Saturday, May 5, 2012

Dancing Ballerina Bushes!

      Hello friends, so sorry I've been neglecting my gardening blog! Life has been crazy here and unforgivably  my garden blog has been put off over and over again.
    At least I didn't delete it like I did my woman's blog (the forum is still going strong though)
    So today was the first nice weekend we've had for so long and I got out there and worked in my yard-nothing beats stress like yard work!
   I planted some more Lilac bushes, in my opinion you can never have to many! Also planted two more Ballerina bushes.
   What is a Ballerina bush you ask? The Ballerina rose bush, a modern shrub rose, has pink rose flowers that looks like Hydrangea heads.
   The pink flowers look somewhat like apple blooms, and they put on quite a show when spring arrives. Everyone who comes to my house is drawn to this rose bush because it looks so different from other roses.
   There are hundreds of lovely small single light pink flowers that totally covers this rose bush. There is only a mild musky rose fragrance, but for this rose, the flower show more than makes up for it(they look awesome alone, or as a hedge, I love them behind my picket fence.
    There is short pause after the show-stopping first bloom flush, with repeat blooms all summer, and then a good second bloom flush in the fall. It has a graceful rounded growth habit and lots of medium green healthy foliage.
   This is a very easy to care for rose, that doesn't require a lot of maintenance, if any.
   The 'Ballerina' bush in the picture above is a fairly newly planted shrub.I will grow to about four or five feet if allowed.
   It is easy to cut it down to keep this rose a bit smaller. Ballerina doesn't mind being pruned to reduce the size if needed, although I think its natural size and shape is really graceful.
  Planting and aftercare
   In the fall select a site that's sunny and well drained. Clear away any weeds or debris and mix perlite into the soil to about eighteen inches. 
   If you buy all ready potted plants(as opposed to starting your own) buy them with three to four heave/thick canes and avoid any that are lose in the soil-it means their probably not well rooted.
   They need full sun or partial shade as long as they get at least four hours of sun a day. Fertile well drained soil is about all they really need fertilize a couple times a year. 
   Have a great weekend, see you here tomorrow for picture day! Until we meet again!


P.S. My mother in law had trouble with her Peony's last year turning yellow and not blooming, we tried an old cure I learned from my grandmother and that was to cut them all the way down-like you do in the fall-and then sprinkling baking soda on them, they came back beautiful this spring. Also don't forget to give your rosebushes some Epsom salts before it rains this spring for the most awesome flowers!
    










    



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, that is so pretty!!!! I wonder if we can have it here in Sweden. I have no idea what the Swedish name would be so I can't even find out! If you know the latin name, please let me know..

Leanna said...

The Ballerina roses are fantastic! I definitely have to get me some.