Autumn Smiles In The Garden

Hi Honeys
How are you today?  I'm feeling a bit better and today I thought I'd have a look around the gardens and see what's happening.  I'm glad I did because it's cheered me up no end and I thought I'd share 😊

Earlier this year our precious roses were again the victims of attacks by aphids, tiny little fly like bugs who are also tiny little bringers of devastation to anyone's roses 😞  Our beloved roses do seem to be making a comeback though but I'm getting ahead of myself 😊

Why not grab a coffee, and maybe a cookie, and we'll have a look shall we?

We're lucky enough to have a good sized (though not huge by any means) back garden, mostly laid to lawn other than having our apple tree, an ever growing blueberry bush and even bigger mulberry bush.

The back garden is also home to two huge planters which are home to lavender and to our much loved peonies which bloom every year and always make me smile 😊

The front garden is quite tiny bit it's home to our roses and it's where I'm always happiest...well... of course the back garden is where my washing lines are and if you've read any of this blog at all you'll probably know how much I adore laundry soooooo.... ok, maybe I'm just happiest whenever I'm in the gardens then 😊   In the front garden there are the roses I love so much and in the back garden I get to (weather permitting) peg out laundry 😊

Let's have a look shall we?

An Abundance of Mulberries...

The blueberries are almost entirely gone now, eaten by our wild garden birds.  I love to stand at the kitchen window watching them, sometimes seeing very young birds discovering the tasty treat waiting for them among the leaves.  

The blueberry shrub was planted for the wild birds who visit our garden and I so look forward to seeing our feathery visitors. 

The mulberry bush is very established and was here when we bought our home.  It's grown quite a bit over the past few years and is now very impressive. It too is a much needed source of food for our wild birds and this year, just as with the blueberries, there has been an abundance for them...

I've always wondered, because it's been the same for several years now, why it is that our feathery friends eat the blueberries first?  Do they prefer the blueberries to the mulberries?  Who can say, all I know is that I'm grateful they have a food source and feel blessed to be able to see their visits now and again.  They always make me smile 😊

The mulberry bush is very tall and as you can see...

The berries go way up to the very top.  They're already being snacked on I think since some areas are a little more sparse than others.  We're hoping to plant another blueberry shrub next spring and who knows I might even manage to bake with a few blueberries from our garden, I'm thinking muffins 😊

The Sad Tale of Our Beloved Roses And The Invasion Of The Aphids..

There are no words for how much I love the roses in our tiny front garden honeys.  The oldest shrub was planted in memory of my beloved Gramma.  She adored roses too and when we went to choose a rose shrub to plant for her, I was drawn to the pink selection because it was her favourite colour rose.  We choose a hardy bush rose and in what seemed no time at all they commanded attention in our little front garden.

 

In March 2016 we went shopping for another shrub.  This one in honour of my dear, much loved Mother in Law.  We went shopping on the first Mother's day without Mum, having lost her to cancer the previous August and we choose the same genus of rose as Gramma's but in a gorgeous scarlet red colour.

When Mum was with us we always had roses delivered on her birthday and again on Mother's Day every year.  Pink for her birthday and red roses for Mother's day.  It seemed natural to choose a lovely red rose shrub.  Red roses are for love after all and Mum was surely loved.  I miss her every day and it hurts so badly that I can't pick up the phone and tell her about my day or hear the latest family gossip.

Mum's roses soon started to flourish and by July, only 4 months after planting, there were lots of lovely rosebuds...

In no time their bright scarlet red petals were just beautiful and made me smile every time I saw them...

We had already developed a problem though, which if I'd been a proper gardener, instead of someone who plants things and hopes for the best, I might have spotted sooner.  Can you see the little discoloured parts of some of the leaves on Mum's roses in the photo above honeys?

Aphids.  Not referred to as garden pests for no reason. First of course I tried to find out what was trying to eat our beloved roses.  Having discovered that aphids were a common woe among rose lovers (and also that we'd been blessed for years in not having them) I started searching for solutions.

I didn't want to kill the tiny pests, it's not in my nature, I just wanted them to quit munching on our roses! I tried all of the "natural" solutions I could find online, such as washing them off with water, even though it took forever but they just came back again.

I tried using a sprinkle of ground cinnamon on the ground which apparently deters them or maybe it's supposed to deter the little army of ants they seem to recruit to work for them - organised little guys these aphids!

All to no avail honeys.  If I wanted to save our beloved roses it seemed I was left with no other option than to ask Hubby to bring me home a bottle of aphid dispatcher when he was out.

Long story short, our roses have started to recover and looked quite beautiful this summer.  They've bloomed and died away and now, as you can see....

There are more tiny rosebuds appearing on Mum's rose shrub. As you can see the leaves are still marked, I'm wondering if I should have removed them? I might do that when I give the garden it's last tidy for the year before everything goes for it's winter nap. 

There are five new rosebuds on Mum's rose shrub honeys, can you see them?  There are two clearly showing in the foreground of the above photo, but if you look beneath them, lower down the shrub...

Three more little rosebuds waiting to bloom.

Gramma's rose shrub is more established, being a few years older, and seems to be recovering far quicker from the attack of the aphids.  As you can see the leaves appear healthier..

Especially when you compare the newly grown leaves to the older leaves in the background...

I may spray them again (although I'll read the instructions on the bottle to be sure it isn't too late in the season) to prevent them being attacked again.

Gramma's rose shrub has a total of twenty three rosebuds, all in differing stages of development, across the whole shrub and it's such a joy to see so many, so late in the year.

Do you remember the tiny miniature rose plant from Christmas honeys?  It was a gift from a dear friend at work...

They were kept indoors, living on our kitchen window,  till spring before being planted outside in a trellis planter on one side of our front door....

They were just beautiful!  After a while though, they either died away or were got at by the winds.  We do after all live in a bit of a wind sock, being in a cul de sac.

I thought nothing of it other than hoping against hope that the miniature rose plant had taken root and might flower again.  Then when I was outside checking on the garden I spotted this...

wow!  A single rose has appeared on the miniature rose plant by the front door.  There are lots of autumn colouring leaves around it which I'll remove this weekend when I set about tidying the roses.

I need a new pair of secateurs since mine have given up the ghost and I'm lucky enough to have this weekend off work, so yaaay!  roses and laundry for me 😊

What about you honeys?  Do you love roses as much as I do?  What do you have planned for this weekend?  Whatever you're doing, have fun, smile lots and hug even more, huggles always xx