Hello dear rose friends … finally some very welcome rain has dumped on our garden – now I’ll have to add “mow lawns” to my agenda of things to do before the bus groups visit this coming weekend.

We are expecting around 150 keen gardeners over the two days and if you would like to ‘tag along’ for WALK AND TALK IN THE GARDEN WITH GRAHAM, please do join us on this coming Saturday and Sunday between 10-11am and 2-3pm.

Because the Rotary Art Expo is on in Kilmore this weekend, I suggest you take a visit into Kilmore also – there is a beaut ‘Expo Café’ at the Memorial Hall where you can partake of a truly ‘home-made’ lunch served by a volunteer brigade of workers and International School students – all proceeds to Rotary projects!

GRA’S GARBLE …

Q.  What’s the biggest mouse in the world?  A.  A HIPPOpotamouse! 

I’ve caught a few big ones this past week – since we live along the Sunday Creek, have mulched gardens and chooks, we expect vermin problems so have bait stations at strategic locations OUTSIDE the buildings and house!

The logic here is that you don’t want vermin in any building so if you bait externally, the ‘hippopotamouses’ don’t usually become a problem INSIDE where they cause the greatest grief – especially if they die in wall cavities, etc. after taking a bait that you had inside!

We are maintaining the roses in good condition despite the cold and now wet weather – every 10 days we are applying the organic rose management program and I recommend you do the same now if you want blooms right up into winter –

To 10 litres of water add:           
Seaweed solution or powder (follow pack directions)
¼ cup ECO ROSE and ¼ cup ECO OIL

It is beneficial to add liquid fertilizer to this concoction to stimulate more flowering and keep the foliage healthy – more healthy foliage means more beautiful roses!

Q.  Why don’t you take your little brother to the zoo?  A.  If they want him, they can COME and GET HIM!

Only a few more days of school holidays – bring the kids with you when you come to visit us here at the Rose Farm – there are chickens to watch romping around … good fun!  Gra

SOME ‘OLDIES’ THAT YOU SHOULD PLANT

If you don’t already have them!  We all get seduced by catalogues and advertising brochures that show the new release roses every season – here are some enduring ‘favourites’ which you really should consider planting if you don’t already have them:

PARADISE	JUST JOEY	KARDINAL
BONICA	BARONNE DE ROTHSCHILD	GOLD BUNNY

As a special ‘nearly end of season’ promotion, this weekend ONLY, all the DELBARD and DAVID AUSTIN roses will be reduced to $21.50 each – that’s their winter price but you’ll get them potted and flowering NOW!  If you have a garden bed ready, PLANT NOW!

You will have beautifully established roses for next season’s flowering.  Consider these couple of our favourites:

BELLE DU SEIGNEUR	PARFUM DE PARIS
ALNWICK ROSE	CROCUS ROSE

IN CLOSING …

Don’t be deterred from visiting a very busy Rose Farm this weekend when there will be loads of action and lovely assistants to help you select some more beautiful roses for your garden …

ROSE RAMBLER 2^ND APRIL, 2015

Hello dear rose friends … welcome to all the new subscribers – hope you enjoy our ramblings and if you live close please come for a visit to the Rose Farm – CLONBINANE is just 60kms from Melbourne CBD – we are within 500mts of the Hume Freeway – entry/exit north and south!

It’s already Easter and we’ll be closed GOOD FRIDAY but open all other days of this wonderful long weekend – call in at the Rose Farm this weekend where you’ll find some super potted/flowering rose deals …

BUY ONE GET ONE FREE
ON THE FOLLOWING
VARIETIES OF ROSES

MR. LINCOLN		CHARLES DE GAULLE		ALL RUGOSA AND OLD FASHIONED ROSES
WINDRUSH		SALLY HOLMES

During Saturday, Sunday and Monday, there will be an Easter egg hunt operating continually – any rose where an Easter egg is hidden at the base of the flowering plant will be available at 50% OFF and you’re NOT allowed to cheat because I’ll know where the eggs are ‘laid’ … in 100 of the very best specimens around the nursery!!!

Here are three more new release roses which are available for ordering this winter at rosesalesonline.com.au – go take a look at these pics which, remember, are NOT MY OWN! Every other rose photo represented at rosesalesonline.com.au, excluding the 2015 new release roses has been taken by us!!!

GRA’S GARBLE …

I buy Better Homes & Gardens magazine for the Moon gardening guide which we use for weeding and planting.  It was a huge surprise to read a fabulous review for Diana’s book, ALL ABOUT ROSES in the April edition.  I won’t copy it verbatim for you here, but the last sentence reads:  “Taking an organic approach to growing, the book is well illustrated and the author’s passion for the blooms spills from every page.” which is why every rose gardener should have a copy of the book on hand! 

Organic gardening should not be a ‘trend’ but very much a ‘norm’ … our organic rose management program is well represented in ALL ABOUT ROSES along with many of our ‘normal’ (organic, obviously!) gardening procedures – get a copy NOW in your local book store or online at rosesalesonline.com.au so that you have all the information you need to design and prepare a rose garden for this winter … DO IT ONCE, DO IT RIGHT! is our motto.

I like this joke:
Nigel came into the classroom with a great big swelling on the end of his nose.  “How did you get that?” asked Mr. Trilby.  “I was smelling a BROSE.” replied Nigel sadly.  “I think you mean a ROSE,” said Mr. Trilby.  “There’s no ‘B’ in ROSE.”

“Well, there was in this one!” replied Nigel – just as there are bees in the roses you’ll be smelling when you come up to the Rose Farm this weekend!!! 

Bee aware … ha ha!  Gra

IN CLOSING …

Take time out with the kids this week – let them help you as Cooper did so graciously last weekend – he loaded Susie’s car with her potted roses for the new section of garden she’s been planting … we all enjoyed the experience and Susie will have herself a lovely well established rose garden this spring … autumn is the season for planting … nice!

See you soon at Clonbinane or talk to you via email if you’re contemplating designing a new garden this winter and need some FREE ADVICE …

Hello dear rose friends … it’s been such a lovely time here at the Rose Farm … lots of visitors wandering around sniffing and selecting their roses for the coming winter rose season.  It’s so how we recommend you should plan new gardens for winter – unless of course, the gardens are ready to be planted now … then buy and plant your new roses NOW.

Planting roses from pots into established garden beds in autumn means they go into warm soil and establish quickly.  It means that you can wander through the nursery, smell and see the true colour of the roses you’re planting.  Roses planted now will be very well established bushes in the next spring/summer flowering season – every single $ worth spending if you plant in the autumn!

Here are a few more of the new release roses for 2015 … they can only be ordered as bare-rooted winter plants and are available at rosesalesonline.com.au

GRA’S GARBLE …

Pretty exciting week this is … I’ve been harvesting corn, tomatoes, kale, potatoes, lots of beans, tomatoes and still got strawberries for when our ‘berry loving’ grandson Cooper visits – he also likes to prune with his Oma …

Q.  What bee is good for your health?  A. Vitamin bee!

Please be kind to your soil – 2015 is the YEAR OF THE SOIL so place a good layer of lucerne mulch over your garden beds as it feeds and insulates the earth so that earthworms aerate and leave their castings which add enormous goodness by enriching the soil to create humus.  Mulch stops soil erosion and adds so much goodness – just mulch with any products available.  Water over the mulch at least monthly with seaweed solution too!

ROSESALESONLINE.COM.AU …

Our website is geared and ready to take your winter orders with every rose having a description and most having photographs – if there is a rose you really have to have and don’t find listed, please call me 03 5787 1123 and I will advise where you might be able to acquire it.

It’s a pretty special week with two unusual orders – two of our roses have been packaged for a flight to RUSSIA … yes, POPE JOHN PAUL II and DOUBLE DELIGHT left Melbourne last night and we’ve been told they’ll be planted at their new home on Friday.

Another one of our GIFT ROSES is heading to Darwin for a 50^th wedding anniversary … we are so lucky to be sharing the joy of roses so far and wide!

Hello dear rose friends – we can’t wait for daylight savings to end … it is cutting into the beautiful mornings so that nothing is done until after 7am when we can start to see the gardens!

Here are some more of the new release roses which have been loaded onto our website ready for you to order for this winter.  There is no rush to place orders as I’ll be showing you more 2015 new release roses over the next few weeks – go and take a look at rosesalesonline.com.au if you cannot wait for them to appear in the Rose Rambler …

GRA’S GARBLE …

WATERING THE GARDEN IN AUTUMN … Even though there is a hint of green in the grass, you can be almost sure that way deep down, the soil is bone-dry – indications of a ‘green drought’.  Don’t let up on watering just yet if you want to see lots of beautiful, large rose blooms throughout this most magnificent season for roses!  This is especially important in newly planted gardens!!!

Q.  What does ‘minimum’ mean?  A.  A very small mother!  (Get smart and ask somebody … “what does ‘maximum’ mean?”)

My Mother-in Law’s roses were planted nearly 20 years ago and because she is a ‘die-hard’ water conservationist (pours her kitchen sink water on pot plants around the porch rather than let it drain down the sink) she lets God take care of watering her roses – they continue to flower and yes, her garden does look lovely even though there are fewer flowers and the blooms are smaller than they would be if the plants were regularly watered.  This past summer has been kind to such a garden with ‘God’s watering’!

You don’t need to be a ‘Wally with Water’ to have prolific masses of large blooms well into winter if you provide the following:

• once weekly good deep soaking of no less than 20 litres per rose bush
• well-mulched garden bed – top up the mulch to keep the soil warm for longer
• fertilize with quality complete organic fertilizer – NOW
• drench with seaweed solution fortnightly to strengthen the cell wall of foliage in preparation for cold nights

and you’re guaranteed to be rewarded with lovely rose blooms right into winter!  We’ve been enjoying planting new rose gardens here – hope you have a great week planting new roses in your rose garden too … Gra

EXCITING NEW GARDEN FESTIVAL FOR MELBOURNE …

Mark the dates in your calendar for 9-11 October, 2015 – yes, a SPRING Horticultural and Gardening Festival incorporating plants and all things garden, including food, pets and family to be held at the Melbourne Showgrounds – we will be there for this inaugural horticultural event so you must come along and visit us!

Hello dear rose friends and welcome to new readers this week … Here are the first few of our new release roses for 2015 – the pictures here are not my own but I have confirmation from our grower that these are all great roses – we saw some of them while visiting growers in South Africa … stunning roses!

GRA’S GARBLE …

There’s always room for a new rose in the garden but it’s very important that you care for the roses you already have – now that we are experiencing the cool, damp mornings of autumn, it’s time to implement the organic spray management program to protect your roses from the likelihood of mildew and black spot.

I know from years of experience that if you use preventative measures like fertilizing and spraying your roses before problems occur when these weather conditions prevail, the roses will flower beautifully right through autumn and into winter if you follow these instructions … DO IT NOW …

To 10 litres of water add seaweed solution or powder (follow directions on pack) plus
+ ¼ cup Eco-rose (or Eco-fungicide … same product different name!)
+ ¼ cup Eco-oil

You can add liquid fertilizer like Eco-aminogro to the solution if you prefer to liquid fertilize rather than use pellets.  Spray or pour over plants first thing in the morning and repeat every 10-14 days while the mornings are damp!

If you consider the spray management program tedious, please just pour seaweed solution over the leaves fortnightly to strengthen the cell wall of the foliage and generally prepare your roses for winter.

The roses will store all the nutrients you give them now and apart from lengthening the flowering season well into winter, you’ll reap rewards with lots of large flowers when the roses bloom again in spring – remember, what you give, you will receive in return!

Q.  What do you call a witch’s motorbike?  A. A baaaarroooommstick! 

And for an extra giggle, I found this …

Knock, Knock!  Who’s there?  GRUESOME.  Gruesome who?  I like flowers so I GRUESOME …

Have a beaut week in your garden … Gra

UNUSUAL ROSE …

“That’s not a rose” I hear you say!  Yes, it is!  Such a beauty and very, very old.  R. viridiflora is probably a sport of Parson’s Pink China and known to be in cultivation since as early as 1743 and more commonly called:  GREEN ROSE.

We have ONLY 7 plants available and since it is not listed on our website, if you are interested in acquiring such a delightful heritage rose for your garden, please call me on FRIDAY, SAT, SUN OR MON on 03 5787 1123 and I can organise to post one to you … $32.50 plus $21.50 pack and post … dare to be different!

SEYMOUR GARDEN CLUB –
GARDEN SHOW AND PHOTO EXHIBITION …

Will be held on Saturday, 28^th March from 12 – 4pm and I recommend you pick a few roses from your garden and take them along for exhibition – you just never know, you might win a prize and you’ll have a whole lot of fun doing it!

Contact: sylviagyap@gmail.com for more info.

Hello dear rose friends and welcome to autumn with cooler days and abundant colour.  Autumn is the season to see roses at their absolute best!  Their colour is brilliantly true and unfaded, inhale their delicious fragrance on a sunny autumn day … aaahhh!  Of course, it’s the season for collecting rose catalogues to know which roses are being released this coming winter – the excitement of it all!

We are in the process of updating our rosesalesonline.com.au website to enable receipt of your winter orders for bare-rooted roses; meantime, GIFTROSES.COM.AU will continue to receive orders for flowering roses suitable to gift for those special occasions which happen in our lives.

This week, one of the most spectacular roses in the nursery is MANY HAPPY RETURNS – such a delightful rose to gift for the occasion of a birthday to the person who ‘has everything’ but you still wish to recognise and congratulate.  Acknowledge their special day with this wonderful shrub rose which flowers continually throughout the season, is suitable for a large tub or that ‘empty space’ in a garden bed.

This extremely healthy rose produces a sensational proliferation of rose hips in late autumn/early winter to offer the recipient an opportunity to make ‘rose hip wine’ … I made it once, years ago – after months of waiting, we enjoyed a most delicious beverage – sweet, like port but truly nutritious because of the Vitamin C content of rose hips.

Now, here’s an idea, present the rose MANY HAPPY RETURNS along with any of the wonderful recipes to use the rose hips which add a whole different dimension to your rose gift!  Go check with Mr Google for a recipe which suits the recipient … wine, jam, soup?

3CR GARDENING SHOW THIS SUNDAY …

GRA’S GARBLE …

I’ll start with a joke because my other garble is serious …

Q.  What’s the difference between broccoli and bogies?  A.  Kids will eat bogies … gawd!

I talk to you about how we use Australian products in our organic rose management program, how fabulous they are and how proud we are to use them to grow sensational roses!  We also use Australian made and researched TRI-NATURE products exclusively in our home for personal body care, cleaning, pets and even our cars!

Please consider what you use around your home – take the most recent news seriously and review why you should read the labels on products and remember that here in Australia we produce some of the most reliably environmentally friendly products available to us, our children and our pets!  The few extra $’s you might spend are so worthwhile!!!

Next week I’ll be presenting you with a list of jobs to do now that its cooler outdoors and you’ll be more inclined to get into the garden … Gra

Hello dear rose friends and welcome to the last days of summer – so pleasant here at Clonbinane with a magnificent season when the roses flourished without environmental factors to impose on their health – aphids were kept controlled by wrens, pardalotes and ladybirds, regular applications of the organic spray management program and regular applications of quality fertilizer along with daily watering, kept our potted roses looking beautiful but now they’re happy to welcome the cooler respite of autumn.

GRA’S GARBLE …

I’ve been busy pruning the potted roses so they look their absolute best when the bus groups come for the Art & Roses Expo and we will again attend Tesselaars Garden Expo at Silvan on 18^th and 19^th April.

Late summer pruning will extend the flowering period right up to the beginning of winter so it’s never too late to prune!  In order to maintain great health and vigour in the bushes, be sure to distribute a good handful of Complete Organic Fertilizer around each bush – for the large climbers, you can be even more generous so they produce sturdy water-shoots to make winter pruning much, much easier.

I will cover all aspects of general rose care, composting, watering systems and more so organise for a group of friends to come here on the weekend of 11^th and 12^th April.  There is still time to book your group for this event – call Diana on (03) 5787 1123 for a great day out!

Rotary will provide $10 per head subsidy towards your transport for groups of 10 or more.  The tour includes, free of charge:

• Entry, catalogue and gallery guide at the Kilmore Art Expo – Kilmore
• Entry and Walk & Talk in the Garden with Graham at Silkies Rose Farm, Clonbinane
• Guided short walks, history and entertainment at Hidden Valley – Wallan

Light lunches will be available at the Kilmore Art Expo Café … estimate approx. $10.00
Morning or afternoon tea/coffee and cake at Hidden valley Restaurant, Wallan $8.00

Q.  What does a boy monster do when a girl monster rolls her eyes at him?  A.  He picks them up and rolls them right back to her.

CREATE A HEDGE OF CONTINUAL FLOWERING ROSES …

For a magnificent sight along the front boundary of your property, rather than a fence, plant a row of roses spaced between 75-90cms apart for an almost impenetrable hedge.  Here are just a few varieties which would suit:

Because it is such an appropriate time for planting roses, for the next TWO WEEKS, all HEDGE ROSES will be available at the very special price of $22.00 each when you purchase four or more plants of the same variety.

All the hedge roses can be pruned mechanically, are extremely low maintenance because of their magnificent health and vigour and will add a wonderful display of colour in your garden for eight-nine months each year!

We liked this so are sharing … ‘How deeply seated in the human heart is the liking for gardens and gardening.’  Alexander Smith  

ROSE RAMBLER 19.2.2015 …

Hello dear rose friends as I recall that this time last year, I was head down writing my book ALL ABOUT ROSES.  I was sharing that experience whilst speaking with a lovely bunch of gardeners at the Hobson’s Bay Garden Club earlier this week – lots of them purchased a signed copy of the book after I told them how readers had told me they use the book as a constant reference … it has the organic spray management recipe in it, there are very useful tips about mulch, fertilizing and watering.

ALL ABOUT ROSES is a very handy book which covers all aspects of rose growing – buy yourself a copy and also put it on your ‘gift list’ for a gardening friend!

WATERING THE ROSE GARDEN …

Don’t let up on watering the garden even though there’s been a bit of rain!  Noticed that some of our ornamental trees are stressed so we are on a mission of deep soaking, seaweed solution application and layer of mulch around every single tree in the gardens.  Phil Kenyon, our Arborist was here this week removing more native trees that have succumbed since the Black Saturday fires and he told us that a tree will grow 40% more in a year when it is adequately mulched!  Roses are no different!

It was a very worthwhile project to have a professional Arborist give an assessment of all the trees in our garden – highly recommended consultancy if you love your trees and want them to continue flourishing!

GRA’S GARBLE …

PRUNING ROSES IN TIME FOR AN EVENT

If you have a special event in your garden during the coming months, you can trim your roses so that they are flowering magnificently on THE DAY … when I say ‘trim’, I want you to take stems about 15cms (6”) long and cut just above an outward facing bud.  This forces the stem to produce a very strong shoot that will be loaded with flowers within 55 – 60 days … its magic!

After you’ve trimmed, lightly fertilize the ground around the bushes, mulch if necessary and water over the organic rose management program.  If you use seaweed solution with a bit of eco-aminogro (or other fish emulsion type liquid fertilizer) every fortnight you’ll be amazed at how rapidly the bushes will produce masses of blooms in time for your event.

I turned over a compost heap yesterday and am impressed with the humus content – corn growing nearby needed watering so the compost heap has been regularly watered too.  If you are composting your putrescible waste, frequent watering will hasten that waste turning into beautiful humus which you can then apply around the roses and veggies.

ALWAYS place mulch over the humus to retain all those precious microbes!

Here’s my joke for this week … Q. What do you call an elephant in a phone box?  A. Stuck!

OUR ROSE OF THE WEEK …

This amazing rose has an incredible range of colours – dark orange/chocolate brown/blue-grey … these are all my own photos of HOT COCOA which is a continually free-flowering, tall growing bush with the most glossy, healthy foliage – very highly recommended rose!

Hello dear rose friends with a timely reminder that it’s VALENTINE’S DAY tomorrow which, like I said in a radio interview yesterday, is a time to say “I LOVE YOU”!

In all the busyness of our lives, it’s so easy to forget the one who is right there, 24/7. Go pick a rose from the garden, put it in a vase beside their bed – no words necessary, the rose will speak volumes to the one you love!

Here’s Gra’s joke for this week:
Q.  What did the boy snake say to the girl snake?  A.  Give me a hiss!

Now, because we love you fellow gardeners, our rose friends, scroll down to the bottom of this email and enjoy a few beautiful pictures of roses along the way …

Hello dear rose friends and welcome to the last month of summer – difficult to believe it’s even been summer here in Victoria with cold southerly winds leaving temperatures hovering in the mid-20’s but that will all change soon and we will probably have a spectacular autumn.  Some rain would be good … please?

VALENTINE’S DAY …

I say, why buy a bunch of roses when you can buy the whole rose bush and pick bunches of beautiful blooms for at least eight months of the year?  Our assistant, Virginia compiled this poem to inspire you when selecting a rose for the love of your life …

You can share this LOVE on our Facebook site Rose Sales Online. Check us out if you haven’t already.  We know you love roses so go on “like us” and enjoy being tantalised by the many beautiful roses we supply through giftroses.com.au and make your Valentine’s Day especially memorable this year.

GRA’S GARBLE …

I confess to being a connoisseur of fine things and I do LOVE jam!
The de-seeded hips ready for the pot …

… which were delivered to the Rose Farm this week by Mary who took up Diana’s offer to harvest our hips in return for a jar of jam … Diana spent over an hour in the hot sun harvesting 1.5kgs of rose hips, packed and posted them to Buchan where Mary spent three hours de-seeding the hips after she’d ‘topped and tailed them’ – definitely a labour of love because even at minimum wage, each jar of jam must cost no less than $30 but the taste is DIVINE … thanks girls for this delicious treat!

You too could harvest hips and make this delicacy – around three established bushes of the magnificent, hip-producing RUGOSA ROSES would give you enough hips for jam-making so if you purchase these roses through February, you can have them at the very special …

You’ll not only produce rose hips but you will have the most dense, free-flowering shrubs which grow to 1.5 metres tall and wide, attract bees to your garden and offer you a wonderful screen for more delicate plants.  Rugosa roses are soooo tough and healthy – if you take up my offer, I would love another jar of jam next season …

Q. How do hens dance?  A. Cheek to cheek!  Still licking my sticky fingers before I go and check my baby ‘cheekens’ and turn the water on my compost heap …  Gra

Remember that roses are very water-wise plants … no less than 10 litres per plant, per week, delivered in the one application will ensure healthy foliage and flowering – if you are watering your rose garden, be sure to apply a sprinkling of complete organic fertilizer over the soil and the flowers will have substance, great colour and last well in a vase!