This Rose Rambler will continue to be my interaction with you as I don’t have Social Media but Diana is sure to keep me informed - we both really love putting this weekly newsletter together!
ATTENTION TO DETAIL IN YOUR SPRING GARDEN WILL PAY OFF...
Once you learn about ‘blind shoots’ you’ll never be able to stop yourself from FINGER-PRUNING them if/when they occur on your roses – mostly during spring when there can be enormous fluctuations in temperature.
The blind shoot appears because sugar is rushing through the stems during warm weather and if that sugar is stalled during cold spells, growth is ‘stunted’ until you go and FINGER-PRUNE that growth …
Here’s a few pictures to show you what to look for …
This is a normal shoot with a bud ready to grow plump and flower soon
This is a blind shoot - see that there's absolutely no place for growth 
| This is the blind shoot removed in order that healthy growth can occur |
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This past weekend, I took Judy on a walk through potted roses in the nursery to find blind shoots – Kyneton can be as cold as Clonbinane so she’s sure to be on the lookout and then when she removes them, her roses will get on with budding into beautiful spring/summer blooming.
THINGS TO DO NOW IN YOUR SPRING ROSE GARDEN …
- It’s definitely time to fertilize your roses with quality and preferably organic fertilizer – if you’re coming past Silkies Rose Farm, call in and pick up a 20kg bag of Complete Organic Fertilizer (RRP $42.50)
- If there isn’t a thick layer of mulch around your roses, pop a couple of bags of pea straw/milled lucerne/preferred mulch on your weekly shopping list – this spreads out the cost of mulching which is vital for healthy soil
- Check drippers and all aspects of irrigation systems – much nicer to work on this now while the weather is pleasant for working outdoors – it will get quite hot very soon and we anticipate a hot summer is around the corner
- Tie up canes on climbing roses – they’ll be growing at a rate of knots now and there’s nothing nicer than to see a climber neatly covering an arch like this Bantry Bay which Jason trims and ties to perfection in our front garden …
This is an interesting picture with Mooi sitting up on the bale of pea straw in the foreground but take a look at the partly mulched bed in the background … lots of weeds being removed first and then a thick layer of pea straw covers the soil! EVEN WE LOSE ROSES OCCASIONALLY … Just last week I noticed this Blue Moon Standard rose wilting and within two days it was dead and removed … 
Note the injury along the stem in the second photo. 
It appears that fungus has penetrated the stem after a knock or lower down, there may well have been rabbits taking a nibble right through the cambium layer and thus caused the demise of this rose.
Things happen in gardens that are beyond our control and I urge you to take a good look at the soil and the environment around where a plant dies – you’ll usually find a reason and in most cases, the situation can be remedied and a new plant will flourish in that location.
Sometimes we admit to grower fault or error in labelling but 99.9% of the time, if you take remedial action when you notice a rose is failing to perform as you would expect at this time of year, it may well survive once you lift it from the soil and give it some TLC in a pot. In the case of our Blue Moon standard in the above pictures, no amount of remedial action would have saved the rose so I accept that sometimes, things just go ‘wrong’ in the garden and this gives me an opportunity to plant a new rose! | Finally, after almost 15 years without beautiful Silkie Fowls roaming around our gardens we now have this pair of hens and anticipate the arrival of a rooster in weeks to come so that our breeding of these beautiful fowls will continue. |
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EXCITING RELEASE OF NEW SEAWEED GOLD AND BLOOM BOOM …
We are so pleased to announce we’ll be working with Fair Dinkum Fertilizer who are based at Thomastown, just 30 kms from Clonbinane. It fits with our Sustainable Gardening Australia principles to work with suppliers close to us … I have done extensive trials and am completely convinced that working with seaweed which is harvested in our Australian waters and processed locally is a WIN FOR US ALL … |
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SPECIAL OFFER THIS WEEK … |
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every parcel with two or more roses in it will contain sample bottles of Seaweed Gold and Bloom Boom with instructions for application and we’ll have all these products and more, available from next week onwards.
There’s no doubt that spring is an exciting time with everything lush and nature doing her absolutely beautiful best for us to enjoy being outdoors … come and visit us during the school holidays and we’ll have a competition for the kids to name these two new lovely Silkies – bring a picnic and sit on the lawns here … see you soon for a great day out
Graham, Diana, Mooi and the team at Silkies Rose Farm, Clonbinane … |
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