The Winner of the Botanical Interests Seeds Is...

...Rose!

Congratulations, Rose! Please e-mail your mailing address to me so I can let Shayna know who to send the seeds to. Also, if you'd like a different collection other than the Hummingbird Nectar Collection, let me know that, too!

Thank you to everyone who entered! This giveaway elicited the most responses of any giveaway I've ever done! That says a LOT about the popularity of Botanical Interests seeds, I think! Thank you to them for making the giveaway possible. There are going to be some happy hummers in the Midwest this summer!

Lady Banks Rose - Owning a Piece of History

About a year and a half ago, in a Christmas exchange, I received a rose cutting from a friend that lived in Arizona at the time. It wasn't just any rose cutting. It was from the world's largest rose tree (according to The Guinness Book of World Records) in Tombstone, Arizona - a Lady Banks (Rosa banksiae 'Alba Plena').

In 1885, Henry and Mary Gee, a young newlywed couple from Scotland lived in Tombstone, Arizona. When the Gees built a new home, Mary received a box of plant cuttings from her native country. In that box was a white 'Lady Banks' rose, which Mary shared with her friend, Amelia, who was a caretaker at the local boarding house where the Gees had lived prior to building their home.

Image from CardCow.com

Amelia planted the rose cutting behind the boarding house where it thrived and grew. Today, more than 100 years later, the rose tree is still doing well and covers its 8000 square feet support arbor. Its trunk has a 12-foot circumference. Cuttings are sometimes sold and ours is one of them!

I researched this special rose and found out that it has its origin in China. It is nearly thornless, virtually disease-free, and has tiny white double blooms, usually in April. It blooms on two-to-three-year-old wood, so perhaps I'll have some blooms this year! No signs of any yet though.

When I received the cutting, I knew I'd have to keep it inside in the winters, because it's only hardy to zone 7 and we live in zone 5. I planted it in a rose pot and the first winter, it stayed in a cool bedroom. When it was warm enough, I put it on our front porch, where it got a little south sun and a lot of west.

This winter, it stayed in the conservatory. It will live its entire life there, because yesterday, I planted it in the ground! Before the conservatory was constructed, the south end of the pool house once had an espaliered Pyracantha. But somehow, I managed to kill it after a few years, in spite of them being notoriously invasive and tough.

Now, the 'Lady Banks' will be trained on the side of the building - inside!

A note about the tools you see here: Clarington Forge provided me with the
Strapped and Treaded Garden Spade (left) and the Planting Spear (right).
Our native soil is heavy clay, but it was no match for these heavy-duty tools!

Later, after painting the wall, we'll reattach the wires for the rose to climb on.

Focus on Houseplants: Aeschynanthus 'Twister'

I love this plant! Aeschynanthus hybrida 'Twister', commonly known as Lipstick plant, is one of easiest houseplants I've ever grown. I found it a couple of years ago in a big box store and fell in love with its curly foliage. Though it wasn't blooming at the time, I knew these plants had some interesting blooms.

There are several different types of Aeschynanthus known as Lipstick plants and many have brilliant red blooms, which is where they get their common name. From what I've read, 'Twister', hybridized by the same Dutch grower that brought us 'Rasta', is supposed to have those brilliant red flowers emerging from its burgundy tubes that form in clusters at its growth tips. Mine simply has the burgundy tubes. As a zone 11 tropical, it needs heat day and night to flower, so perhaps there isn't enough heat for it flower all the way.

The foliage is unique enough though, in that it is curled both across its breadth as well as along its length, giving it a corkscrew appearance. Even if it never bloomed, I'd love this plant.

When I say it's easy to grow, I mean that it survives sporadic watering by me and doesn't need high light in order to grow well or flower. (Mine is five feet away from an east window.)  I don't mean to neglect it, but it happens and this plant just keeps on going as if I pampered it.