Really loving its color and form !

Lily,

Wow, it's a beauty! Was it planted as a gallon size this past spring? If so, that's phenomenal growth in such a short time, too! Boy, do I like cupped, minimally quilled roses. Does Paul Bocuse keep its petals to petal drop time, looking as they are in your last photo, still cupped and not quilled?

Lily, I nominate you for the title of, "Most Progress Made in Creating a Mature Rose Garden, and in Record Time." Your phenomenal headway made, is particularly amazing knowing you have intense black spot pressure with which to contend!

BTW, My Chantal Merieuxs are slow in establishing, but the blooms are beauties, last a long time, are extremely fragrant, and the bush itself is reported to be winter hardy in Vermont with no protection. Have you had any success with your Chantal Merieux?

Moses

Lily,

Paul Bocuse looks like Carding Mill. I hope it doesn' start nodding and drops its petals lightning fast like Carding Mill does.

Moses

Ok, Lilyfinch, I'll add my one and only photo of Paul Bocuse, though none are needed after your beautiful photos of buds, blooms, foliage and bush form.

Slightly spent, slightly sunburned, but still wins my heart because it's only a foot tall and the blooms are mature size. The petals look like heavy French silk to me.

Planted very late last fall, also gal, own root.

Moses, the blooms stay on the plant a long time. I've noticed that with the few Delbard and Barni roses I have. Versigny's last a good 2 weeks. This photo was taken last week when the bloom was on the down side, and it looks almost the same today. The petals on mine do quill, but I like that along with the tousled center and think it looks more like an OGR.

OH! MY! GOODNESS! Lilyfinch! That zinnia bed is, well, I have no words. Tell me everything - the dimensions, how many pounds of seeds you used, how you sow them, how you keep them deadheaded, irrigation, everything. My season might be too short, but I have to try this.

With all the exposure to gardening you've given her, Lucia just has to grow up to be a garden designer.

Flowers , your Paul is so beautiful!!

Well here ya go , my unscientific method . I pay someone to till up the front of my house by the road , right when it’s last frost date. I order bulk seeds from American meadows or grow organic.com ( I’ve done both) after it rains , I go out with a handheld broadcaster and spread the seed then gently water in . I personally only water when they are babies so they don’t wither away . Usually only have to do that twice with spring rain . I consider it a wildflower garden so I do not do much after that! Maybe pull some grass that tried to come up , but the zinnias will overtake it , I often get asked about the diseases They get but I’ve only ever had black spots on the leaves and I don’t care. I do it for the amazing amount of butterflies and bees and finches! Deadheading I don’t do , finches go bananas over their seeds! I offer them to anyone who compliments them but that’s not many who see them !

I usually do a pound per row of tilling (5ft tiller ) which is very heavy in seed, I could do much less . This year i added cosmos and got a good handful that weren’t choked by the zinnias . One year I did sunflower which I loved but so did the deer ! So this year I planted both in the vegetable garden :)

when they are dead as can be and no more finches come, they get mowed down . I love them and look forward to planting them every year!

Lily,

It's a good year for your zinnias! Thanks for posting the shots. You know how I like zinnias.

Lucia will be the next Tasha Tudor, for sure.....she already has Tasha's 'barefoot,' trademark mastered, next comes the bonnet, apron, and shawl. What a happy, smiley little girl she is. You are indeed blessed.

No Roberto Cappucci just yet. Shovelpruning a rose to make room for him will surely come, but recently the new additions are working out better than expected, so the shovel is getting a rest. You may remember I have very limited rose space, 8'x18', that's, it!...no growing room, just shuffling/evicting of bushes to make room for new ones.

Moses

Lilyfinch, I am so blown away by your pictures! First of Lucia, so precious! You are right, those will be treasured photos. Second, Paul Bocuse is so lovely. Third, your zinnias are amazing! Fourth that lovely photo of the happy sunflowers watching the late sun, just beautiful! Thank you for sharing. My own garden is looking quite crispy at the moment, so I love seeing these photos!

Thank you Moses , flowers and tiff !! Somehow Lucia has mastered the art of treading carefully between roses, somehow avoiding thorny clippings in the mulch and grabbing blooms without hurting herself! She never wears shoes outside... I try but she prefers not. Same here so I just try to clean up best I can . She loves to water the plants, help with deadhead and chase butterflies and fireflies. She’s a dream come true ! Sometimes she won’t let me get real work done, but that’s ok :)

Moses I forget to answer, my rose is new this spring from a one gallon pot . i fertilize like crazy and I know people say don’t do that but I do . Taking a break bc of lack of rain now.

Moses - I would love to be standing there with bucket in hand when you shovel prune! The reference to Tasha Tudor - I didn't think anyone still remembered her!

Lilyfinch - your gardening skills amaze me! I fertilized way more this year than ever because of the constant rain leaching everything and the defoliation from BS and JBs.

Ikayetwvz5,

Tasha Tudor is still remembered by old timers like me. The unique lifestyle she led was a breath of fresh air to me and many others. Her considerable contributions to the gardening world are eclipsed by her prodigious children's literature output. Her books are still popular with the little ones.

I think Tasha Tudor's gentle, calm nature impressed me the most. As a relic of a bygone era, I get a tinge of sorrow when I think of her. The old ways are going, going, gone...not that the new is totally bad, though.

Moses

Oh wow, Lilfinch! Your rose is absolutely breathtaking! Thank you so much for sharing, it is truly beautiful!

Lily, you have amazing garden and I love your zinnias. The best pic is your daughter. You know she is going to love roses and flowers who knows what she will be. She is the happiest child and a great helper. Lucia will definitely have great childhood memories when she grows up. Lily, you are a great mom, too.

Moses, Thank you for telling me about Tasha Tudor. Her garden still there till today. I been reading about her and loving it already. Looking forward to get her books :)

Jin

Sorry Jen, once I saw Lucia and that amazing rainbow of zinnias, I forgot all about Paul Bocuse.

Thanks everyone! I definitely hope to pass my love of plants to Lucia . And think she takes the sweetest pics in the garden! I love the wildflowers, when you walk by they come to life with insects and finches swooping about and bunnies jumping from their hiding place . It’s very fulfilling !

Plumeria Girl,

I purchased a used, Amazon sourced, bio-sketch book on Tasha Tudor, replete with great photos, authored by a horticulturist. The book was purchased as a gift for my niece, May, new to the USA, from Thailand. May is an avid, budding rose gardener.

To my pleasant surprise, inside, on the used book's title page, the author wrote an inscription...(something like this) "May your windows look out upon beautiful blooms, only God and you can create". I was tempted to keep the book for myself!

Moses

Oh, wow, Moses, that line brought shivers on my spine. I can truly understand what she meant. Best part it is so true about looking out the window and seeing the blooms. Creation of God and it's beauty. Bec that is what I see when I do my dishes in a sink. Looking out the window is a true beauty and I absolutely love it.

Well, I hope your niece will enjoy the book.

Moses thanks for sharing this with us. I am really touch by her words and I don't think anyone can blame you if you kept the book :)

Jin

Lilyfinch - Wow!!! Your PB is gorgeous!!!! I love it!!! And I've never seen a zinnia, and didn't realize they could be that beautiful!!! Talk about color!!! Your daughter looks so happy being in nature. :) You are doing a great job in raising her!! What a darling girl!! She's lucky you're her mom!

Carol