As promised, here are the roses in bloom!
These two are Queen Elizabeth tea roses we've had for several years. Roses do surprisingly well in the Phoenix area. We usually prune ours back severely in January and fertilize them with nitrogen and phosphate at that time, and I like to add Epsom salts as well. Rather than using flag drippers, we made shallow wells around each bush and ran a circle of 6-inch drip emitter tubing around each bush. We usually see two nice flushes of blooms, one in spring and one in fall after it cools off a bit.
This year, I planted a variety of vines on trellises mounted to the block wall. We have eight of them, made from the recycled remains of a portable gazebo. By this time next year I hope to be seeing less concrete and more flowers and leaves. In addition to being more attractive than a boring block wall, I think the vines will improve the microclimate in this area by preventing the wall from absorbing and radiating back so much heat.
No comments:
Post a Comment