bump!

Welcome anyone new! I am sorta new myself To this forum, I usually hang out on a couple other forums, but this one is AMAZING!!! I will be awesome to have some rose people here! I was checking out the Rose forum gallery the other day and may have to try and squeeze some more roses in!lol!

Hi everyone! I haven't introduced myself yet, but my husband and I are rehabbing a 1840's log home and it's accompanying 3 acres. I'm a novice gardener, but I have big dreams!

I put in my first fall bulbs (crocus and daffodil) last year and I have my first spring bulbs from Old House Gardens (dahlias and gladiolus) on their way to me. My goal for this summer is to finish our fence, get in a veggie garden, and start some climbing roses on the newly finished fence.

I wasn't exactly sure how to jump into posting, but this seems as good a spot as any! Looking forward to getting to know everyone!

Welcome! I have been coming here for 10 years. And so many are like family.
My dutch irs are almost done and a few columbines are blooming.

If you love the look of old Cottage Gardens full to the brim with all sorts of flowers, herbs; veggies, fruit trees and more, and have ever dreamed about having one of your own, then I hope those who want to come here, will do so.

I visit many others from time to time. Many of you visit or belong to other Forums, as well. I love seeing what other people on the other forums grow or create. It's inspiring and helpful, and you get to meet so many really nice folks!

BUT...this is my ~*~ Home Sweet Home ~*~.

So...WELCOME, WELCOME all who wish to visit or join our little family. Always room at our table...and on Thursdays, we even have TEA! (look in CONVERSATIONS)

~Annie

This post was edited by sweetannie4u on Sun, Mar 3, 13 at 3:58

Hope lots of gardeners from the Rose forum will come here and especially post pics of their lovely gardens. Always room for more members and we do love to see pics! LOL

Thanks Annie for inviting more to the forum.

This is my favorite forum! I usually just lurk, but once in awhile I poke my head out and post pictures or ask a question. Nice group of people here. I am still smarting from the time I asked a question on another forum and didn't know the ph and fifty year history of my soil! 8-/ Haha. Oh well, welcome to anyone new! Ask whatever you want. And if you don't ammend your soil, you can still ask! :)

Well, to be quite honest, we do sometimes have our little spats on here - Tempests in our Teapot, you might even say. :)

But, all-in-all, I think we have the finest of the finest on this Forum.
You are so appreciated and loved by me, for certain.

~Annie

I'm not a newbie from the Rose forum but have been a lurker for many, many years. Never post, but read excessively and love the photos. I agree you've got a good group here. (NH-z5)

Jancee,

I've seen your posts from time to time. We are glad you're with us.
Thanks for joining in on here.

This post was edited by sweetannie4u on Wed, Feb 27, 13 at 18:30

I'd like to appologize if my post on the Rose Forum came off as snippy...I really didn't mean it to...I just really don't remember asking for advice....but God knows I need it LOL!!! ...I guess I just had a head scatching moment :)

Although I do consider the Rose Forum my unofficial "home," I'm happy to have another forum to refer to as well. I've been gardening for about 10 years, but have really only gotten into it over the past 4-5 years when my rose obesssion began. When I first became interested in roses, I started ripping out all of my "big box" purchased perrenials to make room for more roses...so I'm just now trying to work some companion plants back into the mix.

I have over 500 rose varities and seem to have a major addiction! Most are still small and in containers, but about 200 are actually in the ground. My husband and I live on a 1 acre property with our 15 dogs (yes 15...I also volunteer at an animal shelter and have aquired quite a few special needs and hard to adopt dogs), but we just purchased 10 acres nearby to build on in the next couple of years. So....I'll be busy either relocating or propagating my favorite in-the-ground roses over the next couple of year to bring to the new property. I can't wait!!!

Thanks for the invite, I know many times the tone of a post is misinterpreted, but we all share a common interest :)

Tammy

This post was edited by TNY78 on Fri, Mar 1, 13 at 11:55

I too would like to welcome new members! This is a great forum. So many wonderful people! Always helpful and willing to share their knowledge.

I have been mostly reading here, but occasionally posting for a couple of years. What I like so much about this forum is that it is more about garden aesthetics than "how to grow". I have gleaned much inspiration from the contributors here.

Thanks to all of you for sharing.

Tammy dear,

I did not take your comment as snappy...well, maybe a little defensive, but that was okay. I didn't mean to insinuate that any of you were novice gardeners. Heck no. If you can grow roses, you can grow anything!! I was under the impression though, that you and some others wanted some ideas for companion plants. So, of course, I thought you might enjoy coming here too.
We would enjoy seeing your roses and be glad to offer any suggestions for companion plants.

YOU HAVE 500 ROSES???? Jeez !
In that regard, I'M definitely a beginner and a NOVICE.
PLEASE post pictures...even if they are still in pots.

Thank you mary_lu and mandolls for adding to the topic. I totally agree with what you wrote.

Have a great day my sweets.
Spring is coming!
It won't be too much longer until we will all be happily chattering about our Cottage Gardens and NEW flowers.

~Annie

This post was edited by sweetannie4u on Sun, Mar 3, 13 at 3:32

I received this message this morning in response to what I posted on here about feeling like I practically got me head bit off:

"You know, you must have some big brass ones in order to tell a fib like that."

Wow! So, now I'm a liar?

Jeez....I really opened up a can of worms over there. My bad. I didn't intend to to do that. Just telling it like I saw it, or how I felt, anyway..

I'm sorry. if I rubbed some of them the wrong way.
I got my feelings hurt too, you know.
Not my intention to "insult" anyone or inflict damage in any way!
I'm not that kind of girl.
What else can I say?

~Annie

Annie luv, don't sweat it. I love this forum because (for the most part) you can say what you feel about things and not get jumped on.

I've just spent two days wacking, I mean pruning two huge roses back, they were totally out of control. My rambler 'Albertine' which had tried to swallow my greenhouse and continually reached out and grabbed DH at every chance she got is now a few short canes ready to start life anew. DH still thinks roses are still only fit for keeping lions out of african villages but his tune changes grudgingly when they are in full bloom and their scent is wafting through the air. The other 'Constance Spry' is now contained to a more lady like fashion, not over the fence lying in wait to snag the neighbor if he ventures too close or me for that matter if I'm not watching where I'm going. I have to say it was quite the wrestling match for awhile but am happy to report although still nursing my wounds this golden oldie came out the winner once again.

I might be wrong but I think the folks who jump on others for expressing how they feel about certain things could just be having a bad day and it's just a way to vent. I don't think there are too many that just like twisting the knife, so to speak. Annie although I don't reply to all your posts I throughly enjoy reading them and look forward to seeing what you've done in your garden, you rock girl.

And while I'm here, WELCOME NEWBIES this forum is more like family to me then a forum I'm sure you're going to love it here.

I have to confess I do 'shovel prune' on occasion, I have dug a few roses when they turned out to be not suitable for the spot I'd given them and given to someone who has more space and most of the other plants I dig usually end up in someone else's garden or our garden club plant sale. The shovel prunings either end up in a compost bin at home or in the garden waste bin at the landfill where they are turned into compost.

Annie your Tuscany thread has my juices flowing as I now have a spot in front of a low stacked rock wall where we filled in one of our ponds. It's now a gravelled area so we moved our old weathered terracota chiminea on to it and I have several old terracotta pots that might end up there too, I can see one of them full of red geraniums and herbs in the others :). Now that the old cherry tree is gone this little area gets a more sun so geraniums just might do well here.

Annette

Thank you dear Annette.

Any chance of my talking you into sending me some cuttings from your Albertine (and/or Constance Spry)???

I am dying for them, especially Albertine. (swoon).
I LOVE monster roses. They don't get as "monstery" here on the prairie hillside as where you live. Too dry and too hot.
And anyway, I can don gauntlet gloves and hack 'em back.

I would gladly, GLADLY, reimburse you for the cost of the postage.

Post pics of your Touch of Tuscany when you get it done. I would love to see it. And don't you just love geraniums?

~Annie

This post was edited by sweetannie4u on Sat, Mar 2, 13 at 12:13

I'll be sure to get some full garden shots this Spring :) Last year we were having a patio poured and I wouldnt dare post shots of my ripped up lawn from the cement truck...my poor grass never even made a full recovery by Fall.

Plus, many of my newer OGRs grew quite a bit last season and should put on a nice show :) Hopefully some of you can suggest some great companion plants to fill in the empty areas around them besides the usual coneflowers and clematis (my other two plant obsessions)!

Tammy

This post was edited by TNY78 on Fri, Mar 1, 13 at 16:42

Annie ... thank you for the invite you posted on the Rose Forum.

At this time, I have about 120 roses and a few companion plants. I haven't really researched how to incorporate companion plants into my weed patch/rose garden simply because I am working with such horrible soil, getting the roses sited properly and growing well has been my primary focus since I purchased my home. Therefore, I am new to this forum.

My one experiment of moving some of the previous owner's stunted irises into a rose bed turned out to be a disaster for the rose. So, I decided to get the rose beds right and then work on planning the rest of the garden around them.

About shovel pruning roses ... I can see why you would be put off, but the thing is that when roses are marketed, there is generally the concept that a given rose can be grown well in any climate or any type of soil, so many gardeners buy roses that are simply wrong for their gardens and, to me, it only makes sense to replace the plant with a more suitable rose that will be happy in my garden and won't require as much attention as the rose that doesn't perform well.

However, I tend to look at roses differently than most gardeners as I work on a rose web site called HelpMeFind dot com. On that site, there is a lot of information about the individual roses, comments by people who have grown the rose and more. It helps me find the right roses for my current garden.

If more gardeners researched their roses ... and other plants ... they wouldn't find themselves shovel pruning their roses. (I am afraid to tell you how many plants I've killed because they cannot survive this climate.)

Smiles,
Lyn

Annie you have mail :).

Annette

Lyn,

Glad you came to the Cottage Garden forum.
I'm positive that you can get all kinds of good advice to help you with your soil problems and not have to spend an arm and a leg to do it. Healthy soil = Healthy plants.

My first freebie suggestion:

Add leaves, add more leaves and add even more leaves. Whole leaves and/or, shredded leaves. Pine needles too if you have them. If I see bags of leaves set out front of someone's house that are going to the picked up on a Trash Day, I stop and ask for them. Never have had anyone say no yet. Sometimes they smile at me for wanting them, but hey! I know a good thing when I see it!

Store any excess bags of leaves to add later in the season. Once the weather turns hot, they decompose rapidly, so just add more.
I don't have a garage, so I just lean the bags up against the shed under the big tree by the chicken pen. Your roses will thank you for it. That's the best advice I could give anyone to improve their soil and grow great flowers, herbs and veggies..

So happy you came to visit and posted.
Hope you come back as much as you wish and feel free to post questions, any question, and please share pictures of all those ROSES, you and Tammy both. (We LOVE pictures).

That is so awesome that you and Tammy having ALL those roses! Wow! One of these days......

~Annie

Hey, Annie, c'mon down to Dallas, I have a rambler Albertine that I'll dig out for you, it's just not working out where I had hoped it would.

I love this forum, it is so easy going, and the rose forum and antique rose forum can get prickly at times, but I sure have learned a lot since I became interested in the old roses, and for the most part it is pretty friendly. I will say I've had snappy replies a few times, usually from the same posters. I just ignore them, and refrain from adding remarks to fuel the fire. Such is life, right?

By the way, I totally love your garden and over the years have thoroughly enjoyed reading your posts!

ogrose

Annie...

Thank you for the welcome and the advice about how to improve my soil.

I live in an old gold mining town in northern California and the soil up here consists mostly of rocks ! Added to that, the house pad where my garden is located was cut out of a slope and the garden soil is actually sub-soil to glacier debris. ..... tightly compacted stones with clay.

I was new to gardening when I bought this house and really didn't know I should have prepared the rose beds differently. I have consistently mulched twice a year and, yes, that has improved the top few inches of the soil. This year, I have plans to re-work the beds properly which means I'll be digging up a lot of the roses and re-working the whole bed and re-planting.

I have bags and bags of forest mulch and leaves along the side of my house that I collected last year and will use for the spring work and mulching. So, I am hoping I am on the right tract.

Smiles,
Lyn

Hey Annie,
I used to spend most of my time over at the rose forums... but lately have been cruising Cottage garden, shrubs, landscaping, Name that Plant (It's like Jeopardy! if only we could bet before we answered!.... I'll take "what is this houseplant" for $400 alex")

i've got a few beds I am finishing up this summer, when the weather finally changes and I can do some planting -- I'll definitely join you here to kibbutz.

Welcome to the Cottage Garden Forum lola-lemon!
It will start to pick up on here next month, and by May, it will be quite lively. Lots of chatter. :)

plantmaven,

Your Siberian Iris is just gorgeous. What's the name of it? Your garden and flowers are always so "delicious". Please post that photo (and any others you have of Siberian Irises) over in my topic regarding when to plant them.

Thank you for posting your "welcome" to the newcomers.
~Annie

Sweet Annie it is from some dutch iris bulbs I ordered when we moved into town.

I have no siberian iris. My white cemetery iris are in full bloom. They are the ones from the grave of an ancestor buried in 1863 ish.

Welcome Rose lovers, and non rose lovers.
I love this site and lurk much more than I post. I sometimes don't have much to say. lol
I have a love hate relationship with roses. I have a few varieties scattered about and just last year planted some knock outs. So far...I love them.
I also planted some rose seeds my Brother gave me from Canada. Too Bad his memory is worse than mine. He said they were beautiful purple edged, white roses. Well they W.S. great and last year they bloomed. They are plain white. I showed them to him and he said "oh yeah, now I remember" ugh!
They grow wild up there.
I have a few peace roses and love the long stem and the scent is heavenly. Too bad the creepy Japanese beetles like them too.
I have yellow tea roses and the beetles love them too. and a few other colors and a few miniatures.
It's almost time to cut the dead canes and I'm just cringing at the thought :( No matter how careful I am they still attack me. Heavy gloves, coat, jeans and I still walk away bleeding.
Roses are not welcome in my compost pile either. I burn the cane, for safety and spite! lol
:) Laura