Hello Dear Rose Friends,
Happy Australia Day tomorrow – may you take a quiet moment to acknowledge that you proudly call Australia home and then make a commitment to do everything in your power to keep our magnificent country clean and our places safe and beautiful by practicing the most environmentally friendly methods of living in our shared space.
“IT IS MY FAITH THAT EVERY FLOWER ENJOYS THE AIR IT BREATHES!”
– William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
… Thank you for attending our series of Summer Rose Management Seminars – sharing information as we do at our meetings together is so vitally important and believe me, we get as much benefit from this exchange as you tell us you do!
Conversations amongst gardeners are always so very, very interesting and one particularly fascinating discussion recently was about the owl who resides in Melbourne suburban areas and decapitates possums.
After I heard this story, I found a decapitated rabbit on my driveway early yesterday morning – was that an owl, a fox or a feral cat? It’s a mystery because we have all of those predators in our natural surroundings along the Sunday Creek here at Clonbinane and have never seen this before – anybody with information, please don’t hesitate to let us know via email:
info@rosesalesonline.com.au – thank you in advance!
A giggle for you:
Q: Why did the meteorologist stay in bed?
A: He was feeling under the weather!
SPECIAL 50% OFF … BUY ONE “LOVING MEMORY”, GET ONE FREE ROSE
Magnificent ‘Loving Memory’ is one of our most popular Gift Roses and we have another 300 bare-rooted plants ordered for this coming winter so this is your opportunity to purchase FLOWERING / POTTED PLANTS OF LOVING MEMORY AT 50% OFF!
Put one rose in your garden and leave one in a pot so that if the occasion arises where you need a gift, you’ll have this beautiful rose on hand.
If you want a continually-flowering, awesome display of large, hybrid tea-shaped roses in your garden, plant both and you’ll only ever have to buy a bunch of red roses for a vase in your home during winter!
If you’re away from home on holidays and you would like us to post your potted roses during the first weeks of February, please let us know in the comments section of your order.
PRUNING CLIMBING ROSES …
This week, we received the most perfect pictures from Deborah in Queensland who planted ‘Sympathie’ last season and hasn’t had a flower yet … perhaps I’ll be able to explain why, once you check out the pictures and my advice in bold text of this email exchange.
- Seasonal Concepts
- Brave Goose Winery at Whiteheads Creek,
- The General Store
- The Village Green at Strath Creek
You can start or finish your day with a visit to us here at the Clonbinane interchange on the Hume Freeway just 60kms north of Melbourne where we’ll do a walk-and-talk in the garden.
Hello Silkies Rose Farm, around June last year I purchased a climbing rose – Sympathie and it has taken off much to my delight as I was apprehensive how successful this would be in the Queensland climate. I have attached photos so you can see how well this is progressing, however I am emailing to ask for guidance with managing the climbing
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Also, I have canes sprouting from the front of the rose which you can see in one of the photos.
I think this will become a nuisance as it has no support and will grow wild over the lawn - but I'm reluctant to cut this cane off. What would be the best management with this one?
This branch should be pruned off way earlier so that energy can transfer to more flowers and growth – in fact, I used to rub away / nip watershoots from down at the crown when I didn’t want them to grow outwards.
Any tips on training my climber you can offer me would be most appreciated. On the upside, with all the rain we have had in Brisbane and very heavy at times, this rose has not been affected. Other plants in the garden haven't survived.
Being tucked against the house wall, this rose was possibly protected from drenching so be aware that it might need an extra few litres of water during very hot, dry spells!
I’m sure your magnificent Sympathie climber will flower this autumn if you give it a good trim now and I look forward to seeing photos when it does as it will be spectacular indeed!
This article is worth saving for future reference as we get lots and lots of requests about managing climbing roses. Please remember that my rule-of-thumb for climbing roses is this:
YOU BE THE BOSS!
Another giggle for you…
Q: What’s the difference between weather and climate?
A: You can’t weather a tree but you can climate. (As in, climb it!)
The kids who write these jokes are smart and really, who cares about spelling – surely a giggle is way more important?
Enjoy this weekend in your Aussie garden – hope the snag on the BBQ is delicious and there’s lots of love and laughter at your place … cheers from us here at Silkies Rose Farm, Clonbinane.