I’m excited to be offering such a nice array of roses this year.  We have climbers, carpet roses, floribundas, hybrid teas, something for everybody!

All Ablaze Climbing Rose – Large flowered medium cherry red.  The canes can get 8-10′.  These have a slight scent .  Most of the roses I choose for fragrance.  This is such a great climber though.  It’s hardy, vigorous and clean and repeat blooms readily.  What’s not to love?

Aloha – Large shapely fragrant buds and blooms of two-toned pink.  Dark green leathery leaves.  Canes grow 8-10′.  Flowers are large and very full with a sweet rose scent.

Climbing Autumn Sunset - Unbeatable, fragrant climbing rose!  Disease resistant. Strong vigor, great shiny green foliage and a free-flowering habit that starts from the very first year.  Canes of 8-12′ with large, strong fruity scented large flowers.

Bewitched Hybrid Tea Rose - A classic among pink roses, this beauty bears large lovely buds and blooms filled with a rich rose perfume and carried on long stems.  The vigorous bush is attractively clothed with large apple-green foliage.

Ch-Ching! Grandiflora Rose – Super vigorous bushy clean habit that flowers like a weed and smells up a storm!  Clear long-lasting even glowing yellow.  Very deep red new shoots and dark green leaves set off the many showy clusters of blossoms.  Strong sweet spice and fruit scent.

Chrysler Imperial Hybrid Tea Rose - A landmark rose that still hypnotizes people with a powerful rich rose fragrance and velvety red petals.  The large full shapely flowers are proudly held atop straight stems clothed with dark matte-green leaves.  At its happiest in hot temperatures!  Strong damask rose scent.

Cinco de Mayo Floribunda Rose - Think ‘flower power’!  The clusters of blooms never stop. Mysteriously colored and deliriously novel, it’s an indescribable blend of smoked lavender and rusty red-orange.  Perfectly blendable with any color in the garden.  Super clean glossy green foliage mirrors the flowers.  Moderate sweet apple fragrance.

Distant Drums shrub/floribunda Rose - Listen up!  Here’s a striking color amongst hardy roses.  Many clusters of pointed brunette buds that swirl open to reveal ruffles washed with orchid pink.  A beautiful commotion in the landscape.  Moderate myrhh scent.

Double Delight Hybrid Tea Rose – This is the most popular new variety of the last 30 years.  Double Delight fulfills the two highest demands of a rose – an eye-catching color combo and fantastic nose-pleasing fragrance.  The prolific bush provides lots of creamy pointed buds that blush red with the rays of the sun.  Strong spicy rose scent.

Elle Hybrid Tea Rose - An award winning, stylishly beautiful, classically shaped rose named for the fashion magazine.  Elle is fully fragrant and voluptuous.  Big blossoms of soft pink and cream are set off by large glossy leaves.  The fragrance is strong spice and citrus.

 

 

 

 

 

Fragrant Plum Grandiflora Rose - Blue tones, mysterious smoking and marvelous strong fruity fragrance.  Tall plant that produces armloads of very long elegant buds.

 

 

 

 

Gingersnap Floribunda Rose – It just takes one bloom to open for the dazzling orange tones of the tough ruffled flowers to snap your eyes to attention.  The rounded bushy plant flowers readily.  Mild scent.

 

 

 

 

 

Iceberg Floribunda Rose – One of the top ten roses of the world and the best landscape white around Iceberg is extremely disease resistant, vigorous and floriferous.  Long pointed buds and crisp white flowers are borne in great produsion with the least of care. Mild honey scent.

 

 

 

 

 

Intrigue Floribunda Rose – Extraordinary and truly intriguing!  No other modern rose captures the deep purple-red bud and velvety plum flower color of this award winner.  It has a powerful scent of citrus and rose.

 

 

 

 

 

Jacob’s Robe Climbing Rose - This is a much improved Joseph’s Coat Climber.  It is equally floriferous, re-blooming readily in the very first year.  More natural vigor, lusher glossy green leaves better disease resistance and more hardiness.  Awesome colors and moderate spice scent.

 

 

 

 

 

Julia Child Floribunda Rose - Just before our wonderful American icon left us, she selected this exceptional rose to bear her name.  Julia loved the even butter gold color and the licorice candy fragrance.  Round habit, super glossy leaves and great disease resistance.

 

 

 

 

 

Legends Hybrid Tea Rose - Monstrous buds and humungous blossoms of rich ruby-red hold their durable brilliance from beginning to end.  Immense petals, some as large as a child’s palm.   A must have rose with a moderate fruity fragrance.

 

 

 

 

 

Marilyn Monroe Hybrid Tea Rose – The extraordinarily feminine creamy apricot color holds through from the long pointed buds to the big buxom open blooms.  Stunning dusky color and a mild fragrance.

 

 

 

 

 

Miss All-American Beauty Hybrid Tea Rose – Performs consistently in all climates.  Long bushy plant carries large long-lasting blossoms filled with sweet strong rose perfume.

 

 

 

 

 

Moondance Floribunda Rose – ‘It’s a marvelous night for a moondance’  Big clusters of beautifully-formed buds open to sparkling white blooms held atop lots of deep green leaves.  Features a light raspberry fragrance.

 

 

 

 

 

Oregold Hybrid Tea Rose - Whether it’s named for the metal or the beautiful state is hard to say.  The long lasting deep yellow color of the big pointed buds and large finely-formed flowers is certainly a beauty to behold.  Large double flowers have a slight fruity scent.

 

 

 

 

 

Perfume Delight Hybrid Tea Rose – This siren can lure you into a hypnotic trance with her heady damask rose perfume and lurid costume of hot pink.  She has big shapely buds and blooms borne on long strong stems.  A must have rose!

 

 

 

 

 

Pumpkin Patch Floribunda Rose - A color so scrumptious, it looks good enough to eat… and you certainly can if you watch out for the thorns.  Buttery-rich coppery buds open into clusters of fruity fragrant octobery-orange beauties.

 

 

 

 

 

Soaring Spirits Climbing Rose – Named to honor the victims of 9/11.  Soaring spirits sends out huge clusters of showy swirls and stripes with ever-changing pastel pink, yellow and cream hues.  Lime green foliage.  Vigorous clean climber that repeat blooms readily. Moderate fresh-cut apple scent.

 

 

 

 

 

Stainless Steel Hybrid Tea Rose – An easy to grow and care for rose with the wonderful strong rose fragrance and mysterious silvery lavender color on large full flowers.

 

 

 

 

 

Strike It Rich Grandiflora Rose – If you love spicy fragrance, loads of bloom and super-long elegant buds of gold polished with rosy pink, this rose is for you.  Natural disease resistance and strong vigor.

 

 

 

 

 

Summer Love Hybrid Tea Rose – Summer Love will win your heart with its big voluptuous full flowers of gentle lasting color, sometimes tinged with just a touch of pink.  Lovely mild sweet scent.

 

 

 

 

 

Sugar Moon Hybrid Tea Rose – White roses exude elegance but rarely much fragrance. This beauty will bulldoze you down with its powerful intense sweet citrus and rose fragrance!  Good rebloom, natural vigor.  Perfect for a moon garden, cutting or fragrance garden.

 

 

 

 

 

Sunshine Daydream Grandiflora Rose – Super clean handsome plant.  The large flower is fully double, like a real rose should be.

 

 

 

 

 

Tahitian Sunset Hybrid Tea Rose - Large long stemmed flowers are borne in great abundance on a very bushy clean garden-worthy plant.  Strong fruit and rose scent.

 

 

 

 

 

Tropicana Hybrid Tea Rose – Carries a terrific reputation that still flourishes worldwide. Large shapely blossoms illuminate the garden with warm colors and fruity fragrance.

 

 

 

 

 

Trumpeter Floribunda Rose – This is a low-care beautiful brilliant orange scarlet rose. The colors of the ruffled flowers blare out against the disease-resistant glossy green foliage. Mildly fragrant.

 

 

 

 

 

Vavoom Floribunda Rose – Bright orange juice color and sweetly spicy fragrance.  Very long lasting blooms and mahogany red new growth.

 

 

 

 

 

We Salute You Hybrid Tea Rose – Spicy fragrance carried on big open blossoms.  Very deep green highly glossed foliage.

 

I want to post a little information on starting your own vegetable and flower starts indoors. There are volumes of info out there on the topic, books and online.  This is just a bit of homey advice from someone who has started lots of seeds and mostly learned the hard way about what works and what doesn’t.  Geez, I even remember the year I brought soil from outdoors in to sterilize in the oven.  It worked but I’m not sure it was worth the hassle!  Stinky!

So, let’s start with soil.  There is a huge difference of soils out there to buy.  I don’t really know how to tell the good ones from the bad so I just stick with the one I’ve used for 20 plus years, Sunshine Mix.  Sterility of your soil is vitally important.  You don’t want your tiny little baby seedlings damping off (dying) from some little fungus or bacteria!

Timing is crucially important as well.  Here at Shady Creek we can’t safely put out tender starts until May.  Most plants don’t need more than a month to get rapidly started and a nice headstart to harvest.  Some peppers and many perennials need longer.  Read your seed packages!  They will have information on germination time, etc.  What you want from your tomato start is for it to be sturdy, dark green with nutrition, and actively growing when you set it out, and for the weather to be warm enough that it doesn’t miss a beat.  If you start them too early they’ll just get tall and lanky and you won’t gain much by a much earlier start.  Melons, cucumbers, etc. don’t need any more than two weeks indoor start before you set them out.  They get big fast!  Your best thing to get a nice early crop is to get early varieties and to have nice fertile soil outside where they’ll be growing.

A note on hardening off and when to set plants out… You can actually interfere with a tomato’s whole fruiting cycle if you set it out too early.  Prolonged cold temperatures can permanently impact it.  Once again, your best bet is to start the seeds at an appropriate time and wait until it warms up outside before setting them out.  Hardening off is a process of gradually getting the seedlings used to outside conditions, harsh sun, wind, etc.  Don’t forget it!

Another thing you don’t read about a lot is air movement while your little seedlings are growing inside.  The movement of the stems triggers some cell reaction to sturdy up their stalk.  I like to use a fairly strong fan to blow across the seedlings and keep them moving a little.  The plants are much sturdier for setting out.

Fertilizing – Feeding your seedlings.  This becomes somewhat of an art.  Depending on what fertilizer you use.  We use only organic chicken fertilizer for our vegetable seedlings.  Too much can burn them, too little and they won’t be growing at their maximum.  For a 4″ container we probably use 2 teaspoons of the organic chicken fertilizer every 7-10 days.

This whole process can get as involved as you want it to.  It’s so rewarding to start your own little seeds and nurture them to harvest.

Happy Gardening!

This image is of black Monukka grape.  This is one of the very best seedless table grapes for our area.  The fruit is a deep purplish black color, very crisp, very sweet with a rich flavor.  It is delicious fresh or as raisins.  No seeds!  It is thought to have originated from a Persian grape ‘Munaqqa’ which translates to raisin.  Sweeter than Thompson Seedless and its raisins have a richer flavor.  It has a tender skin so is not a good supermarket grape but is WONDERFUL for backyard growers.  Yum.  Available at Shady Creek.

Another delightful seedless grape, this one green, named Delight will be available..  Nice and sweet, ripens early.  The flavor is a light Muscat.  The shoots have a tendency to short internodes that make the vines more bushy.  The result is a vine that is slower to establish but easier to handle.

Available now, in fragrant bloom at Shady Creek...  The vase-shaped tree, Hamamelis ‘Arnold Promise’, is as tall as it is wide, with outward growing branches that bring much needed color during the throes of late winter. The witch hazel’s winter flush of color and fragrance, beginning in January and ending in March, cheer the cold right out of your bones. When the bright yellow blossoms enliven the witch hazel’s branches, it is a clear signal that spring will soon explode in a riot of color in the garden.