I am a member of a local Rose Society and this past weekend we had our annual rose show.   I have been in this society for several years, and this is the first year I exhibited.  (Don't ask me why.)   There is general agreement that this rose show is the high point of being a member; one horn of the dilemma.  It is, after all, the one time the members act as a group and there is a frenzy of activity surrounding the event.  There is an amazing amount of scurrying around to arrange a venue and to move all of what it takes to actually show the roses.  As an exhibiter, I had to cut the roses the night before the show and appear early on the morning of the show to prepare each bloom.  Several times I asked myself if this kind of exhaustion was why I joined in the first place.  And then there are the rules of just how to show the flowers – one flower per stem, arrangements, and bouquets, multiple flowers per stem.  I believe there were 35 exhibition categories.  It is less the amount of work involved that is tedious, but rather the plethora of rules surrounding the event that make it questionable.

The other horn, and thus the dilemma, is growing the roses.  Actually, they are rather easy plants to grow.  They are not the thirstiest plants, they want sun and a place that is relatively undisturbed so their nature can have full rein to do its thing.  And they give back a lot in beauty and fragrance.  However, on my own accord, I find myself having to do a lot for them: fertilizing, mulching, dead-heading, replacing the unproductive ones with new plants.  Not to forget standing back and adoring them and getting close and smelling them. 

So the best I can resolve my dilemma is to tell myself that there is no such thing as a free ride.   With relatively little mental and physical effort, I can have both.  And so, forward I go: growing and showing.

My husband and I got up very early one Saturday morning to attend a lengthy meeting indoors at an office building in downtown Sacramento. 

Before leaving for the day, I went out in our backyard to say hello to and check on all our plantings, young and old, to see if they needed anything before, we set out for the day.  I was also sort of wishing to hang out in the yard rather than sitting indoors for the day, but we needed to attend the meeting.

We arrived at the meeting site in Sacramento and much to my surprise, it was as though that great garden energy had followed us there!  Almost everywhere we looked - on, around and in this building were beautiful plantings!  Most of them were jasmine plants - I don't think I had seen so much jasmine, ever.  And they were in full bloom! 

So, not only was I pleasantly surprised, but also thought how nice it would be to work in this building…greeted with beautiful plants, having them “escort” you up to the escalators, and enjoy seeing them swaying and twirling outside the office window for some nice work inspiration!

This got me thinking a bit more about jasmine.  Jasmine has an interesting effect on people - some folks love them; some folks are allergic or just don't care for these plants and some are indifferent.  In my case, I have always enjoyed them because the fragrance brings back wonderful childhood memories.  I just hadn't thought that much about them until that moment standing, in front of the welcoming office building.

When I came home to our yard after the meeting that day and looked at the jasmine in our garden, I had a new respect for these beauties.

I looked around the yard, saw all of our jasmine and found a renewed appreciation for so many things they project, such as emitting beautiful fragrance, attracting pollinators (butterflies, bees, ladybugs), and providing camouflage for some unsightly views. 

Spring has arrived…

 CalPERS Building Entrance

 CalPERS Building Interior

 CalPERS Building Courtyard

 Our Rain Gutter Down Spout Jasmine Camouflage

 Our Peaceful Jasmine Pergola Haven

Every era has its own style and customs regarding flowers, plantings and garden design. Since the second season of the beautifully rendered PBS series, “Victoria”, has concluded, it got me thinking about the special way that period viewed flowers and their meanings. 

In Victorian times, flowers adorned everything—from wallpaper and Valentine cards to delightful bonnets and young girls' samplers.  So it isn't surprising that the genteel folks of that period would create an elaborate way of communicating using flowers as their symbols.

The origin of floral language pre-dates Victorian times as flowers have always had a religious, mythological or symbolic meaning.  The very first “flower dictionary” was written in 1818 in Paris by Mme. Charlotte de la Tour.  Inspired by that, a Victorian lady, Miss Corruthers of Inverness, wrote an entire book on the subject in 1879. It was that book that became the standard source for flower symbolism both in England and the United States.

Within the boundaries of strict etiquette, Victorian women elaborated on “floriography”, (assigning of meanings to flowers.)  Thus, flowers gave them a silent language that allowed them to communicate many sentiments that the propriety of the times wouldn't normally allow.  In addition to visuals of flowers, anything that carried the scent of a particular bloom—perhaps on a handkerchief, carried the same message.

The symbolism of flowers is truly a language unto itself. 

Match the flower with the meaning and see how readily you can time-travel back to Victorian times and communicate your sentiments!

1. Azalea                                  a.  Consistency
2. Columbine                            b.  Domestic Virtue
3. Periwinkle                             c.  Temperance
4. Primrose                               d.  Faithfulness
5. Quince                                  e.  Folly
6. Lily                                        f.  Temptation
7. Violet                                    g.  Friendship
8. Sage                                     h.  Purity

ANSWERS:  1-c;  2-e; 3-g; 4-a; 5-f; 6-h; 7-d; 8-b

Whenever I get a call from my mom that starts with "Jennifer, I need for you to come over and do" whatever is on her mind in her yard at that moment, I get a little worried.  This time, she wanted me to come over to "take care of the little Japanese maple sprouts."  I calmly informed her that I have been known to be the killer of Japanese maples in the past.  She didn't care.  So, over I went and checked out the little sprouts.  There were all kinds of little seedlings all around the area where she planted her maples that had been in pots in the back yard for YEARS!  A couple of neighbors had already plucked up many of them.  I dug up the ones that are pictured below and took them home in a plastic bag.  Not really knowing what was the best way to proceed, I took little bits of the soil around the roots, so as not to shock the little trees.  Once at home, and still not knowing the best way to proceed, I went to the laptop and started searching for info about what to do next.

Typing in "Japanese maple" into the search bar yielded mostly sites to purchase said maples and the many different hybrids available for purchase.  Then, of course, there was Wikipedia, but nothing that was really informative.  So, I typed in "what kind of soil do I plant a Japanese maple in?"  TaDa!!!! Information!!!  GardenDesign.com;  RoyalHorticulturalSociety; and the best -JapaneseMapleLovers.com.  That site had a good article about growing them from seed.

There was a really good picture of the tree with the flower clearly pointed out with a notation that the flowers are tiny and easily missed.  So, the next time at Mom's, I went looking for the tiny flowers and I found them.  Unfortunately, the picture that I tried to take of the flower, did not show it very well.  

There are basically only two types of Japanese maple, those with green leaves - Acer palmatum, and those with red leaves - Acer palmatum atropurpurpeum.  Then there are the hybrids, but if growing from seed, you will either get green or red, depending on the tree the seeds came from.  Now I will have to wait and see what these seedlings grow up to look like because Mom has four different kinds planted there.  The trees flower in the spring and form the seed pod which stays on the tree all summer and into the fall.  The seeds have a little wing on them that looks like the wing of an insect that helps the seed float away from the tree.  You can also pick the seeds from the tree.  The seeds have a really hard shell that needs to be softened before the seed can germinate.  In nature, this softening can take up to two years!  So, I will guess that these little seedlings came from 2017 seeds and our heavy rains of the past two winters. 

Unfortunately, I had to keep looking to find out what kind of soil because these little seeds were already growing nicely.  I found that they grow best in slightly acidic, sandy, well-drained loam with a good amount of organic matter.  They do not tolerate wet, dry, or very alkaline conditions. I then planted the little seedlings, mostly in the soil that I brought with me and mixed up some regular potting soil with some citrus and cactus soil for drainage and the end result is pictured below.

Now, I have entered the tough part of the process, keeping these baby trees alive.  I'll follow the directions I found and protect them from direct sunlight from the first growing season, but try to ensure about 50% sunlight.  At my house, that is not very easy, so they are getting some morning sun. The harder part is protecting them from hot, dry, and/or constant wind.  The easy part will be to NOT fertilize during the first year.

So far, so good. They are still alive and about 2 weeks in the soil that I made.  I'm going to give them a couple of weeks and then transplant in order to give the roots more room and better protect them from the elements.