Rose Restoration Project

My Mom was always fond of her Roses. We have at least eight plants along the front of our house and driveway.

Roses

She would cut these to about a foot from the ground every year, but during the past few years, she wasn’t able to, so they grew bigger and had a lot of branches and limbs dying off. I tried pruning them a bit and taking the dead limbs off, but over the years there were more and I wasn’t as diligent as my Mom was at rose pruning.

Rose #7 before pruning.

After my Mom passed away last year, the Roses were getting more uncontrollable. After going to the Vallejo Garden Club’s rose pruning demonstration this year, I set my mind up to prune our Roses.

As I was pruning, I saw many dead limbs, some of which were pretty large and caused blank areas in the plants. I also noticed that there were lots of rot and decay at the base due to the unswept leaves laying near the base. I cleaned these up as best as I could.

Rose #1 after pruning.

Some of the plants didn’t look like they were going to do well, but they were still alive and I’m hoping they would rebound. There were a couple that I think should be replaced due to the rotting base, but I want to keep my Mom’s Roses, so that gave me an idea… I think I will take cuttings and try to root them to make new plants that I can use in a couple of years to replace the older ones.

Rose 'Talisman' and Rose #1 rooted cuttings.

[Update] Another thought entered my mind. Since we have a couple of volunteer Roses coming up from the roots (I believe they are Rose ‘Dr. Huey’), I can take cuttings of these, root them up and make new Rose Rootstocks to graft the cuttings above onto.

So starts my Rose Restoration Project…

Bunch of Repotting Done!

I finally had a weekend day to work in the garden, but I had to do errands and wasn’t able to start until after 2pm.

One of the major tasks that I wanted to start on was clearing the pots with no more plants from the backyard patio to make more space and to empty, clean and reuse the pots. There was a bunch of pots that my Mom had planted, but over time, the plants had died and the pots remained. Clearing these pots made me think of my Mom.

I noticed that one of my Mom’s Orchids was blooming. I didn’t recognize this orchid but it had a tag from Matsui Orchids.

I repotted a batch of succulents that were in their original tiny plastic pots that there were purchased in to larger terra cotta pots. I’m hoping to eventually inventory all of these.

Another task I needed to do was repot a bunch of my Mom’s plant that were in one gallon pots that desperately needed some TLC. I don’t know how long these have been in these pots, but I’m sure they were cuttings that my Mom rooted. One had very little soil and the roots where already exposed. I noticed the leaves were always wilted when I watered the garden. I planted these into larger 2 gallon pots that I recently purchased. I also wired one plant (like a bonsai) to adjust the branches to be more balanced. 

I added some soil and mulch to a Daylily that I planted from seed.

I also started to change or add soil to by Mom’s Tuberous Begonias that were starting to use up it’s soils. I was only able to repot 3 for now before it got dark.

Finally, I harvested our first harvest of Splash Pluot. These were very tasty

Cuttings

I’ve neglected the Coleus cuttings that I have in water and their roots are now so long.

Potting up rooted Coleus cuttings.

I figured that I needed to plant them as soon as possible so they can grow well… and before they die off.

Potting up rooted Coleus cuttings.

I also found a Pink Geranium on a shopping cart at our local Lowe’s parking lot. It must have broken off when they loaded their plant into their car.

Pink Geranium I found on a shopping cart at our local Lowe's parking lot. It must have broken of when they loaded their plant into their car. #geranium #flower #foundcuttings

Here are all the cutting planted in reused plastic drinking cups.

Potting up Coleus cuttings.

Refreshing Gerbera Daisy Pots

Our Gerbera Daisies are not doing well and need new soil

Gerber Daisies before repotting.

So I wanted to refresh these pots before they start blooming. I removed the weeds and relocated the volunteer Columbines and Violas I found. I hope these rebound and start to flower more.

Gerber Daisies repotted.

Raking Up Leaves

My 4 day Thanksgiving weekend is coming to an end and with all the busyness, I haven’t been able to work on the garden until Sunday.

Lots of leave to take up. #leaves #fall #autumn #leaf

I raked up lots of fallen leaves mainly from our Snowball Viburnum, Crape Myrtle and Asian Pear trees. I also did some weeding in the vegetable beds and cleaned up plants that were dead or dying from the colder weather.

2018 Garden and Quilting Events

My updated list of upcoming garden and quilting events that I want to attend:

Saturday, January 13, 2018
CRFG Santa Clara Valley Chapter Exchange
Emma Prusch Park, Multicultural Center, 647 S King Rd, San Jose, CA 95116
10am open to Members; 11am to 2pm open to the General Public
scvcrfg.wordpress.com/activities/

Saturday, January 20, 2018 – 12 to 3pm
CRFG 2018 Golden Gate Chapter Scion Exchange
Ed Roberts Campus, 3075 Adeline Street, Berkeley
(next to the Ashby BART station)
www.crfg.org/chapters/golden_gate/scionex.htm

February 22-25, 2018
QuiltCon
www.quiltcon.com

February 23-25, 2018
Pacific Orchid Exposition
Hall of Flowers at Golden Gate Park – 1199 9th Ave, San Francisco, CA 94122
www.orchidsanfrancisco.org/orchid-events/pacific-orchid-expo-poe/

April 4-8, 2018
San Francisco Flower & Garden Show
Cow Palace – 2600 Geneva Ave, Daly City, CA 94014
sfgardenshow.com/

April 2018 ??? ***Exact dates TBD***
Eastbay Modern Quilters – Stitch Modern
eastbaymodernquilters.com/category/east-bay-modern-quilt-guild/stitch-modern/

Sunday, May 20, 2018 – 10am to 4pm ??? ***Exact dates TBD***
Vallejo Garden Tour
vallejogardentour.com

June 10-11, 2018 ??? ***Exact dates TBD***
San Francisco Succulent and Cactus Society
Annual Show and Sale
www.sfsucculent.org/annual_show_sale.html

September 11-13, 2018
The Heirloom Exposition
Sonoma County Fairground, Santa Rosa, CA
theheirloomexpo.com

October 11-14, 2017
Pacific Internation Quilt Festival
Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, CA
www.quiltfest.com/upcoming-shows-and-events/pacific-international-quilt-festival/

* * * * *

2017 Garden and Quilting Events

I usually search of upcoming garden and quilting events that I want to attend before the new year, but I’m running a little late… But the first event of the year is still coming up, so here it goes:

Saturday, January 14, 2017
CRFG Santa Clara Valley Chapter Exchange
Emma Prusch Park, Multicultural Center, 647 S King Rd, San Jose, CA 95116
10am open to Members; 11am to 2pm open to the General Public
scvcrfg.wordpress.com/activities/

Saturday, January 21, 2017 – 12 to 3pm
CRFG 2016 Golden Gate Chapter Scion Exchange
Ed Roberts Campus, 3075 Adeline Street, Berkeley
(next to the Ashby BART station)
www.crfg.org/chapters/golden_gate/scionex.htm

February 23-26, 2017
QuiltCon East
www.quiltconeast.com

February 24-26, 2017
Pacific Orchid Exposition
Fort Mason, San Francisco
www.orchidsanfrancisco.org/orchid-events/pacific-orchid-expo-poe/

April 5-9, 2017
San Francisco Flower & Garden Show
San Mateo Event Center, San Mateo, CA
sfgardenshow.com/

April 2017 ??? ***Exact dates TBD***
Eastbay Modern Quilters – Stitch Modern
eastbaymodernquilters.com/category/east-bay-modern-quilt-guild/stitch-modern/

Saturday, April 8, 2017
CRFG Santa Clara Valley – “Citrus” with Tom Delfino
Emma Prusch Park, Multicultural Center, 647 S King Rd, San Jose, CA 95116
1pm open to all
scvcrfg.wordpress.com/activities/

Sunday, May 21, 2017 – 10am to 4pm ??? ***Exact dates TBD***
Vallejo Garden Tour
vallejogardentour.com

June 10-11, 2017 ??? ***Exact dates TBD***
San Francisco Succulent and Cactus Society
Annual Show and Sale
www.sfsucculent.org/annual_show_sale.html

September 5-7, 2017
The 2017 Heirloom Exposition
Sonoma County Fairground, Santa Rosa, CA
theheirloomexpo.com

October 12-15, 2017
Pacific Internation Quilt Festival
Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, CA
www.quiltfest.com/upcoming-shows-and-events/pacific-international-quilt-festival/

Unknown Succulent Found and Potted

[Update 8/29/16: It’s a Sedum dendroideum subsp. praealtum]

I found this succulent under our Bosc Pear Tree when I was doing some garden clean up and thought I would pot it up.

Unknown Succulent

These have been growing along one of our fence and my Mom seems to think that may have popped up from our neighbor’s yard.

Unknown Succulent

We never really took much notice or it, but when I saw this good sized multi-branch which was already partially rooted, I thought it would look much better properly potted up and given more light.

Unknown Succulent

I’m not really sure what it is. My Mom thinks it’s a Jade (Cassula sp.) while I think it may be a type of Aeonium… We don’t know.

Anyone know what it is?