LIONS ROSE
Modern Shrub/Floribunda rose of immense beauty,
resistance to disease and ability to grow
and flower in any sunny location.

MAGGIE
Modern Shrub rose named for our very own
Maggie Tabberer who is the patron of the Melanoma Foundation
who receive the royalty payments from sales of this rose in Australia.

LINKED HEARTS
Beautifully fragrant Hybrid Tea rose produces masses of
perfectly shaped blooms with the clearest pale pink centres
fading to almost white at the edge of the petals.

Garden Seminar

ROSE RAMBLER 18.05.2017 …

Hello dear rose friends as the cold weather starts to kick in with winter just around the corner now; the lovely sunny afternoons are such a delight with the autumn tree colours enhanced by sun – it’s a beautiful, beautiful time of year in our garden!

Not much time to squander enjoying the view though … we are head-down-bum-up heeling in this seasons bare-rooted roses … 5,000 of which arrived this morning!

We sure hope you have your rose order organised for this year – there seems to be a reinvented interest in roses and yes, we think it’s because they are more and more easy-care, free-flowering and there’s a huge amount of fragrance in the newly released roses!

Place your order during the next 5 days and enjoy selecting one of our FREE ROSES as a special treat for all orders over $100.

GRA’S GARBLE …

Today we removed the outer layer of hay bales from the compost heap which was started on November 16th, 2016 because we wanted to use those straw bales (filled with breeding worms) to create a new compost heap over a load of steaming, fresh horse stable manure and bags of oak leaves from a Melbourne property which were delivered here this past weekend.

Rotten little opportunists we are – absolutely! and most especially when it comes to gathering such glorious products to create more compost which enhances our gardens!

You might think “it’s all right for them, they’ve got lots of space” … but hang on, just a very small amount of space would be required in your back yard where you can compost all the ‘stuff’ you need to put some goodness back into your garden … I hope this information triggers action at your place:

Alarming Facts – we can all help to reduce – Approximately 50% of the rubbish Australians put in the everyday mixed-waste ‘garbage bin’ could be put to better use in the garden as compost and mulch or could be returned to agricultural land to improve soil quality. Based on 25 Council audits conducted by EC Sustainable in 2011, around 33% of the rubbish is food organics (including peelings) and about 10% is garden vegetation.

Alarmingly, such a huge amount of organically-active material buried ‘anaerobically’ (without air) in landfills causes over 3% of Australia’s total greenhouse gas emissions annually through the production of methane gas (which has 25 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide).

Please click on the link to read more: http://www.compostweek.com.au/core/about-composting/

Q.  Why did the jelly-bean go to school?  A. Because it wanted to be a smartie!

It was such joy to make a ball of humus exactly 6 months to the date after Diana created the hay-bale-compost-heap when she became frustrated at the amount of weeds I had caused by putting oat straw on garden beds last winter … we turned a negative situation into a huge positive for our gardens.

This new compost heap has very different composition with a similar concept from its creation – lovely customers in Melbourne load their garbage bin with leaves every week and since they enjoy raking them, we suggested they might like to bag them and bring them here on their next visit – 19 bags of leaves over a load of stable manure from our neighbours!  I’m in heaven … whistle, whistle!  In 6 months, I’ll show you another series of photos and truly, very little input for an immensely pleasing reward!

PLEASE DO NOT PUT AUTUMN LEAVES IN GARBAGE – USE THEM AS MULCH AROUND YOUR GARDEN OR BAG THEM; TAKE THEM WHERE SOMEONE WILL USE THEM FOR COMPOST – MOST SUBURBS HAVE A COMMUNITY GARDEN – TAKE THE BAGGED LEAVES THERE.

NEVER BURN AUTUMN LEAVES – PLEASE COMPOST THEM OR BRING THEM HERE!

Q.  Why were the baby strawberries upset?  A.  Because their parents were in a jam.

STANDARD ROSES VERSUS BUSH ROSE …

Many roses should NEVER be budded onto a standard understock/stem because of their upright shape and despite me constantly telling our customers to ‘be the boss and make the rose grow as you wish it to grow’, I encourage you to be careful when selecting standard roses for your garden!

Here are a few of my most favourite standard roses because they are so beautifully shaped when grown on a 90cm standard understock/stem …

Our standard roses will become available at the end of June/early July – remember, always buy quality and consider durable stakes like 13-16mm rio-rod and use reliable ties – we use and highly recommend VELCRO ONE-WRAP 19mm.

If you need assistance creating the rose garden of your dreams design, let me give you a hand – send as many pics, dimensions, ideas and your own wishes so together we can make it work … my motto:  DO IT ONCE, DO IT WELL …

ROSE RAMBLER 11.05.2017 …

Hello dear rose friends as the frosty mornings take their toll on our beautiful roses for this season – a few will be glorious this weekend for Mother’s Day gifting – the most spectacular rose right now is PERFUME PASSION.

You know, there are times when the name of a rose is very, very important – I understand that because I do the GIFT ROSE which is, quite sincerely, mostly about the NAME OF THE ROSE … however, when appropriate, I will select a more gloriously beautifully flowering rose or a more robust, healthy specimen to pop into the GIFT ROSE pack!

Why?  Well, it’s all about the MEANING of the GIFT ROSE – you don’t want a shaggy, half-decent rose being delivered and let’s be honest here, sometimes in their flowering cycle, most roses go through a pretty shaggy time when they’re definitely NOT suitable for gifting.

MOTHER’S LOVE which is so appropriate for Mother’s Day this weekend has NEVER been at her absolute best by late April/early May so think outside the square and afford your Mum the most spectacular rose available at the time!

It might be AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL or SUMMER ROMANCE or LA VIE EN ROSE which are all new varieties we have carefully selected to add to our list for this season.

GRA’S GARBLE …

It’s winter which means it’s footy season so let’s see if you can get this joke:

Q. Why are football grounds odd? A. Because you can sit in the stands but can’t stand in the sits!

ORGANIC ROSE SPRAY MANAGEMENT PROGRAM …

There’s little need to continue spraying the roses now as they are ready to go into winter dormancy which means their foliage will spoil with yellow leaves and black spot.
This means there is no more photosynthesis; the rose ceases flowering or producing new foliage so the foliage will drop and the rose bush will be ready for winter pruning.
VERY INTERESTING EMAIL …

I will remind you as we head into winter rose management that once the roses have had a bit of dormancy, they’re hardened for winter pruning and the organic rose management program will be implemented again.

Meantime, please don’t give up on regular seaweed solution applications.  Remember, as the nights get frosty, your roses and other plants will enjoy between 3-5 degrees of greater frost tolerance if their cells are filled with seaweed solution protection!!!
I urge you to conduct trials in your own garden … pour seaweed solution over a few plants, leave others without and see for yourself what the difference is … these trials are not ‘overnight’ visually apparent but your whole garden will appear more robust and healthy when you implement regular fertilizer and maintenance programs!

When ordering your roses NOW FOR WINTER PLANTING, afford your plants a really great start with ECO-SEAWEED – this 600g pack of powdered seaweed with just a small scoop per 10 litre watering can will make more than 500 watering cans of solution … all that for just $32.50 – be sure and add it to your winter rose order!

Q.  What lights up a football stadium?  A.  A football match!

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY

… to all our beautiful rose gardening Mothers, Grandmothers, Nonnas, Omas and Great-Grandmothers … “Grandmere” which my beautiful Mother has the joy of hearing 17 of her great grandchildren call her!!!  

If you’re awake nice and early on Sunday tune into 3CR GARDENING SHOW at 855 on the AM band quite close to 774 ABC Melbourne.  Graham will join a great panel of professional gardeners who offer their Sunday morning for your listening pleasure and learning …

SUGAR MOON
Ooooh, gosh but was it gorgeous in the vase at Tesselaar’s Expo recently and it will be a delight in your garden as a lovely healthy rounded shrub which is bound to produce masses to flowering stems throughout the season … I’ll be sure to plant at least one in my new garden …

EARTH ANGEL
Luscious palest pink heavily petalled and deeply cupped, highly fragrant blooms are the outstanding glory of this magnificent new rose …

ELYSIUM FIELD
Salmon pink blooms with masses of petals which reflex to flat open blooms on an extremely healthy shrub rose – the flowers were glorious after a very humid five days in a vase which is another reason to grow this beauty in your garden …

Hi… last year I ordered a bare rooted rose from you my order no. #2857.  I planted the rose…like I do all my roses properly…it is very weak and sick looking lost all its leaves and is now looking very sorry for itself.. Do you have any ideas what I can do..I would love to save it.  I planted it in memory of my deceased 18 year old cat Duchess.  Any help would be appreciated – Gayle

Perhaps if you send some pics I might be able to assist you?  I’m thinking you might have planted DUCHESSE DE BRABANT which is a magnificently strong Tea Rose of immense beauty.

Please do let me know … Diana(Several weeks passed and I got a photo which I cannot locate but the rose looked great.)  The next email was:

Hello Gayle … oooh, I can see lots and lots of new growth/foliage on this plant … perhaps it has been sulking for a while but it’s definitely ok in the location where it is planted so LEAVE IT ALONE!  Give it regular seaweed solution – weekly perhaps because of the intense heat stress it might be incurring and it will be beautiful in no time!  Hope this is helpful and keep me posted please … best wishes

Hi Diana….thanks for the advice…yes it is looking a lot better, thanks again –  Gayle.

Early this week, I received this email from Gayle:

Hi Diana…thought I would give you an update on my DUCHESSE rose….the rose is healthy…I realise it was being nibbled at by rabbits!!  Have a wire protection on it now.  LOL..live and learn!