Ever-Blooming Roses Despite Life’s Prickles: Summer Storms

‘Oregold’, a yellow hybrid tea rose, is pounded by heavy rains.

Summer Storms

After an unexpected summer storm struck my rose garden, I reflect on the weighted canes drooping with defeat. The once glorious petals litter the ground crying out for vindication. Though not entirely destroyed, each bush whines in the aftermath as they obviously would have preferred a slow steady rain than a fast and furious gusty storm. Given some time, I’m confident such defeated canes will overcome the unexpected afternoon flash. Although they can’t appreciate the drenching rains now, the hot boiling sun will soon stir thanksgiving as they draw on the well saturated roots beneath the steaming heat.​

The long canes of ‘Fourth of July’, a climbing rose, succumb to the pounding rains.

Just as our roses can experience an unpredicted and drowning storm, we too are taken by surprise when Abba Father allows fast and furious storms, like betrayal, abuse, lay-offs, cancer, or death to brew in our garden of life. Upon such devastation, we often whine in their aftermath, “Why me?” or “This isn’t fair, God!” But what if instead, we could raise our canes in praise and say, “I don’t know what You are doing, God, but I trust You!” What if despite such heartache, we could cling to the words of Isaiah 26:3-4, “With perfect peace you will protect those whose minds cannot be changed, because they trust you. Trust in the LORD forever, for in Yah, the LORD is everlasting strength.” Other translations say the “Rock of eternity”.

Sometimes I bravely praise my “Rock” in such storms while other times, I’d rather hide under a rock in my anxiety. I may even look for temporary relief of such unexpected sorrow by hiding in my isolated, secret garden. But during such harrowing times, I am tenderly reminded, “I alone am the one who comforts you. Why, then, are you afraid of mortals, who must die, of humans, who are like grass?” (Isaiah 51:12). Whatever tragedy you face, “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:11 or 46:10 in the Christian Bible). After all, our God, our Creator, our Aleph and Tav, knows our beginning and our end and every purpose in between. Breathe in the smell after a saturating storm and choose to trust that God’s still got this.

‘Oregold’, a hybrid tea, brightly blooms with Paul’s Scarlett Climber glowing in the background.

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Ever-Blooming On A Boat

With fair winds and sunny skies, my roses are ever-blooming creating quite the “BOATanical” experience. As liveaboards choosing to live full-time on our sailboat, we wanted to live “tiny” on the water. However, anyone who has followed my blog, knows I adore roses so naturally, I had to acquire a few since relocating to Texas – boat or no boat. ‘Full Sail’, a Hybrid Tea, consistently produces large and incredibly fragrant white blooms and she barely has any prickles (thorns) and is snugly positioned at the bow of our sailboat thanks to some creative uses of bungee chords. After owning numerous roses over the years, I must say, ‘Full Sail’ has gotten my full attention as she blows me away with her healthy, abundant, and delightfully fragrant blooms that fill our salon with scents of honeysuckle or citrus.

‘Full Sail’ blooms at the bow of our sailboat.

Another charming rose I’ve recently acquired is ‘Arizona’, a Grandiflora. She was a “body bag” rose I purchased on the cheap from Walmart. Although ‘Arizona’ has recently started producing a lovely show of orange blooms with edges of pink, her leaves have succumbed to powdery mildew. I suspect because she was originally positioned in a container under my bimini (awning shading the cockpit of the boat), perhaps she didn’t get enough sunlight and air circulation, which seems surprising consider how much wind reaches even in that somewhat sheltered area. Most likely, since it is shaded from some of the sun, ‘Arizona’ probably could not shake the mildew built up for the rays of the sun normally dry any moisture gathering on the leaves. One thing I’ve learned is gardening on a boat presents it’s various challenges, but it is possible and I welcome the challenge. Of course, I may be singing a different tune once faced with the Houston area’s extreme heat and humidity with little wind come the summer months (or so I’m told). This bright colored Grandiflora now is perched in a container on the deck of the boat embracing much sunshine and breezy days. Overall, I’m confident ‘Arizona’, a very prickly. but evidently a delicate rose, will bounce back after some organic treatment of baking soda and water. To learn how to treat powdery mildew, check out a previous post here. While I usually also like to use neem oil, I could not find it in the stores here till most recently so I tried rosemary essential oil instead, which was something I had on hand. The rosemary oil did effectively kill the rapidly growing fungus, as my online research foretold, but seemed to also burn the leaves even more than neem oil can. I probably failed to dilute the essential oil enough with water in addition to experiencing a plethora of sunshine after applying the treatment. Organic treatment using neem oil and evidently rosemary oil can burn the leaves on particularly sunny days – it’s best to treat the leaves on cloudy, low heat days, or so I was reminded in this BOATanical lesson.  Thankfully, roses usually are most forgiving and she seems to be producing more dark green foliage once again. Moreover, I love the way ‘Arizona’ glows against the blue boom (the device attached to the mast that contains the main sail when not in use).

Overall, I am not surprisingly thoroughly enjoying this ever-blooming “BOATanical” garden and look forward to many more blooms and challenges. As I scribe this post, my husband and I have relocated the roses to shelter them on the floor of our cockpit since the winds are gusting at around 35 mph tonight. It’s always interesting dwelling on a boat – especially with roses! 😉 Follow along our Ever-Blooming Roses blog and Facebook page to learn more about our developing boatanical garden.

‘Arizona’, a Grandiflora rose.

‘Arizona’, a Grandiflora rose.

‘Arizona’, a Grandiflora rose.

A Boatanical Experience

Congo Nursery, Pasadena, Texas

For the first time since being here in Texas, my husband and I traveled to a nearby nursery known as Congo Nursery located in Pasadena, Texas, which is along the Gulf Coast area. The marina my husband and I live at as “liveaboards” on our sailboat generously bestowed us a garden bed to appease my delight in roses. Upon pulling up to this urban nursery just a bit southeast of the Houston area, we were astonished at how many roses this retailer packed in their corner store lot. We have never seen so many roses for sale at any nursery prior to this! To see last year’s list of roses they sold click here –>Roses List. It appeared all of these were present this year as well. Furthermore, all of the 5 gallon rose bushes on display were superbly cared for and healthy. Most of these spectacular roses were in full bloom as they dazzled onlookers bewildered eyes! I thought I must have died and gone to rose heaven! Texas just keeps getting better and better. 🙂

‘Full Sail’, a hybrid tea rose.

I intentionally wanted to inspect the hybrid tea known as ‘Full Sail’, a very fluffy, or perhaps I should say ‘luffing’ (a sailing term), white rose with delicious honeysuckle fragrance. After all, I do live on a sailboat. I thought this could be the perfect rose to fill the marina garden bed entrusted to us. Upon locating ‘Full Sail’ in the sea of roses, I was more than impressed by her incredibly large and magnificent blooms. I do believe her blooms were even larger than the famous ‘Peace’ rose, which also produces gorgeous petals, but little to no fragrance. After perusing the plethora of stunning roses in various colors and varieties, we purchased ‘Full Sail’ and headed back to the marina.

‘Full Sail’ in her new home on the bow of our sailboat.

While digging in the garden bed though, we discovered it was plagued with large, thick tree roots, which caused us to forgo planting our newly adopted rose bush for fear it could not compete with such conditions. Naturally, the only other solution was to go to Home Depot to purchase a large pot so ‘Full Sail’ could thrive nicely on the bow of the boat! 😉 Now when I open the hatch of the V-berth (within the bow of the boat), I get whiffs of honeysuckle! We used a couple of bungee chords to keep her secure on the bow.

Due to thinking I had some space in a garden bed to plant roses combined with the struggle of resisting roses in general, I had previously purchased two other roses, all of which are dwelling on our sailboat! LOL In addtion to ‘Full Sail’, the largest of the four, yes four total roses, plus a few succulents, a tomato plant, and sweet pepper plant, our sailboat is quite the ‘BOATanical’ experience! When living aboard a boat, you have quite a bit of packing away things before they slosh around in your boat while out sailing, so the plants will have to hang out on the pier whenever we want to go for a sail. Overall, I am overjoyed in this life of tiny living on the water, rocked by the gentle waves, surrounded by wildlife and now roses too!

Here are some photos of the magnificent beauties @ Congo Nursery for your viewing pleasure. If you are in the Houston area, do yourself a favor and visit Congo Nursery. They also have good deals on veggies, fruit trees, and loads of interesting hanging plants too!

 

Artic Blue, Floribunda

Celestial Night, Floribunda

Fragrant Plum, Grandiflora

Moonstone, Hybrid tea

Perfect Moment, Hybrid Tea

Perfect Moment, Hybrid Tea

Pope John Paul II, Hybrid Tea

Pumpkin Patch, Floribunda

Scentimental, Floribunda

Secret, Hybrid Tea

Smokin’ Hot, Hybrid Tea

Ch-Ching, Grandiflora

The Fading Of A Rose

These photos capture a hybrid tea rose, known as ‘Miranda Lambert’, fading on my beach balcony. Overall, this rose continually exceeds my expectation in beauty, fragrance, and disease resistance.

Fayetteville Rose Garden

After helping my dad recover from a heart attack and consequent triple bypass surgery in Maryland recently, my husband and I toured the Fayetteville Rose Garden in Fayetteville, North Carolina along our way home to Myrtle Beach. A charming manageable rose garden tucked away near a local technical college, this well-manicured garden greeted several visitors even on a late Sunday afternoon.

I appreciated the bounty of fragrant roses like Dolly Parton, Scentimental, and Fragrant Cloud to name a few. Equally delightful, the miniature rose collection welcomed guests as they entered the garden. Overall, my favorite rose presented was ‘Singin’ In The Rain’, a stunning Floribunda.

Although I didn’t have my good camera, my phone captured a few decent photos to share with my readers. I invite you to scroll down to view some of the roses at Fayetteville Rose Garden. As your eyes perceive each roses’ stunning form, imagine their scent!

If you are in the vicinity, I encourage you to take a few minutes to stop and smell the roses at Fayetteville Rose Garden located on Hull Road.

Singin’ In The Rain, a Floribunda rose.

Singin’ In The Rain

‘Sunset Celebration’, a hybrid tea.

Me posing with ‘Rio Samba’, a hybrid tea.

‘Fragrant Cloud’, hybrid tea.

‘Child’s Play’ Miniature Rose

 

‘Pride N Joy’, a miniature rose.

Barbara Bush Rose

In honor of the life of former First Lady, Barbara Bush, this rose was named after her life and legacy. Rest In Peace. Barbara Bush (6/8/25- 4/17/18)

‘Barbara Bush’

Florentina Transplated

Florentina, a climbing Kordes rose. (photo credit unknown)

Since moving to the beach earlier this year, I purchased and planted 2 potted roses to decorate my barren balcony. How hard it was for me to surrender my splendid rose garden back in Pennsylvania! Ironically, my $5 Walmart special rose, known as Miranda Lambert, a hybrid tea, has bloomed beautifully over and over again; yet, my $40 mail ordered climbing rose, known as Florentina, hasn’t bloomed once! Go figure!

After fussing over her and trying numerous tactics imploring her to produce a rose bud, I finally decided to seek permission from the HOA to transplant her to a garden bed here in my condominium community. Thankfully, the Board graciously agreed to accommodate my rose plea. On one warm day last week (it is reaching the 60’s and low 70’s here in Myrtle Beach), I relocated Florentina from her pot to a sunny garden bed. I read online that the more petals a rose has, the more light it will need to flourish.  Although the morning sunlight was sufficient for Miranda, Florentina, my climbing rose, evidently has higher standards. Get it.. climbing rose..higher standards? 😉Florentina has numerous petals (more so than Miranda Lambert) so I am hopeful she was producing blind shoots (canes with no buds) due to inadequate sunlight on my balcony. In the few days since transitioning her to new soil, she has produced numerous fresh leaflets. In time, I hope to finally see her reach her full potential by producing blooms of scarlet red…

Florentina should produce blooms of scarlet ruffles. (photo credit unknown)

In the meantime, I will enjoy the ongoing blooms Miranda Lambert continues to bless me with.

Miranda Lambert, a hybrid tea rose, produces fragrant petals of pink.

Love & Peace

“Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.” 2 Corinthians 13:11 ESV

‘Love & Peace’ is a hybrid tea rose. #EverBloomingRoses #prayforVegas #prayforTexas #prayforFlorida #prayforPuertoRico

Happy ‘Memorial Day’

‘Memorial Day’ is an exceptionally fragrant hybrid tea that boasts lush blooms in shades of pink lavender.

Memorial Day & Paul’s Scarlett Climber

Memorial Day

Memorial Day

The Miranda Lambert Rose

In recent weeks, I stumbled across a Miranda Lambert rose found in a ‘body bag’ at Walmart. Body bags are gardening-slang terms for a bareroot rose found in those small bags sold at chain stores like Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot, etc. Sometimes you can get them for really great prices, but there’s a chance the rose isn’t healthy or is mislabeled. Regardless, I find they are difficult to resist especially when this particular rose was just $5! Thus far, she is doing well after I planted her in a large 20 gallon pot on my balcony. I recently moved to Myrtle Beach, SC and have a North facing balcony so my new plants only get 4-6 hours of early morning sunlight. It will be interesting to see how this rose performs with limited direct sunlight and under hot and humid conditions. Below are a few shots of her first bloom. I’m hopeful she will produce many more blooms…