Comments on: Rosa “Sultan”

By: mahmood

mahmood — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 15:25:17 +0000

You might want to use FireFox with the AccessFlickr extension, that will fix your problem and you will be able to access Flickr from within the UAE and Iran!!

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By: Sans

Sans — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 13:48:17 +0000

Flickr is blocked/banned/whatnot in the uae. Tough luck

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By: Barry

Barry — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 17:12:32 +0000

Mahmood: Yes, it was always hard to remove a particularly special plant if it wasn’t doing well, but I learned to let go (and not spend so much on one plant!). Still it hurts when something you especially like doesn’t do well, or gets ruined. My seedling of Brahea edulis (a fan palm from Guadalupe Island off of the coast of Mexico) had its new leaf frozen and then it rotted out. I’m hoping it recovers (usually with palms, if the new leaf rots out before it hardens off, if you pull it out, and then clean out the hole, you can salvage the bud).

I told my parents once that if they sold the house, I’m digging up and moving some of the plants (I probably won’t do that now). More recently, I told them that when I move away, and they get a gardener, that the gardener had better not hedge a single plant (I abhorr hedging unless you have a specific reason for it, such as parterres, and formal European gardens.) My garden is meant to look mostly natural, to show off the form of the plants, so the most anyone should ever do to the plants is to prune out branches to direct growth (I don’t believe in purely wild gardens, unless you’re doing a botanical garden).

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By: Maverick

Maverick — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 05:24:06 +0000

Beautiful photo!
Excellent coloring and background.
We call this mithai pink as the color such as it is used for sweets. I also call it hot pink……

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By: mahmood

mahmood — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 03:58:22 +0000

Yes, I’ve learnt to be less emotional about plants somewhat too. I have no problem now of removing unsightly plants, wilted ones or those which are past their annual prime. The perennials however are a different matter!

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By: Barry

Barry — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 18:06:20 +0000

My garden (well, my parents’ garden) is something of an experiment. I try different things, and whatever survives, I keep, whatever doesn’t I never try again. I’m all for pushing envelopes, but if it is unlikely to thrive in our soil (without amending, yes, I never amend except for lawn), and our 10 year hard freezes, it doesn’t get grown. I have to make sure that when I leave, what we have will be able to survive without a lot of care.

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By: mahmood

mahmood — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 09:38:31 +0000

I’m learning – like any other gardener I guess – the hard way. It is always sad to see a plant that you have cared for just wilt and die, but like you said, knowledge and experience help a lot in caring and nurturing them that you and others might enjoy their mature stages.

I am so looking forward to that time!

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By: Barry

Barry — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 07:40:00 +0000

Mahmood: Well, it depends where you are of course! Where I live, our temperatures rarely peak above 24C. So, most things which will wilt and fade in sun and heat like yours love full sun, otherwise they don’t get enough warmth to function. Roses do well in full sun here. They also need more water the hotter they’re grown. A friend of mine has many growing at his house, where temperatures routinely soar above 40C in summer, but the air where he lives is somewhat humid.

On the other hand, some things require cool temperatures. One of our native trees cannot stand heat. High temperatures allows a fungus to overtake the trees, but in cool coastal climates, the cool weather keeps the fungus at bay. People who try growing them in dry, hot climates succeed for a few years before the trees die. You never see them futher inland than maybe 32 kilometers before they succumb.

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By: mahmood

mahmood — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 05:45:49 +0000

Thanks Barry, that’s what I noticed and expected. Roses (with my limited experience) do not do well at all in direct sun, especially when young. Protect them from it – especially the hot Bahraini sun – and they might actually grow well.

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By: Barry

Barry — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 21:48:38 +0000

Mahmood: I’ve found roses are pretty adaptable to soil, as long as it’s not so heavy their roots suffocate. My grandmother had this orange and cream variety in her garden that had stopped being cared for and actually continued to thrive even in pure sand (our sand is almost as devoid of nutrients as the sand at the beach)

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