Zephirine Drouhin and Climate Change
Zephirine Drouhin is in full bloom. What an amazingly saturated color. And what a fragrance. I brought one into the house and it perfumes the whole living room.
So you might think spring has really sprung, but climate change bites again. We had an unadvertised frost last night and I lost half my pepper seedlings. Curses.
The daffodils are nice this year. I didn’t plan to pick them for the house, but they keep getting blown over by really strong winds. There’s no point in leaving them lying on the ground, so I have several vases full scattered about the house.
Hi. I think this is the first time I’ve visited. I really love my ZD. She blooms like crazy in the spring, but it is too early for her here yet. Thanks for a glimpse.~~Dee
Comment by Dee/reddirtramblings — March 10, 2008 @ 1:10 pm
It is funny to think that daffodils and Zephirine Drouhin are blooming at the same time. Here daffodils are starting to bloom and for the roses we have to wait until end of May, beginning of June. I love ZD, I just cut it today, preparing for summer. But first we have to have real Spring….
Comment by Barbara — March 10, 2008 @ 2:29 pm
I almost ordered ZD with some climbers I picked out for Spring shipping .. I chickened out because I thought I would fall madly in love with it and it might not make it through our winters. The possible disappointment of not having it come back really bothered me .. now I’m second guessing myself .. I ordered “Orange Velvet” and “Blossomtime” .. do you have those dee ? and what do you think of them ?
Joy
Comment by Joy — March 10, 2008 @ 3:19 pm
Joy: I absolutely sympathize. I’d hate to plant ZD and then lose it. And climate change is making those calculations so much more difficult. We average 6 frosts a year. This year, we have had 15. None of them was a very deep freeze, but bad enough so I nearly lost my heirloom peppers–and it would take a trip to Spain to replace them!
Blossomtime is absolutely gorgeous. I don’t have it here, but had it in a former garden and it was very well behaved.
Barbara: Yes it is bizarre to have roses and daffs blooming at the same time. ZD is the only one, though, except for Lady Banks, which is always early. She’s earlier than usual this year, however. She started blooming before the swamp jasmine, which she is not supposed to do.
Comment by karen — March 11, 2008 @ 7:07 am
We almost had roses and daffodils blooming together here, too, Karen, The daffodils weren’t ruined by a sudden freeze, but it got the mutabilis rosebuds before they could open.
Lady Banks was wiser and had no buds yet.
I’m sorry about the peppers - they do sound special!
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Comment by Annie in Austin — March 11, 2008 @ 11:15 am
How bizarre that Lady Banks opens later for you than us. I generally find that you are slightly ahead of us. I suppose it’s this strange winter we’ve been having.
Thanks for the concern about the peppers, but it looks as if enough of them have survived. Fingers crossed.
Comment by karen — March 11, 2008 @ 2:53 pm
I planted ZD several years ago, but have been somewhat less than thrilled. It is shade tolerant which is why I got it, but it only blooms in the spring for me, and not again as advertised. Perhaps it is our heat. The fragrance is lovely, but my tastes have changed and I don’t care for the color any longer. It is on my DNR list if we have another bad summer.
Comment by Les — March 11, 2008 @ 7:29 pm
Interesting. ZD is new to me, so I’ll see how I like it. So far, I really like the color. I have never yet met am old rose that bloomed more than once. Perhaps it is the way I prune them. I shall have to experiment.
Comment by karen — March 12, 2008 @ 7:59 am
Yeah, it’s been a strange, strange spring so far down here - I keep thinking ‘we’re there’ and then we get an unusual cold snap, and I’m surprised to see that it reached as far south as your garden. It’s like everything started early - and has stalled. Today is beautiful though, after the storms pushed through from last night - windy, cool - but gorgeous sunshine!
Comment by Pam — March 16, 2008 @ 9:40 am
Talk about climate change. We have been without electricity for 12 hours because tornadoes took out 3 “transmission structures” near us and left 150,000 people without power. Tornadoes in downtown Atlanta yesterday as well. These are the first tornadoes recorded in Georgia for more than 80 years.
Comment by karen — March 16, 2008 @ 10:04 am