ROSE RAMBLER 3RD SEPTEMBER, 2020 … Hello Dear Rose Friends. Today, we celebrate our son, Eric’s 40th birthday in isolation. Many of you will remember Eric who worked with us casually from the age of six. He was keen to earn pocket money then officially, for seven years (1995 – 2003), completing his apprenticeship during that time. Eric went on to create his own very successful landscaping business … We’ll miss having a cuddle and catch up on this very special day as all of us stay safe during Covid-19 lockdown.
Spring is here and we glory at the sound of our resident thrush which wakes us every morning. Yesterday, it was kookaburras unusually early; if anything alarms them, plovers squawking in our front garden as early as 4am mean an early start to our day! Of course, the Langshan rooster starts crowing at around 5am … We’re usually in bed by 9pm so all this ruckus is welcome as the days get ‘longer’ … until daylight saving kicks in of course!
If you haven’t pruned your roses this winter, don’t worry because you can do a significant 2/3rds prune during summer as long as you remember to heavily irrigate immediately after summer pruning! Whenever you do prune your roses, do give them a good drench with seaweed solution and fertilize almost immediately afterwards as it can take some time for fertilizer to absorb into the root zone.
One handful of quality organic fertilizer spread liberally over the soil surface around each rose will give your roses a great boost for flowering this spring … DO IT NOW!
Q. Why was the dairy farmer such a good sprinter? A. He had big calves!
There has been an unprecedented demand for climbing roses this past season. Is it perhaps because people are home and don’t like what they’re looking at from the windows of their home? We rather think so.
Climbing Roses
Here are three magnificent climbing roses which will delight you for years clambering and flowering over fences, along trellis or over arches in your garden …
Bantry Bay: A sensational climbing rose which is never without masses of medium pink blooms over a very extensive flowering season. There are lots of thorns but the canes are easily managed whether attached to an arch or against a wall. Buy Now!
Lamarque: An Old Fashioned climbing/rambling rose 'queen of the garden' as she produces masses of medium-sized lemon centred blooms continually throughout the season and has the most charmingly healthy, lighter green, rather drooping foliage which is a magnificent foil for the lemon/white citrus-scented blooms. Buy Now!
Pinkie, CLB: A very highly recommended rose which produces masses of mid-pink clusters of blooms continually from season start to end and everywhere in between. The foliage is lush and healthy and the whole plant creates an impenetrable screen in a very short growing period. Buy Now!
The rule with climbing roses is this: YOU BE THE BOSS – whether you spread the canes to tie/trim and espalier a rose, let it clamber over a fence, train it over an archway or give it absolute freedom to share space with a tree, the rule is the same … you make the rose do what you want it to do and you will seriously enjoy growing climbing roses in your garden!
One last joke for this week: Q. How do you cut the ocean in half? A. With a sea-saw …
With a sea-saw … remember to see the joy and beauty in each day as we travel towards the end of lockdown here in Victoria and potential freedom to travel throughout our great country.
And Happy Father’s Day to all the Dad’s this Sunday – remember, if you get brekky in bed and you spill crumbs, the more you wriggle, the more they’ll scratch … enjoy all the precious moments!
With a smile and a giggle, best wishes from us here at Clonbinane … Graham, Diana & Mooi.