GRA’S GARBLE …

Let me start with a joke … Q. Which of the witch’s friends was good at baseball?  A. The bat! 
Your roses are growing rampantly now – most will be flowering so it’s important to fertilize with the best quality fertilizer you can buy – go to your local supplier and be advised by what is locally available.  If you’re driving by Clonbinane, call in and collect our COF (complete organic fertilizer) which you can liberally apply to ALL THE PLANTS IN YOUR GARDEN – except Australian Natives!
Healthy, well-fed plants usually indicate healthy foliage – sometimes things go wrong and here is what the LEAVES ON ROSES are indicating …

MOSAIC VIRUS

Really nothing you need to worry about since it is evident when roses are growing voraciously and then it seems to be less indicated … we don’t recommend propagating roses with MOSAIC VIRUS and there is no spray or cure to eradicate it!

BLACK SPOT

A sign of old foliage on lower leaves/stress from lack of fertilizer on newer foliage / moist foliage overnight – generally can be corrected by trimming, fertilizing, deep-soaking watering to promote new foliage and flowering!  Remember that you lose hair and skin EVERY DAY … BLACK SPOT is the mechanism for a rose to lose old foliage – it is up to you to prune!

RUST

Is usually evident on the underside of rose foliage where there is almost no ventilation and very damp conditions prevail.  Rose plants are very debilitated by this fungus and it can spread rampantly.

POWDERY MILDEW

Will occur where there is little or no sunshine, very little air-flow or foliage is constantly wet.  Disease can be eliminated by increasing ventilation – removing ground-covering perennials/annuals/other plants clear to 20cms from the base of roses, shifting shaded roses into a sunny location and NEVER WATERING after 3 pm so that foliage is not wet during the night!

CHICKEN, DUCKLINGS and FLEDGLINGS …

Yes, I’ve got LANGSHAN chickens with their clucky hen mothers, lots of ducklings are venturing from our swale to the neighbour’s dam and although the Magpie bub is well and truly faring for itself, we’ve got pardalotes, wrens and finches all showing off with their fledgelings.
This is a spring of unprecedented joy with an abundance of production – last Tuesday was our last minus 1 frost and we hope it’s the last for this year as we want to plant veggies where the roses were heeled-in this past winter … such an ideal location because excess water from the nursery runs directly to this area.  Hope you’re planting veggies too!
Here are a few pics of spectacular roses in the nursery NOW …