Thank you everyone . There are a few more pictures in the comments of this post. This isn't the best time to take new pictures because the landscapers just finished a new project today, so we have lots of missing grass etc. The new project is a wine grape arbor. I'll take some new pictures in a couple weeks.

I'm looking forward to seeing more pics of your LdeV rose. I've been considering that one.

Your home and garden are simply gorgeous. We'd love to see more pictures!

Here is a Link to other threads she's started that show other views.

My kitchen was featured in a Houzz article.

Check out this story from houzz - https://www.houzz.com/magazine/kitchen-recipes-3-real-cooks-kitchens-stsetivw-vs~112826488

Your kitchen is beautiful, Sheryl May, and has its own unique character, which one sees all too rarely (and certainly not in my kitchen!) I've never had a kitchen island, and I wondered whether moving from the stove to the fridge presents a problem.

I see hills in some of the pictures. What is your elevation there? The area is just so beautiful.

What a beautiful kitchen, Sheryl May.

ingrid_vc , we are at about 460 meters elevation, almost to the top of a big hill above our little village of about 2200 residents. The island has never really been in my way because when I take food out of the fridge, I'm usually headed to the countertop or sink to prepare it in some way. The island is really handy when i need to get a lot of things out of the fridge at once like when making a salad because I can just turn around and sit it down. My real problem is one of my 2 large dogs who wants to lay on the rug in front of the sink while I'm trying to cook.

The gates your HB made are outstanding!!!

Thanks. He is pretty handy to have around!

What a beautiful property! Love your kitchen! Is it uncommon to have 2 sinks in a kitchen in Europe?

if you mean a double bowl sink. then no, its not uncommon. If you mean because I have a second sink in the buffet then no I've never seen that anywhere else. We did that before we bought the coffee machine and I'm really glad now because there is a very shallow drip tray that has to be emptied often and I would never make it to the other end of the kitchen without spilling

That makes sense, Sheryl May, most times there is some prep between the kitchen and the stove, which naturally takes place near the sink. Your location sounds idyllic, very quiet and peaceful. To me that is probably the greatest luxury in the modern world.

Sheryl May, Sorry, I meant 2nd prep sink. I love to check out kitchens in other countries. Yours is beautiful indeed. There are many kitchens here have 2nd prep sinks on the islands, and some even have a wall swing out pot filler faucet by the stove (3rd faucet). It’s not too hard to add on more sinks in the kitchen if you have water pipes running in the basement underneath the kitchen floor. :-) I love to see chandeliers in the kitchen. Yours is lovely. And the high kitchen ceiling is just breathtaking. How do you clean those lovely logs up high?

I hope to not offend any Germans following this, but German kitchens are not special in any way. The reason being, whether in an apartment or house, when they move, they take the cabinets and everything else such as light fixtures with them. It makes no sense to me because a kitchen planned for one space is never going to work in another space. We had to have our kitchen custom made. Germans buy their kitchens at a furniture store or IKEA.
My son just got his own place. I designed him an industrial/steampunk style kitchen with IKEA cabinets and made some pipe shelves. here are before and after pictures.

Your James Galways are glorious! I just planted one in my garden last week. I hope mine grows like your! How long did it take to get large?

Carla, only 2 years!

Help! something is digging the soil out around the roots of my James Galway EVERY night. Its not a cat because there is no poop. Any ideas what it is or how I can prevent it? I am in northern Bavaria and we do not have raccoons or possums here. the smaller animals are hedgehogs and weasels.

Voles? They go after rose roots. I lost at least 30 roses this winter.

summersrythm, how can I know?

I will post some photos for you. Will be back.

Here are a couple photos:

I can see it looks like yours have been chewed on but I dont see that on mine, unless it is below the soil which I filled back in this morning. it will be dog out again when I get up tomorrow so I will look at that part and see if it's been chewed on

summersrythm _z6a
wow! you still have snow. And also wow, if you lost 30 Rose's, how many do you have?
I only have a few. 5 climbing roses with small pink blooms, the James Galways on the trellis, a Leonardo Da Vinci and a raspberry cream twirl. I thought you had to be a scientist to grow roses but my landscaper talked me into trying them. I live in the Spessart Forest in Bavaria and our big problem here is slugs. Unless you have your own ducks to keep them under control, they can eat your entire garden overnight. Luckily they dont eat roses.

Yes, we still have snow, hopefully this would be the last snow of the season. Winter loves this ice hole, the growing season and pool season aren't long here. We had some mild days a few weeks ago, one of my neighbors opened their pool ! People here just can't wait for the warm weather. Lol I am by Lake Erie and Lake Ontario near Canada. Each year winter would take some roses, and these past 3 years voles killed a lot of roses, animal damage is becoming a big problem in my suburb garden. And the rose eaters ( voles and rabbits) are living underneath my 2 garden sheds. this winter is the worst, they took down too many roses. This year's new roses are all in pots right now, not planting any here in the suburb garden, I will dig up and transfer some of the roses to the country garden ( weekend place) next month. It's strange, there is no vole damage in the country.......there are a lot of wild cats and foxes over there. I forgot to mention I have over 1,000 roses. I know I am a rose shopaholic. I am getting better though, didn't order a lot this year. :-)

Sheryl, you might try putting heavy bricks on the soil around the JG roses and see whether anything tries to move them around or whether that's a deterrent. When it was cooler and moister in my garden I had lots of slugs and they were devouring my reblooming irises. I went out every night with a flashlight and killed the poor things, and also the slugs, and they gradually just became fewer and fewer. Now I have so few that I leave them alone, and the irises are history anyway since the roof rats and bunnies ate them down to the ground. Such is gardening, never a dull moment.

Our landscaper was here this morning and he also said voles. He has them too. He suggested we use the leftover rabbit wire from our grape arbor project and cover the ground around the roses. We have some large hairpin type things to hold it down with. We shall see.

Many — actually too many — years ago one of the methods of collecting worms for fish bait was to plug electric wires into the ground and throw the switch. They came up out of their hole in a heart beat. I wonder if a qualified electrician could come up something a little bit safer than what we used. If so I’d start treating them like cattle in a round up…… just keep moving the wires across the garden. Zap, pause, zap, pause.....

My husband sifted through the soil of 2 raised garden beds and ended up with 2 pie tins full of June bug larvae. I'm wondering if those are in my roses and that's what they are going after. The problem is the larvae eat roots too.

HELP! What is on my Rose's?

Aphids! I'm having a spring explosion of them too. They can be knocked off by spraying them with water (from a hose; gotta have high enough water pressure!), but beneficial bugs like ladybugs will come in and take care of them too. That will take a couple weeks though. Others spray, but I don't so I can't give any advice there.

Can someone else answer - are aphids a serious rose worry? I've never thought they were, just cosmetic. I don't spray (too lazy/cheap; I know myself) so I've just flicked them off and gone on my way. Maybe I'm too hands-off!

I would just spray them off. Usually they are followed by ladybug larvae, which look like little black and red dragons. Ladybug larvae love eating aphids :-)

Oohhh, Sheryl May, my chickens would probably offer to hop a plane and visit you for some of that larvae pie, lol! (Have you considered getting chickens? They are great bug eaters, too!)

I don’t consider aphids serious, either; as ac9 and Stephanie said, just keep an eye on them and hose them off when you can. More than likely the ladybugs will show up, set up camp in your garden, make more ladybugs, and keep all your aphids in check. 😊

Sheryl, If you don’t have Lady Bugs among your roses you can purchase them over the internet.

Should you want to give them an over-winter home just plant a Fountain Grass plant. We had one in our lawn and I noticed tons of lady bugs in the plant one winter. However, the grass does produce seeds that will be blown all over your lawn so be careful where you place the plant…..lol

I live in northern Bavaria and haven't seen any ladybugs yet this season

if the aphids aren't going to damage the Rose's I guess I won't worry about it. I sprayed them with the only Rose spray I have have without knowing what the the insect was. the Rose spray is in German on the package so it's words that are not in my vocabulary

Hey everyone, now I have a new bug. They are on my Rose's and my husband is losing his mind because he just found them on his new grapevines. I don't see any damage from them at all on the Roses but a lot of the leaves have a shiny sticky substance dried on them. There are tiny fluffy white cocoons I'm I'm guessing they hatched from. the second pic is the stems of my hydrangea. I think it's the same thing but see no bugs on them. Can anyone tell me what they are or what I should do? Thanks all.

Hard to tell from your pictures. Maybe get more pictures on leaves of the grapes to show us, assuming they have them on the leaves. I found a couple white bug options though. And the website has lots of pictures to compare to yours. And maybe, at least, rule them out.
White flies:
https://www.epicgardening.com/whiteflies/
Mealy bugs:
https://www.epicgardening.com/mealybugs/

That is almost certainly white fly and they will badly damage both your roses and grapes. I don't know what the pest threats in Bavaria may be, Honeydew is one of the signs. I use insecticidal soap, or a pyrethrin spray to control them. The literature says that they can adapt and become tolerant to many insecticides, but insecticidal soap will kill them if you get the underside of affected leaves drenched. You absolutely must get the soap up under the leaves, all of the leaves, and then keep checking. If you look closely at an infected leaf, you will probably see clear patches, which are their egg cases

I had them on my roses for a few days about two weeks ago and they did some significant damage even though I sprayed with insecticidal soap immediately when I first saw them. If you leave them, they will multiply rapidly and likely cause serious problems. They are not particular about what they attack and I have had them on Hydrangeas as well. They also like things like Tomatoes, Peppers and many other plants, so check your entire garden and treat them wherever you find them. This year thus far, they have only been found on my roses.

Hope this helps,

Cheers, Rick

Quick point of interest. We found white fly on our little plot of spinach yesterday. Just on the other side of a fence, no more than 2 meters away from the roses.

R

I looked it up but I'm not sure it is a whitefly. When at rest its wings are vertical on its back and not horizontal period also don't see any damage whatsoever to the Roses. what I assume was the cocoon looks like tiny little tufts of white cotton candy

Wow! Look how it's grown!

Not only has it grown beautifully but it has strategically placed it's blooms to maximize it's beauty on your fence.

Wow! Such a beautiful rose!

That’s beautiful!

I just returned from 2 weeks vacation to find this craziness. first those extremely tall shoots, but also it is now blooming in totally different color than the first flush (last photo).
does anyone know what's happening? thanks

I think it wants to climb up on your roof!!! Has it been very hot there?

vaporize, it was the two weeks we were on vacation

Sheryl - many Austin roses have turned out to be way taller in warmer climates than the one they were bred in in England. I do not grow James Galway, but obviously it is trying to be taller than 8 feet. The difference in the blooms is remarkable, but there are many roses whose bloom color and even look is affected by the weather. So, you can bend those extra canes horizontally and tie them to something, and they will bloom more. Or, you could cut them off. My Austin 'Graham Thomas' sends out long canes which look just like that towards the end of summer, from the top of its already 8-9 foot height. I cut them off, as there is nothing for them to climb further on, and they fall sideways eventually and are a hazard to passersby. Do what you want - I do not think you will hurt the rose.

Jackie

Sheryl, I love how big your JG is! Mine on its own roots planted 20 feet from a large Sycamore, in a hot dry climate, and watered by drip irrigation looks just like a 4 ft shrub rose. It also only blooms Spring and Fall so far. I have a Madame Alfred Carriere that does the top sprouts. Sometimes they form buds so I wait to clip them way back when I harvest for the vase. Other times it’s not clear they’re going to set buds and I clip them back sooner. You can experiment with yours.