Hello Dear Rose Friends,
How lovely the weather was this past Saturday for the first Walk ‘n’ Talk in the Garden with Graham. We all enjoyed the day with a special treat being home-baked cake after the first-morning session. No, of course, I didn’t get up early to make it but I surely enjoyed a slice of it!
Thanks to all of you for participating in this event; due to the success of today, we’ll schedule more of these sessions and urge you to come along too.
Watering Newly Planted Roses
There have been a few emails recently about roses that haven’t fared well after being planted in their new gardens. This is particularly interesting …
"The Nahema rose I bought from you seemed healthy when it came in the post. I soaked it in seaweed solution for 24 hours and planted it out in a good size hole with premium potting mix and mulched it to counter Brisbane heat. However, it began to die back within a week, quickly losing all its small green shoots and the three stalks turned completely brown. I am not sure whether it has died or has just gone brown and will rejuvenate. What do you advise? Deborah"
My response: It’s not highly recommended to plant INTO potting mix. Did you mix that really well with the existing soil? I rather think the rose has died through lack of water because if it was surrounded by just potting mix. It would need to be watered every single day – at least 10 litres per day. If the stems are all brown, you’ve almost certainly lost the rose. You could send a pic … Cheers - Gra
"Hi Gra, It looks as though the Nahema potted rose has died even though I did combine the potting mix with compost and soil (ours is very clayey), chose an open sunny space and watered it in well over several days. I have purchased another one today so I hope it does better.
Should I plant it in a different space to the first one?
Several Nahema roses are growing beautifully over an arch in a house nearby, so I know it can grow well in this area of Brisbane. Thanks, Deborah"
My response: My guess, from what you’ve written here, is that you've drowned it by “ … watering in well over several days”… or perhaps starved it of water right at the beginning.
Here’s what to do: Take the potted rose from box, absolutely soak it so that water comes from the drain holes, do it again. Then water over with seaweed solution. Let it rest in a sunny open space and then prepare the planting hole which has been soaked. Break walls of the planting hole, add some compost, NOT POTTING MIX (which has way, way too much air!). Next, fork the clay with the compost and create a hole for the potted rose.
Upend the pot, put the rose in the hole, backfill and tamp the soil/compost/clay to make a slight well around the base of the rose. Get the hose and soak the area to a slurry (if no hose, two full watering cans of water over the newly planted rose) and then pop some seaweed into the watering can and pour the last can of water over the rose.
LEAVE IT ALONE FOR AT LEAST FIVE DAYS. Let it settle and adjust to your conditions. DO NOT CONSTANTLY WATER!!! After five days, check the soil with your finger and if it feels dry, pour two watering cans of water over the rose. You could add some seaweed if feeling generous. Check again in five days and proceed the same.
It is imperative that EVERY TIME YOU WATER THE NEW ROSE (or any rose for that matter), you deep soak the plant. Giving a piddling amount makes the soil at the top look wet but the top of the soil doesn’t support the roots, soil way down in the planting hole is what supports the rose to flourish!
You can plant this new rose in the same hole as long as you are confident the drainage is in order and you’ve added more compost and no more potting mix. Please do let me know how this goes. Thank you and best wishes - Gra
A QUICK GIGGLE THIS WEEK:
Q: How do you get a squirrel to like you?
A: Act like a nut!
Watering your garden is extremely important.
Get to know your soil and how well it retains water. Mulch is vital to assist with moisture retention and a plethora of other benefits are achieved with any type of mulch so if your soil isn’t mulched yet, I recommend you make this a priority!
Having had many days of warm sunshine and plenty of rain in between, many varieties of roses which were not able to be purchased online are now available. Here are just a few:
Carmagnole - A Delbard shrub rose of incredible beauty and healthy vigorous growth. This delightful rose begs you to pick the buds and place them in a vase where they will slowly proceed to open and display a delightful cluster of stamens.
BUY NOW!
Neptune - Hybrid Tea Rose of absolute magnificence and highly recommended for Australian rose gardens. Raised in the USA and released by Swane’s Nursery, this sensational rose will surely play a competition with the old, very widely grown ‘Blue Moon’ rose and most likely come out the winner because the flowers are very sturdy and long lasting on the bush or in a vase.
BUY NOW!
Camp David - Hybrid Tea dark red rose and one of the most stunning! This rose is one of the most abundant Hybrid Teas, producing the darkest red, red roses - no purple in this beauty as I refer to it as 'brown red' ... it stays dark red all the way through to petal drop and it has the most glorious fragrance.
BUY NOW!
A visit to Silkies Rose Farm, Clonbinane will not disappoint and as you step from your car the heavenly fragrance will overwhelm you. There are way more varieties of roses available here than online and walking in the gardens will give you ideas for creating your own rose garden.
Open times: FRIDAY, SATURDAY, SUNDAY, MONDAY – 9AM – 4PM
We hope to see you at Clonbinane sometime soon! Cheers from Gra, Diana, Mooi, and the chooks at Clonbinane …