• Healthy, well drained and fertile soil which contains at least 10% organic compost (read article about compost and how to make great compost) which will guarantee there is good soil bacteria and fungi – a soil pH test should read 6 – 6.5 and the soil should feel and smell like you could eat it!
• Sun – at least 6 hours of sunshine per day. Morning sun is particularly important as the stomata of the plant is open and receptive … just like humans should start their day with a great breakfast!
• Water – at least 20 litres of water per bush per week; preferably delivered at the same time to ensure deep soaking in the root zone on the plant. Never water roses late in the evening!
• Mulch – at least 5cms depth of compost covered by 10cms of quality mulch such as lucerne or pea straw should be maintained around the plants all year. (Read article on mulch)
• Fertilizer – a complete organic fertilizer applied lightly at the rate of one half handful per plant every 8-12 weeks, watered in and plants washed down with Natrakelp liquid seaweed every couple of weeks.
• Air – if you grow other plants around your roses, keep the plants trimmed to ensure adequate air circulation around the base of the rose bushes.
Everything you need to know about Roses
I have four Martine Guilliott roses on tripods but we have had such a long hot summer (sub tropical) and we are not even into winter yet and these roses have taken off like triffids.
How should I prune them.
Hope you can help
Yes, this lady (or perhaps bloke???) is a challenge for me too as I planted it on a border of the garden – Graham severely pruned the rose in mid-summer and it’s been a bit shy with flowering since … how to prune now? Well, I wouldn’t really touch it except to remove any growth which is ‘in the way’ of walks or clashing with other plants! You’ll have amazing flowering in spring and when that’s done, I suggest you do a pretty severe summer prune as we did … please let us know how this works or otherwise, I’ll delete this beauty from our store because it’s definitely a HUGE grower! Triffid is a good description! Cheers = Diana
Hello Diana
Thank you for your quick response and advice. However, I won’t have to wait for spring, they are covered in buds and flowers now. We don’t get frosts here so there will be nothing to set them back – hence my problem. I’ve hard pruned one plant and when/if they stop flowering I’ll give one a winter prune. I might give the others a continual gentle prune just to keep my grandchildren from becoming impaled. And, I might build bigger tripods. I’m determined to make this work as they are beautiful roses and it took me some time to find them. (sorry I hadn’t found your site earlier.)
I’ll let you know how things develop.
with my kindest regards
Margaret