Roses in the Garden - Part 2

Following my last post on my Rose Experience:

This particular one is a Miniature Rose  - it is a small bloom type with many tiny flowers in a bunch. It had fragrance but it is more interesting when it has more sprays of flower when it blooms.

The Care and Maintenance is Very Similar with Most of the Common Roses.

This one is already acclimated from the Cameron Highland.

Details on How to Acclimate the Roses are in the Link Below:
How to Save My Dying Cameron Highland Roses?

I must say that if you love roses, you will still find them growing them in your garden, regardless the excuse - they will eventually find a home in your garden, no matter how small they are.

This is one of those stories - my garden story in my garden - A Rose Forever.

The flower is so red and vibrant that even the camera is unable to capture the brilliance of these rose.

Do share your Rose story - I would really love to hear about your experience and encounter with Roses in your Garden. Till then, Happy Gardening.

Roses in the Garden - Part 1

This particular cultivar was given to me by my neighbor - she was my secret admirer: Whenever she sees me watering or pruning my garden she will often smile and start a small chat about the hot weather whenever I water my garden.

Often, I would generously offer her to take any of my plant cuttings to start her collection but always she would gently refuse as saying lacking garden space and don't have the time to cultivate and care for the plants.

And so, one day - she passed me this huge pot with this well established rose flower. It did last for few years and almost died few times due to root rot or some pest attack. I tried taking cuttings and start a new rose plant as spare but never successful in creating a rose plant.

I must say that this one is considered hardy that it had none of the major problems that would be like the ones faced by the Highland types. The blooms appears to be big and the fragrance are strong.

The flowers are in deep red and the blooms appear to hold well even under strong sun and rain.

Also the flowers last for few days and at times almost for a week - unfurling itself as it ages.

At times, I had neglected watering this rose plant and they had gone droopy but will just jump right back once immediately watered. I would say - it is one of the hardy types.

Roses do have their needs and may take a lot care to properly cultivate them. If you are busy day and night and may not have the time to tend to them daily - I would suggest that Roses are really not your cup of tea to cultivate in your garden. They are indeed attention seeker and require a lot of care.

But if you are a Rose Lover - nothing can stop you from cultivating and growing them. And they truly reward a good gardener with beautiful flowers - Roses are indeed a True Beauty.

What is a Garden without a Rose Plant? 

One Singular Rose can make a lot of Difference in a Barren Garden.

Unfortunately this Rose plant died - as I checked it had faced a root rot, I'm suspecting due to the constant rain that took place on daily basis and this poor plant was over stressed. The trunk were quite aged - spanning for many years it had finally come to it's end.

I had bid farewell to this beauty, minus the mean thorns that I had always get pricked over - other than that set-back, they are truly a beauty that I would still miss. Again, due to the lack of space in my garden and their highly required care and maintenance regiment of fungicide and pesticide - I rather let this plant go as I prefer to have a pesticide free garden.

I had however started cultivated miniature rose and find that they are less fussy and more hardier than the common ones. I will share my experience on my next post:

Roses in the Garden - Part 2

How to Save My Dying Cameron Highland Roses?

These pictures are taken from the local Nursery from "Sg.Buloh Nursery" I wanted to show you have these plants are marketed here. Understanding this plant is considered a big deal especially you would be saving money, time and heart-ache handling the expectation as many nursery owners are very much like businessman and not gardeners.

Their ideology is very much based on the sale of the plants and rarely know much about the plants or plant care (let alone - even plant ID may be challenge for them)

There are few types only in Malaysia - the variants and some rare varieties that may have been imported and brought here for cultivation. 

These Highland Type may have an excellent bloom formation - often it comes from Cameron Highland and the flower is already blooming formation and almost at their prime when sold in nursery. It will last around another 2-3 weeks at most but it may never bloom again after that season. These all appear to be like in a dwarf stage which I'm suspecting that they might be (forced root) after they had set in bud-bloom.

These are however considered as BATA plants (Buy And Throw Away Plants)
Once their blooms are spend - it's often discard and thrown away, just like a cut flower types - these last longer in indoor setting - like by a sunny window stand.

However, all are not lost, they can still be cultivated as a perennial plant and may last for many years when cared properly.

The heart breaking moments happens when you start noticing bud drops and shoots turning black almost burned, the leaves start falling and then the whole plant turn black. You try to safe it by thinking it is lacking water and start drenching the pot with more water.

Whatever you do, it appears to be burned and eventually the whole this is dead.

A lot of my friends & family often purchase their roses from nurseries or supermarket and they somehow do not last more than a month. I had experience it few times myself even after some tender loving care - after the bloomed spend the plant shivered and dies. 

And at most times, they had given up on Roses thinking it is an impossible feat.

Some settled for the local types known as Kampung Rose - its more hardy and the blooms only last a day or two.

When you purchase Roses from a nursery and you find that the rose flower bloom is beautifully compacted and formed - understand that chances are those roses are actually grown on highlands (Cameron Highlands)
Highland Roses may face a shock when suddenly introduced to a hot lowland climate - that's why you will find that the flowers appear to be exploded, leaves falling apart and the plant eventually die from fungus or root problems.

What to do?

Most of these roses are laced with chemicals to protect them from pest. Do not consume them as they are poisoned with pesticide and fungicide. Also remember that the soil medium is actually cocopeat which will cause root rot when they are planted in hot lowland climate. They don't so well when the rose is over watered as the normal lowland counterparts do.

a) Keep the plant in shade for a week.

b) Water lightly and remove all the dying, yellow leaves.

c) Trim off all the spend rose blooms.

d) Enjoy the flowers until all of them are finish it prime blooms.

e) When you notice the newly formed buds turning into flowers - you will find that they are not so beautiful as they are first purchased. You can if you wish trim off those flower buds and keep the whole plant in leaf formation first.

THIS IS IMPORTANT: CHANGE THE SOIL MEDIUM

Carefully remove the plant from the pot and slowly break of the chunks of the cocopeat from the root ball. They will be slightly moist and you can slowly break them off from the root base.

Use 50% fast draining medium together with the 50% existing potting mix (cocopeat) together as the potting mix - normally there might be 2-3 rose stalk plant in that small pot. Remove carefully each of them and plant them separately as they won't be competing with each other when they grow bigger.

Keep them in bright shade and just lightly water the plant - keeping the soil moist. 

You will notice new growth appearing in a few weeks time, slowly introduce it to open bright sunlight, The plant will slowly acclimatize and becomes more hardy.

You will notice the flowers will be less showy and the formation is much different in comparison to what you had purchased. However they are still alive and continue to produce blooms.

Also using proper fertilizer is important - I had accidentally used a cheap fertilizer and it had burned up all the young shoots and buds. Therefore, do check and purchase a reputable good fertilizer - it does go a long way and save a lot of heart-aches in the future.

PEST PROBLEM:

I noticed that Roses are indeed a sensitive plant - they are so much open for attack. I had terrible attacks with thrips, alphids, mealy bugs, whitefly and ants. Truly a pesticide weekly regime is required to ensure these roses don't go through heavy attack.

I had decided to do away with pesticide and so had sacrificed my roses when they had succumb to heavy attack and never recovered.

PROPAGATION:

They are usually propagated using stem cutting. 

They can be grown by seeds but these do not normally bear fruits here in the tropical side and so most likely the best success would be using stem cutting. The branch should be about 5-6" long where there is a crown rosette of leaves. Remove the lower leaves at the bottom - at least 2-3 leaf nodes and poke into the planting medium in a pot. Place it in a cool bright shade.

It will take root and may able see new growth in few weeks time.

LIGHT:

Rose is a sun loving plant. It does require bright direct sunlight for it to bloom. Without the sunlight - it may not bloom at all, the formed buds may bloom later in days time but no new bud formation may appear later on when placed in shaded garden.

Depending on the variety - some of the flowers can last for a week, others for few days. Eventually the petals fall or dries off on the flower stalk - it would do good to dead head them as more blooms will appear.

Once they had grown and established itself - It becomes hardy plant and there is nothing much to worry about except daily watering, weekly feeding and occasional pruning to keep the plant in shape.

WATERING:

Once the plant had established itself and in open sun, ideally it would be best to water them twice a day depending on the size of the pot and the condition of the day - whether it a hot dry day or no watering on rainy days.

Do take note that the roots can be sensitive and may face root rot that can kill the plant - and that another regime of fungicide may be required to ensure their healthy. I had lost a few due to root rot.

PRUNING:

Also these still require pruning to keep them in shape - they can grow unruly and may produce less blooms - pruning them constantly makes them focus on the blooms rather than overgrowing themselves. 

It is important to do this when the plant is healthy - if it is dying - It may just be too late to do anything to revive it back. And so, give a week at most, once the flowers are all gone and the leaves are slowly turning yellow - it is high time to change the existing cocopeat into a new soil mix.

Once you get the hang of it, you will find that they are not difficult plant to cultivate.

Red Rose

I never like roses but what to say..
This one was given to me.
And somehow its a hardy type and so I have no complains about it.
Its been almost a year and it's time to prune it & I really don't have the strength to handle this.
I need to clean & clear the whole part.

A lot to throw and a lot of energy to begin with...
Hopefully, this rose gives me a sign of hope that I'm able to do it...
Later than giving up..
And often time the proverbial postponement of doing it tomorrow.

For now,
I will wait the garbage collectors to come and collect all my cut and pruned materials which I had sheepishly kept aside - hoping that it get cleared by this week.
And then - I can begin the next set.
I have the most challenging ones - which I kept the last to do.
Another hardening of heart is required.
And yes.. easier said than done..
And much more easier to give up because it's a gardener's heart.

How to Keep Roses in Your Tropical Garden

I wouldn't recommend any new beginners
 to start their garden with roses. 
They are really tricky to start with, 
unless you got the hardy ones but those are not sold in nursery nor supermarkets.
I'm pretty sure most gardeners would have those heart wrenching moment to see their whole plant wither and die within those few weeks of purchase.
And as everyone's guess - they are from Cameron Highland
 (which are not yet adapted to lowland climate)
 But all is not loss.

These are the rose plant which are actually came from a pruned material, bundled and thrown out along the street side. I didn't have the heart to see them go to total waste and manage to get few branches to propagate them. From all of the branches only one survived and its been always blooming ever since.
(This is now like 3 years ago)

I had other varieties too but I had given all of them away but kept this one. Seemed to me that this is quite hardy & strong even after a lot of pest and fungus attack. And I love the formation of this shrub where I can prune it in an umbrella shape and it fills it with many blooms.

A lot of my friends & family often purchase their roses from nurseries or supermarket and they somehow do not last more than a month. I had experience it few times myself even after some tender loving care - after the bloomed spend the plant shivered and dies.

It was a terrible experience actually - my mum bought for me a rose plant with many blooms and passed it to me on my birthday. I insisted that it was too much for me, knowing the fact that roses were not much of my garden plant to begin with. Anyway I took it as a challenge and failed miserably at it.
Regardless, I pay back the favour by presenting another rose plant to my mum for Mother's Day and that plant too sadly died..

I begin to investigate and found few of the matters that it needed to be rectified. These are my tips to begin with - nothing personal to refute others who are more experienced than me. What I'm suggesting is that these are my personal experience and you might want to try it - that is if you find that roses don't survive in your garden.

When you purchase Roses from a nursery and you find that the rose flower bloom is beautifully compacted and formed - understand that chances are those roses are actually grown on highlands (chances are from Cameron Highlands)
Highland Roses may face a shock when suddenly introduced to a hot lowland climate - that's why you will find that the flowers appear to be exploded, leaves falling apart and the plant eventually die from fungus or root problems.

What to do?

Most of these roses are laced with chemicals to protect them from pest. Do not consume them as they are poisoned with pesticide and fungicide. Also remember that the soil medium is actually cocopeat which will cause root rot when they are planted in hot lowland climate. They don't so well when the rose is overwatered as the normal lowland counterparts do.

a) Keep the plant in shade for a week.
b) Water lightly and remove all the dying, yellow leaves.
c) Trim off all the spend rose blooms.
d) Enjoy the flowers until all of them are finish it prime blooms.
e) When you notice the newly formed buds turning into flowers - you will find that they are not so beautiful as they are first purchased. You can if you wish trim off those flower buds and keep the whole plant in leaf formation first.

1) Change the soil medium
Carefully remove the plant from the pot and slowly break of the chunks of the cocopeat from the root ball.
They will be slightly moist and you can slowly break them off from the root base.

Mix 50% of the cocopeat medium with another soil mix.
This is the soil mix that I often use - 30% red soil & 30% black soil. & 30% sand.
I use one third of each portion and mix well and together mix with the current cocopeat medium that was used for the rose.
Plant the Rose plant in slightly a bigger pot from the current one.

2) Plant back the Rose using this Soil mix and keep the plant in shade for another few days (3-4 days)
And slowly introduce it to a bright shaded plant of the garden within 2 weeks.
Increase the watering as you notice new growth appearing from the rose shrub.

3) Start putting organic fertiliser after 3 weeks.
Too soon can cause burns on new shoots and leaves.

This variety is very much like a miniature rose. It begins with pink and turns red when fully matured after few days old. I had once put the petals in ice cube and served them & it certainly taste refreshing. (Most of my family members didn't like the bitter taste of the rose petals)
I guess it is an acquired taste.

Hardy Flowering Plants (Orchid Cactus, Anthurium, Jewel of Opar ,Begonia Albo Picta ,Rose, Bougainvillea,, Madagascar Periwinkle)

You would literally hear gardeners swear & curse this one for being an invasive and a stubborn as it seemed - it is impossible to totally remove them from the garden. They produce tuberous roots that embedded deep into the soil. I wouldn't recommend this to be planted on the soil-bed unless you want this one to be permanently settled in your garden or yard.

Its known as Jewels of Opar or Fameflower.

 (Talinum paniculatum)

I have seen a variegated species of this where the leaves are green & cream.

The plus point  you can have this plant for these reasons:

1) One of the best beginners plants - its impossible to kill. 

They are drought tolerant.

So if you do not have the time to water your plants everyday - this is my best recommendation.

They can handle neglect even for years.

2) Once the plant matures - 

it will give out a spike of flowers that blooms continually 

(The flower only blooms in the evening - so do take time to enjoy it when it blooms)

3) Finally - The leaves are edible. 

You can use them for cooking or salads.

Though a lot have been said about their invasive issues. I found that mostly none of the seeds had sprouted anywhere. The plant stay put where I plant them using cuttings. Most of them had gone dormant ( I guess they require pruning in order for them to rejuvenate a new spikes - or the whole plant is concentrating in expanding its tuber buried need in the potted soil.

Jewels of Opar in the afternoon. (above) Flower buds.

(below) Fully bloomed with seed heads.

I really didn't pay much attention to these Anthuriums.

I would say that they are quite a survivor. 

They do need good shaded area - too much sunlight will cause sunburn. Total shade may be good but you might have to discount the flowers. I had this plant for years without any promising blooms.

If you love Anthuriums - then I guess you need to place them in garden where it is optimum for them. Most cases when you purchase them you will find many plantlets coiled around the mother plant.

You may need to take time to remove all of the little ones into a separate planter box and keep the main flowering one for optimum blooming result.

Again - after few months later - you will find the same situation repeat again.

The reason you need to do this is that if you don't - the plant will choke itself and slowly die.

(and as I said - this is so suspectable for neglect & before you know it - the plant had already disappeared)

If you have this plant established in your garden - Then I would congratulate you for the plant is now a hardy plant in your garden.

One of the joys of having a Cane Begonia is apart from the beautiful foliage - you get the glorious blooms. The flowers does so well in shaded area. I guess it would be much redder if this is located more to a sunny spot.

The best part of its hardiness is that it is pest free.

This is another variety of Cane Begonia (Marroon Leaf) with blooms.

The flowers are less showy compared to the first one.

This particular variety of rose seemed to be doing so well.

It had matured and been blooming continuously.

A friend of mine had passed me this Orchid Cactus. Seemed to be an odd one out in my garden collection & I still haven't figure out how to find a nice defined location for this one.

It had beautifully had send out a flower spike which I really took pride & joy while taking this picture.

The next day - this plant had abandoned the flower as I noticed it fallen on the ground. I suspect that is had already bloomed in the night and the flower had spend its optimum blooming time.

These are the rest of the collection which have become part of the permanent resident of ever-blooming, non-stop, continuous flowering plants which I now have become so used to it that I barely notice them. 

I guess I had missed out some few species which I now realise that I didn't take those pictures. 

(They seemed to appear in the pictures - just like I had taken those picture few months ago - like there is no difference in bloom compared to the past posting pictures and now)

I'm pretty sure I'm not being ambitious in having my garden in its top pristine condition.

As long as they are healthy, blooming and without pest/disease and not dying.

They are good enough to consider them as hardy plants.

What are your hardy / difficult to kill / established plants that makes them your permanent resident in your garden?

That you cannot do without them & that they are your garden signature?