Sliding into September

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Bob and I just got back from a week on Cape Cod. We’ve been staying with the same folks for so many years that we call the Foleys our ‘Summertime Family!’ We arrived in North Truro late on Saturday, August 21. After unpacking, I went out back and snipped five rosa rugosa blooms to float in a bowl of water. Those five blooms perfumed our cottage for almost the whole week into September! We’ve had a profoundly dry, blistering hot summer, so I didn’t feel too bad when it started raining on Sunday morning. It didn’t stop until Thursday morning, but that was fine with me.

As a rose gardener, I knew our roses at home were getting a break from the heat. And, there’s nothing like a good rain to perk up the garden. I’ve been watering on an almost daily basis since April, but for some reason, although hand watering sustains, the plants just seem happier when the water falls from the heavens…

Back Home

We arrived home on Saturday the 28th and had another week of blistering heat last week. I never thought I’d say this, but I’ve had enough summer! Here in Connecticut, our 90+ degree days started in the end of March this year. That means we’ve had 90+ temperatures over a seven month period! Pretty unheard of in these parts…and diametrically opposed to the cold, rainy summer we had last year. One of these years, we’re bound to get something a little more normal!

September can be such a beautiful month in the rose garden! Most of the insect pests settle down or disappear because their season is over. The sun’s zenith is lower in the southern sky than it was all summer, and the shadows begin to get longer. It is still necessary to make sure your roses are well watered, and I usually keep up my spray program until October.

You will be amazed at the roses in your garden during cooler weather! All summer long, they have responded to the heat with rapid growth and many smaller blooms. When September arrives, the days are cooler, and the roses take longer to develop. They are loaded with sugar, and the buds and blooms become huge and the color deepens. Fragrant varieties become even more so, and the blooms will last for days longer in the vase! Feel free to cut your beauties to share with friends, neighbors, colleagues, or shut-ins. Next month we won’t cut so many, because we want our plants to get the message that the winter season will be approaching.

Make sure you have stopped feeding your roses. Usually, I stop around the first of August. They’ll keep blooming, but without that extra fertilizer, the growth will begin to slow, and the plant will begin preparing for dormancy.

Today is a lovely, cool day here in Windsor. Hurricane Earl completely missed us, though, so when I say goodbye to you, I’ll be going out to water. So, what else is new? See you in the rose garden!

Meet Marci Martin

Marci Martin has loved roses for as long as she can remember. From the time she was a little girl, she was fascinated with how…

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