Hello Dear Rose Friends,
Let’s start with a good news story from Joy in rain affected Queensland …
Hi Diana and Gra,
The recent rains up here have decimated much of my garden, after all we had nearly a metre of rain drench us in a little under a week. The lavender hedge is history as are many of the daisies and salvia. However, all of the roses, both in the ground and in pots, have survived and flourished. I am now (thanks to your advice) going back out there to give them some fertiliser and some local gossip. Yes, I talk to the plants. I get better results from them than talking to the cat who is not the best conversationalist around.
Thank you for a lovely newsletter and I will be looking at the rose sales shortly to see what if anything I can fit in somewhere else in the garden. I like the look of the white ones, especially if they have perfume.
Cheers … Joy
Powdery Mildew
Every rose gardener may struggle to retain healthy foliage with extremely heavy dew and cold nights. We’re fertilizing our potted roses with a drench of Eco-aminogro and Eco-seaweed as well as the pellets of Complete Organic Fertilizer and Soilcharge.
Black Spot
At least once every ten days we’re spraying the organic rose management program over them and they’re still looking great. However, our garden roses are showing signs of stress like this …
Botrytis on flowers
Naturally, some varieties are more disease resistant than others or they might be in a more open area so foliage dries more quickly. We just trim affected foliage and flowers to reduce spread of disease and we find the more we trim and feed the roses, especially at this time of year, the more they’re flowering so it’s a win : win!
INVASIVE WEEDS can be a real issue and here you see Janelle and Diana actually digging up all the roses, bulbs and perennials out of the garden area where couch became a problem with potential to spread even further through the garden bed …
Note that I was Tottering By Gently (the name of a 2023 New Release David Austin Rose) which is planted quite close to where the ladies were head- down and bum-up …
The bed will be left fallow for a few weeks to be sure every piece of the weed was successfully removed and then replanted without the use of herbicide – well done Janelle and Diana.
For a giggle here are some silly book titles:
Infectious Diseases by Willie Catchit, Explosives for Beginners by Dinah Might or Easy Money by Robin Banks
Bare Rooted Beauties
This past weekend, after a heavy dew when there wasn’t a breath of wind, we took some magnificent pictures of roses in the garden …
St. Cecilia is a wonderful David Austin rose. A rather tall and wide bush that produces a plethora of very fragrant, pale pink roses with a beautiful myrrh fragrance, continually throughout the season. I've always found this rose to be a good cut flower too. BUY NOW
The Children’s Rose - Hybrid Tea Rose of the most delicate China pink and the most robust growth.
The Children’s Rose produces highly fragrant blooms of soft powder pink which slowly unfurl to reveal a mass of swirling petals in fully double blooms. The flowering stems are mostly single, sometimes in clusters and are very long lasting in the vase. There are very few thorns on the flower stems which means that the children themselves can pick the flowers! BUY NOW
Little Wonder is an absolute little ripper of a ground covering rose with one plant spreading low over an area at least 1.5 metres wide but staying low, hugging the ground and flowering non-stop over an immensely long season.
Beautiful clean foliage - glossy green. The single, five-petalled pure white blooms have an intense boss of yellow stamens which bees crave to enjoy so one plant of this great rose somewhere near your veggie garden or bee hive will please these necessary visitors to pollinate your garden! BUY NOW
Winter Sun is one of the most extraordinarily healthy, free-flowering Hybrid Tea roses in this colour range of pale lemon fading to cream. Huge, fragrant blooms of perfect form are produced continually throughout the season on a large, glossy leaved bush. BUY NOW
Soul Sister is a magnificent Floribunda Rose with perfect Hybrid Tea shaped blooms - the colour is a blend of milky coffee and lavender on a healthy bush which flowers prolifically throughout the season.
Like a lot of modern shrub roses, SOUL SISTER is easy to manage, especially if you pick lots of flowers for a vase indoors! It's a beautifully rounded and bushy shrub to approximately 150cms.
This delightful rose should be gifted to a very special friend or indeed that very special person who is your Sister and of course, you should also have one in your garden! BUY NOW
Since it’s that time of year to get your order for bare-rooted roses in place, perhaps you would consider any of the above beauties which give us such pleasure in our gardens and you’re sure to love too.
ONE MORE GIGGLE BEFORE YOU GO:
Q: What has eyes that cannot see, a tongue that cannot taste and a soul that cannot die?
A: A shoe.
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL ROSE CHAMPIONSHIPS & CONFERENCE
Roses by the Seaside at Kiama, NSW 29th April – 2nd May 2022
Graham & Diana Sargeant speaking from 10am – 11.30 on Saturday, 30th April
More details to come in RR next week. Have a lovely week in your autumn garden! Talk to you next week … Cheers from Gra and Diana, Mooi and the team here at Silkies Rose Farm, Clonbinane …