Haschberg elder, juneberry, cornel…

I hoped I would be able to complete an overview on groundcovers, but I’m still far from it. Thus I only post some new photos on the garden.

In the meantime I want to tell that recently I was in the Silvanus Nursery, one of the best retail sellers in the northern part of Budapest, to buy a Haschberg elder. This is an Austrian selection that produces much and evenly. In Hungary it is quite difficult to get it. In the Silvanus they sell plants of 40-60 cms in height for less than three euros. It grows quickly, so within two or three years even this small one will get a proper bush. And its price is pocket-friendly too. In the Praskac you get the same for 11.80.

Besides elder, they also have a very good kind of juneberry (Amelanchier lamarckii) on sale, for about the same price. In the Praskac this size is 9.70 euro if you have much luck, but more probably 17.70 or 26.50. It will grow four or five meters on any soil, it tolerates dryness, has a beautiful autumn color – and produces very tasty berries, similar to those of cranberry in size and taste. They also had some nice cornels and inermous rose-hips as well, for about two euros a plant. They also had a large offer of cranberries, but it is only recommended to those whose garden has sour soil and plenty of water.

Frost

Rose pages

Now as I finally don’t have to weed, there is time to browse the pages of gardening. Let us begin with roses.

Rosenmeile: The page of Christine Meile, rose gardener and photographer (as well as a dog fan). Wonderful and rich in information.

Helpmefind: Everything that is rose. They publish several photos of each plant (and eventually links to gardens where the respective rose can be found), give very precise data about their height and width, and often also about their tolerance of shade. They provide detailed information about special sorts like the completely cold hardy Canadian roses which had been developed in the last decades. This is the site I use the most about roses.

RogersRoses: The web version of that fabulous English book whose illustrations incited us ten years ago to establish our rose garden and that I have been regularly browsing ever since. The internet version has a very good search function.

EveryRose: One of the largest rose databases with an advanced search function. Its composite searches were a great help to me as a beginner.

RoseFile: Another rose database with many good images and information, and with a special page on roses for cold climate.

JustOurPictures: The most beautiful rose photos I have ever seen.

David Austin Roses: In my opinion the most beautiful roses of the world. They look as marvelous as historical roses, but in contrast to them they are remontant. They have fantastic colors, some of them smells wonderfully, and some are extremely sturdy. In my experience, however, we in Central Europe should better import his roses from more nearby regions, Germany or Austria, because they are stronger and develop better at us.

Peter Beales Roses: The other world famous British rose nursery alongside with Austin’s. They sell more than 1300 classical roses, and have a quite fantastic offer concerning wild roses and historical roses. The page has a very good advanced search function that also includes the roses’ demand of light and soil, an information otherwise hard to obtain. (Nevertheless, take with caution the periods of blooming reported by them.) Their roses curiously tolerate better the change of climate between Britain and Hungary than those of Austin.

Rosen von Schultheis: The doyen of German rose nurseries with a large offer and good quality. It sells a lot of English roses, and also a number of such specialties like the Canadian and Estonian hybrids which are surely cold hardy at us.

Sissinghurst Castle

It comes from the garden of Sissinghurst Castle. An old Gallica rose found in 1947 by the dreamer of the garden Vita Sackville-West when she began to transform the neglected garden of the old castle. This place has become since then one of the most famous gardens of the world. And it is such a good feeling to have a little piece of this garden – through Peter Beales who also sells this rare rose via internet – in our fence of historical roses.

class: Gallica rose, discovered in 1947
height: 90-140 cms
width: 90 cms
American hardiness zone: Z4b (down to -32 ºC)
bloom: once, then it produces rose-hips
At us it grows at sunshine, but according to Help Me Find it tolerates part-shadow.

Rosa Gallica Officinalis

One of the longest cultivated roses. It is said to have been brought to Europe by the Crusaders from the Holy Land. In my opinion it is one of the most beautiful roses.

class: Gallica rose, from before 1300
height: 90-150 cms
width: 90 cms
American hardiness zone: Z3b (down to -37 ºC)
bloom: once, then it produces rose-hips
At us it grows on a sunny place, but according to the Help Me Find it tolerates part shadow.
A beautiful photo of it can be seen at the site of Christine Meile.

Portland Rose

This name indicates both an actual rose and a whole category of old roses. I entertained great hopes of them as winter-hardy and recurrent historical roses, but unfortunately they did not stand the test at us. Except for one (Arthur de Sansal) they do not bloom repeatedly. It is possible that they would need more sunshine.

Portland roses are beautiful, but there are many more exciting and more beautiful roses than them. Nevertheless, they have historical interest, as they have been cultivated for more than two centuries.


class: Portland Rose, before 1800
height: 60 - 120 cms
width: 60 - 90 cms
American hardiness zone: Z4b (down to -32 ºC)
bloom: repeated, although at us it only blooms once, then it produces rose-hips

Complicata

On the basis of its photos I did not understand why the English are so great fans of this rose, but it was so much praised that I have decided to have a try. Now I already understand. In the life it is really beautiful.


class: Gallica rose, before 1800
height: 150 -305 cm - At us around 150 cm.
width: 180 -245 cm - At us around 200-250 cm.
American hardiness zone: Z4b (down to -32 ºC)
bloom: once, then it produces hips
At us it is on a sunny place, but according to Help Me Find it tolerates part-shadow.

Frühlingszauber

I have seen this rose blooming in Praskac. It had wonderful large ethereal flowers. Unfortunately, at us it does not love something. It only produces flowers half so large and always gets some illness. I have just seen that Help Me Find classifies it in Z6. Perhaps this is the reason.

class: wild rose hybrid (Rosa spinosissima), shrub (W. Kordes & Sons 1942)
height: 150 - 215 cm
width: 150 cm
American hardiness zone: Z6 (down to -23 ºC)!
bloom: once, then producing hips
At us it is planted on a sunny place, but according to Praskac it tolerates part-shadow.

Amelia

I saw this rose for the first time at the site of the nature photographer (and, as you will immediately see, great fan of dogs) Christine Meile, and I found it very attractive. By the way I warmly recommend her page to everyone interested in roses. Her photos are very beautiful and true to nature. She has an extremely useful collection of links. Her data are reliable. Christine herself has several hundreds of roses, and as a practicing gardener she pays attention to the details. For example, she offers separate collections of roses producing hips or tolerating part-shadow.

class: Alba rose (Jean-Pierre Vibert 1823)
height: 120 - 200 cm
width: 90 cm
American hardiness zone: Z3b (down to -37 ºC)
bloom: once, after bloom it produces rose-hip.
Tolerates part-shadow.