Hello Dear Rose Friends! With a pinch and a punch for the first day of a whole new month in this glorious autumn!
Here's my contribution to April Fool's Day:
During his final exam a Police recruit was asked:
Q. What would you do if you had to arrest your own mother?
A.Call for backup!
Trivia about this day: On 2 April 1857 the New York Times reported on the mood in America: “April Fool Day is going out of remembrance. There was less fooling yesterday than usual – thanks to advancing civilization!”
In recent weeks, I’ve been asked to give advice on how to prepare new garden beds for bare-rooted roses which are due to be available starting in late May-early June to August.
It’s very timely that we share this quotation from Diana’s book - All About Roses
CHAPTER 3.21: PREPARING A NEW ROSE BED
"The most successful and rewarding rose gardens are those where the soil was well prepared prior to planting and autumn is the ideal season to prepare your new garden beds for winter planting of bare-rooted roses.
Remove the grass/weeds to a depth of say, 50mm – 100mm. This ‘turf’ can be laid in another area to create a lawn or placed on the compost heap, where it will break down and provide compost for another garden bed once the weeds are ‘cooked’.
Do not dig the cleared area, because it is back-breaking work and there is no need for you to do it. There is an army of workers waiting underground for you to proceed to the next step of creating this new rose bed and they will happily do all the necessary digging and aerating - which is essential to create a well-drained site suitable for bare-rooted roses.
Apply gypsum and liquid seaweed over the area then pile on any combination of animal manures or whatever composted material available. Take some litter from under a range of shrubs and trees in other areas of your garden and spread them over the compost. This will supply mycorrhiza (fungi) from your own garden environment and is an integral component in the soils life when preparing a new garden bed.
Lightly mulch with lucerne or pea straw and water weekly, if there is no rain. Sprinkle rock dust and liquid sea minerals to ensure a balanced range of earth and sea minerals are incorporated into the soil.
Liquid seaweed applied weekly will act as a soil conditioner as well as feed the worms - your army of workers - without whom your garden will not flourish at all. They will rapidly come to the surface and begin aerating the soil for you. As they chew their way through all the manure, straw, leaf litter and goodness you’ve been adding to the site, they will generously add their castings to the soil. If the pile of manure you have applied rots down to become humus and the bed needs to be raised, keep adding more manure and straw layers up to four weeks prior to planting.
When you are ready to plant the roses, the only area to dig will be at the planting hole. By doing this, you reduce weed activation because you are not disturbing the soil structure of the entire garden bed.”
Despite being first published in 2014 and reprinted in 2019, the information in All About Roses is still very relevant today and if you’re serious about your adventure into rose growing, treat yourself to this beautiful guide to growing and loving roses.
Purchase your signed copy of All About Roses for $44.95 NOW!
EASTER ROSE BUNDLE
FREE POSTING THIS BUNDLE!
A SAVING OF $22.50
Our Easter Gift to you is to offer FREE SHIPPING on this bundle of our FIVE MOST POPULAR BUSH ROSES
These five Bush Roses are now available in our online store as a package for just $112.50.- Order Now!
DOUBLE DELIGHT: Double Delight is a bushy plant and can grow to 1.5mts – particularly loves the hot weather when the cerise border becomes very defined and the fragrance supreme. SHOP NOW!
EARTH ANGEL: Earth Angel has an extremely healthy, dark green foliage on a rather short bush to 75-90cms tall and nicely rounded. The beautifully shaped old-world-style blooms remind me of a peony with a thick, swirling mass of petals and fresh fruity fragrance. SHOP NOW!
FORGET-ME-NOT: Forget Me Not is a very highly recommended rose for health, vigour, stunning foliage, exquisite fruity fragrance - from a Hybrid Tea shaped bud that opens to a cupped mass of swirling petals in shades of mauve/warm pink. SHOP NOW
MOTHER'S LOVE: Mother’s Love has beautifully long pointed buds of the palest pink with slightly deeper pink centres which may fade in the very hot sun. It is a very feminine rose with graceful branches often producing a single rose but very often a cluster of blooms. The perfume is charming! SHOP NOW!
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Last giggle for the day:
Q. Why is a bikini like a barbed-wire fence?
A.Because it protects the property without obstructing the view!
Enjoy the Easter Holiday weekend – we’ll be closed on Good Friday but open on Saturday, Sunday and Monday as usual from 9am - 4pm so come to Clonbinane for a visit … See you soon! Cheers from Graham, Diana & Mooi