ROSE RAMBLER 18TH JUNE, 2020 – Hello Dear Rose Friends as we welcome the winter solstice this Sunday – already the shortest day of the year, a new moon and rather exciting that some of you will already be planting your new roses for this season.
Take a leaf out of Tony’s book and follow our instructions …
"Hello Diana, just letting you know all arrived safely yesterday. I left my bare-rooted roses for 24 hours in a bucket with seaweed solution.
Have spent the morning planting my 3 lovely roses and watering them.
I will go out this afternoon and trim back all stems by about half. Am reluctant to do this trim, but that is what you say I should do, so I will do it to ensure I get lovely new flowers in the near future.
I have also started reading your rose book. Again, thank you. Regards … Tony"
As promised, we are posting parcels of roses every day of the week however, there are some varieties of roses which are still waiting to be dug – Soul Sister is holding up a lot of orders, so is Black Caviar. Sadly, R. chinensis ‘Mutabilis’ incurred massive bud-take failure so we have taken steps to have the rose propagated and ready for supply in December this year as potted specimens.
Some varieties are already sold out from the first round so will be supplied to us again by late June/early July. Please understand there is no way we can process thousands and thousands of roses in one delivery!
Bare-rooted roses enjoy a seasonal process which lasts from June right through to late August / September … in previous years, lots of our customers were away from their homes during winter on sojourns in the Northern Hemisphere or travelling around our warmer States here in Australia – we held their roses until they came home and we’ve never had issues with late winter planting! In fact, it can be ideal as the soil warms …
I don’t remember ever planting a bare-rooted rose as I realistically probably never had time to plant during winter but also, I love the rose to get established in a pot which acts like a humid-crib and then, when its established, I’ll plant it in my garden – we all have quirky attitudes and ideas; do you know one of the most important things about gardening is to follow your heart – yes, listen to your intuition to be guided to do what you think is right when it comes to taking action in your garden!
I received this quotation from our business team and am inspired to share it during these still challenging times:
"The leader is one who, out of clutter, brings simplicity ... out of discord, harmony ... and out of difficulty, opportunity."
- Albert Einstein
Following on from my discussion last week about tree root competition in a rose garden, may I suggest that when you’re deciding on which tree to plant in your garden, you consult with a professional for advice about the potential size of the tree, the complexity of its root-system and whether in fact, it’s totally suitable for planting in your garden – just this past week we have had to remove two well established trees in our garden because they have incurred shade and root competition on two very vital parts of the rose garden.
One of the trees was planted immediately after 2009 Black Saturday bushfire which ravaged our garden – we were keen to replant oak trees which are very fire-retardant compared to Australian native species. In our urgency to plant anything with ‘green’ leaves after living with such blackened devastation, a few of the established trees we planted on 7th March, 2009 just one month after the fire, were not exactly well located.
Please take our experience into account when deciding which tree to plant where in your garden – especially if you have a bare-landscape to work with as is common, sadly, in many of our new housing estates!
Q. Why is a tree like a big dog? A. They both have a lot of bark.
Our darlin’ poodle, Mooi, would challenge any big dog – her bark is megga times bigger than her 2.3kgs of might! She’s the watch dog who greets you with a bark but loves a cuddle …
TIPS FOR PLANTING ROSES
The same rule applies to planting roses – you would plant Nahema on a piece of (steel) trellis on the walk to your front door and keep it trimmed to 1.8 metres tall so that you can reach in and smell a bloom which is sure to relieve any pressure you’ve experienced at work! Don’t plant this beauty way down the back yard where you cannot enjoy picking a bunch of roses for a vase on the kitchen bench – plant it where YOU can enjoy its glorious fragrance and immense beauty. SHOP NOW
Maggie should be planted at the centre of a garden bed where she can branch out to 1.5 metres around and afford you a most magnificent display of luscious creamy bunches of blooms. She is continually on an extraordinarily healthy shrub which requires little or no attention other than quality fertiliser regularly – do pick a truss of flowers for a vase! Magnificent! SHOP NOW
For a bold splash of strong red colour, plant Gallipoli Centenary Rose – this awesomely healthy bush will flower with flushes of perfectly formed HT shaped blooms continually as long as you always cut stems of flowers for a vase – there isn’t much perfume but this rose doesn’t need fragrance to be fantastic! SHOP NOW
Q. Why are elephants so wrinkly? A. Because they take too long to iron!
I hope you enjoy the longest sleep of the year this Saturday night – from Sunday onwards we’re heading into shorter nights … please email us at info@rosesalesonline.com.au if you need assistance for any issues with your roses – enjoy a bit of down-time in the rose garden unless, of course, you’re planting new roses!
Cheers from all of us here at Silkies Rose Farm, Clonbinane …