“My names Amber and recently my rose garden has been devastated by Rose Rosette Disease! About 16 of our roses have contracted it. I was wondering if you had advice on how long we should wait to re-plant new roses after digging these ones out as we would like to order between 10-20 bare root roses from you guys.  Also if you could recommend something to prevent mites and other pests that would be great. We had been using eco oil and a yates spray previously, but it didn’t seem to prevent aphids and what I suspect were mites destroying our roses. Perhaps we weren’t diligent enough with spraying.  If you could get back to me at your earliest convenience that would be great! Thanks”

My initial response to Amber … I would be most interested to know who diagnosed your DISEASE?  This all sounds very dramatic and totally over and above ANYTHING that I have experienced in more than 30 years of rose growing!  Seems you’ll swing from chemical maintenance to organic with no success using either regime.

Let me help you grow beautiful roses ORGANICALLY, NATURALLY!!!  Get rid of all the chemicals as the first move.  Take a big, deep breath and relax whenever you go into the rose garden – actually, BEFORE YOU ENTER the rose garden so you go there with a quiet mind ready to experience all the pleasure rather than perhaps focus on some of the negatives which can occur from time to time in ANY GARDEN and on potentially, ANY PLANT!

I am almost 100% sure that your ROSE ROSETTE DISEASE is in fact growth appearing AFTER you’ve been spraying around the roses with one of the GLYPHOSATE PRODUCTS … perhaps RoundUp or Zero???  Had you used a weedicide product prior to noticing the weird foliage which has been diagnosed as RRD?

If you give me more information and perhaps a few pics I’ll take this further … talk soon – Diana

Hello Amber … whilst I was busy packing roses today I noted that there was a parcel of roses for YOU … the roses are now in the post but I’m concerned about whether you should be planting while you seem to have so many issues with the existing roses???

My colleagues have all agreed that there is an OVERDOSE OF SPRAY on your roses … which product exactly, we’re not sure … highly likely a pre-emergent weedicide of some kind.

PLEASE STOP USING ANY SPRAYS OR FERTILIZER ON YOUR ROSES!

ROSE RAMBLER 13.07.2017 …

Hello dear rose friends after another series of freezing nights and gloriously sunny days with birds noisily indicating they’re mating and preparing nests for spring reproduction.  There’s a continual shrilling sound which we think is a tree frog but we’re not quite sure … if you’re in the nursery in coming weeks, please ask about the critter which has us perplexed and sure to be heard during your visit.

I’ve soooo enjoyed reading your stories following on from last week’s Rose Rambler article about ICEBERG!  Thank you all for sharing … yes, unfortunately, ICEBERG has the status of COMMON yet it is without doubt, THE ROSE OF THE CENTURY; it is proudly listed in the WORLD ROSE HALL OF FAME and continues to be the most popular standard rose in our industry year after year!

I guess in the olden days when people were classed according to their status, I might have been classed as a COMMONER.  However, if I had half the beauty and afforded my subjects as much incredible joy as what COMMON old ICEBERG has done, let me gladly be classed as COMMON!  A bit of fun with words I guess …?

GRA’S GARBLE …

I so miss the fragrance of roses since the FRAGRANCE OF A ROSE IS IN ITS SOUL … being deep in the winter here, there’s not a fragrant rose to behold – instead I’m busy pruning so get out and you do just the same – remember that you cannot kill a rose by pruning it … come along to a pruning demo this weekend at WHITTLESEA COURTHOUSE on SATURDAY at 10.00 am and help me and an enthusiastic group of gardeners prune the roses there.

This SUNDAY at 1.30PM be sure to come along to Silkies Rose Farm at Clonbinane where we’ll walk and talk and prune our way through the gardens here … bring the family and pets; don’t forget to bring your secateurs/loppers for a lesson on cleaning and sharpening.

My joke for this week:

Children were asked to write about the ocean and here are a few of their comments to give you a giggle …

Mike, aged 7:  If you are surrounded by ocean, you are an island.  If you don’t have ocean around you, you are incontinent.

James, aged 7:  My dad was a sailor and knows everything about the ocean.  What he doesn’t know is why he quit being a sailor and married my Mother.

I hope you haven’t overlooked ordering these most beautifully fragrant and robustly healthy roses to add to your rose garden collection this winter …

TROPICAL SUNSET
This is a very striking rose – one that stands out when in bloom.  The flowers are beautiful in form and the colour is amazing, yellow with orange stripes fading to a soft pink.  Tropical sunset is a great performing rose with numerous blooms throughout the season and healthy semi-glossy foliage to compliment. Grows to 1.5mts
BLUE MOON
Hybrid Tea rose which has stood the test of time. Tall, upright almost thornless stems produce clusters or single stems of highly fragrant perfectly formed blooms.
FIREFIGHTER
This glorious specimen with tall single stems of the most highly fragrant dark red rose will be a joy to all rose gardeners. The men will rush out to buy it because it has so very few thorns and tell us in the nursery that they just love the red roses … we know it’s all about the lack of thorns even though we also know that men prefer their garden roses to be red!

LOOK AFTER YOURSELF WHILST PRUNING THIS SEASON …

Here are my suggestions for comfortable, safe and enjoyable pruning:

1. Clean and sharp secateurs – we use and recommend Lowe 4 which are available in our online store – www.rosesalesonline.com.au
2. Look after your back – sit on a chair if you need to – one rose at a time!
3. Do light exercise before you start to get your muscles ready for a work-out!
4. Wear protective clothing – most definitely a comfortable pair of gloves.
5. Be the boss and prune each rose according to how it suits your garden!
6. Enjoy being out in the garden knowing that every 25 minutes you spend in your garden is equivalent to a 4km walk – Yep, backed up by University research!

Enjoy all the moments of this fabulous winter weather in your garden – turn over a patch which will be ready for planting spring seedlings to feed your family the most nutrient-rich salad-greens and veggies throughout spring/summer.

Hi Diana,  I posted a message comment on your website a month or so ago, and have only just realised that you had emailed me a response. It went to my junk mail and I accidentally deleted it before I read it and now cannot retrieve it!  So my apologies for the poor communication; I will start again!

I am planning my wedding for Australia Day next year and would love potted white roses leading down the aisle. I have been given all sorts of advice on how to time their flowering, including that floribunda types would be the easiest to time the flowering.  After the wedding I plan to give some away, and keep some for myself which I intend to plant out within a few years.

Although I am an agronomist by day, I have not had much to do with roses at all! I’d would be very grateful for any advice you may be able to offer me. Are there any varieties that you would suggest? I am mainly aiming for ease of management, ability to time the flowering, and abundance and fragrance of flowers. Of course things like disease resistance and hardiness would be useful going forward, but I imagine you can’t have everything!  Also if there is a resource that answers my questions please feel free to send me in that direction instead. Thanks very much, Pamela

POPE JOHN PAUL II
A magnificent pure white rose with the most amazing fragrance!  The healthy bush produces masses of long stemmed, large blooms continually throughout the season – a very highly recommended rose!