Hello Dear Rose Friends,
...from a very soggy and weather ravaged Clonbinane. We recorded more than 170mm of rain, which was driving in sideways from the southeast, so it probably missed recording in the rain gauge. Several massive trees were uprooted in the unprecedented weather event last week.
Obviously, we couldn’t post parcels for a couple of days and the Queen’s Birthday Holiday meant no posting until very early Tuesday morning when another couple of hundred were lodged. Every day is the same now and it’s sensational that we are posting such incredibly fabulous quality roses!
It’s very special to receive such lovely emails like this one…
“Dear Diana, I just wanted to say thank you very much for sending the Perfume Passion rose with my other order (Gra's Blue and Busy Bee). They all arrived safely last week and have been planted.
I wanted to show you how lovely some of the other roses that I received from you last year have grown (Honey Dijon, Belle Parfum - and the PJP!).
They seem to cope okay with our tropical climate up here in Townsville (I use the organics rose management products you recommend). Hope you are keeping warm. Thanks again for your excellent roses and customer service. Cheers, Toni"
There’s certainly no doubt about Mother Nature’s ability to create havoc. If you’re in a flood zone, hold off planting any bare-rooted roses by potting them until the soil has drained and you’ve added fresh compost or well-rotted manure to reinvigorate and restore the soil.
If you’re potting your new roses this season, trim the roots so they don’t curl around in the pot; they should not touch the walls of the pot. The size of pot you use depends on how long you anticipate the roses will stay in pots. For the short term (up to one year) a 20cm pot is adequate.
Are you planning to grow roses permanently in pots? Then definitely use 40-60cm planters and keep in mind that you’ll possibly re-pot the roses by removing them and totally rejuvenating them every two years.
At this re-potting session, you’ll cut the roots and growth back to nearly the original bare-rooted size and start all over again with fresh potting media.
For a giggle:
Q: What do you call an egg that knows everything?
A: An egg-spert!
GRA'S PROMO PICK
My turn to select three roses for our promo-pack this week. Since I love to have vases of highly fragrant roses on our kitchen bench always, these are three which I wouldn’t want to live without for their incredible fragrance but also, their amazing disease resistance and a profusion of flowers in all climates …
TWILIGHT ZONE is a magnificent modern shrub rose to delight those who love the darkest, smokey purple colour in roses. Huge buds open to very double, old-fashioned style petal form which hold their colour exceedingly well in the hottest weather. SHOP NOW!
PER-FYOOM PERFUME is an international, multi-award-winning modern shrub rose which smothers the bush in delightfully pale, fairy-floss pink blooms of the most exquisite form - the pictures are exactly how it stands out on the most amazingly healthy, glossy-foliaged shrub. SHOP NOW!
POPE JOHN PAUL II is a magnificent pure white rose with the most amazing fragrance! The healthy bush produces masses of long-stemmed, large blooms continually throughout the season - a very highly recommended rose! SHOP NOW!
Enjoy all the moments in your winter garden! Cheers from Silkies Rose Farm, Clonbinane! Stay safe, Gra, Diana, Mooi and the chickens!