Fall gardening

[mme_hardy]

My bulb order from Old House Gardens just arrived -- they ship to warmer zones last. That means that some of the bulbs need to go in the ground RIGHT NOW. Unfortunately, I'm a post-migraine wreck. My daughter valiantly took me out into the front gardens and we planted the "grape hyacinths". I put it in quotation marks because Muscari botyroides, the grape hyacinths that Northern Americans grew up with, are now extinct in cultivation, meaning that no nurseries are raising bulbs. I'm planting Muscari neglectum.

I noticed with some irritation that the large, healthy shoot from Mme. Isaac Pereire is blooming and is, of course, Dr. Huey. I try to buy own-root roses whenever I can, but apparently Mme. Isaac was grafted. Time to go out into the garden with the rose gloves and a lopper and Take Steps... tomorrow.

The next urgent planting is six lilies; after that it's just daffodils and heirloom hyacinths, which will probably go in the window-box on the deck so we can admire them.

Comments

[that-which.livejournal.com]

Can you air layer the rose you thought you had?

[mme-hardy.livejournal.com]

Not to worry, the Mme. Isaac is very healthy; I just hadn't realized that that enormous shoot was below the graft.

[pameladean]

Oh no, what happened to the grape hyacinth? ARGH.

I can't make myself lop off Dr. Huey. It's too pretty. This is how I know I am not really a rose gardener; which in Minnesota is probably just as well.

P.

[mme-hardy.livejournal.com]

The good thing about Dr. Huey is that it's tough as hell, so it's not at all a weed; it's a nice rose.

Apparently what happened to the grape hyacinth was that it was replaced by Muscaria armeniacum commercially. However, any pass-along plants you get from a neighbor would certainly be the real grape hyacinth.

[pameladean]

I was so astonished the first time Dr. Huey came up and bloomed. My gardening friends mostly spoke of it with extreme prejudice. But yes, so deep red and velvety. If it had a scent, it would be perfect. It was the root stock for the white rose of York, which bloomed valiantly until we had a really ferocious winter and then, apparently, even with a tough root stock, just said, I don't think so, and disappeared.

Thank you for the explanation about the grape hyacinths. Depending on when the change took place, I probably have some of the real ones myself.

[athenais.livejournal.com]

Oh, I remember when my orange-red mystery rose (here when we bought the house) suddenly came out in long canes and had those deep red blooms that indicated Dr. Huey was taking over. It would not be one thing or another and I ended up giving it to my gardener.

I am surprised about the muscaria, thank you for that information.