librarian2003 (librarian2003) wrote in weagardening, @ 2010-11-01 22:21:00 |
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Current mood: | curious |
Week 2
Our topics for week 2 are Alba Roses, and Autumn Daisies.
Go to Photobucket for the pictures:
Alba Roses
Autumn Daisies
Here are the handouts:
GARDENING FOR PLEASURE
Plant of the Week : Roses
Alba Roses
Alba Roses are hybrids whose antiquity may go back further than the Roman Empire. Pliny, who lived from 23-79 A.D., mentioned white roses in his Natural History. Botanists believe these roses may have been Albas. They have particular associations with the Middle Ages and castle gardens.
Rosa x alba is an ancient hybrid of European gardens and was once considered to be the double form of a wild species. However, it is now thought to be derived from R. damascena and a wild rose such as R. corymbifera from the Mediterranean or the dog rose, R. canina, from Europe.
Graham Thomas supports Dr. C. C. Hurst's theory that Albas are derived from the dog rose, Rosa canina, and the Damask rose, Rosa damascena. (More on this can be found in The Graham Stuart Thomas Rose Book).
It is believed that an Alba rose hybridised with the Autumn Damask, produced Rosa x centifolia (Provence or Great Holland Rose). This rose produced several sports, of which the most important was R. x centifolia 'Muscosa' (Common Moss).
Two of the oldest Albas are 'Maidens Blush' and R. x alba 'Semi Plena' (White Rose of York). Another early form, R. x alba 'Maxima' (Great Double White) is also known as the Jacobite Rose as it was the badge of Bonnie Prince Charlie and his followers. Many albas such as 'Queen of Denmark' were not developed until the 19th century.
Albas make elegant upright shrubs with matt grey or blue-grey foliage. They only bloom in spring. They have delicate colouring ranging from white through exquisite soft shades of pink. They have a penetrating pure rose fragrance with tones of citrus. They are resistant to disease for the most part. Many can tolerate shade, drought, and are winter hardy.
In Albas, the calyx is very long and extends beyond the open flowers. The bud is long and slender and the calyx lobes are very markedly edged with fern-like appendage.
Albas have long, arching canes and some can be trained up walls as climbing roses. Most will grow 6-9’ unless otherwise noted
Since Alba roses bloom on second year wood or older you won’t need to heavily prune these roses each year. Prune out dead canes after each winter or tip back the longest canes in mid-summer if they get out of bounds, but otherwise Albas can go many years with no pruning at all.
Christopher Brickell suggests pruning Albas like Centifolias, Mosses, and most Damasks. He groups these roses together because they mainly flower on short lateral and sublateral shoots produced from second-year or older wood. These roses also regularly produce vigorous basal or near-basal shoots, which may grow 5-8 feet in one season. He suggests tipping back unripe or damaged shoots in the first year. For the second and following years, he suggests cutting back long new basal growths by up to one-third in February or March. Care must be taken not to cut back the new shoots too much or the elegant arched habit can be lost. Cut back laterals on flowered shoots to 2-3 eyes or 4-6 inches. Cut out any badly placed shoots. Dead-head in summer and tip back extra-long growths to minimize wind-rock in September to November.
Alba roses prefer full sun but are one of the more shade tolerant roses. Some Albas are suitable for growing up a northern wall. They can be trained up a shadier wall to provide a backdrop for hellebores, hostas, or other shade plants. Or combine Albas with other heirloom or medieval era plants for a more historically accurate theme garden.
The more compact cultivars can be used as a typical rose bush shrub, but most Albas can be trained up a wall, tree or trellis. Or drape their long canes dramatically through the garden. Use as hedges, near sitting areas, in a fragrance garden, a cut flower garden or a white flower theme garden.
Alba roses produce bountiful and showy rose hips each year which add autumn and winter interest, provide food for wildlife and are prized for use in teas. The most fragrant cultivars are also used to extract “attar of roses” essential oils.
Many prominent artists including Botticelli, Luini, Crivelli, Shoengauer, da Zevio, and van Spaendonck illustrated Albas. The following are links to some Albas in works of art:
da Zevio's 'Madonna in the Rosary' (Dated 1410)
Schoengauer's 'Madonna of the Rose Bush' (Dated 1473)
Botticelli's 'The Birth of Venus' (Dated c.1485)
Carlo Crivelli's 'Virgin with St. Francis and St. Sebastian' (Dated 1491)
Some Albas
R. x alba 'Maxima' (before 1500)
‘Jacobite Rose’. Similar to ‘Great Maiden's Blush’, but white with creamy tinted centre. Very fragrant. Lead-green leaves. Good autumn fruit. A hardy cultivar. To 10 ft. Blooms for up to 8 weeks in summer. Best left unpruned, so allow room to spread. Tolerates poor conditions. 16th Century.
Queen of Denmark, Königin von Dänemark (Broot, 1826)
Quartered, bright pink blooms borne on a tall, elegant bush with pale greyish-green leaves. Rich Alba scent. Compact, 5ft by 4ft. Summer flowering.
Céleste, Celestial (probably 16th C)
Beautiful, soft pink, semi-double booms in contrast to the leaden foliage. An old variety of unknown origin. Most graceful alba, deserves to be in every garden. 6ft x 4ft, sweetly fragrant, very disease resistant.
Chloris (Descemet, 1820)
Full, small, shell pink flowers on a compact, erect bush. Relatively thornless. Summer flowering. 5ft x 4ft
R. x alba 'Semiplena'
‘White Rose of York’. Semi-double pure white flowers borne on a graceful plant with matt, grey leaves. Highly scented. Good hips in autumn. Tolerates shade and poor conditions. Summer flowering. 16th century or earlier.
Cuisse de Nymph, Great Maiden's Blush, R. x alba 'Incarnata' (before 1500)
Beautiful blue-grey leaves which complement the lovely, rather muddled, double, blush pink flowers with a strong, sweet scent. 6 week flowering season. Disease free. Summer flowering. 6ft x 5ft
Blanche de Belgique (Vibert 1817)
Pure white, good sized flowers in summer, superb perfume. Vigorous, bushy and upright. A hardy cultivar, tolerating poor soil and shade. 6ft x 4ft.
Félicité Parmentier (Parmentier 1834)
An upright, compact shrub with flat, reflexing flowers of soft pink. Highly scented with healthy, grey foliage. 5ft tall. Blooms for 6 weeks in summer.
Rosa alba ‘Mme Plantier’, ‘The Bride’s Rose’ – (1835)
Long cascading branches; 15’ long if allowed to grow unrestrained; vigorous grower; cream coloured very double flowers; blooms in clusters; good choice to climb east or north wall.
‘Pompon Blanc Parfait’ (c. 1836)
Small blush-white rosette-like blooms in clusters. Well scented. Dense in growth. Will tolerate poorer soils and shade to some extent. Summer Flowering. 4ft x 3ft
‘Mme. Legras de St. Germain’ (1846)
An almost thornless rose of creamy-white large double fragrant flowers. In growth this shrub can be quite lax, and makes a good climber if given support. Against a wall where it is drawn to the light it can reach height of over three metres. Summer Flowering. 7ft x 6ft
Jo Hanslip
September 2010
Sources
http://www.kew.org/plants/roses/alba.ht
http://www.rosegathering.com/albas.h
http://www.rdrop.com/~paul/history.h
http://www.classicroses.co.uk/knowledge
GARDENING FOR PLEASURE
Autumn Daisies
The Asteraceae is one of the largest plant families, with over 25,000 species distributed all over the world. It includes shrubs, perennials and annuals, but not trees or aquatics. Many of them are weeds (e.g. Dandelion and Thistle), many are familiar garden flowers (Aster, Chrysanthemum and Echinacea), and some are edible (Lettuce and Artichoke).
Most members of the daisy family are easy to grow, but their requirements do vary. The South African daisies, such as Osteospermum, demand sunshine, and do best in a light, fast-draining soil that is low in nutrients. At the other end of the scale, Helenium and Rudbeckia, along with the Michaelmas daisies, thrive in heavier, moisture-retentive and relatively fertile soil.
Of the pests and diseases, aphids and slugs can be troublesome, and powdery mildew can be a scourge of some, particularly the Aster novi-belgii group of Michaelmas daisies. Dryness at the root encourages powdery mildew.
It is the flowers which give this plant family its original name of Compositae. They are composite, or made up of many individual flowers. These flowers may be regular (disc florets), with all the petals the same size, or irregular (ray florets), with some petals larger than others. Often, the disc florets form the central disc of short flowers, and the irregular ray florets form the outside 'petals' with the larger edge on the outside of the flower head. Some members of this family are made up of only disc florets or only ray florets.
Each single flower can produce a seed. The flowers sit on a disc surrounded by the bracts. After pollination, the seeds grow and mature until they are ripe and ready to be dispersed. In some species, the bracts surrounding the flower simply open and allow the seeds to be dispersed by the wind. In this case, the seed is often attached to its own 'parachute', as in the Dandelion. In other species, the bracts close over the disc while the seeds mature, and this seed case also turns brown as the seeds ripen. When the seeds are ready to be dispersed, they separate from the disc. The genus Dimorphotheca was named because it produces two different types of seeds - thin, stick-like seeds from the outer florets, and flat, disc-like seeds from the inner florets.
Many members of this plant family do not produce viable seeds. Often, they produce what looks like a fine seedhead of white fluff, but on examination it will be seen that there is no seed at the bottom of the 'parachute'. In some cases, there may be a seed case full of ripe brown 'seeds', but they may be flat or bent and spindly, and if they are compared to a healthy seed, it can be seen that they are not viable seeds. Healthy seeds are easily recognisable - there is a slight bulge to even the flat-looking viable seeds, and some are fat and rounded.
The Asteraceae Family includes the following genera:
Achillea, Anaphalis, Arctotis, Argyranthemum, Arnica, Aster, Bellis, Bidens, Calendula, Carduus, Catananche, Centaurea, Cichorium, Cineraria, Coreopsis, Cosmos, Cynara, Dahlia, Dimorphotheca, Doronicum, Echinops, Emilia, Erigeron, Gazania, Gerbera, Gynura, Helenium, Helianthus, Helichrysum, Inula, Lactuca, Leontopodium, Liatris, Ligularia, Mutisia, Osteospermum, Raoulia, Rudbeckia, Santolina, Senecio, Solidago, Stokesia, Tagetes, Taraxacum, Ursinia, Zinnia.
Autumn daisies include:
Aster, Boltonia, Chrysanthemum, Echinacea, Eupatorium, Helenium, Helianthus, Heliopsis, Leucanthemum, Ratibida, Rudbeckia, Silphium, Solidago, Vernonia, xSolidaster
For autumn aster, try The Picton Garden and Old Court Nurseries, the National Collection Holder:
http://www.autumnasters.co.uk/
Jo Hanslip
September 2010
Got enough daisies in the garden?
Jo