Hello Dear Rose Friends,
What a week it’s been with lots of visitors to Silkies Rose Farm, Clonbinane who took advantage of our promotion of ...
Buy any Four Roses & Get One FREE*
*offer available to gate-sale customers ONLY *offer includes ALL potted roses
We’ll keep the promo going until the last day of summer, 28th February, 2022 and hope you manage to come and visit during our next two weeks of summer. We are trading every Friday, Saturday, Sunday & Monday 9am to 4pm. Don't forget to contact us on our new phone number, 0418 33 77 65, if you need to speak with us.
A GIGGLE FOR YOU:
Q: Why did the mop marry the broom?
A: Because it got swept off its feet!
It doesn’t happen often but this past weekend, our team had a bit of a breakdown in communication.
Rose Management Program
On Saturday, 60 of our very best Gra’s Blue plants were selected to be posted following our promotion last week. Once selected and trimmed, they were treated liberally with Eco-Fungicide and Eco-seaweed via the watering can. Eco-oil wasn't added at this time because it was too hot on Saturday afternoon to use any oil-based product.
On Sunday morning prior to commencing packing the roses ready for posting on Monday, another member of our team poured Eco-fungicide, Eco-seaweed and Eco-oil over those same roses because that’s what is normally done prior to posting roses to condition them for transit stress.
On Monday, a third member of our team arrives at the Rose Farm and sees the result of our efforts to condition the roses. They then inform us that due to pump malfunction, when they were doing routine spraying on Thursday, they watered over the remaining spray solution from a watering can. The roses they used the residual spray solution over were … you guessed it, Gra’s Blue and others in that area!
Always Check Your Records
We have a book where all spray / fertilizer / plant management is recorded but in this instance, it was not checked by everyone prior to doing our ‘caring’ management of those beautiful roses and of course, a watering can of Eco-seaweed is usually applied just prior to posting but the records weren't checked then either.
We pressed on and posted the roses on Monday – some were very pruned. Others we left foliage/buds on to give you an idea of how magnificent the plants were prior to the onslaught of eco-organic management. Three times in four days is way, way too frequent!
The roses will be perfectly fine. If foliage has dropped during transit, prune at least half of all branches, pop the roses out in filtered light to recover and start creating new foliage and prolific flowering.
It’s very important that we ALL learn from this exercise! Communication is vital to secure successful garden management so we recommend a garden diary to help you keep track.
Your garden diary might indicate:
- Which garden bed was watered and when
- Keep a record of the spray management program
- When was fertilizer applied to which garden beds
- What fertilizer was used
- Which weedicide has been applied and when
- Might also include rain gauge records
- Perhaps record where season bulbs were planted
The booklet or diary you nominate for use is irrelevant. The most important thing is that each person who has responsibility for managing your garden has access to the document and is asked to register their activities accordingly.
We will definitely employ this diary recording in our nursery moving forward because it’s a minor issue to walk an extra 200 metres, take the book from a shelf and record your activity so that everybody knows what’s going on!
All roses leaving the nursery have already been fertilized and sprayed with Eco organic management program and are ready for massive flowering during autumn which is just around the corner.
Mulching Your Garden
Earlier this week, Jason was mulching one of my gardens with wheat straw. As I approached, I noted that he was wearing a mask that appeared strange but as I got closer, I could actually smell the mould and was pleased by his initiative to mask-up.
Please know that any mulch product which has mould evident can cause health issues so take care!
Bare-Rooted Roses for Winter Delivery
Lots of orders for bare-rooted roses are now coming through so please note there will be no price increase until March 2022. New Release 2022 roses will be added to our website at that time.
These magnificent roses look stunning in our gardens now ...
COCONUT ICE is another stunningly healthy rose that was bred by Kordes, Germany. The perfectly formed flower has the nostalgic petal form of old roses, is a lovely mid-pink with white reverse and flowers are produced in clusters on strong, sturdy stems. Coconut Ice is long-lasting in a vase.
SAINT CECELIA is a wonderful David Austin rose. A rather tall and wide bush that produces a plethora of very fragrant, pale pink roses with a beautiful myrrh fragrance, continually throughout the season. I've always found this rose to be a good cut flower too.
DUBLIN BAY is a worthy climbing rose to plant because it is such a spectacular performer with flowers from the earliest Spring until well into the Winter – in very warm areas, this rose will flower all year and every year I prune it, I will prune flowers off, no matter how late it is pruned!
Digging Season Starts Later This Year
We have been advised that digging season will be later than usual this winter due to extremely wet conditions leading into budding season. This means our roses won’t start to be posted until mid-June with standard roses to be lifted later in July. There are plenty of roses available so keep ordering now and you can add or alter your order at any time until posting.
REMINDER: OUR LANDLINE PHONE NUMBER 03 5787 1123 WILL BE PERMANENTLY DISCONNECTED AT THE END OF FEBRUARY. NEW NUMBER: 0418 33 77 65
ONE MORE GIGGLE BEFORE YOU GO:
Q: What do you call a gardener that has a beard?
A: Hairy Potter
Meantime, enjoy these last weeks of summer in your garden … cheers! Graham, Diana, Mooi and the team at Silkies …