22.
I replaced some of the roses with potted Knockout roses on clearance last year, and I recently bought 10 more potted Knockout roses and 8 more hybrid tea roses on clearance for between $2.50 and $3.25 each.
I am still transplanting violets into the garden, and I plan to plant daisies, more tulips, and more daffodils.
These are photos of the lily pool and garden last year.
And I bought this sign for the garden.
I will take photos in a couple of days of this year's garden if anyone is interested.
Does anyone else love roses like I do?
