Stick trellis and wild roses

Yesterday I showed you this wonderfully rustic (can we say rickety!) trellis I made here on the ranch.  I took some new pics tonight so I could show you the progress of the roses growing around it.  Keep in mind that when we first bought this home, there was - little - to - no - landscaping.  I'm pretty pleased with how well this has done over about 7 months now.  These roses are very low maintenance (yea!) and have only been fertilized a couple of times with a basic 10-10-10.

 Here is some of the information I have read to help grow these wild beauties - although the pruning aspect still scares me!


Since these are climbing roses, they put out long arching canes.  They don't attach like jasmine or ivy, but need to be "trained" to climb the trellis (or any kind of support such as a wall, arbor, fence or post).  What I have used with great success to hold them in place is the green stretchable tape sold at garden centers or nursery's.  This type of tape will not cut or pinch off the branches like twist ties.


As far as training these climbers, I have read other articles that recommend criss-crossing the canes from the bottom up so that they will continually bloom.  Another thing, is I have planted 2, one on each side of the trellis, to grow and meet at the top.



PRUNING:  I'm truly glad to have read that it is best to leave these climbers alone for two or three years, allowing them time to grow and develop long, sturdy canes.  Keep them trained up your support with the green tape and cut off any dead or damaged stems.

I'm not sure when, or if these roses will go dormant.  They seem to keep a few blooms going thru most of the last 4 months.

From what I have read, in 2-3 years of growth, training and rose care, I should be rewarded with a flower show of roses that will be the highlight of my garden.

Any information you can supply regarding the variety of rose this is would be appreciated.  Please feel free to contribute!

The beginning....

Here we go folks, how it all began.  My husband and I bought a 5 acre mini-ranch in Buckingham, FL a year ago.  A very outdated 2/1 ranch with no (can you say NO) landscaping and a lot of overgrowth.  Our property is beautiful, lots of oak trees, inter-twined with the invasive Malalucha and Brazillian Pepper plants.  Slowly but surely, we have worked on the home and land evolving to what we call our nirvana.  It's a blank canvas in the making.

Something I did a while back - before having much planted around it, was to build myself a 'stick trellis'.  My wonderful neighbors gave me 2 native Florida climbing roses.  They told me that these roses actually grow wild here and sprout white blooms.  FREE is always a great price!  So I built this VERY rustic trellis and planted the roses around it.  I cut branches away from some of the Brazillian Peppers and used them along with other branches that had fallen in the yard.  See how it looks.  The picture posted is of when I first finished it - yes, VERY rustic.  My roses are now about 1/2 way up and have already thrown a few beautiful clusters of white roses.

Share with me some of your ideas and photo's if you can.  I am always searching for ways to enhance my garden!

WHAT TO DO??

Hello my fellow gardeners!  I have often read many of your blogs trying to understand how to garden in this beautiful tropical area.  Sometimes it's too hot.  Other times too dry.  Wait... wet from summer rains that just seem to continue day after day.

Today is the day I begin my blog.  I have thought of this for some time but been intimidated by this wonderful electronic world.  It's easy if I'm the one researching, but now I'm on the other side.  I'm not an expert at any of this, but will bring you along my journey of trying, failing and succeeding down this road. So from here, I begin.  Thank you for your interest and support!