Hello Dear Rose Friends,
With more and more roses being dug, it’s the busiest time in our business. Thankfully, our lovely assistants are all rugged-up and getting down and dirty in the heel-in beds. One minute they’re tucking more in and the next minute, they’re pulling them out!
We’re sure you’re pleased with the roses you receive from us. In this short email this week, please take note of these planting instructions which is an extract from All About Roses by Diana Sargeant.
Planting Bare-rooted Roses in Winter
"You’ve pored over rose catalogues and changed your mind a million times, but finally selected the varieties to be planted in your new garden. The rose bed has looked empty for weeks while waiting for this grand moment.
The new roses should still be packaged, or they might already have been soaking in a weak liquid seaweed solution for a few hours. The roots should NEVER dry out during this critical time – leave the roses soaking in buckets or troughs throughout the planting process.
Using a garden fork (so you don’t slice through all the worms who’ve been aerating and casting into the soil), dig a rough-walled hole at least 50x50cm to adequately accommodate and spread out the rose roots.
Remove soil from the planting hole and poke holes in the base and walls to enable roots to immediately start penetrating deeply into the soil. DO NOT ADD FERTILIZER OR ANIMAL MANURE.
Remove the rose from the packaging and dip in seaweed solution. Prune off any broken roots and give the rose stems a trim to outward-facing buds. Create a mound of soil in the hole and spread the rose roots down over the mound and start backfilling the soil, making sure you keep the crown above the soil.
With your foot, firmly press the soil around the neck of the rose to create a well, water thoroughly to create a slurry of mud to expel any air around the roots. Add light soil or bagged compost to fill the well so the crown is just above the existing soil level, which allows space for a light application of milled lucerne mulch or pea straw.
Soak the entire area thoroughly with no less than 10 litres of water to which liquid seaweed has been added. Unless it rains, the new rose will require at least 10 litres of water weekly. If there is heavy rain and you notice the rose is sitting in a puddle of water constantly, lift it out of the ground and place it in a pot until the drainage problem is rectified before replanting. Roses hate wet feet and bare-rooted roses will perish very quickly if left in soggy ground."
Diana’s book All About Roses is once again sold out but the publisher has received edits and they’ll be working on producing another reprint by spring and we’ll let you know when the book is available again!
A giggle for you this week …
Q: Why did the referee jump in a puddle?
A: Because she wanted to wet her whistle!
Climbing Roses Promo
There’s a great selection of climbing roses and since I’ve got these three planted in the back border of one of my gardens and they seriously complement one another in colour/size/shape.
Bathsheba – Glorious apricot blooms in abundance with lovely foliage too!
Bathsheba was inspired by the heroine of Thomas Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd. These apricot pink, soft yellow shallow cups have many petals turning cream towards the outside. There is a beautiful myrrh fragrance with hints of honey and Tea. This is a short vigorous climber.
Blue Moon, Clb – Hugely fragrant, continual flowering, strong growth!
A Hybrid Tea climbing rose which has stood the test of time. Tall, upright almost thornless stems produce clusters or single stems continually. Highly fragrant. Ideal cut flower.
Compassion, Clb – One of the most popular roses in UK gardens … delightful in all situations!
A beautiful climbing rose if you like to pick roses whilst enjoying the large size of a climbing rose against the fence or espalliered to a wall - the beautiful apricot pink blooms are prolific and the rose delivers lots of them on a very healthy climber.
BUY NOW!
You would be most pleased to cover a wall or perhaps give each rose a pillar/obelisk situated well away from fences where possums traverse. Great idea for height structure as so many garden areas are smaller now and you can see the neighbours so readily.
Use these three climbing roses to advantage in your garden so they eventually screen neighbours. Look out on these beauties whilst doing the dishes! They’re all beautifully fragrant and ideal as cut flowers in vases
One last giggle for this week …
Q: Why couldn’t the earthworm play outside?
A: Because she was grounded!
Go take a walk around your winter garden. The ‘skeleton’ of ornamental trees is beautiful but so is the spectacle of our magnificent eucalypts which appear to have fairy lights in them after rain and the sun shines.
Love from all of us here at Clonbinane … Diana, Gra, Mooi and the Team!