Rose, peony and clematis (member) Garden  

Listing last updated on Sun Nov 2024

Sparks, Nevada 89431
United States

www.justourpictures.com
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Gardening in Reno means coping with heavy clay and rocks, and with cold, dry, windy winters. Rocky soil and bedrock outcroppings do have a few advantages - for one, gophers are unable to penetrate. For another, the outcroppings are beautiful and contrast in a wonderful way with the plant materials.

The outcroppings and rocks to China often dictate where one can plant. The resulting garden is intimately tied to the land and has a special kind of integrity which I find very compelling.

The main garden (zone 6b) is 25 years old. Extensive composting and amendment has resulted in increasingly healthy roses. Roses include a variety of types principally ranging from HTs and Floribundas through Hybrid Musks, Hybrid Perpetuals and Austins. The Killing Teas project has been completed, and I have now moved on to Killing Chinas.

The smaller, newer garden (zone 6a) is in its fourth year. Much of the soil there was a vegetable garden about 20 years back so planting there is a joy. Some of the same roses which never achieved their potential in the original tough conditions have been replanted here to good effect.

I am primarily a collector and an experimenter, always interested in what will survive and flourish in this arid climate, and in what conditions a rose needs to do well.

On my current task list - a good task for mid-summer - is updating my HMF listings. My "roses grown" list is based on the photos which were originally contributed to HMF during its first year. Most of those photos were taken in public gardens and many are not actually roses I am growing. The older garden has about 300 different varieties, the newer garden has about 120 and another 40 are in pots awaiting placement.

Stay tuned. I will get 'er done this summer.

Christine, aka Regina