Front Garden Update: Roses, Roses & More Roses
You might remember that most of our 7,900 sqft lot (a little less than 1/4 acre) is in our front yard. When we purchased the house in 2015, the landscape was entirely bare. At the end of April this year, we finished updating the front yard with a new vegetable garden and additional garden beds. These were two major quarantine projects that kept us busy for six full weekends! For the last few months, I have been extremely busy caring for the many, many roses I planted in our front yard. We have 19 different varieties of roses in our front yard, totaling 42 individual rose plants.
Here in King of Prussia, PA, we are in Zone 7. Our roses began blooming in mid-to-late May and it has been a wonderful month witnessing each varieties unique colors, textures and habit. That being said, it has been a challenging first year as a rose gardener. We have struggled with Aphids, Powdery Mildew, Downy Mildew and rampant Black Spot. We probably have other problems too that I have yet to identify!
I have a general plant healthcare schedule that involves:
Alaska Fish Fertilizer applied 1x every three weeks
Serenade Garden Disease Control applied 1x per week
Neem Oil and Rose Rx 3-in-1 applied sporadically throughout the week as I notice problem spots
1x application of Zenith insecticide applied in Early April to select roses (I will probably not use this next year as it can be harmful to pollinators and birds.) I have had a lot of success with controlling Aphids in our vegetable garden with Mint Compost and plan to use this around all of my roses next year.
I just ordered Copper Fungicide to specifically treat Downy Mildew.
Six David Austin Sombreuil climbing roses flank either side of our three Jardin Rose Arches from Gardeners. Winter Gem Boxwood also line the front path. I can’t wait for the roses to completely cover the arches! In the back, you can see our Incrediball Hydrangea have started to bloom.
This is the view from our master bedroom. I wish my mulch still looked as good as it did in my original blog post! As you can see, we still have quite a few bare spots that we will fill with companion plants next year. In the center circle of the parterre bed we have decided to plant a giant boxwood ball. Around the roses in the parterre beds we will plant a compact Nepeta variety called ‘Purple Haze’. We also plan to sprinkle in a few Allium bulbs this fall.
In the gallery below, I have selected a few roses to show you. From left-to-right and down by row, the roses are: Princess Charlene de Monaco; Queen of Sweden; Mary Rose; Sharifa Asma; Susan Williams-Ellis, Koko Loko; Munstead Wood and Sombreuil. It’s impossible for me to pick a favorite!
*Note: I linked to the roses above on the site where I purchased the rose.
There is a saying in gardening when it comes to new plants, “Year one they sleep, year two they creep, year three they leap.” If these roses are sleeping now, I can’t wait for what’s to come in the next two seasons. For now, I’m remembering that patience is a virtue and enjoying the process. Well…maybe not the endless weeding!
