Wowser! Awesome thread!

BenT - you have the most fabulous, amazing garden! Besides your roses I absolutely love that scarlet quince! The size of the blooms is incredible. I used to work with quince a lot when I did Japanese flower arrangement. I didn't know there was a variety like yours which would have been wonderful to work with! Thanks for sharing your fantastic garden - it really is an extravaganza!

Ann

To my clematis helpers... I just ordered 3 clematis from Silver Star.

Crystal Fountain 'Fairy Blue', Perle d' Azur, and Prince Charles. If it is a clematis, it has to be blue for me and the closer to sky not purple the better. Wish me luck. Read posts from Jeanne on Clematis forum, I like her input. Special thanks Alameda and Ben. Alameda I am in Dallas, you are in East Texas right?

Good luck, Austin. I just received 8 great looking clematis from Silver star and planted them. I'm afraid my planting was less ideal than it could have been. I probably should have had deeper holes. Oh well, at least the crowns won't rot. Her plants are great. I think Perle d' Azur is the bluest here. I did get Multiblue, which I saw in Ninfa, Italy, and that looked quite blue too.

austin, congratulations on your clematis purchases! You will be so happy when you see what nice plants you get! I am 2 hours from Houston, in Lufkin. so we are about in the same zone. Once you see what they will do in the spring, you will be hooked. They look so good on obelisks and with roses. Now you need some daylilies to edge your rose beds with!

BenT your garden is an inspiration, and I love reading your commentary! So many great pictures on this thread! Thank you for sharing!

well ok then I think I will double my order. Any other suggestions on varieties? Silver S seems to have lot of stock? Not big on the burgundy reds but like purple if it is not red purple. Your purple with L in R looks like a good color bed but flowers are so small. I know you said those were the easiest to grow but I like a changledge. A interesting white to go with Paul Neuron? I am inspired! I do daylilies alamedia, but I really lean to things that bloom all summer. Loved Lufkin, my daughter showed her Arabian horses there every year to qualify them for nationals. Such nice people.

Problem: My creative muscle served me better when I was making $$ from it rather than spending $$ to flex it. Oh well, I will be the best dressed bag lady on the Dallas street corner when I hit 80 with no funds. :)

I read somewhere that the 3 most expensive hobbies were yachting, equestrian, and gardening- In that order.. I seem to have hit up 2 of the 3 and I'm just a middle class gal, not affluent. Thank goodness I am not big on boats beyond decorating them.

I have hit 2 out of the 3 myself - gardening and horses. Decorating/projects around the farm/house and chickens/ducks would fall under the "I am spending my children's inheritance" category.

austin, when did your daughter show Arabians? I showed/bred them for nearly 40 yrs. The "alameda" in my thread comes from Alameda Arabian Farm. I bred AAF Kaset, US/Canadian National Champion in 1984, & son AAF Kadet, and rode Natl. Ch. Eskabor . Showed for years and loved it! Now raise Miniature Horses. Had so many good times at shows in Lufkin and Nacogdoches! Garden Crossings, that has clematis, is offering free shipping over $25. [sorry to get off topic]

OMG-I am so impressed! My daughter is in her early 40’s we were with Buck Grass and later with Bob Battaglia. Started when she was 10 until soph. In college and won a lot, esp. regionals in Ft Worth but never higher than top 10 at Nationals. She was showing before they divided into youth national. This requires a whole discussion betw. us someday. What a small, small world. I know your horse fabulous. Congratulations, the joy of those wins is unparalleled.

Off subject sorry rose friends.... but beauty is beauty& her horse is famous.

Thank you for posting that lovely photo! He was an orphan and I adored him and he, me. When we sold him, I was heartbroken, but back then, too much $$$ involved. He still knew me 2 yrs. later......now in Brazil, probably passed away. Arabian business isnt the same - I got busy being married, raising our son so showing at the level I did - just couldnt give it my full attention. Would love to converse with you sometime - how do I send you my email? I know Buck and Bob......they were excellent.

I have no idea how to do personal contact. I am doing good just to negotiate the gardenweb forums, past all the house design stuff and Houzz ads. If you find out post me here. Maybe someone else can advise us. I would love a visit.

Those were good times for me and I feel privileged to have been able to participate. It left a hole when we stopped as it had been so all consuming for so many years. I don't apologize for living vicariously through my daughter's showing. It was special.

Garden crossing plants are a bit small for me. The bigger the better.

I am currently looking for a 15-30 gal Merlot Redbud. In case anyone knows where to get one. I need to replace a Forest Pansy that is giving up the ship and leaning sideways over my roses.

Alameda, enjoyed seeing you are getting several "likes" on that pic I posted of Kaset. A beautiful horse always takes my breath.

So special.......thank you for posting that. You might be interested in googling his son, AAF Kadet, 1988 National Champion Futurity Stallion, that I also bred. My most beloved.......Eskabor, a pure Polish gelding and I won 3 National Championships together, numerous Top Tens. He is my soulmate. Still working on how to connect you with my email..........I was at Walmart, bought another Cl. Polka and a Fruity Petals........that one will be planted at the gravesite of my beloved little dog Fruitcake [Fruity] who passed last December. It is a beautiful, happy rose - this is my 2nd one. We are now getting quite a bit of rain and the roses are responding......plan to put out triple 13 tomorrow. Have a friend who puts a bit of this out on his roses every week or so and they are magnificent!

Osmocote is that what you meant by triple 13? I relate to soul mater pets that Dobie pic is mine. Died in Jan , I am still mourning

Can I send my email address to you mini website

Clematis: I read that Hagley Hybrid liked shade does anyone grow it? any other good semi shade varieties,(4-5 hrs sun) . My other wish is for one that would give blooms all summer in our heat. that may not be possible in Texas. Ben your Prince Charles and 2 other clematis are arriving today, I read about why the group 3 is usually better for D so probably best I avoid the "challenge" of the larger flowers. One more thing... you mentioned "humid" describing our area. I always describe our area as dry maybe Dallasites think I am nutts. Houston & area drips water on its driest day so guess it is all relative to your experiences. :)

austin, my website is down currently. I have written Houzz twice to ask about this - I have their phone number, will just call them. Re clematis - I love the large flowered ones and I grow mostly those and have had no problems with them. Need to grow some of the others to see how I like them. Only very occasionally will mine get wilt - then all you do is cut them down to the roots, they grow back again and no problem. I have Hagley Hybrid, but it is still in a pot - it grows and blooms well but would do so much better in the ground. And yes.......I have a clematis pot ghetto too - and a daylily one! Clems really are easy, I have found. Plant them well - yours will come with instructions - and you will be thrilled come spring. I will keep trying about my email address!

Judith

thanks again, I plan to try some large flowered after I cut my teeth on these. I also read that east Texas is prime for growing clematis, I know we get hotter and hot last longer. Regardless your input is encouraging and I am going to try the big guys. Silver Star lady super nice and very helpful. Bushwood seemed to be out of the ones I wanted.... I love love love sky blue in anything but I bet it fades in our heat so that is why I selected Perle d' Azur. It seems that cutting back to ground in Feb would work with my overgrown roses so that is a plus for group 3. I still have no idea how Ben keeps his Bearded healthy between his roses, Mine were raised high and I tried to keep water away from them as best I could. It could be that mine grew too thick with all that healthy soil In my rose garden,. I moved them last month. . Iris and clematis perfect go-alongs for the English rose garden look.

Austin

I just remembered that I have Crystal Fountains Blue clematis , too. Here it is, just getting started, with the climber Blossomtime

Now we have fall weather and nicer blooms, finally. Tahitian Sunset, Melody Parfumee, St Patrick, Double Delight, Lemon Spice, Red Intuition, Barbra Streisand. The vase is a Aalto Freeform vase. It was featured in Ortho’s All About Roses book many, many years ago and I always wanted one...I won an auction on EBay and it came in the mail yesterday :-)

Clematis are enjoying fall too, this is Mme Julie Correvon

I posted this elsewhere, but this is my first bloom of Typhoo Tea from a band. I‘m so impressed with its powerful lemon tea scent, like no other.

Geeze Ben I do not think there is anything I like you do not grow. I am getting Crystal tomorrow in mail and was googling how it did not Texas. It seems to be rather small so I was going to put in on right side of arch by itself with Olivia growing on left or if grows big then with Olivia. Arch goes over flagstone 3-3 1/2 ' wide walkway. Because I like order I leave one side of path arches bare when they are no wider than that. Also Olivia is a strong grower. Advise please.You are such help so glad you are gardener instead of doing another hobby - saving me many mistakes is placing and new purchases.

Yes, I think your space is fine for Crystal Fountain, it really is a small plant, a rambler that you have to force to climb.

Speaking of blue/purple, have you grown Thunbergia Battescombei? It’s a fabulous perennial for our area blooms continuously from May to Frost. It can take heat as well as the most heatproof plants, you can plant it the hottest sunniest part of the garden like Lantana.

Grew Thunbergia in H, several varieties, not sure name. Mine had bigger flowers, some sky blue. I loved them. One grew rampant and up into my holly tree, gave great yr round display...everyone asked me what tree I had that bloomed those big blue flowers. Tropical has its rewards. Excited to research your suggestion thanks. Crystal sounds like a weak grower better up close and alone, was hoping for big flowers. Oh well yours is very pretty. Putting Prince Charles on Abe arch after seeing your pics.

this is such a good thread going all the way back to BenT first post. Lot of information from many people I would like to keep for reference. Is there any way to do this on Houzz??

Click the Save button in the first post of the thread and save it to an “Idea Book” Must be first post and not a comment of that post. that’s how I save interesting threads.

thanks how do you get back to first post my devices are not showing those; this is a super long thread going on spring to fall and so much good stuff

I use the Houzz app on my iPhone/iPad and the Save button is under the title “My Texas Garden extravaganza”. When I link to the post on my iPhone’s Safari browser then the Save button is moved slightly and is now under the initial text/picture of the original post rather than under the post title. For both the Houzz app and the link used in the Safari browser, the original post is at the top of the page. Here is the link.
https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5677489/my-texas-rose-garden-extravaganza

Typhoo Tea is lovely BenT! I wish I could smell the lemony scent.

Ann

Thank you Ann. I was so surprised with the first bloom, the color , size and especially the scent. I promptly upgraded it to a bigger pot, lol.

Stephanie,

Thanks for being technical support :-)

BenT I just cant get this rose “Granada” out of my head . I found it on Witherspoon ... I do flower arrangements and I feel like this rose will be a hit .. Thoughts ?

Kenneth, Granada is an older rose but beautiful. It is also very fragrant. I bought it last summer at the Certified Roses trailer sale for $5 - its still in a pot but am going to give it a prime spot. It wouldnt have been around since 1963 had it been a dud. You will enjoy it! Around here.......it can be found sometimes at Walmart, box stores.

Kenneth,

Granada is overall one of my very favorite roses, and a great cutflower. The bud is especially elegant, the stems straight, the bloom long lasting, and the fragrance strong. It is vigorous and blooms a ton, in a beautiful kaleidoscope of colors.

Judith,

One of my friends got Granada at Certified’s trailer sale this year, too! It’s been growing very nicely for her.

Ben, thank you for this extraordinary thread. It is a cornucopia of gorgeous photos of well-grown, well-chosen roses (and peonies, and irises, and quince!) from what is clearly a magnificent garden. You have given me so many ideas, especially since I'm now starting to rebuild my own rose collection (post-major landscaping construction).

I would like to ask you a couple of very specific things, if I may:

1. Neil Diamond. Is he as fragrant as Double Delight? More fragrant? (I don't know if that's possible for a hybrid tea, unless it's Fragrant Cloud.) I know you spray, but do you have a sense of whether Neil is truly more blackspot-resistant than Double Delight? I'm very interested in this rose -- so interested that I may install him in my cutting garden despite my fears that earworms of Cracklin' Rosie will attack my brain every time I'm in the garden.

2. Mellow Yellow: Your recommendation on this is enough for me -- it's in my cart at Witherspoon. What can I expect? Habit, disease resistance, fragrance? There are a couple of places Mellow Yellow could go, so I'm trying to plan.

Thank you so much!

Hi Suzanne,

Fragrant Cloud, Double Delight and Neil Diamond are also what I consider the 3 most fragrant. I’d say Neil is at least as fragrant as the other two, both of which I’d grown over many years and considered the best until Neil came along. If I could only pick one rose for fragrance, I’d pick Neil.

I’d say Mellow Yellow is a upright , bushy hybrid tea, quite vigorous. I’d say the fragrance is moderate. Can’t really speak to disease resistance since I spray regularily, but it’s a strong grower which for me is a part of resistance and recovery.

Thank you, Ben; very helpful information. I'm currently pondering my choices on Mellow Yellow. Digging back through old forum threads, some gardeners in hot humid zones report it as a skinny thing, others in hot humid zones say it's squat and bulky. I wonder if the difference is root stock?

I can get Mellow Yellow grafted on Dr. Huey from Witherspoon, or grafted on multiflora from Palatine, or---maybe---grafted on Fortuniana from KandM. It's on KandM's list, but I guess I would have to email them to find out if it's in stock.

Your comments on how Fortuniana works for you are very interesting. I'm really wondering what would work best here. Most of my grafted roses and possibly all of them are on Dr. Huey.

Hi Suzanne

I’ve seen Mellow Yellow growing well on both Dr Huey and Fortuniana. This is Mellow Yellow growing in inland N Cal, on Dr Huey, plants on 5th season: This was where I first saw it, and was impressed by its true yellow color, nice bushy habit, and generous bloom :

And this is my Mellow Yellow from K&M on Fortuniana, 2nd season:

What a pleasure to go over this thread again! You really do have the magic touch, Ben. I was just looking at what I hope is my Thunbergia Batt. I’m thinking it might be the vining kind. I haven’t seen blooms yet, but the leaves look similar to yours. What do you think? (The little magenta blooms belong to another plant.) Lisa

Dallas arboretum has a nice write up on thunbergia B. I grew thunbergia grandiflora -blue sky flower- in Houston and it covered the canopy of a nearby holly tree one year. I have seen it doing the same in San Antonio. Wonder if any of the zone 9 or 10 people grow it. In H we considered Thunb B... more a weed but living in Dallas now I find it more beautiful.

I have blue sky vine and its a wild thing. It climbed up and over the greenhouse area, up the starfruit tree and raeched way over to another tree to climb yet higher. It gets froze to the ground here in 9a NE FL but will return. It hasn't froze here yet this year so the sky vine is going nuts while it can lol.

I used to grow Thunbergia mysorensis which has long racemes of red and yellow flowers. It is quite a sight in full bloom. I lost it in a greenhouse mishap one year. I need to get another one.

Lisa,

Yes, Battescombei’s leaves look just like your plant, hopefully you‘ll get some blooms this summer.

Austin,

I’m surprised Battescombei is considered the weed in Houston, it really doesn’t seed, divide or otherwise multiply, and forms a short sprawling plant with no means to climb, I have to very purposefully bury a stem to get another plant. Grandiflora can grow huge in tropical areas, but it is not hardy in Dallas zone 8a.

Sultry,

Lucky you to be able to grow so many different Thunbergias!

Skyflower freezes sometimes even in H. it took several nonfreeze years for my Thunberigia to reach such heights, and I lived inside the loop where it is warmer. But oh, It was so so grand when it finally reached the sky to claim it's namesake. I meant the comment about weed figuratively not literally. It is a nice plant did not mean to demean it. When I was in Houston it just moved to insignificant next to the big, fluffy, powder blue masses-completely covering leaves then trickling down from overhead like a Wisteria. This was the result I saw several times from a happy grandiflora meandering around someones garden trees. Thun b is an easy grow in H. and as you say in D also. This one thing moves it up the latter. I was glad you reminded me of it as it had slipped my mind after I moved to D.

sulty your post just came over; what a treat for you. I googled the red and yellow T - what a beauty Do you have any pictures of your thunbergia? It has been 15 yrs.since I grew tropical, even had to look up names again. Do you also grow Alamand and ground orchids. Those were plants I also miss from my tropical roots. I love gardening in Dallas but some plants are hard to forget when you cannot grow them any longer. Roses are a heck of a lot easier however as I am certain any Houston transplant to Dallas will agree.

please forgive grammar and tenses I do know better :)

Austinkisses, I probably have some photos on one of my old computers. I. will have to look for it. Its been several years since I had that plant. I am going to get another T. mysorensis this spring.

I have a greenhouse to keep the more tropical stuff in, usually December till the beginning of March.

I do still have a Cherries Jubilee Allamanda. I do have a pic of a bloom from that one on my phone..dont mind the froggy sitting up there waiting for the evening mosquitoes lol.

Nice!! new one to me I only grew the yellow think it is Henderson

WOW it's only $119, that's actually not bad (but clearly only for indoor plants!)