Hello Dear Rose Friends,
To say it’s been challenging is an understatement! We're experiencing extraordinarily cold, windy weather and more than 40mm of rain this past week without any sunshine in the outlook.
Despite the weather, we have many happy customers thoroughly enjoying planting their new roses. Because we’ve promised you that we’re working on a chronological ordering system this year, if you ordered back in late 2021 and we have dug the varieties you ordered, your order was the first to leave!
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Sue sent through pictures of the roses she received and it’s interesting to note the lovely fresh white shoots on the roots. This happens because we have wrapped the roses with damp coir fibre in wet newspaper and then sealed this off in a tightly taped plastic bag.
Obviously, orders are coming through each and every day so in some cases, the roses that you’re ordering are heeled in our ‘AVAILABLE’ side of the heel beds so we can post the roses to you immediately, just as if you came to visit us here at Silkies Rose Farm.
We would pull them from the sawdust/soil heel-in beds and wrap them; meantime, you’ll have given Mooi a cuddle, we’d have a chat and you would go home and plant your new roses!
Perhaps you’re having roses posted. This can be an issue for some:
"Hi guys, I've just received my new roses and they look great and ready to go in the ground.
My question is this...
I work full-time and won't be able to get into my garden till the weekend. Do I put them in a bucket of water till then or do something called heeling in which I would have to do in the dark after work.?
Is it ok for the roses to stay in water for that length of time ie 5 - 6 days.
Kind Regards - Gail"
My response: You leave them in the pack we sent and they’ll be more than happy in a cool place like out in the garage or on the back porch!
Most important that they’re kept moist and we’re experts at posting roses with the most diligent love and care . When you get up on Saturday morning, pop the roses into a bucket of water with the sachet of eco-seaweed we supplied. Leave them for a while, go have brekky, do the shopping, change the beds and then when you’re relaxed and ready for a bit of garden therapy, go plant the beautiful roses we posted.
Remember, once they’re planted, we highly recommend that you remove approximately ONE-HALF of each stem using sharpened secateurs. You can be particular and make a slanted cut to an outward-facing bud but believe us when we tell you that particularity is nowhere near as important as trimming by half each stem of the roses you’ve just planted!
Enjoy your day in the garden this Saturday.
Best wishes and thank you once again for your order. Cheers
Must start with a joke this week …
Q: Why do bunnies like maths so much?
A: Because they’re always multiplying!
(I watched a rabbit run under our studio this morning – I’ll bet she’s got a belly full of babies who’ll want to eat the silver beet I planted for the chooks when they arrive in spring!!!)
Winter Digging Season Challenges
Winter digging season can be challenging. We now see which varieties have perhaps struggled during the past growing season. Weather and soil issues or budding failure now become apparent.
We won’t ever substitute a particular rose variety if you stipulated this on your order!
Sometimes, an order comes up and when we go to harvest your roses from the heel-in beds, the entire order is ready but one variety is perhaps not to our specification of posting only top-quality roses.
At such a time, we may put a substitute rose in your parcel (along with the requested variety) and we promise that the rose we post to you will be one of our BEST, one you perhaps missed ordering when you were selecting your roses and it will be as close in similarity to your selected variety! Plant both, one in a pot perhaps and then, when it grows beautifully, plant it in your garden!
We already know that some varieties are unavailable this season so please give us your trust knowing we’re posting the very best substitute. Where possible, we will be in contact with you!
One last joke for this week:
Q. What do you call a rabbit who is angry over getting burnt?
A: A hot cross bunny.
Celebrate Winter Rose Bundle Promo
You’ll not need to substitute when you order this lovely bundle of roses this week!
These three magnificent roses would be awesome in a garden bed close to your entry so that you could enjoy their fragrance when you pass by … put them in pots even and be sure to continually cut blooms from them to put in vases to enjoy the fragrance indoors.
Can be posted immediately for just $90.00 including postage.
SHOP NOW!
Perf-yoom Perfume – one of the most highly fragrant roses we stock!
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.
Blue Emotion – amazing shrub rose with flowers to pick and vase always!
A Delbard Rose in the Grand Parfum Collection. This beautiful rose has large highly attractive lilac-mauve blooms, well-shaped and bearing scalloped petals.
Roald Dahl – incredibly free-flowering shrub of immense beauty!
This rose features soft orange buds that open to medium-sized, perfectly cupped and robust rosettes of a perfect apricot with a fruity Tea scent. The plant matures to an attractive well round, healthy bushy shrub with few thorns.
BUY NOW!
Be sure to rug up and when the winter sun is shining, pop your boots on and go for a stroll in the garden – let the cold wind put a rosy glow on your cheeks!