Stinging Nettle Tea
Stinging nettles can fertilize your roses! Turn this painful native perennial into a nourishing foliar spray or soil drench for your plants. Nettles contain nitrogen, potassium, magnesium and iron that make an excellent plant tonic. Here’s the recipe from Growing Roses Organically by Barbara Wilde: 1. Cut the nettles. Wearing gloves, cut the plants at around half their height. Using shears or pruners, roughly chop the … Continue reading Stinging Nettle Tea
Antique Rose—Centifolia
Centifolia means ‘one hundred leaves’ and is also known as the cabbage rose. Imagine naming a rose after a cabbage? Picture in your mind a sprawling rose bush, covered in prickles and, instead of delicate pink blossoms, miniature heads of gray-green cabbage. Extraordinary visually as well as pungent. Luckily, centifolia was named for the way the petals fold over, like a cabbage, rather than for … Continue reading Antique Rose—Centifolia
Antique Rose–Rosa alba
Ancient, antique, old or heirloom; these roses have been around a while. The alba rose was grown during the Roman Empire, two thousand years ago. Alba is thought to be a hybrid of R. canina and R. damascena or R. gallica. The flower color ranges from white through medium pink. Blooms are double to very double rosettes, yet rarely large. Typical of old roses, albas … Continue reading Antique Rose–Rosa alba
Counting Rose Petals
A single bloom has one through five, simple, clean and most alive Twelve to sixteen is semi-double, flat and wavy, rarely trouble More than that is just plain double, shapes of pointed, wide or bubble Fully or very double is flower excess, one to two hundred petals in full dress Counting petals day and night, fragrant job, soft and light Continue reading Counting Rose Petals
Washington Park Arboretum
The Washington Park Arboretum is beautiful this time of year. Walking through the grove of witchhazel, scents swirling, will bring a smile out on even the darkest of days. This was a dark day. I had been hoping to make it to the arboretum for the last month. Finally, we were going to be in Seattle, so I planned on stopping for pictures on the … Continue reading Washington Park Arboretum
Rainyleaf 