What a beautiful rose!!! And your garden looks lovely. Very healthy and full of beautiful roses and flowers. How about sharing more photos?!!! Thanks..Lesley

Shropshire LAd

Strike It Rich

Graham Thomas (a little weepy after huge rains and un-seasonbale heat)

I think Rio Samba

I forget this one but I it's a Jackson Perkins rose

This is the garden last year after most of the roses had stopped blooming and things got a tad over grown.

This post was edited by nicholas.delo on Wed, Jun 5, 13 at 19:26

Garden (this year) from other side

Clematis and Shropshire on pillar. This new and will take another year or two for the Shropshire to really take off.

Very pretty! Harmonious is the word that comes to mind.
Susan

Awesome blooms. I'm so envious!

Scott in PA

Your garden is lovely...really lush, green and healthy. It looks like you have created your own paradise.I would love to know where you are located, if you spray for disease and what you feed your plants! Nosy...aren`t I? Thanks for sharing your garden with us. lesley

What a beautiful cottage garden- a real work of art. Everything is lush and beautifully put together. Thank you for sharing your little Eden with us.

I love your photos of the garden - so cottagey!

A Shropshire Lad is lovely - so sweet looking.

What a beautiful garden! It's obvious that you take great care of it because it looks perfect. I really like the picture that has a short wooden fence in the front. So many blooms, just fantastic.

WOW Very beautiful flowers, Once i saw these flowers in floralmachine.com

Hey lesmc,

I'm located in NJ, near Princeton.

For the majority of my garden I just feed with Osmocote, and maybe a dash of FlowerTone here and there for some of the more heavy feeders.

For the roses I feed monthly with RoseTone.

I also do a monthly foliar spray with Epsom Salts and Chleated Iron (I space these two separate treatments about 2 weeks apart). Both are required, because my garden's soil quality is still rather poor. I made the mistake of not amending it properly when I first created it. So, I get both iron and magnesium deficiencies showing up in the plants leaves at various points in the summer if I do not perform the foliate treatments.

I top dress/mulch my garden each spring with a good layer of leaf compost from from our local ecological center.

I do spray for blackspot every 7-10 days using Bayer's fungicide. If I do not, my roses will be leafless by June. This has worked wonders at keeping my roses (and some other perennials) happy. Blackspot is aweful in NJ. Occasionally, I'll also see rust or powdery mildew. Fungicide is therefor absolutely essential where I live. And if I miss a scheduled spraying, I pay for it!

I keep most garden pests at a minimum by using ladybugs. I purchase them online and release them every few years. So far, it seems like I get a good 3 years out of a batch, before the aphid populations begin to rise again.

Japanese beetles are currently my largest unsolved problem. And for these I just cut all my roses as they bloom in July and use them in vases around the house. It's either that, or let the beetles eat them to ribbons. Luckily the beetles are gone in time for my fall flush.

All in all, I probably spend about 10-30 minutes in the garden, tending to it, daily (usually before work). I find this routine essential, as it helps head off any potential problems before they get out of control.

Cheers

This post was edited by nicholas.delo on Mon, Jun 10, 13 at 9:41

Great photos of some beautiful roses. Love the Graham Thomas, looks like he's a winner in any part of the country.

nicholas...Thank you so much for all the great information. I am always interested in the care of gardens. I have learned so much on this forum thanks to gardeners like you! You have created a beautiful space and I know you are very proud of it...you should be! Thanks again..Lesley

Here's another late November stroll through a breathtaking garden.The cottage floral abundance just carried me away, and the garden house is one of the most appealing I've seen-love those lavenders and purples. Please share your garden with us again on the gallery. Diane

Oh wow!!!! Such a delight!!!
Love your A Shropshire Lad!!! What lovely garden shots. Just lovely!!!
Carol

Really nice, just beautiful!

These are really nice photos to look at today as it's snowing here now.

My rose gardens are asleep and waiting for spring, if it ever gets here...A long way off !!

Oh....thanks for bringing this back!!! One of my favorite gardens. It is 17 degrees here and snow on the ground. Looking at gardens is my salvation! I miss my garden so much and winter has not even started yet!!. Lesley

Beautiful garden! What a treat after we got 8" of snow over the last two days! Gorgeous closeup of A Shropshire Lad. I've admired that one for a while now... may have to find a spot for it!

Ok here is another picture form a different angle after the Candyland stopped blooming and after I got a new fountain for Father's Day!

Here the Rio Samba is really coming in. It's been in the ground for 2 years at the point of this picture.

Like everyone else in the North East, my garden is bare right now. Covered in ice and slush.

Cheers

This post was edited by nicholas.delo on Mon, Dec 30, 13 at 6:32

Once again....this garden is so beautiful!!!!! And I think I see a delphinium. I am always envious as they will not grow in my KY. garden.I love how you have just let all the colors grow together. On these cold winter days, seeing these pictures are a treat! Thanks again. Lesley

Great pictures! They brighten up this wintry day! Thank you.

Last year was my first and last attempt at delphiniums. I absolute loved them, but any rain snapped the stalks/blooms right off! I wanted to cry every time I lost a nice large stalk full of blooms.

I know you can stake them, but I found that erecting a cage around them detracted from their beauty. If I every come up with an easy, attractive way to stake them up, I'll give them another try.