Month: January 2019

As we acknowledge with heartfelt thanks the beautiful messages we received from you, our dear Rose Friends … your words of comfort helped ease our pain and we are sincerely grateful! As Maree wrote: “… it’s strange but I feel, like many of your customers must feel, that you are more like our friends than our rose suppliers. This is the joy of roses, they bring people closer together.”

We can all breathe a sigh of relief that this very hot month of summer is beyond us! Here’s some timely advice from Graham to get us through February which is usually the hottest month of the year in most regions …

GRA’S GARBLE …

Q. What’s the laziest mountain in the world?  A. Mount Ever-Rest.

Since you’ve probably had a good rest over the Christmas break, as of tomorrow, Friday, 1st Feb and all days until late on Tuesday, 4th Feb are perfect days on the Lunar Calendar for WEEDING YOUR GARDEN – be it by hand-weeding or spraying.

If you cut the lawn this weekend it will be slower growing – this is also the best time for dethatching or coring lawns – fertilize also!

During the next four days, you can Summer prune your roses – you can remove around 1/3 of the bush but remember to leave as much foliage on the plants as possible to protect them just in case we get more severely hot weather!!!

It’s a great time to fertilize all established plants – water in well afterwards!

Make a compost heap – there are lots of fallen leaves already due to extremely hot weather conditions so make use of those leaves.

Prepare soil and fertilize garden beds for autumn/winter planting.

Take advantage of the phases of the moon to make your gardening chores really effective – yes, it’s all true and does work!

EFFECTS OF INCREDIBLE HEAT ON ROSES…

During extreme heat, your whole garden will be affected and show signs of stress however, you might notice the following on your roses:

• SMALLER BLOOMS – ENJOY THEM OR TRIM THEM OFF
• ODD COLOURS – SOMETIMES MUCH PALER BUT CAN ALSO BE MORE INTENSE
• YELLOW / SCORCHED LEAVES – DEEP-SOAK WATERING MORE FREQUENTLY
• DIFFERENT FRAGRANCE – INTENSE HEAT CAN ELIMINATE THE PERFUME
• NO FUNGUS ISSUES – HEAT WILL BURN-OFF FUNGUS

In all weather events there are positives and negatives – a good deep-soaking watering of the garden will make all the difference so bring on the rain! Please do pour ECO-SEAWEED solution over ALL roses – it’s a tonic for them in this hot conditions!

Here are a few roses which look absolutely stunning in the nursery right now …

We trust you’re pleased the kids are back at school – they’re probably relieved and happyto start the new school year adventure! Best wishes to you all …

Graham, Diana, Mooi and the team at Clonbinane

Hello dear rose friends – yesterday we buried my darling Mother who died ‘on my watch’ at 7.00 am last Friday at the Kilmore Hospital.

As a tribute to her, we are sharing some precious memories of our lives with her.

Mum worked alongside me every winter potting bare-rooted roses since the very start of the Rose Nursery at Kilmore in 1986 and it was fabulous when she purchased a house just down the road from us some years later.

Many of our staff and customers will remember Mum, head-down-bum-up over the wheel-barrow and yelling out “MORE POTS” and by golly, everybody ran to be sure she had more pots to keep potting and potting. She loved it immensely.

For many years, she would walk to the Rose Nursery in the morning to do her ‘shift’ of watering the pots – she was 100% reliable and she’d always leave me with a list of roses which needed special care or attention! In other words, she was right on the ball all the time and cared about the roses – she truly loved them as much as we did and planted a magnificent rose garden which she has tended all these years; it is a ‘stand-out’ in the main street of Kilmore!

When we created the Rose Café in 1996 she was right there too! Only thing she refused to do was serve at tables and when her first great-grandson Logan was born in 2007 and the business got busier, she would drop what she was doing and take him and her dog Prinny walking – Logan was usually sleeping when she got back to the nursery. Later, those three were quite a regular sight walking the streets of Kilmore!

Last Sunday when we had open-house at Mum’s home in Kilmore for all generations of hers to come along and take something precious, Logan called me at 8.15am “Oma, just in case I’m not there in time, can you please get me the photo of Grandmere with me and Prinny; also the Unicorn puzzle (there were literally 100’s of magnificent puzzles) and one of her blankies” … (5 cm knitted squares in every colour which were stitched into blankets for Kilmore Hospital).

The plastic cookie barrel was already taken but Logan scored the jelly bean jar – to the envy of all of us who weren’t quick enough! Mum was so generous and nurturing! At a Palliative Care Team meeting at Northern Hospital, Epping on 10 th January, she was more interested in having an audience to tell how proud she was of her four beautiful children, 11 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren and that I was a Rosarian and had written a book about roses!

My last kindness for my darling Mother was to see that specific rules will be broken to ensure her ashes can be interred with ‘her boys’ – my Dad, Bill and her second husband, Jim – in a communal plot at Fawkner Crematorium and to provide long-stemmed red and white roses for her funeral; then to decorate tables at her ‘party’ … yes, my Mother partied to the end!

GRA’S GARBLE …

I was the Health Surveyor at Kilmore Shire Council when I first met Miep in 1974 – she didn’t like me because nobody ever liked the Health Surveyor checking on their business and Miep owned the Kilmore Bakery!

Lots of water has travelled under the bridge since then and on my last birthday card, she wrote: DEAR GRAHAM, THANK YOU FOR BEING MY FRIEND!

When I went to visit her last Thursday afternoon I said: “I’ve been married to that daughter of yours for 35 years and you did a great job on her – she’s a gem” then my darling Mother-in-Law rolled over and smiled at me: “Thank you for the flowers” she said! It has been my privilege to keep her well-supplied with bunches of flowers during my years of visiting her to share a joke and although I know her favourite roses were highly fragrant reds like MR. LINCOLN and CAMP DAVID, I planted the hedge-row of NAHEMA because I knew she loved that rose too… Farewell my dear friend Miep!

MR. LINCOLN

 Best wishes from all of us here at Clonbinane where the Rose Farm will be open as usual due to the fabulous support of our team! Graham & Diana … and Mooi

Hello dear Rose Friends  …

… our roses are enjoying this hot dry weather and look stunning!  Of course, daily watering the pots each morning then with overhead watering from the sprinkler system to cool them later in the day means the roses aren’t stressed.

Our gardens are sensational too – well worth a visit anytime soon …

GRA’S GARBLE …

You have to retain your sense of humour during this hot weather so I’ll start with a joke I found …

Q. What did the balloon say to the pin?  A. Hi, Buster! 

At this time of year you must get up early in order to get things done around the garden, rest during the hottest time of the day and then do a bit after dinner when it starts to get cooler – that way, you ensure you stay active and fit!  Here are a few emails we’ve received recently and we’ll all learn from the information exchange …

Dear rose rambler. I purchased some lovely yellow roses from you about 18 months ago. Unfortunately they are not thriving – I think they are in the wrong spot so I want to move them (4 plants).

When is the best time to replant and how is it done for best results?  Many thanks, Pamela

Hello Pamela … if a rose isn’t thriving then I would shift it no matter what time of year – head and heart working together!!!  Trim the roses, lift them, make sure they stay wet during the entire process – have the new garden bed prepared, holes soaked and also use some seaweed solution for soil conditioning.  Take the roses to their new location and soak the absolute living tripe out of them – like make the soil a slurry around them.

When that water has disappeared, cover the muddy hole with a bit of compost/soil, water over with seaweed solution from a watering can, place a light layer of straw mulch around the entire surface – at least 1 metre square and let the rose get on with settling in and growing.

DO NOT WATER EVERY DAY – if it’s hot and you think you should water then ONLY WATER ONCE A WEEK – DEEP SOAK TO A SLURRY AGAIN!  I prefer NOT to rewater a newly planted rose but let it settle and get organised for at least two weeks before rewetting – remember head and heart!!!  Every soil and situation is different – get in touch with your soil and conditions in your garden and I’m almost 100% sure the rose will survive!

Best wishes … let us know how this goes for you?  Cheers …

Hi Diana and Graham – Happy New Year! I do hope you managed to get a good break over Christmas and feel somewhat refreshed now!

I got up early this morning to dead head and water roses…and sadly cut back some of the gorgeous boughs loaded with buds that we lost in high winds over the weekend. One of my maples also split in half in the wind…despite that there are still tons of rose blooms.

Quick question…Doug Hayne (Facebook link Australian Bred Roses) says that on very hot days, you should mist cool water over the top of the roses (to protect the flowers from getting scorched). Do you do that? I must admit when we lived in Perth, people always said you should not do that as it would “cook” the flowers. Any thoughts?

Still battling black spot but difficult to spray in this heat! Love,  love, love BROTHER CADFAEL! 😊
Take care and stay cool!  Judy

My response:  Thanks Judy … you wouldn’t believe it but I ate the last morsel of your magnificent Christmas cake just yesterday evening!!!  It was in the fridge in wrap and foil – I checked with Diana whether it was still ok to eat … of course!  Yum!

The roses here are loving the hot / dry conditions – they flower and flower in this weather, especially when they’re well irrigated – as they are!  The wind is a totally different scenario and I can imagine your sadness when you have to go around and collect great boughs of prospective beauty … not nice!

As far as watering over the roses in the middle of the hottest part of the day … DO IT, YES – BUT ONLY IF YOU LEAVE THE WATER FLOWING FOR AT LEAST TEN MINUTES SO THAT IT TOTALLY COOLS THE PLANT – a swish over with a hose will most definitely burn the blooms.

I’m not suggesting that the rose flowers will look pretty the next day – some tolerate it extremely well – MEMOIRE is one of those.

HAPPY NEW YEAR to our beautiful ROSE FRIENDS …

even though we tagged an extra week of holidays this Christmas break, it doesn’t seem long enough but we’ve enjoyed all the moments shared with family and friends! Hope you’re still enjoying time off …

GRA’S GARBLE …

DEATH OF DAVID AUSTIN – ROSE GROWER/BREEDER EXTRAORDINAIRE …

It is with great sadness that the Austin family announces the passing of David C. H. Austin Snr., OBE, VMH, rosarian and founder of David Austin Roses. David Snr died peacefully at his home in Shropshire on Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2018, surrounded by his family. He was 92.

When we commenced our business in 1996 some of the first David Austin roses we sold were MARY ROSE, HERITAGE and GRAHAM THOMAS which are still readily available and very popular today.

MARY ROSE

David Austin’s legacy will most definitely continue as his more recently released roses are so magnificently healthy, superbly fragrant whilst retaining the delightfully old-fashioned charm we all so much appreciate in the English roses.

ROSE BREEDING …

Now is a great time to be out in the garden cross-pollinating your favourite roses – there is lots of information in Dr. Google but I’ll follow my grandson, Logan’s advice which was to lick his finger and take the pollen from one rose and place it on the fresh stamens of another – “so what Poppy, if a bee comes along and adds something to this pollen, it could only make it more interesting and exciting when the new rose blooms for the first time” … have a go yourself!

Mark the pollinated stem with a tag of some sort so that you don’t dead-head that stem!!!

Q. Why did the fish jump out of the water? A. Because the sea weed!

When you nurture the cross-pollinated rose plants with regular seaweed solution and fertilizer applications, seeds will set late summer/early autumn. Then you remove the seeds and plant them – there’s a little bit of David Austin’s rose-breeding success dormant in all rose lovers! Have a go!

VISITING CLONBINANE THIS SUMMER …

For a great day out, jump in the car and come for a visit to Silkies Rose Farm, CLONBINANE during January knowing that you can request a MEAL VOUCHER for lunch at the MAGPIE AND STUMP HOTEL, WANDONG – each voucher is valued at $10.00 and since we regularly eat at this local venue, we assure you of a great dining experience at our local pub!

ONE $10.00 MEAL VOUCHER
PER COUPLE DURING JANUARY, 2019.

Q. What do you get if you cross a worm and an elephant?  
A. Very big wormholes in your garden!

RE-OPENING SPECIAL
SUMMER PROMOTION

May your roses enjoy a deep-soaking during these extreme weather conditions and may you enjoy the rest of this holiday season … best wishes from Graham, Diana and the team at Silkies Rose Farm, Clonbinane