ROSE RAMBLER 17TH SEPTEMBER, 2020 – Hello Dear Rose Friends, as we experience more freedom from Covid-19 lockdown here in regional Victoria – please know that Silkies Rose Farm is still closed for gate sales and visits.
We will remain CLOSED until restrictions are eased throughout the whole of our State; we deem it only fair to our very close Melbourne suburban neighbours!
RoseSales.com.au will remain open to take bare-rooted orders until the end of September. As a gift to greater Melbourne residents, we will post roses to you in their pots, where the order contains four or less roses or where we deem them so nicely established that you’ll enjoy receiving them as potted specimens.
Many of our customers love to retain their roses in pots due to more confined growing space. Having beautiful roses delivered in 20cm pots of quality coir-fibre potting media where they can happily grow and flower for several months is a great bonus!
Please note that available rose varieties are limited in the online store – if there is a particular variety you’re seeking, please don’t hesitate to call between 9 – 4pm Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday when our phones are manned - 03 5787 1123 or 0418 337 765.
After such a wet winter, the glorious green paddocks, new foliage on trees, blossom on fruit trees and a magnificent display of daffodils and spring-flowering bulbs is an absolute joy and reminds me of these few words …
“A garden is a love song, a duet between a human being and Mother Nature.”
How grateful I am, that I’m a gardener and share my passion for gardening with Diana and all of you. In coming weeks I’ll be back in my regular ‘haunts’ (cafes) where I take my notebook to research information and source jokes which I share through this Rose Rambler.
In the meantime, when you’re mowing the lawn, put the catcher on and sprinkle your compost heap with the clippings. Note: I said ‘sprinkle’ … if you put thick layers on, there’s every chance the compost heap will become airless and anaerobic (smelly) which is totally unnecessary. So, pop the lawn clippings over the heap in layers – ordinary straw is good, shredded newspaper works too; some sawdust perhaps.
Turning the heap every week or so is ideal for aeration … use a garden fork so you don’t slice through the worms!
If you don’t have a compost heap you can use very light layers of lawn clippings on garden beds or around the base of trees. Otherwise, you should place them in your green-waste garbage. Never, ever, store lawn clippings in plastic bags in order to have them break down for use as mulch … the resulting mouldy product is lethal!
Here's a quick giggle for the week:
Q. Why do bananas wear suntan lotion? A. Because they peel.
THIS WEEK'S RECOMMENDED ROSES
This past season there has been an unprecedented demand for climbing roses and we still have good supplies of these highly recommended varieties …
Lamarque: is an Old Fashioned climbing/rambling rose 'queen of the garden' as she produces masses of medium-sized lemon centred flowers. 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. Shop Now!
Pierre de Ronsard: One of the most popular climbing roses which produces masses of creamy-white to pale pink blooms deepening to carmine at the edges in cooler weather. Flowers freely and repeatedly. Only very lightly scented but this rose makes up for that by its abundant health and massive production of flowers over a very extended season. Shop Now!
Wollerton Old Hall: Is sensational in the extreme - romantic, so beautiful, perfectly ooh-aah with plump buds with flashes of red on the outer petals open to beautiful chalice-shaped blooms of soft apricot which pale to cream. Shop Now!
We are starting to see flower buds appearing amid the lush foliage so it could well be an early spring here in Victoria … enjoy all the moments of this wonderful season in your garden.
Best wishes to you all from us here at Clonbinane … Graham, Diana & Mooi.