flower carpet roses

For years, my grandfather has meticulously manicured his pachysandra, faithfully planted his gladiolus bulbs and dutifully cleaned up every leaf that has ever dropped from every tree around his house.

I'd have to guess it's been a source of pride - and artistic expression for a man who only found time to dabble in watercolors after retiring from a seven-day-a-week job as a father of six and and owner of a small family grocery.

But now the time has come when he and my grandmother (who has a form of dementia), have to make that decision whether or not to move to an assisted living center. It's a hard decision to make, with so many emotional ties to the home and landscape they've overseen and had so many memories in for so long.

When and if it comes to that, however, at least my grandparents won't have to move to a cold, landscape-free environment more remiscent of a hospital than a home.

That's because today's health-care and senior living facilities now resemble communities with many of the garden and landscape features residents remember from their own homes: tree- and flower-lined paths for walking, vegetable and flower gardens for working and even water features, plants and other features specifically incorporated for healing.

In fact, here are some of the landscaping features today's aging population can pretty much expect when moving to a health-care or senior living community:

Easy-care plants with season-long interest

Those in senior living and health-care communities want low-maintenance, tough plants that are reliably colorful and healthy-looking all season long. Residents at the Rolling Fields Elder Care Community in Conneautville, Pennsylvania, for instance, love looking at the Flower Carpet roses (pictured above) in the home’s Enchanted Garden, since they bloom May through November and are disease, drought and pest resistant. The roses were also planted with the idea in mind that residents could have fresh flowers in their room at any time (they can choose to cut the flowers themselves or have a caretaker do it for them).

And, since these roses are easy to prune and don’t require chemical sprays or deadheading, they’re also easier to maintain for the growing number of residents that want to help with the gardens at these kinds of facilities. The residents also don’t have to be subjected to toxic chemical treatments.

Elements for “active living”

Today’s aging population is much more active than its predecessors, and these individuals want to be outside, gardening, walking, reading and healing.

Even those in wheelchairs or motorized scooters want to take part – hence the need for raised beds for greater accessibility,  “workable” gardens (vegetables, herbs and cutting garden plots - one of Rolling Fields' veggie plots pictured above), non-glare paving, lighting for evening use and heat and shelter for inclement weather.

Zaretsky and Associates, a Rochester, NY landscape design-build firm, which has done award-winning work in this area, regularly adds these new “musts.” It even incorporates active-living features like measured walking tracks (so residents can track their progress) and storage sheds for gardening tools and materials.

Plants for horticultural therapy

Hospitals and other health-care centers are now recognizing that gardens are healing facilitators – as important as physical therapy, medications and other mainstream healing devices.

Zaretsky and Associates designs and builds pathways that incorporate increasingly difficult surfaces where seniors can "get their feet back" as they walk along peaceful paths. Even labyrinths, which foster meditation while walking, are a popular attraction.

Water features, with their peaceful sounds of running water and psychological association with life and tranquility, also provide auditory therapy. Rolling Fields residents love to gather at the koi ponds and waterfalls.

Beyond just creating an inspiring, peaceful environment that fosters healing, the plants themselves play a huge (not to mention profitable) role in therapy gardens. Their texture, fragrance, sound – and even taste (as is the case with Rolling Fields, which has planted fruit trees) – help stimulate the senses and the mind-body connection.

Fragrant plants like herbs, roses and phlox (mildew-resistant purple Volcano phlox pictured above) are wonderful for evoking memories, especially in Alzheimer’s gardens. Sounds can be added with grasses that sway in the wind. And teachable moments can be created by adding plants historically used for medicinal purposes. At Rochester General Hospital in Rochester, NY, Zaretsky and Associates has incorporated echinacea, Joe Pye weed, yew (taxus) and witchhazel just for this purpose.

Bring the outdoors in

Bringing landscaping, gardening and plants indoors – also called “interiorscaping” – has never been more popular, and that’s especially true at today’s health-care and senior living facilities. The public has become increasingly aware of recent studies showing how indoor plants not only filter allergens and pollutants from the air, but also pump out fresh oxygen, boosting energy levels and mood.

Rolling Fields, for instance, not only promotes the idea of bringing fresh flowers and plants into rooms – it has an indoor “planting” sunroom where elders can start their vegetable seeds or help take care of indoor plants.

While I'm sure such gardens and landscaping can never fully replace the gardens of home, I'm glad health-care and senior living centers are trying to move in that direction.

When it comes my time to make the difficult choice of moving out of my home, I hope I have the chance to enjoy and work in gardens and landscapes. There's just something about being in nature and watching life happens that psychologically instills an attitude of life within those who experience it. And that's what I want for my grandparents, too!

What about you? Do you have parents that have had to move to one of these facilities? Did they have to leave behind sentimental gardens and landscapes? If so, did the facility or community they moved to offer any gardens or landscaping to enjoy or work in?

“In a nursery, you may be a little bit overwhelmed with all the roses you have to choose from,” says Growing Wisdom's Dave Epstein in his new video, "How to Choose Roses: A Rose for Every Location. “Well, the reality is, you need the right rose for the right location.”

In the video, Dave demystifies the rose selection process with an overview of three popular, easy-care landscaping rose lines - Flower Carpet, Knock Out and Drift - and shows how each can be used to its best in the garden.

Dave recommends a little research before you shop, so you know you’re choosing the right plant for the right place: “Remember, when you go to the nursery, all the roses may look the same in the pot, but in a few years, they’re going to look a lot different.” 

Here's Dave's breakdown of easy-care roses and their uses:

Flower Carpet roses along a roadway

Flower Carpet roses: Because they’re salt- and drought-tolerant, they’re perfect alongside roads and driveways. Their season-long blooms and full, sprawling, bushy form also make them ideal for filling out large blocks of color. Because they can grow up and around things, they’re also good for softening visual elements like fence posts, chain link fences, rocks, hardscaping and garden art.

“It’s more of a creeping rose than something that’s going to get high,” says Dave.

Knock Out roses: Because of their tall, vertical nature, they’re great behind a fence, at the back of a border or walkway or anywhere else they can be used as a tall screen or canvas upon which you can layer levels of shorter plants.

“Wherever you plant them, just make sure you’re OK with them getting this high,” says Dave, standing behind a shoulder-height Knock Out shrub.

Drift roses: “They stay smaller than Flower Carpet roses,” says Dave. “They’re best suited for a small container on the patio or balcony.”

The video's the best way, however, to get an idea of what these roses will look like in a few years, as opposed to what they look like when you buy them in the garden center. So check it out to decide which rose - or roses - might work best for you.

Who knew? The International Herb Association has chosen the rose as its 2012 Herb of the Year. Meanwhile, nurseries and garden centers expect edible plants to remain popular.

Roses - the hips and petals - have a multitude of uses, from candied and crystallized petals, vinegars and teas to essential oils for cosmetics and medicines.

But take heed before you start serving up petals, warns Kitty Morse, author of Edible Flowers: A Kitchen Companion: "Make sure flowers you choose have been grown naturally, without the use of pesticides." For this reason, most fresh-cut flowers from florist shops and nurseries are unacceptable. Instead, Morse suggests harvesting chemical-free roses from your own back yard. And since many fragrant heirloom roses are susceptible to pests and disease, this means growing easy-care landscaping roses like the Flower Carpet line (Amber shown above), which is naturally pest- and disease-resistant (read: no chemical treatments needed).

"My mother used to make rose jam and tea and sugared rose petals back in the '50s," says Colorado garden blogger Becky Dziarnowski. Now, she makes tea from the hips of her Amber, Yellow and Scarlet Flower Carpet roses, crushing two or three hips and then steeping them in a tea ball for five minutes. "The Amber petals are sweet," says Dzarnowski, "like a super-ripe cantaloupe."

Rose petal ice cream is a favorite of Denise Schreiber, author of Eat Your Roses … Pansies, Lavender and 49 Other Delicious Edible Flowers. After removing the white bitter part from the bottom of each petal, Schreiber dries them on a shelf or in an oven warmed to 200 degrees, then shut off. She mixes a quarter cup of the dried, crumbled petals into a half-gallon of French vanilla ice cream and boosts the rose flavor with a teaspoon of rose water and 2 tablespoons of rose syrup (available at most Middle Eastern groceries or in the international foods section of some supermarkets). The garnish: a sprinkling of fresh rose petals.

"Generally, the darker the color, the deeper the flavor," advises Morse. Born and raised in Morocco, where roses are regularly used in cuisine, Morse recommends harvesting roses early in the morning, washing them and then laying them on paper towels to dry. She likes making rose syrup lemonade with rose petal ice cubes and also adds a splash of rose syrup to champagne before serving it in flutes: "It's very refreshing; it cleanses the palette in between courses."

So dare to be different this year, and eat your roses! You might just find yourself a new a culinary favorite!

It sounds weird, but one of my favorite times of the year, gardening-wise, is January.

That's when I look forward to seeing all the new mailorder gardening catalogs in my mailbox. It's also when I make my "Plants I Want" wish list. And it's also the time when I repot indoor plants and mark the coming year's master calendar with seasonal gardening chores.

I know, it sounds anal. Perhaps I'm overcompensating for my ADD, which has turned me into somewhat of a calendar junkie:  If it's not on the calendar, it just doesn't get done.

Anyway, one of the chores I'm putting on there now is pruning. Without it, my front and side yards quickly become overgrown in summer and crowd out all the light, air and space. I at least need to go and trim all the dangling and dead branches left in the wake of all the winter wind storms we have in our area.

Pruned Flower Carpet roses with tete-a-tete daffodils in early spring

Late winter is a great time to prune deciduous trees and shrubs, although in cold climates like my Zone 6ish garden. Here in western New York, I usually prune on or around St. Patrick's Day. It's an easy way to remember it, anyway.

When you do prune deciduous trees and shrubs, make sure to remove diseased, damaged or close-crossing branches, but take special care not to spoil the plant's natural shape.

For magnolias, forsythias and other spring-flowering woody plants, delay pruning until just after flowering. Summer-blooming shrubs such as hydrangea and hibiscus are best pruned in winter or early spring, just before growth gets going. 

March and April are big months for pruning roses. My Flower Carpet roses are the easiest to prune: I just take a sharp pair of hedge sheers and reduce their volume by about two thirds. A more conservative approach is needed for traditional bush roses: Aim for an open vase shape, making cuts about a half-inch above an outward-facing bud. Old-fashioned roses that flower once in early summer shouldn't be pruned until just after flowering.

For more information on pruning Flower Carpet roses, check out the video "How to take care of Flower Carpet roses in spring" by Dave Epstein of Growing Wisdom.

Whenever you prune, always use clean, sharp pruning tools. Mangled, unclean cuts can lead to disease. And don't put diseased material in the compost bin. If Jack Frost strikes, avoid removing any frost-damaged growth, as this helps protect the plant from further frost damage.

I know it's hard to wait till spring, but try to enjoy some garden dreaming and planning. And don't forget to put pruning on your calendar!

Inspired by the blooms on my Tropicanna cannas, I set out to create a container garden that would satisfy my cravings for the warm, rich, saturated colors of fall. I'm linking my post to Garden Bloggers Bloom Day for October. Garden Bloggers Bloom Day is a cool idea by Carol at May Dreams Gardens. On the 15th of every month, people around the globe share what's blooming in their garden.

Here's the combo I came up with: dark foliage contrasted by hot, bright colors. Back in May, using some birthday money, I got this Tropicanna Black canna from Bristol's Garden Center in Victor, NY. The canna did well in the ground, but last month I moved it to this container. It survived the transplant well, I'm happy to say. I found the linear-leaved croton (lower right) in the "houseplants" department at Home Depot. The ornamental peppers I found in the floral department of my local supermarket - Wegmans.

Tropicanna Black canna (top), ornamental peppers (lower left) and croton (lower right)

My Flower Carpet roses are still blooming their heads off, and the petals have hung in there despite all the pelting rain…

Flower Carpet roses. Coral (left) and Amber (right)

 And here are the little 'Thumbelina' zinnias planted this spring by my 4-year-old daughter. They came in a "Veggie Tales" seed packet she picked out herself:

Only a few blooms left on my threadleaf coreopsis, so the ones remaining really pop out at you!

Well, that's about it - hope to hit the 99-cent clearance shelf of perennials this weekend and get some fall planting in!

Congratulations to Marilyn Scoles, the winner of Tesselaar Plants' September 2012 contest on its Your Easy Garden blog!

Marilyn, of San Mateo, California, will be receiving her prize – bare-root Flower Carpet^® roses – in the spring.

Here's her entry for the "share your best garden tips and tricks" category:

My Best and Easiest Garden Tip

by Marilyn Scoles (shown here with lil' Maggie)

For a last hurrah, use Gro-Power's Flower-n-Bloom fertilizer after cutting back your plants and shrubs. In three weeks, you'll have all new blooms! Just like spring all over again!

Thanks, Marilyn! I checked into it and found out that Gro-Power is organic and is available nationwide through independent garden centers. And these pics of Marilyn's garden are certainly a good testimonial to its blooming power!

Marilyn's bouganvillea

Her mom's 30-year-old hydrangea

Her delphinium

And her tricolor lacecap hydrangea!

Thanks again, Marilyn! Hope you enjoy your Flower Carpet roses! And anyone else who wants to send in their garden tips and tricks, please know they're welcome here, anytime!

Congratulations to Toril Milbrath of Portland, Oregon, the August winner of Tesselaar's "Great Gardens" blog contest!

She'll be receiving her prize – bare-root Flower Carpet roses – in the spring. Don't miss your chance to win them, too. This month, just submit your best gardening tips or tricks - along with a picture, if you can. The winner will be announced at the beginning of October.

Here's is Toril's winning submission:

Why Gardening Is So Important to Me

By Toril Milbrath

I've been thinking about this for a bit. There are many reasons that gardening is important to me, but I think what means the most to me is all the memories that gardening evokes. I see a spring bloom on a mock almond or smell lily of the valley and it will trigger a vague recollection of a neighbor's yard that I would cut through when I was a kid. Tulips and crocus remind me of rabbits, chicks and Easter.

In my own yard, friends and family have been generous with their plants. A rambling tombstone rose that has taken over an arbor reminds me of my co-worker Mary, who moved from Portland to Boston and left me her plants. (Her herb garden didn't take nearly as well to my heavy clay soil …)

Unfortunately, I'm not good at taking pictures when things are in bloom and spectacular. I also just massively pruned the rambler. It is much more contained than it was a week ago. But, I think my dog adds some visual interest. AND in the rose picture, yes, those ARE Scarlet Flower Carpet roses just poking up in the lower right corner! I didn't even notice until I downloaded the pictures — it wasn't blatant product placement!

Most of my iris collection came from my friend Shelah, who demonstrated how to properly divide the rhizomes in her own iris patch and then gave me what we had divided out.

This fragrant 'Jim's Pride' daphne was a 40th birthday present from my best friend. She said that the bloom was to remind me that we are all fabulous at 40 and going strong! When I planted it, I didn't realize it was a perpetual bloomer. I get that little affirmation every day.

Thanks for the inspiration! 

Thank YOU, Toril! Keep joining us here at Your Easy Garden, and enjoy your Flower Carpet roses!

Whew! Summer is busy, busy, busy! But there's still time to enter Tesselaar Plants' "Great Gardens" contest! Complete contest entry info and rules can be found on Tesselaar's online newsroom.

If you're not sure what to say or what kinds of photos to include, here's a submission sent to us from Linn Schlinger of central Virginia:

I feel my elegant Tropicanna^® Black cannas pair nicely (and simply) with the 25-year old Peace Pole I have planted them next to. Behind the beautiful Tropicanna blooms is my clematis, which bloomed profusely with huge, 8- to 9-inch-across flowers in radiant shades of purple. I was hoping to have them blooming together with that great purple/red contrast, but alas because of the drastic changes in weather this year, they have not decided to show their beauty at the same time:

Well, 2011 continues to give our regional garden bloggers more wacky weather, from record rains to drought-and-drown precipitation. Here’s more on what’s going on in their back yards:

Catie Anderson:  (Willamette Valley, OR)

Well, first a review of the soggy weather this year: In March, we set a record for latest first 60-degree day in a calendar year and a record 28 days with measureable rain. In April, we set a two-month rainfall record (for March/April) of 11.47 inches and the fewest 60-degree days or above – six (the average is 26). As of today, we’ve only had one 80-degree day. Our spring ranked second wettest on record. Impressive, but not tornadoes or floods or fires!

Since then, I've continued trialing a deer fence we made from fishing line and green garden posts. This was very effective – I actually was able to enjoy blooming tulips for the first time in that bed! I am going to use this in other areas in the future. A couple days ago, I watched a pair of does move around the outside of the fence but they avoided the fishing line – didn’t even stick their heads in. The best part is you really can’t see it. In fact, I’ve run into it several times – of course I am a klutz! I’m going to use this method around the plants I’ve put in for the Tesselaar "Great Gardens" contest.

Catie in her raised-bed veggie gardens - fenced in to protect them from browsing deer.

Last weekend, we built raised beds in our new, 8-foot-high, 30- by 40-foot, fenced-in garden and discovered we built it on top of a rock pile. Just my luck! Six hours later I had pulled 400 pounds of rocks out of a 4- by 16-foot bed. Later, I planted tomatoes, basil and carrots and it felt so good to dig in that soft soil. We had fresh basil in our salad that evening. 

Shirley Gardner:  (Boise Idaho)

June 21st – the longest day of the year and we’re just finally having some summery weather. Of course it went from the high 50s to the 90s within a couple of days – whew! The cool temps and all the rain have caused the growing season to be about a month behind here. First time I ever remember not having peonies blooming in time for the cemetery on Memorial Day. My leatherleaf viburnum sure loved the rain, however, and was quite wonderful this year. I love my Color Flash^® Lime astilbes. I planted them around the base of my bloodgood maple and they’re quite happy there. The Flower Carpet^® roses are covered with buds but haven’t started to bloom yet.

We’ve also been working on getting in the new drip lines for the vegetable garden. It’s quite a job but we’re almost done and the veggies are loving that slow, deep watering.

Becky Dziarnowski  Ignacio, CO – La Plata River Valley

The honeysuckle fragrance is heavenly, irises and daisies are in bloom and the wild lupine is ready to blossom. Hummingbirds are fiercely defending their territory with the cicada chorus in the background. The wild roses are fully open, bee balm, clematis, salvia, vinca and lavender all blossoming while the wild sweet pea and lilies are ready to burst. Summer is finally here!

 
Becky's view of the La Plata River Valley in Colorado. 

Luckily for us, no garden pests yet – only us humans fighting off the no-see-ems.
 
My Flower Carpet roses are a brilliant emerald with their first buds ready to open. Even though spring was not too pleasant this year, the vegetable garden is all in and flowers on the verge of creating their beautiful displays. Petunias were slow to start (still just 40 degrees at night), but the daytime makes up for it, hitting 95 degrees today. As soon as the temps stay above 45 at night there will be no holding anything back. Our biggest challenge here is the vast difference in temperature from morning to night. As true gardeners, we wait to discover each glorious new arrival every day. So enjoy, enjoy and if anyone wants to do a little weeding…

From Carmel Booth: (Atlanta, Georgia area)

I guess now that I have been here for 29 years I am considered a native! And we natives know they don’t call it HOTLANTA for nothing! This has been quite a spring! My zone 7ish garden has already seen torrential rains, severe thunderstorms, drought, tornados, sun and lots of hot!! With more days of 90-plus temps, this summer should be its own adventure in gardening!  My daylilies are working overtime, as well as my Flower carpet roses, echinacea, hosta and hydrangeas.

Carmel's tall, purplish-black-leaved Tropicanna cannas in a mixed container

It can be strange weather here. But more often than not, we have beautiful, clear days and it is usually pretty, although hot! The hardest part is trying to figure out if you should/could or need to water! We hadn't had any rain for more than a week so I decided to water last night. This afternoon we had severe storms! (Almost an inch of rain in about 30 minutes, then they were gone!) We also have pretty strict water laws. I try hard to let Mother Nature take care of the watering, but she either drowns us or we can't squeeze a drop out!

In my last post, I discussed the tree I had to remove that provided the shade to my hosta garden.  I have since moved 20-plus plants! Thankfully, I have some wonderful, full-sun-tolerant hosta that I think can stay, but only time will tell. Among them I have Tropicanna^® cannas and a peony. I can’t wait to see them bloom. The white hydrangea and the Flower Carpet red roses look beautiful together.

Please be kind to us this summer Mother Nature!  I really want to see my gardens grow!

Hey gardeners! Three of you will receive a collection of all three colors of Next Generation Flower Carpet groundcover roses – offering supreme heat and humidity tolerance – as part of the Your Easy Gardens blog's “Great Gardens” contest being held this summer! 

Complete contest entry info and rules can be seen on Tesselaar's online newsroom.

  

During the contest, which starts in July and runs through September, we're asking for images and stories from your gardens in three different categories:

• Best Plant Combos (July)
• Best Story About Your Garden & Why Gardening Is Important To You (August)
• Best “Easy Gardening” Tricks & Tips (September)

One category will be featured per month, and the winner of that category will be randomly chosen at the end of that month.

Gardeners can enter more than once by answering that month’s feature question and engaging in conversation on the blog.  Monthly winners will receive a canvas totebag, a stunning coffee table book called The Rose, with writing contributions from five of the world's most respected rosarians (including Tesselaar Plants cofounder and president Anthony Tesselaar) and the entire collection of Next Generation Flower Carpet roses – Amber, Scarlet and Pink Supreme. The roses will be shipped next spring at the appropriate planting time for the winner’s area.

“This is all about sharing what works in your garden and why you garden,” says Anthony Tesselaar, cofounder and president of Tesselaar Plants. “We would love to see those winning plant combinations that make your garden a special place.”

The contest begins July 1 and will run through September 30, 2011. No purchase is necessary to enter or win. You can enter as often as you’d like but each entry must be a unique answer/comment. The contest begins at 9:30 a.m. on the first day of the month and all entries must be received  by 10:30 p.m. on the last day of the month until the contest ends on September 30, 2011. Winners will be selected and notified at the end of each month.