Planting a Flower Garden - Daffodils and Roses

My plan is to slowly incorporate more flowers into my new garden but these daffodils were a bit of a free gift. Daffodils, they surprise me this year. Daffodils or narcissus is a bulb that's planted usually in fall and it flowers around this time early spring and the good thing about it is that it's a very resilient plant. It, well the main reason why it's still here because I didn't plant these. These are probably from old gardens from this property. The only reason why they're still here is because they're deer resistant and groundhog resistant. Basically no animal eats them. They are poisonous so that's why they're here but they're fabulous flowers. They look amazing when masked and they seem to be very much acclimatized in this area because it's a southern slope. They love this kind of a place especially if it's under sort of trees. For some reason they're a good understory plant that needs the sunlight in the early months when they're growing and then later on once the trees they put out their leaves they don't they don't need as much sunlight because that's when they start to wither and store all their energy in the bulbs so that they can have new new flowers or more flowers the next year. But there's a very important reason why I was surprised with this year's flowering and it was more than last year's and even the previous year. What happened is is that these I let these clumps of them grow and I did not cut the lawn around them because as you can see it's in the middle of the lawn. I plan to develop into gardens and once it probably was gardens that's why they're here. There must have been a nice foundation garden around this this house and you can see some beautiful ones over there. They grew because I didn't cut them. Probably other people cut them before that so that's how they didn't really grow more flowers and increase in numbers. There are some nice different varieties here there's some of the mini ones the small ones they're already dying at this point they're probably earlier then there's some double ones and some single and some that have multi-colors. They're just a very versatile plant and I'm definitely gonna keep them in my plans as I further develop these gardens here. Generally you may think that ornamental flowers are rather useless plants to have around. Sure they may look nice you may think but growing food is the only thing worth the effort. I happen to disagree. With the same logic even growing food at home can be seen as a waste of time. Food is relatively cheap in our industrial society. People used to spend up to a third of their income on food in the United States at the turn of the 20th century. Today that figure is less than 10% so while growing your own food can help with your budget a bit we mainly decide to have gardens because we enjoy the process and happen to like tending plants and harvesting the results. We may get better quality produce when we grow at home but that is a hidden advantage. So we mostly grow for pleasure nowadays but even during times when growing food at home was a matter of survival our grandparents would still grow ornamental flowers here and there. That's because we are naturally attracted to flowers. Just watch any child roam around the garden and see where they gravitate towards. It is because of their striking form color and scent but we are not the only ones attracted to them. Pollinators love them especially bees. Bees are essential to a healthy productive home garden so you must think of them. Now the important thing to know is that we must provide habitat for native bees even though European honeybees gain most of the attention from the headlines of doom and gloom. Solitary native bees like bumblebees need habitat and food sources so increasing flowering plants around you is key. I bet you will love the results anyways. Coming up in the next block I will start planting more flowers right after this commercial. If you're loving the video and like to help me produce more you can purchase an original painting from my etsy shop or support me through patreon. Your direct support is the reason why I have been able to produce two episodes a week during the spring so thank you. I've already started clearing this space here and the tree is down and now I have a lot of sun and for that I'm planning to plant some roses. Roses are one of the oldest cultivated flowers for gardens. After cutting back the semi-dead tree near the road this south facing slope was receiving a ton of solar exposure. This was the perfect place to have roses growing. I've had mixed results with roses in the past but I was giving this new location a second chance. I've chosen the knockout series for roses. They're the only type of rose I've ventured to plant here in Maryland. I've tried planting other roses but they just die because of black fungus or black spot and they don't look their best so the knockout series was developed to be disease resistant and also it's an ever-blooming variety so I think it's worth the investment if you want a carefree rose. That's what I've found. What I have to do here is clear the area from the grass and then plant them putting a bit of composted leaves to enrich the soil. Although this soil looks good enough but it's always good to put a little bit more. Growing roses in Maryland can be a bit tricky. I found that out the hard way in my last house. Not that roses are particularly diseased plants but the main commercial varieties especially the T hybrid types are just very much prone to diseases like black spot. In the first years of my last garden I tried growing a few rose bushes only to be deeply disappointed by their performance. I purchased bare root types sold for a few dollars in big box stores and planted them according to the instructions. Two of them did well their first year but they only produced a few large blooms only to have a lackluster performance in subsequent years due to black spot. Eventually I yanked them out and gave up on them because I didn't want to have to spray all the time and I really wanted more of a landscape rose bush that flowered for most of the growing season and not a plant to provide a few bouquet styles cut flowers with long stems. In the humid climate of Maryland roses are particularly prone to black spot but then I discovered the knockout variety of roses. They happen to be almost black spot proof although they can suffer from mildew. I've seen them used as roadside landscaping here and they thrive in full sun. I've heard that they don't do as well in California like the other roses do but I haven't confirmed if that's the case. Since I had a nice sunny space available I knew that these roses would look great near the road so my plan was to create a sort of hedge on that side. I chose both yellow and salmon colored varieties and not the magenta as I wanted the colors to be harmonious with the color of my siding which is a warm tone deep red. I had actually bought these bushes at a discount in the garden center. By seeing the soil in the spot I was sure it would be a great place to plant them. Knockout is a hybrid variety that was developed in 1989 by William Radler who was a home breeder in Milwaukee. He wanted to have a carefree rose bush that blooms profusely and repeatedly. He later worked with a wholesale nursery to improve and distribute this rose and it was released to the public in the year 2000. Unlike tea hybrid roses that were developed primarily for their bloom shape and color and were doused with pesticides Knockout was developed precisely to be carefree and that is what I like the most about them. After I dug a hole larger than the nursery pot I added some organic rose fertilizer that is high in potassium and phosphorus. This will just help your plant get established with more vigor. I then took the root ball out of the pot and gently teased out the roots that had started to be root bound. Since the surrounding soil showed signs of being light and fertile I was sure that the rose would have no trouble getting established. If I mulch the area and if it rained normally I would not have to water it since roses don't like too much water anyways. I would like to explore old varieties of roses that are more naturally disease resistant but for now I'm happy with this commercial variety that is widely available. That's how I got one bush in the ground. Now there's a lot more to do. I'll do it slowly though one step at a time one day at a time that way I don't overburden myself and it becomes more of a joy. The hardest thing is to take away the grass from that area but other than that the soil is pretty amazing. I'm more than excited to see such beautiful soil already there. I know that this location is going to be perfect for the rose. Perfect exposure, nice drainage. If you don't have these conditions I would not recommend you grow roses especially in the east of the United States. It's a little bit more humid, colder. Roses need warmth, they need sun, they need well draining soil and they want rich soil so if you don't have those things it's best that you plant something else but if you do it's great to have the king of the flowers in your garden. I know that slowly my dream garden will emerge. It will take time, years of cultivation for it to reach its peak. Only as perennial plants like these rose bushes get established and mature will it look and feel right but it is exciting to see it emerge on its own time.