All About Roses

Hello dear rose friends … we’ve had a week of broken sleeps due to health issues with our lovely Dingo, Bonnie; she is today having surgery and we look forward to having her back home this evening ready to get on with the rest of her happy life here at the Rose Farm! How easy it would be to have no animals but oh, how sad to miss out on the love and pleasure of having this very special Dingo in our lives. Yes, she’s 14 years old now and never created an inkling of concern to us … except when she ever escaped out a left-opened gate to chase and return home with a rabbit – with her mouth filled with a dangling rabbit, you could still see her smile! No thought or care for the fact that cars have had to come to a screeching halt up and down the Spur Road because she has absolutely no road-sense … cats have ‘nine lives’ and I don’t know how many lives dogs have but Bonnie has surely used up all of hers playing ‘chicken’ up and down the Spur Road here at Clonbinane!

YOUR ROSE ORDERS … Yes, it’s a very long, protracted season but I assure you, all your orders are ‘safe’ and we are still waiting for many varieties to be dug … this is happening now! Once all the bushes have been processed, the standards will be very close behind them and on behalf of our grower, Brian, we apologise for the delay!

Please understand that because of our growing policy to let Mother Nature set the pace of how we manage the roses, we are at Her mercy with when they are dug – the very warm Autumn prolonged the flowering season and natural defoliation would not occur during such warm weather. At the end of the day, you, the rose gardeners are the winners because the roses you eventually plant in this Winter season are now very well conditioned so you will enjoy robust and healthy roses for many years!!!

Some rose orders have been posted and here is one testimonial of the quality roses being sent this season:

Hi Diana,
The roses arrived on Friday. We would like to congratulate you on the quality and size of the plants. We are already doing up a wish list for next year.
Thanks,
Louise

YES, GO AHEAD AND PRUNE YOUR ROSES … Because it has been cold and your roses will mostly be defoliated. Sharpen your secateurs, pull on your gloves and coat and get out and prune your rose garden – enjoy the experience and be sure that whatever you do, the roses will forgive you by resuming flowering again this coming Spring.

After pruning, give each rose a handful of high-quality, organic rose (or all-purpose) fertilizer, wash them down or spray with liquid seaweed to which you add the Eco-Rose and Eco-oil rose management products. Depending on the weather in your zone, the roses will start to produce healthy foliage within the next six weeks and be flowering again in Spring … amazing!

The rose pruning demonstrations continue … cost is $25.00 per person and we remind you to bring along ALL your pruning equipment so that we can show you how to maintain your gear – remember too that if you have a group of four or more, we will conduct a seminar especially for your group on any day which we mutually agree upon! Coming up dates at the Silkies Rose Farm:

SATURDAY, 6TH JULY – 11.00AM
SUNDAY 14TH JULY – 1.00PM
WHITTLESEA COURT HOUSE – SATURDAY, 20TH JULY – 10.00 AM
SUNDAY 21ST JULY – 1.00PM
SUNDAY 28TH JULY – 11.00AM

END OF AN ERA … on Tuesday this week Graham and I, with our (gun-pruner) son, Eric, spent six hours of head-down, bum-up pruning at the old Silkie Gardens Rose Nursery & Café in Kilmore. You’ve heard me rave about my Pellenc pruning gear … I’m really glad that I had it last Tuesday because I’m quite sure that such a huge undertaking with a pair of secateurs would have rendered me physically disabled! Both Eric and I used Pellenc ‘green technology’ pruners/loppers/blower while Graham resorted to conventional pruning gear, to remove two fully laden trailers of rose prunings … Eric doing the ceremonial ‘final cut’ in a garden which we created, developed and loved for 30 years … and will never, ever prune again!

You try and turn the picture up the right way because I sure as heck cannot!!! Have a giggle and hold your computer screen around while you’re trying to see that last cut at the end of an era!

IN CLOSING … This rather short Rose Rambler wouldn’t be complete without a little bit of humour ….

AND GOD PROMISED MEN THAT GOOD AND OBEDIENT WIVES
WOULD BE FOUND IN ALL CORNERS OF THE EARTH..
THEN HE MADE THE EARTH ROUND… AND LAUGHED AND LAUGHED AND LAUGHED …

If God was a woman, such a random statement would never have been made without due consideration of the consequences … I’m glad that God made roses …
Cheers from Diana, Graham and Dingo, Bonnie

ROSE RAMBLER 20.6.2013
Hello dear rose friends … Whoever would have thought two silly (‘poppy’) jokes could provoke such fun responses from you lovely gardeners? Alex from Macedon was the first email opened and so, is ‘stoked’ to receive the two free roses. Surely google doesn’t know the answer to EVERY joke?

Here’s an original from Lisa – a 4.00am email: Q. How was the banana skin returned to Mother Nature? 
Only Lisa and I know the answer so the first correct answer will receive a free Winter STANDARD rose … bring on the answer!

IN THE ROSE GARDEN THIS WEEK … The Winter rose season is now in full swing – I am down at Kalangadoo with my grower, Brian, sorting and packing all the orders we received at Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show – handling exemplary quality bare-rooted rose plants. Thankfully, I have my sharp Lowe secateurs along with my Pellenc battery powered pruners because my Lixion secateurs make pruning the strong canes and roots of the beautiful two-year old rose plants so much more ergonomically efficient … forever glad I chose this equipment instead of the diamond ring when we celebrated 25 years of marriage some years ago!!!

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU RECEIVE YOUR ROSES THIS WINTER … Because it was such a wonderful growing season, your new roses from Silkies Rose Farm, Clonbinane, will be HUGE plants which were trimmed in the field and I have trimmed again to make it possible to post them to you! You MUST
– Unpack and soak the roses in a liquid seaweed solution prior to planting – not more than 24 hours!
– Plant the roses as soon as you receive them – or heel them in big pots or friable soil ready for later planting
– Trim the roses again by at least a third before you plant in a sunny location with no less than 5 hours sun per day
– Soak the new roses immediately after planting – water over with liquid seaweed fortnightly
– Apply a light mulch around the roses – lucerne or pea straw highly recommended

There are lots of useful tips on the allaboutroses.com.au website – you can always email me if you need further advice.

COMMUNITY RADIO – MELBOURNE 3CR – 855 ON AM BAND … This Sunday, 23rd June, I will be doing my annual stint on the 3CR Radiothon and it’s a brilliant opportunity for you to tune in, offer a donation in return for the most amazing plethora of gardening products, books, tools, garden consultancies, magazine subscriptions, rose vouchers, etc. etc.
You are able to select goods to the value of every dollar you donate so please tune into 855 on the AM Band this Sunday morning from 7.30am – 9.30am and listen to me go hoarse while I reel off the amazing products available.
If you would like me to bring your products back to Silkies Rose Farm, Clonbinane so that you can collect them from here, please ask the telephonist you speak to at 3CR – take advantage of this brilliant offer .. PHONE: 03 9419 8377 or 03 9419 0155 THIS SUNDAY!

ROSE PRUNING DEMONSTRATIONS IN THE COMING WEEKS …
SUNDAY, 30th JUNE – 11.00 am
SATURDAY, 6th JULY – 11.00 am
SUNDAY, 14th JULY – 1.00 pm (note time change from 11.00am … sleep in morning!)
WHITTLESEA COURT HOUSE – SATURDAY, 20th JULY – 1.00 pm

IN CLOSING … Stay warm and cuddly while you listen to some beautiful music ….

“When the night has been too lonely, and the road has been too long;
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows
Lies the seed that with the sun’s love, in the spring becomes the rose….”

BETTE MIDLER’S song reminds us to plant roses to give us pleasure … plant a few new roses in your garden this Winter so that when the roses flower again this coming Spring, you can enjoy the romance of your own roses!

Cheers from Diana, Graham and Dingo, Bonnie – celebrating her 14th birthday!

ROSE RAMBLER – 13.6.2013
Hello dear rose friends … I was re-inducted to the Rotary Club of Southern Mitchell earlier this week! The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International is very special to me and I’m thrilled to once again be able to commit time to this very worthwhile organisation which does such an immensely fabulous job of working in humanitarian projects around the World.

NEW SEASON’S ROSES … I have the greatest admiration for our rose-grower, Brian and you will too when you see the magnificent roses he has produced again this year. The first boxes of roses have arrived so the orders will be processed in the coming weeks – as soon as your rose order is ready to be collected/posted, I will notify you. NOT ALL THE ROSES ARE IN YET so if you don’t hear from me immediately, do not panic – it is a very late season because of the warm Autumn weather and it is important for the roses to ‘harden’ and naturally defoliate. Remember, we work WITH Nature – the result is a far superior rose for your garden!!!

ROSE PRUNING DEMONSTRATIONS … There are still a few places left in the following demonstrations – NOTE the NEW dates which are now available up to mid-July …

SUNDAY, 16th JUNE – 11.00 am – FULLY BOOKED
SATURDAY, 22nd JUNE – 1.00pm
SUNDAY, 30th JUNE – 11.00am
SATURDAY, 6th JULY – 11.00 am
SUNDAY, 14th JULY – 11.00am

Graham will be taking the “Show on the Road” by doing demonstrations in the Wellington Square Shopping Centre in Wallan on Thursday, 11th, Friday, 12th and Saturday, 13th July between 11.00am and 3.00pm. These demos were very successful last year so do drop in if you live in the area and give him something to talk about! There will also be demonstrations at the Whittlesea Court House on a Saturday in July … date to be advised next week.

ROSE OF THE WEEK … There are almost no roses flowering now, however, this little ripper still is and needs considering when you are purchasing your Winter roses because it’s a delight every single week of the flowering season and is only just finishing flowering … ‘Tintern’ is a fragrant ground-covering rose – we have it planted as a border along the entrance drive-way to the Silkies Rose Farm where, despite being planted within two metres of the huge Eucalyptus tree, it flowers and flowers in a stunning array of golden-yellow, orange and bright red – one of the ‘easy-peasy’ beauties which is so useful anywhere in the rose garden …

HAVE A LAUGH … Here are two of Graham’s jokes … the first person to email the correct answers to both jokes will receive two bare-rooted Winter bush roses of your choice, posted to your door – I will publish all the answers and announce the winner with your first name ONLY … do, please have a go at this! I’ve been living with these jokes for years and still get stumped but I know there are lots of very clever gardeners out there!!!
JOKE NO. 1 Why was the sand wet?
JOKE NO. 2 Why did the tomato blush?
Think like a child, think funny and think gardening and you’re sure to come up with the correct answer – share the fun with family over dinner or with colleagues at work … send the answers in an email! Don’t be shy …

QUOTATION FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION … EHRENFRIED PFEIFFER, 1981 … One of the most important scientists of the 20th Century … “The whole problem is primarily a moral one. Our future depends upon our choice between death forces and life forces; upon whether or not we will return in humility to the soil. The great questions are: Will we return to a philosophy of life which lays stress upon growth? Will our youth be educated in the spirit of growing things, and of service to life? Will they learn that it means more than money to plant our seeds and harvest crops? If the right inner attitude towards the soil penetrates the human race again, a renaissance of rural life will begin, and not only will new resources be created for our population, but spiritually we will be ‘safe’ …” Re-read the quotation and it makes so much sense!

IN CLOSING … Please take time within the space of your family and your back-yard to get down and dirty this weekend, plant some seedling colour, maybe some Winter veggies … definitely leave space for a beautiful, fragrant rose which is now available at the Rose Farm, CLONBINANE … see you soon ..

Hello dear rose friends … today it’s my immediately younger sister’s birthday – we’ve always enjoyed joshing with people about her being older than me … as sisters do! My sister Veronica has an interesting birthday because when we were kids, we celebrated her special day on the 7th of June. When she went to get a passport, her birth certificate stated 6th June as her birth date – relatives in Holland have shown me telegrams dated 1st June?

She’s lucky really because I applied for a passport when I was nearly 18 and wanted to travel overseas … I didn’t even exist! Many statutory declarations later, together with a letter from the Hospital where I’ve been told I was born in Leeton, NSW stating that my mother had “a living female child on …” were evidence enough to get my passport.

In this glorious Winter, I’m happy to be alive and so thankful that I live in this wonderful country where we grow the finest wool … there is nothing quite like being out in the rose garden rugged up in Australian woollen clothing … highly recommend that you treat yourself to at least one Australian woollen garment to keep you snug and warm in the Winter rose garden!

YES, IT’S OK TO START PRUNING YOUR ROSES … IT’S JUNE! … I know you’ve been waiting for me to give the ‘go ahead’ for you to get stuck into the rose pruning. Remember, however, what I mentioned last week … treat yourself to the opportunity of becoming skilled at pruning and come along to one of the PRUNING DEMONSTRATIONS – still vacancies in the following AND A QUICK PHONE CALL TO : 5787 1123 OR 0418 33 77 65 WILL RESERVE YOUR PLACE:
TOMORROW … FRIDAY, 7th – 1.00pm
MONDAY 10th (PUBLIC HOLIDAY) – 1.00pm
SUNDAY, 16th JUNE – 11.00 am
SATURDAY, 22nd JUNE – 1.00pm
Please bring your pruning equipment with you so that we can go through the sharpening and maintenance of your gear to make the pruning experience so much more ergonomic and safe for you and your plants! Please also bring your children along so that they can be pruning our roses while we’re teaching you how to prune yours!

‘GREEN CLEANING’ WITH TRI-NATURE … It is important to let you all know that we are still distributors of the fabulous Tri-Nature range of cleaning and skin-care products! Just the other day, I was cleaning the glass on our fire-place and I had the most amazing experience … the laundry is closer than the kitchen and rather than traipse up to the kitchen I grabbed the ENHANCE PRE-WASH SPRAY – as the name suggests, usually used on dirty clothes prior to washing them. I couldn’t believe how well the cooled glass was sparkling clean so easily! For the glass on the fire-place and the stove, I usually use BLITZ OVEN CLEANER. Another one of the wonderful Tri-Nature products which is ‘multi-use’ and so economical too!!! It has taken me 8 years to use 1 litre of SPHAGNUM MOSS DISINFECTANT … diluted to hospital-grade at 5ml : 500ml water!

If you have a septic system or sewerage treatment unit at your place, can I recommend that you swap over to using these great AUSTRALIAN products – treat yourself, your family and our environment – the products may seem expensive when you first purchase them but over the long-term you will see they are extremely economical and they, above all, make cleaning easy and very pleasant with natural, lasting odours. You’ll also enjoy skipping the dreadful smell of the ‘cleaning products’ aisle at your supermarket … a treat in itself!! I would be happy to send a catalogue and price list – if you are interested please phone 03 5787 1123.

THE ROSES ARE DUG … Yeah! The report from Brian, our rose grower is that the two-year old roses are magnificent plants and are now ready for grading, sorting and despatch. We will have roses here at the Silkies Rose Farm within the next week and then we have to sort, label, heel-in and contact you all once your order is ready for collection/despatch!

Because the standard roses are still flowering, digging them will be a bit longer yet. If your order contains standard roses, those orders will be processed late June/early July … the Winter rose season is exciting and well under way!

PROPOSITION LIKE NO OTHER … The new Langshan chooks are different to what we’re used to … they fly around the pen, sit up on high perches and poop everywhere! The Silkie fowls always nest in a huddle on the ground and they don’t fly wildly around the pen. In an effort to ‘train’ these new chooks, Graham found an old fishing net so he got busy stitching one of his old singlets around the edge of it, knotted the shoulder straps and so had invented a way of being able to gently catch the Langshan’s … anyway, he got the thing together, was trying it out on a pair of boots on the lounge-room floor and then nicely asked me to “get down on the floor, make like a chook and I’ll see if I can catch you” – we laughed till we cried!
The following morning I asked him how his ‘chook catcher’ worked; he smugly told me “the three roosters are up in the training cages” … jeez, I’m really pleased I didn’t get down on the floor and make like a chook … ! Here’s Graham stitching …

 

Have a happy long weekend – hope the weather is fine enough for a spell in the rose garden … enjoy the moments!

Diana, Graham and dingo, Bonnie

SILKIES ROSE FARM, CLONBINANE
OPEN FRIDAY, SATURDAY, SUNDAY, MONDAY
9.00 am – 4.30 pm
silkiegardens@bigpond.com or info@rosesalesonline.com.au
www.rosesalesonline.com.au AND www.allaboutroses.com.au JUNE, 2013

30.5.2103
Hello dear rose friends … yes, a gloriously stunning Autumn is now ended and Winter is with us for the next three months … time to wrap yourself up and provided your roses have finished flowering and you don’t live in the cold zones, you can sharpen your secateurs and get into the garden for rose pruning. Remember, there is no race with the pruning – you might consider doing a ROSE PRUNING DEMONSTRATION with us before you start hacking away at your roses.

Here are a few facts about learning … if I was to tell you in this Rose Rambler how to prune your roses, by the time you get out into the garden tomorrow, you will only remember 10% of what I have written about rose pruning. If you read my information and then start chatting with somebody about pruning, how to do it, when to do it and all the equipment you need, your memory will jump to 50% – you’ll be ‘half an expert pruner’ … that’s OK and your roses will bloom again in Spring.

However, if you join a discussion group, practise by doing and immediately use what you are learning, you will retain 90% of the information you have received – it all makes sense to me that you should BOOK NOW to come along to one of our pruning demonstrations … treat yourself and your roses by learning how to be a 90% expert pruner! It is IMPERATIVE that you bring your rose pruning equipment with you to the rose pruning demonstrations … we will show you how to sharpen and maintain your tools and you can use your clean and sharpened secateurs under our watchful guidance.

Each ROSE PRUNING DEMONSTRATION is limited to 10 attendees per session so that you can gain the maximum experience – allow at least two hours per session and then stick around for morning/afternoon tea. The dates are as follows:
SATURDAY, 1st JUNE – 2.00 pm
SUNDAY, 2nd JUNE – 10.00 am
FRIDAY, 7th AND MONDAY 10th (PUBLIC HOLIDAY) – 1.00pm
SUNDAY, 16th JUNE – 11.00 am
SATURDAY, 22nd JUNE – 1.00pm
The cost is $25.00 per person and you are welcome to bring your children free of charge – they can run and play while you learn or we will offer them a sharp pair of secateurs and they can prune our roses and be occupied while you are learning … giggle! We promise you a great day out!!

If you belong to a Garden/Probus Club and you can organise a group of between 4-8 (one or two comfortable car loads), we will conduct a special ROSE PRUNING DEMONSTRATION on a day which suits your group – booking is absolutely essential and can be on any day other than the designated dates listed above.

NEW SEASON / WINTER / BARE-ROOTED ROSES … Yes, they’re nearly here and let me give a brief explanation of why we don’t have our new season / Winter / bare-rooted roses as early as you see them in all the chain stores … it’s been a very mild Autumn and in rose gardens which haven’t been affected by frost, the roses are blooming incessantly … the same is happening in the paddock where the roses are grown!

To pull those flowering roses out of the ground would cause them immense grief … they MUST have time to defoliate naturally and harden before lifting – that is now happening! Within the next few weeks, the roses will be here at the Silkies Rose Farm and we will be contacting you as soon as your order is processed and ready for collection or posting! We believe in letting Nature take her course – as with all aspects of gardening, every season is different and patience is a virtue!!!

USING THE AUTUMN LEAVES … If you like to rake the Autumn leaves please don’t pile them up and burn them! Run the mower (with catcher on) over the fallen leaves and mulch your rose garden with them – the lawn clippings that come with the leaves will add nitrogen to the rose garden too.
DONT’ CRY BECAUSE IT’S OVER … SMILE BECAUSE IT HAPPENED!
Cheers from Diana, Graham, Dingo Bonnie and chooks at SILKIES ROSE FARM, CLONBINANE
SILKIES ROSE FARM, CLONBINANE

OPEN FRIDAY, SATURDAY,SUNDAY, MONDAY
9.00 am – 4.30 pm