August 2023 Monthly Garden Roundup

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September is almost over and I’ve only gotten round to editing and compiling the roses that bloomed in August. Better late than never, I guess.  I looked at the total number of pictures that I took for August and can you believe that I had over 300 just of roses? I’ve compiled the ones that I haven’t posted before. 

How’s the Weather

August was very hot and humid, with temperatures generally reaching 34C. The first part of the month had constant rain that made it hard to maintain the fertilizing and pest control routine of the roses. The days when it wasn’t raining, the temperature was too hot to stay long in the garden to clean up and deadhead. Fortunately, the roses had a good start and I was lucky that the pest damage was kept to a minimum.

What’s Upcoming

I’m rearranging the rose pots because it’s becoming hard to walk around my small garden without getting pricked by the thorns. I’ve tried walking sideways but there’s always a branch trying to snag me. I may have to prune some too. I also have some new, small plants to be shipped. 

What’s Growing

1. Abraham Darby – I’m always pleased to see my Abraham Darby put out new flowers. You see, it’s infected with gall and I have to be vigilant in removing the new gall growth on its main stem. Luckily, I grow my roses in containers so I don’t have to worry about infecting other rose plants. 
2. Munstead Wood – I finally got a presentable picture of this rose, although the rain did a number on its petals. I got this rose because of its deep and vibrant color.
3. Rock N’ Roll – This is a very strong ID but it does take some time in between blooming. When I first got it in April this year, the nursery sent it out full of flowers and it stayed in bloom until May. This is the first rebloom under my care.
4. Lachance – I didn’t notice that this plant had new blooms on it. This is located at the back of the garden and the rain stopped me from going round the garden. This is what it looks like when it’s opened for a week.
5. Ligari 230 – This rose tree is very thorny and it’s dropped a lot of leaves. It’s healthy though, it’s just that it’s more thorns than leaves. This is the second rebloom in my care after I got it in March of this year.
6. Frances Burnett – I totally love this rose. I got this in May this year to complete my Secret Garden collection. It’s a climbing rose and after battling mites and thrips, it rewarded me with so many flowers. The flower lasts about a week but the bloom period is a month or so.
7. Jubilee Celebration – This rose tree arrived just this July. This is its first bloom with me and while the buds come and go fast, it produces a lot. It looks very pretty when they all bloom. The downside is that it’s thin stems are always entangled with its neighbors and it’s hard to get to the spent flowers to snip them off.
8. Lady of Shalott – When this first arrived in June, it was just a scrawny plant with a few long stems. It’s grown a lot of new leaves and branches which overhang some rose shrubs. This is the first bud it’s produced. The blooms don’t stay in bud form for a long time. I guess the heat accelerated the blooming.
9. Mary Lennox – Ah, my poor Mary Lennox. It’s looking quite contrary. This rose surprised me with so many fat, clustered buds after it’s been attacked by thrips quite terribly. The damage is still visible as can be seen from the greenish edges but the size of the bloom is impressive.
10. Cherry Parfait – I thought this rose would not survive when I first got it. It always drooped and required a lot of watering. However, it’s bounced back and consistent in giving large, well-formed flowers.
11. Odysseia – I’ve had this rose tree since a year and a half back. This is a very tall rose tree and I’ve been scratching my head why the large flowers and leaves are clustered at the end of each branch. I’ve had to cut several of its main branches and the trunk itself because it’s been affected by rot, but it’s a very strong ID and has given new blooms even after that.
12. Distant Drums – My newest acquisition which I got in July, it came with a few flowers. It adapted quite well, so much so that it gave another set of blooms late in August. I counted around 10 blooms in total and the flowers were colored so beautifully.
13. Glamis Castle – I’ve been trying to get my hand on this plant but it arrived in July only. It didn’t have any buds when it was delivered but it put out so many after a month. I really like how the bloom looks like – it’s a unique combination of unfurled petals and balled/closed petals in one bud.
14. Endymion – This is a very delicate looking flower. Looks at the fluttering pink petals. So far, it’s been producing buds every month since June but not as many in one go as I’d like to. Hopefully it grows more as it matures.
15. Gorki Park – I’ve been waiting for this plant to rebloom eagerly. When I got it in April, it had a couple of large blooms on such a small plant. I struggled to keep it healthy and now it has bloomed nicely. Right now, it can only have 1 or 2 buds at any given time but I hope that when the plant grows bigger that it will have more blooms too.
16. Hector – This is another strong ID from Japan. It takes a break of a month in between flowering and has such an intense coloring.
17. Tatami/Lantern of God – This is a favorite of mine because the flowers are so delicate and the shading includes yellow, light pink, and dark pink. I’m worried about this plant though because the main trunk is infected with rot and I’ve had to cut off quite a large portion. Hopefully, this isn’t the last flowering of my plant.
18. William and Catherine – This is a low maintenance plant. As soon as I got it in July, I put it in the back garden and didn’t give it special care. A month after, it grew several large buds in the classic bloom shape.
19. Astrid – This plant is small in size but a vigorous bloomer. It produced 3 buds that bloomed relatively large (given the shrub size) and with a deep, red color.