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Monday, September 08, 2008 • 05:59 am |
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7 • POSTED ON September 14, 2005 Garderner Rene Trim continues with his list of garden disasters. This week: Rose Gardens & Rhododendrons.
Our
gardening column is published every Tuesday on OttawaStart.
Read previous columns here. Cold Case File 3 / My Rose Gardens
I have always been one to never give up, even when times are hard – some people would call me stubborn, but I prefer my explanation – so in my next garden I started all over. This time, however, instead of modern varieties I stuck with what are known as “botanical” or “wild” roses: Rosa rugosa, Rosa glauca, Rosa nitida and Rosa rubiginosa. They don’t have the same “flower power” the modern varieties - that bloom an entire season long - possess but they are virtually disease-free and extremely vigorous. Besides, there is the added bonus of the rose hips! I planted my little treasures all around a lovely gazebo I had built myself (with minor assistance from a friend who was a master carpenter; I passed him the wood and the nails while he put the whole thing together) while having visions of long summer evenings filled with an abundance of both cold beverages and fragrance. For the first two summers, that was exactly what I got; my roses grew happily and joyfully and there were no problems with disease and/or fungi. Unfortunately, I was taught that in general, this type of rose does not require pruning so I didn’t. By the time the third year came along, my roses had entered the perimeter of the gazebo, I had cut myself many a time on the rather healthy thorns and many a female companion had been spotted running away from my romantic “love nest” in an attempt escape bees, bumblebees and wasps (or me, who knows?). Lesson learned: roses are not for me… Cold Case File 4/ Rhododendrons & Clay Soil
Naturally, after seeing a few of these English/Japanese gardens I had to create my own Rhodo garden; realistically, folks, what choice did I have? Now, there were a few problems I had to overcome but in my youthful enthusiasm I looked at these as mere nuisances rather than the life-size complications they actually were. Firstly, there was an issue with the soil; Rhodo’s hate clay soil - my garden was situated on THE bluest clay you have ever seen in your life. Secondly, Rhodo’s prefer damp, semi-shaded woodland conditions – my garden was in its infancy with trees no taller than 6 feet. However, on the plus side I had learned how to tamper with soil conditions; peat moss turns alkaline soil acid, as do rusty nails. In short, there was nothing a quick trip to the garden center and the hardware store couldn’t solve! Or so I thought… Just to be completely on the safe side, I planted my Rhodo’s and Azalea’s in compressed peat pots – I am sure you have seen them, the ones you can plant directly into the soil where they eventually dissolve. The bed had been enriched with an enormous amount of peat moss, several chemicals that - supposedly – added acidity to the soil, as well as a substantial amount of nails (of the non-galvanized persuasion) that would rust overtime, thus adding more acidity to the soil (that was my theory, anyway). Courtesy of my bank, the second mortgage they kindly granted me allowed me to purchase a spectacular looking collection of plants and boy, did they look good that first year! Sadly, you cannot play Mother Nature in your garden. If you happen to garden on alkaline clay soil, a handful of rusty nails and a couple of wheelbarrows of peat moss are not going to make a difference in the long run. Whatever acidity they added to my soil was washed out by the rain and no matter how much peat moss I added each spring and each fall, it did not help my poor Rhodo’s. Within one year of planting they started to drop their lower leaves, whereas the top leaves turned slightly yellowy (I still had flowers, though!). Within two years of planting there were not that many leaves left at all and the ones that hung in had turned very yellow (by that time, it was way past the “yellowy”). Within three years of planting, I ended up digging up what was left of my once spectacular collection and planting them in containers – in peat moss. Lesson learned: stick with what Mama (i.e. Mother Nature) gave you and don’t try to turn your garden into what it was never meant to be.
René Trim Do you have a gardening question for René?
Send it to us, and he'll try to answer it in his next column. About René Related Links
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It
wasn’t always like that: in my very first garden I dedicated a
separate bed to roses and pampered them all to bits. In return, I got
black spot, rust and mildew. It wasn’t the soil, it wasn’t
the location; my guess is that there was one plant among my purchases
that was already infected and merrily “spread the wealth”
among the other plants. Off to the garden center I went; two hours (and
a small fortune) later I returned, armed with enough fungicides to free
the entire country of fungi and other plagues! The powders and liquids
I sprayed them with left my roses looking worse than before and eventually,
all I was left with was a collection of bare stems with the odd –
rather disgusting looking – leaf. 
Ah
yes, my infamous Rhodos….how could I forget? While still living
in Europe, I often toured the UK to visit the famous English gardens
we so often see in books, magazines and on TV. I have to admit, most
estate gardens are spectacular and – although I have now learned
that there are wonderful gardens in Canada too – if you are into
gardening and you ever have a chance to visit Europe, make sure to include
the UK, it is really worthwhile. Anyway, one of the things I enjoyed
the most was the magnificence of their Rhododendron and Azalea gardens.
To this day, the splendour of a Rhodo garden in full bloom is still
one of my absolute favourites and there is very little that can compete
with it. 
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