Top rose gardens to visit in the United States

Take a day trip to a rose garden Roses have always been valued for their stunning beauty and intoxicating scent. They also have a long history of symbolism and meaning and are ancient symbols of beauty and love. In fact the rose was sacred to several goddesses such as Aphrodite and is commonly used as a symbol for the Virgin Mary. The rose also is the national flower for both England and the United States. Many of the below listed rose gardens are only a day trip away and the majority of them are public rose gardens which are free to the public. So, take time to stop and smell the roses and visit one of these beautiful rose gardens located around the world.

International Rose Test Garden Washington Park
Portland, Oregon Portland is known as the “Rose City” and has several public rose gardens; however, the International Rose Test Garden in Portland is the most well-known. It was founded in 1917 and is the oldest official, continuously operated public rose test garden in the United States.

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A cluster rose or perhaps a forsythia planted in a tub, plunged in soil in a sheltered place, and brought into the greenhouse when established, is bound to please when spring finally comes.

Grapes slow to ripen can be hurried along by removing more leaves around the bunches if necessary.

The feeding of chrysanthemums should now stop, as prolonged feeding is apt to lead to flower deformities and decay, and a final batch of viola and pansy cuttings may be taken and inserted in pots in a cold frame, or outdoors in a warm nursery bed.

In the vegetable garden cauliflowers should be pricked off and can either be given individual pots or planted direct in a bed in the frame.The remaining outdoor cucumbers should be cut.

You should lift turnips with a fork, taking care not to damage or bruise them. The tops should be twisted off and the roots stored in sand. Gardeners with a taste for turnip tops may leave half the crop in the ground and use the leaves as a vegetable.

Cut down all remaining herbs to encourage young growth, lightly covering roots with sieved soil. Kept warm and moist, the plants will soon provide fresh foliage.

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It is time to bring in the first batch of freesias, placing them on a shelf near the roof in a cool greenhouse. Any forcing heat will result in poor stems and flowers. Stake early and support the plant with an encircling tie of raffia.

The cineraria is temperamental and liable to collapse if allowed to go over-dry or soggy, so beware! Extremes of tem­perature must also be avoided.

Carnations should be staked with special circular wire supports, and should be disbudded, leaving the central terminal bud on each stem.

Bring in the Primula obconica from the frame, but be warned, gardeners with a sensitive skin are often allergic to this plant.Pot on schizanthus into the next sized pots, when necessary. If allowed to become pot-bound they will suffer a check in growth.Hardy plants such as the astilbes and Solomon’s Seal, can be potted up for early spring flowering in the greenhouse. Dicentra spectabilis, the Lyre Flower, lends itself willingly to this transfer, and a few pots of blue polyanthus will also be found rewarding. Place these plants in a sheltered spot outdoors until January, and then bring them into the greenhouse.

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At this time if you want to order plants, then you need to get a move on, because nurseries deal with orders strictly in rotation. With this in mind you also need to prepare beds for the newcomers.It is now that the the autumn overhaul of the herbaceous border begins. Large clumps of Michaelmas daisy and other trespassers should be lifted and divided.The paeony should not be moved, but generously manured, but note the kniphofia and hemerocaliis are best left undisturbed for a few seasons.

The sooner spring bedding plants and biennials, such as forget-me-nots and others, are in place the better Before buying wallflowers in bundles make sure they have good roots with a little soil attached, because they like firm planting. Polyanthus may resent being planted in the same place every year, so, if possible, find them a different situation this autumn. Pot up a few of the bedding fibrous begonias, as they will go on flowering in the greenhouse or on a sunny window-sill indoors, and serve as stock for cuttings. Tender plants, such as heliotrope, plumbago and pelar­goniums, must be lifted and placed under glass, or brought indoors.Summer bulbs should be lifted or covered with mulch before the frost comes, because they are rather tender. Begonia tubers must be lifted, boxed, dried off and stored, and all bulb planting should be completed as soon as possible, excepting tulips, that can wait until November.

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During his 40-year career as a garden writer and photographer, Derek Fell has designed numerous garden spaces, many involving his wife Carolyn. The best example of their work can be seen at their home, historic Cedaridge Farm, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. There, they have designed more than twenty theme areas, including shade gardens, sunny perennial borders, tapestry gardens involving trees and shrubs, a cottage garden, herb garden, cutting garden and an ambitious water garden.

Derek worked as a consultant on garden design to the White House during the Gerald Ford Administration. Derek designed Ford’s ‘Win’ garden, following his ‘Win Speech’, advising the nation ten ways to fight inflation.

Many garden designs by Derek Fell have been implemented without inspecting the site. The great late architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed beautiful homes for his clients, entirely from photographs without the need for a site inspection.

Fell’s garden spaces have been featured in newspapers, magazines, books and also on television, including Architectural Digest, Gardens Illustrated, The Garden (the magazine of the Royal Horticultural Society), Country Gardens, HGTV, QVC and PBS.

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In this next in our series of articles on lawn maintenance we’re going to continue with chores that should be done around late July or early August.

If you’re planning on renovating your lawn, the end of July or beginning of August is probably your best time. By now the grass should be de-thatched and aerated. Get a de-thatching machine which you can rent for half a day. Your lawn will look like garbage after you’re done but, it will clear off old grass and will prickle the soil. After you do this you can seed, apply topsoil and peat moss, and then water your lawn, a lot. Every day for about a week should do it.

You can continue to re-seed until the third week in September but no later than that unless it is absolutely necessary. There are some lawn experts that will tell you that you can do this all the way up to just before the winter begins. Supposedly if you do this it will sit there over the entire winter and will help germinate the soil as the weather warms up.

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Boston Common Gardens is the oldest public park in America and it was then built as a ground for feeding purposes of sheep and cattle of the people of that area. William Blackstone started the park in the year of 1622 and in 1630 his companion Puritans joined him to share the process of administration of the land.

This historical land area of 44 acres has been used as a training field of British army forces and as a place where pirates, witches and criminals were hanged the past history. It has also been used as a very famous public speaking place. For instance, Sir Martin Luther King and Pope John Paul II have had their public speeches here and it has been a main site where the feminist revolution was encouraged.

Boston Common is one piece of the Emerald necklace which is a combination of public parks in Boston and it has been the place where about two hundred people rioted against the food shortage of the city on 19th May 1713. And in the recent time over hundred protesters gathered to the Common ground in1965 in order to riot against the Vietnam War and after that, the second protest took place in the same place with more than 100,000 people on 15th October 1969.

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As you work on perfecting your homemade wine, it is important to spend a little time each month tending to your garden. Here I have broken down by month some of the things that you will want to do to ensure a bountiful harvest that you can use when making your own wine at home.

January

Little can be done this month, and much will depend on how much has been done in previous months. If the weather is mild the planting of fruit trees and bushes may be undertaken, but do this only if the weather appears likely to stay mild for a few days at least.

Look to blackcurrant bushes and remove any swollen buds and burn them.

Get in supplies of insecticides and fertilizers.

February

Make sure all trained fruits are tied to their supports securely, and give each a mulch of manure if there is plenty available. If only limited amounts of manure or compost are available keep these till later on. Loganberries and raspberries not already cut down should be attended to and the new canes tied in.

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With October, there comes a sharpening of the air and the pungent fragrance of ripened fruit. A glorious month of brilliant color, it is time to clean up gardens of fallen leaves, as well as to shear tops of perennials, prune shrubs and trees and pull up dead vegetables and annuals.

Bulbs for Winter Forcing

Many bulbs may be started indoors now for winter flowering and color. Paper white narcissus, the Chinese sacred lily, Soleil, d’Or and other varieties of daffodils, French Roman hyacinths, as well as freesias and oxalis, are all easily forced. Narcissus may be set in pebbles, vermiculite or soil, with the water barely touching the bases of bulbs. Other kinds of bulbs are best planted in soil. Set in a cool (55 F.) airy place in dim light until roots form and leaves begin to push up. Then bring to light and warmth.

Make Compost Pile

Fall is a good time to start a compost pile or build up an old one. Select a spot about four feet square in an out-of-the-way corner, make a layer of newly fallen leaves, mat them down and water. For every five bushels of leaves or other material, use one pound of manure or complete fertilizer and one-half pound of ground limestone.

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Ground Covers – Many gardens have areas where grass cannot be grown and in these areas some type of ground cover should be used. What is ground cover? Any evergreen plant that tends to creep or grow prostrate on the ground and as such provides a protective covering can be properly called a ground cover. There are many plants of this nature.

Some of the better kinds are English ivy, trailing periwinkle, and the various euonymus. These three are old standbys and are transitional enough in habit of growth not to compete for prominence with other plants in the garden. October is a good time to plant these so they become established and ready to make new growth in early spring. The native honeysuckle will also make a very good ground cover, but may actually become a pest. This one is excellent for steep slopes for erosion control.

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