Red Garden Clogs

Not long ago I posted about our “Mystery Rose,” which was either planted by the previous tenants or by the landlord. We don’t know how long ago it was planted, and I wasn’t even sure it was going to make it. When we moved in last August it did not look well – lots of old, dead wood and canes and not much growth.

I went to town with the pruners, hacking some down to nearly the ground and leaving other canes there in case I was somehow screwing up – I figured if I’m doing something wrong then maybe it will only affect half the plant and I’ll at least be able to see what results I get from my pruning.

The rose seemed very happy to have been pruned and has a lush show of green leaves now and – TWENTY SEVEN buds!

Until two days ago we had no idea what color they would be or what to expect at all. Then I saw this:

I would have put my money on someone choosing a color that contrasted with the red concrete garage wall behind the rose, but not so – it’s nearly the same color!

There are many buds getting ready to open, and I still don’t know exactly what these climbing roses will look like as they pop, but we now know what color to expect! I might not have chosen this color myself, but hey – I’m just happy to have a healthy rose bush climbing away out there – it’s nearly 7 feet tall and still climbing higher. The dark green foliage will really set off the bright red/fuchsia blooms.

Two days ago there were only two buds that looked like this:

This morning there were a dozen! It’s very exciting! I wonder if they will have any scent? We will know very soon.

I have since noticed that many of the neighbors on our block have the same color rose out in pots in front of their house – only one light yellow rose among all these bright reds. Is it an old Italian thing? Did someone give cuttings to all the neighbors?

Actually, it looks like it might be a similar color to the rose that Mimi rescued last year over at Gardening in The Boroughs of New York. (look at her last photo with the bud just appearing.)

Mimi, we’ll have to compare these climbers when they bloom!

Friend or foe? I don’t know!

I couldn’t resist the Wizard of Oz reference, as my garden has been a sort of enchanted world to me this spring. (And I wouldn’t say no to that beautiful field of poppies, either.)

Shortly after we moved into our place last August my friend Bev gave me quite the housewarming present – a carload of perennial divisions and seeds from her garden. You can read the list of gifted plants here.

She had clearly labeled all of her seed packets with name, color of flowers, any special notes and instructions as to whether the seeds should be planted in Spring or Fall. Wonderful!

So, last fall I went around the borders of our yard and side garden, scattering seeds, willing them to come up for me this year.

The question is, have they? Unfortunately, I just don’t know! This is our first spring here, and so there are lots of things coming up – perennials from Bev’s divisions, plants that the previous tenants had left behind, bulbs that I planted last fall, and random things that have re-seeded themselves here and there (like the Rose of Sharon). I don’t know my weeds very well and I am also new to perennial gardening, so I don’t know what to look for in most of these emerging plants. Some I know are biennials and so they may look different this first year than they will next year.

So far I know what Lambs Quarters looks like (and that I can eat it, and that it grows all over our yard!), and I think we’ve identified a lacy-foliaged patch of plants as Larkspur (which I am ecstatic about – they came up! They came up!) Larkspur

I’ve been reluctant to pull up certain things until they get large enough that I can hopefully identify them…and that time has come.

I need to do some research and look at some google images, but if anyone out there happens to recognize any of these plants (whether they be good or evil), I’d sure appreciate knowing.

Sadly, I LOST MY GARDEN JOURNALS. Everything. Ironically, I left them at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Plant Sale at the cashier desk. Unfortunately the journals were never turned in to their lost and found. I really don’t know what good all of my maps and charts and info and records would do anyone else, and I keep hoping that they’ll be turned in but it’s not looking good. SO, I no longer have a record of which seed I planted last fall, but here are the ones I’m pretty sure got planted and I’m on the lookout for:

Foxgloves, Feverfew, Hollyhocks, Butterfly Weed, Forget-Me-Nots, and Hibiscus Trionum (Flower of the Hour.)

Not so sure about: Cockscomb, Calliopsis, Cleome, Miribalis (Four o’Clocks), and Dwarf White Zinnia – those may have been spring-planting seeds.

At any rate, and with no further adieu, here are the mystery flora…all 20 of them-yikes! I’m hoping that at least half of them are “good witches,” but I’m not so sure I’ll be that lucky.

**Comments and names refer to the photo above.
Mystery Plant #1

Mystery Plant #1, overhead view

Mystery Plant #2 (one vote for WEED)

Mystery Plant #2, overhead view (one vote for WEED)

Mystery Plant #2, full view (one vote for WEED)

Mystery Plant #3
Mystery Plant #4 – lovely purple flowers! (Tradescantia, SPIDERWORT – a keeper!)

Mystery Plant #4, close up (Tradescantia, SPIDERWORT – a keeper!)

Mystery Plant # 5 – long and leggy, near the Persian Shield (possibly Heath Aster? Worth keeping a while to find out…)

Mystery Plant #6

Mystery Plant #7

Mystery Plant #8

Mystery Plant #9
Mystery Plant #9, another view

Mystery Plant #10

Mystery Plant #11

Mystery Plant #12

Mystery Plant #13

Mystery Plant #13, overhead view

Mystery Plant #14

Mystery Plant #15

Mystery Plant #16
That’s Mystery Plant #16 in the foreground. The large plant behind it is Mystery Plant #17.

Top view of Mystery Plant #17. To the right you can see a small rose that self-seeded in this unexpected spot. It doesn’t receive a full day’s sun back here, and yet this wild rose seems to be growing. Go figure.

Mystery Plant #18, overhead view. (possibly Heath Aster? Worth keeping a while to find out…)

Mystery Plant #18 again. Long, leggy and grassy…looks like Mystery Plant #5, which makes me think it is likely a weed. (possibly Heath Aster? Worth keeping a while to find out…)