All About Roses

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

Hello dear rose friends as we countdown the last few days till Christmas and we end this year of ramblings with you by sending our love and best wishes to you and yours.

If you need a last-minute gift rose, we’ll be open until 4.00pm SUNDAY, 23 RD DECEMBER.

NOTE: CLOSED ON CHRISTMAS EVE, MONDAY, 24TH DECEMBER, 2018

We’ll be OPEN again at SILKIES ROSE FARM, CLONBINANE from FRIDAY, 11 TH JANUARYwith normal trading hours: FRIDAY, SATURDAY, SUNDAY and MONDAY from 9.00am till 4.00pm – any other times strictly by appointment only.

During the holiday period you might trawl the internet creating wish-lists of roses you cannot live without so www.rosesalesonline.com.au is open 24/7 to keep you entertained with lots of beautiful rose pictures and descriptions. You can, of course, order roses which will be posted when Australia Post are guaranteed to be fully functional after the crazy Christmas rush.

ON MONDAY, 14TH JANUARY, 2019 THE FIRST POTTED/FLOWERING AND GIFT ROSES WILL BE POSTED.

GRA’S GARBLE …

HEDGE-ROW OF ROSES …

You might consider planting a hedge of roses where you otherwise might be installing a fence. Consider any of these hedge roses for a 1 metre wide x 1-2 metre tall hedge which would be considerably cheaper to install than a conventional timber or steel fence and require very low maintenance during its more than 50 years life span! I highly recommend:

KNOCKOUT

Q. Which of Santa’s reindeer has bad manners? A. Rude-olph!

TIPS FOR HOLIDAY ROSE CARE …

• Soak, like really soak the garden beds before you go and make soaking them one of the first chores when you get home;
• Potted roses can be left with a deep saucer of water under them but will need attention at least every second day;
• If your whole-garden mulching hasn’t been done yet, place a thick layer about one-metre square around each rose bush;
• Dose each rose with liquid seaweed which ensures 3-5 degrees greater heat tolerance!

Generally tidy up the garden before you go to make your place look ‘lived-in’ and less attractive to intruders! Have a really lovely holiday season – a break in sending the Rose Rambler will give me time to research more information and find some great jokes for 2019 … see you then – Gra

May 2019 be a lovely year with good health and happiness and may your garden thrive and offer you a special place to uplift your spirit, energise your soul and be your health guardian!

Thank you most sincerely for your continued loyal support of our business!
Graham, Diana, and our poodle Mooi; our great assistants: Ben, Tova and Shelley

Hello dear rose friends as we pack the last roses for posting to you for this Christmas … yes, TOMORROW, FRIDAY, 14TH DECEMBER will be the last opportunity to purchase roses in our online store:  www.rosesalesonline.com.au for Christmas gifting.

Gosh but how lots of sunshine and heat turned our garden into a magnificently special place.   If you live within driving distance, do make an effort to come and walk in our garden soon – if you want to visit with a group, please contact us :

03 5787 1123 every FRIDAY, SATURDAY, SUNDAY and MONDAY … 

we are happy to host a group on days other than our designated open days but YOU MUST BOOK AN APPOINTMENT!

Q. What did the fishing pole say to the fish?   A. Catch you later!

GRA’S GARBLE …

With more drenching rain on the way today, it would be most opportune to spray your roses with the organic rose management program at any opportunity after the foliage is dry – please don’t wait until it’s very hot again!

Because the spray liquid is a dirty colour due to seaweed solution, I find myself avoiding spraying the rose flowers and it has made a significant difference – we used to go around after spraying to trim the affected rose blooms.

It is really quite easy to have a good cover of spray without spraying the flowers – if you think about it, good foliage cover is the principle aim of the program!

REMEMBER NOT TO USE THE ECO SPRAY PROGRAM WHEN THE WEATHER IS FORECAST TO BE MORE THAN 30 DEGREES AND ALWAYS SPRAY BEFORE 10.00AM.

Q. Why are kindergarten teachers so good?  A. They can make little things count.

So, can you spray in the evening after a hot day?  Well yes, you can, however, during hot weather the plant shuts down which means that the stomata (likes pores in our skin) close to protect the hydration of the plant.  Since we are spraying the foliage and we cannot see whether the stomata is open or not, we suggest that your rose spray program be done first thing in the morning before 10.00am to ensure maximum benefit to the roses.

THE SPRAY PROGRAM …

Apply at least monthly. To 10  litres of water add:

•     ¼ cup Eco-rose / fungicide powder (mix with some water to dissolve)
•     5g scoop Eco-seaweed powder (check exact measure if you use other product!)
•     ¼ cup Eco-oil insecticide (also ‘sticks’ spray liquid to leaves)

Mix all the products together and stir well.  You can add Eco-aminogro (fish based fertilizer or say, Charlie Carp or some other product) which will act as a foliage fertilizer.

This spray program is suitable for most plants and should DEFINITELY BE USED IN YOUR ORCHARD AND IN THE VEGETABLE GARDEN!  You can spray edibles in the morning and harvest them to eat for dinner!

Isn’t it great that we have such brilliant products to assist Mother Nature in managing possible pests and disease in our gardens – leads to this beautiful quotation:

Anna Frank quote from her diary written during the invasion of Holland in World War 2 and very much necessary for us to remember every day in these last days of another year – be happy and positive while the roses bloom so delightfully!

CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEAS FOR HAPPINESS IN A ROSE GARDEN* …

GRA’S BLUE ROSE

Meantime, we’ll talk with you next week in the Rose Rambler – take time out in all the busyness to stop and smell the roses … cheers from the team at Silkies

HOLIDAY TRADING HOURS

Please note, SILKIES ROSE FARM will close from…
MONDAY, 24TH DECEMBER – 14TH JANUARY, 2019

Hello dear rose friends after celebrating Sinterklaas yesterday with some of my Dutch family… how privileged I feel to have connections with such lovely traditions which are still celebrated more than 60 years after my parents migrated to Australia from Holland.

GRA’S GARBLE …

Thank you to you all for your beautiful, thoughtful and kind messages to celebrate my birthday last week. Here’s a joke about my age …

When my grandson asked me how old I was, I teasingly replied, “I’m not sure.” “Look in your underwear, Poppy,” he advised. “Mine says I’m 6 – 8.”

I promised to give you some tips for managing your roses through summer and I guess one of the most important tasks is to dead-head the roses regularly – take secateurs and a bucket of water with you EVERY TIME you go to the rose garden.

Removing spent blooms will encourage a new flush of blooms more quickly and keep the rose bushes looking tidy – the new growth is sure to be healthy too!

Because you’re regularly dead-heading the bushes, you MUST fertilize them to be sure healthy foliage remains prolific and disease resistant – remember, more healthy foliage, more flowers! We use and recommend Complete Organic Fertilizer which is available from our Rose Farm at Clonbinane – source a quality product in your locality!

By regularly feeding the soil, you’re sure to be rewarded with continual flowering!

Mulching is imperative now that summer and hot weather is imminent! We’re using pea-straw again this year – I prefer a few peas rather than the hay/straw weeds which tend to dominate and I think might rob the soil of nutrients rather than enhance the soil!

Watering your garden is NOT difficult but it is one of the most misunderstood areas of maintaining a healthy, robust and free-flowering rose garden!

Please water DEEPLY and LESS FREQUENTLY! Once a week in most weather conditions is more than adequate – give each rose bush at least 20 litres of water delivered at the same time – that’s just two buckets of water once a week. In extremely hot weather, do this twice a week.

Check what amount of water is delivered by your drippers/shrubblers or stand at the tap with a 10 litre bucket and time how long it takes to fill the bucket … if you hand water, you’ll know how many seconds to stand and water each rose. This is SO IMPORTANT!!!

Please don’t waste our precious water but make it work to the advantage of a beautiful, free-flowering garden at your place! BE WATER-WISE! Inspired by this email you’ll now read about why I take a bucket of water out to the garden when I’m dead-heading …

Hi – I have ‘A Shropshire Lad’, a ‘Jude The Obscure’ and ‘The Alnwick Rose’  David Austin roses.  They are quite young and have not yet grown into substantial rose bushes.  I notice that if I put the flowers from these roses into a vase, the petals often fall off, the flowers don’t stand up very well and overall they don’t last long.  Will this change when these roses mature?  Some of my other bushes are lovely and strong as are the flowers that grow on them.  Would be very appreciative of your advice. Regards, Lorraine

My response: Lovely to hear from you Lorraine … In the case of your roses which you are wanting to place in a vase, DA’s are especially short-lived most of the time.  However, I’m very successful at bringing them indoors and placing in an open bowl – they do last a bit longer that way!  Of the varieties you mention, THE ALNWICK ROSE

Yes, a gentle reminder that Christmas is looming – last roses will be posted from Clonbinane on FRIDAY, 14TH DECEMBER; posting will resume on MONDAY, 14TH JANUARY 2019.

Enjoy the peace and quiet in your garden … until next week, best wishes from the team at Silkies Rose Farm, Clonbinane.

Hello dear rose friends … How lucky are we gardeners? Taking time to ‘switch-off’ from all the busyness to get down and dirty pulling a few weeds, trimming some roses for a vase and yes, mowing the lawn – ah, the smell of a fresh-cut lawn.

GRA’S GARBLE …

We’ve had a week of extreme winter weather with ample rain to water gardens however, with the rain, rose foliage might be affected by blackspot/mildew. You’ll continue to enjoy beautiful roses if you stay on top of this problem with the organic rose management spray:

Please don’t leave your shopping until the last minute – our last roses to be posted will be FRIDAY 14TH DECEMBER but please also remember that lots of people leave home at Christmas to go camping/holidaying so why not send them your gift rose NOW so they can tuck it into their garden where it will be safe and survive with a deep-soaking watering of just 20 litres ONCE A WEEK!

You can purchase a GIFT VOUCHER at www.rosesalesonline.com.au – for every $50.00 you spend, I’ll gift the recipient an extra $5.00 to spend on their next transaction.

INTRODUCING SHELLEY

When you call in at Silkies Rose Farm you’ll likely meet our dear friend Shelley (and foxy Nelson) who has come to give us a hand – she’s a wizard with roses and loves a chat!

Take time to smell the roses during this amazing rose season and if you get a moment, please send a HAPPY 75 TH BIRTHDAY GRAHAM which he celebrates tomorrow … thank you all for being such beautiful customers!

Hello dear rose friends as we all revel in the glory of our spring gardens – colour, fragrance and absolutely breath-taking beauty surround us!

I apologise profusely for the NO SHOW last week … it all got so very, very busy after I had a few days off for my very first Oaks Day at Flemington Racecourse as part of Melbourne Cup week … here’s what I wrote about that …

“The roses at Flemington on Oaks Day were amazing, so much so, my friend Marilyn had to keep telling me to keep my mouth closed … I was in awe and loved every moment of the occasion!  I waited till the last race to win 1st, 2nd and 3rd place bets so yes, I had a fabulous day …”

Then we presented for the weekend at State Rose & Garden Show in the State Rose Garden at Werribee – I am delighted to tell you that this magnificent rose garden was voted 5th IN THE WORLD by the World Federation of Rose Societies – every rose lover MUST visit these spectacular gardens which are predominantly maintained by a group of 120 + volunteers who meet there every Wednesday and Saturday.

If you live close and would like to become part of this friendly group of volunteers, please contact s.turner2@westnet.com.au to register your interest.

Back at the Rose Farm we are now enjoying magnificent flowering potted roses … it’s spectacular now and you should jump in the car and visit soon … the garden is magnificent also and we welcome you to take a walk with us.

GRA’S GARBLE …

To say it’s been busy is an understatement so here’s a joke to have a giggle …

Enjoy the roses all around you …
cheers from the team at Silkies Rose Farm, Clonbinane.

Hello dear rose friends when right now, I’m enjoying my first ever visit to ladies Oaks Day at Flemington as part of the Melbourne Cup Racing Carnival. You can be sure I’m way more interested in visiting the rose gardens than wagering any $’s on a horse – I’ll pop a few bucks on something that perhaps has a rose name and I’ll let you know next week how I fared!

GRA’S GARBLE …

Please accept my apology for the reference to ‘indigenous’ people as I have the greatest respect for all Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders.

GLORIOUS KNOCKOUT…

Good afternoon, Well I think that this is their third year and this is the start of the KNOCKOUTroses blooming season until I prune them say late July. Last season they grew very tall as well as wide. They grew to nearly 2 metres. I pruned a good 1200mm plus off them this year to try and get them to a manageable height, but I think they will just do their own thing again. They were planted approx. 900mm apart and it is a thick as a box hedge.  I need not have had barbed wired installed on the top of the fence cause if anyone wanted to try and climb over they would be ripped to threads….as are my arms, even with protective clothing!

My industrial block is known as the one with the red roses. LOL.  Just around the corner from me is Landmark and their colours are Green and Gold. Well they have about fifty GOLD BUNNY roses around their shop. That also is spectacular, although they do not grow quite as thick.

I bought two ALI BABA climbing roses from you earlier, one is ok, sadly the other has passed on. I don’t think it liked the continual minus 5s, 6s and 7s. Although I am on a hill. I have also lost three roses (well established) at home. But I live down low where there is always a frost. (Yes, they did get fortnightly applications of Eco Seaweed)

The season ahead is predicted to be more harsh than normal. Well our winter was abysmal with morning after morning of severe frosts….Drought. Our season has been cruel on our poor farmers with grain yields to be predicted at 95% down on average. Most farmers have cut their crops into hay, or in cases where the crops did not reach a cuttable height, spayed with herbicide.  I do not think that city dwellers really have any concept of how dire it is for the rural communities.

At least roses will handle the harsh conditions. May not end up with their best flowers, but will generally bounce back. This is my update. Hope you are all well. Kind regards … Merryl

PIERRE DE RONSARD in Merryl’s garden in drought affected Tamora, NSW … and another great success story from Tamworth…

Hi  Gra … At the end of August I sent you photos of my two feral two-year-old MUTABILIS roses and asked for advice.  So here is a photo or two………….had to send you also my two feral two-year-old CREPUSCULE.  This is a small courtyard in a Retirement Estate in Tamworth.  Unfortunately it is hot today so the CREPUSCULE will be feeling it as it is west facing.  The MUTABILIS seem too thrive in heat.

I cut the MUTABILIS back to the fence and down quite a bit as you suggested.  It has grown at least a metre in the few weeks. You were spot on, thank you. Also for the surprise 600g ECO-SEAWEED (not 100g as per my order!) with my secateurs last week. (We’re glad you’re using ECO-SEAWEED for drought-affected garden – it will definitely make a difference … Gra) Kind regards to you all, especially that little black furry one, MOOI.
– Heather

Policeman:  Did you know that you were driving at 120kph?  Driver:  Impossible. I’ve only been in the car for five minutes!

GLORIOUS OLD-FASHIONED R. CHINENSIS ‘MUTABILIS’

We like to list this rose by its ‘proper’ name so if you happen to have been looking for this beauty as MUTABILIS, now you know why you might not have found it! Such a magnificent rose in ALL climates and conditions – needs good care to be established but once established … WOW!

“I once had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read
the description in the catalogue: “no good in a bed, but fine up against a wall.” –   Eleanor Roosevelt

BUSY FLOWERING SEASON …

CHARITY OPEN GARDEN THIS WEEKEND…

Enjoy the roses all around you …
cheers from the team at Silkies Rose Farm, Clonbinane.