Hello dear rose friends where we are working in glorious winter sunshine after severely frosty mornings and some rain this week … exactly as we would expect the weather to be at this time of year!

This weekend we’ll have a stand at GARDENER’S DAY OUT, 2018 from 9.30am SATURDAY, 16TH JUNE at RUSDEN THEATRE, DEAKIN UNIVERSITY, BURWOOD HIGHWAY, BURWOOD

Enjoy inspiring presentations: JANE EDMANSON, STEPHEN RYAN, ATTILA KAPITANY and be there to visit a large number of niche vendors with unusual plants and allied products.

The event is all UNDER COVER with FREE PARKING so ideal for visiting with predicted inclement weather this coming weekend – public transport is close by and you will be supporting the Royal Horticultural Society of Victoria with your presence! Do come and visit us!!!

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GRA’S GARBLE…

We’ve had a most thrilling bit of publicity these past few weeks with a story in the WEEKLY TIMES a couple of weeks ago followed by a magnificent presentation in SMALL FARMS MAGAZINE (includes TOWN & COUNTRY FARMER) June edition.

Our darlin’ toy poodle MOOI looks gorgeous in all the photos as does our son Ben and quite frankly, both Diana and I look great too so you MUST get a copy of this magazine – we’ve enjoyed all the other stories featured in this brilliant edition of SMALL FARMS MAGAZINE!

Q: What do you get when you cross a fridge with a radio? A: Cool music. – this joke will be very apparent to our assistant TOVA who likes the radio on while she’s working – we’ve agreed to one day her music, one day ours – happy medium in our work place!!!

I had a phone call the other day: “should I start the organic rose maintenance spray program NOW?” … and my response was: “DEFINITELY, YES! – if you start the program IMMEDIATELY AFTER PRUNING you will eliminate the need to do ‘catch-up’ if/when your roses incur disease/pest issues in spring.

Get ahead of the insects and definitely protect new rose foliage from spring weather conditions which prevail to perhaps incur black spot/mildew!

We recently posted a rose to Ian which was rather roughly handled by Auspost but he’s managed to recover the rose and as any of you who receive roses know, we always pop a copy of our ‘Rosarian’ catalogue into your parcel. Here’s Ian’s email:

“I was leafing through the copy of AUSTRALIAN ROSARIAN, that you put in with my order and I discovered “Shirley’s Rose”. Normally I am not a great fan of white roses, but note that this one is highly fragrant, and my resistance just melted away ’cos my wife’s name is Shirley. So I thought: “I must have that for her”.

For me, I cannot understand why anybody would purchase a rose that is not fragrant, but I am a weird gardener and only like plants that – have a pretty flower, have a nice perfume, or you can eat. Shirley’s Rose will fulfil two of those criteria – guess at a push it could fulfil all three, but probably will not try to eat it 🙂

I don’t have a hole or a place in the garden to really suit this rose, but guess it will survive in that pot that it will come in for a while and I can just pot it on as it grows. This one must definitely be female 🙂 Kind regards, Ian.”

We know that both Ian and his wife Shirley will enjoy SHIRLEY’S ROSE in their garden and suggested that if they ever have another space to fill, two other magnificent roses which were bred by our very own AUSTRALIAN ROSE BREEDER, BRUCE BRUNDRETT who was formerly owner of BRUNDRETT’S ROSES at Narre Warren here in Victoria are available:

THE OPPORTUNITY ROSE will be the very first rose to flower at the beginning of the flowering season in any State – it will also very likely be the last to flower and produce a most stunning display of blooms continually throughout the season – top rose!

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MY YELLOW – New Release this year and absolutely amazing for those who want to plant a yellow rose … this rose is so incredibly healthy and very free flowering

Q: What do you call a book that’s about the brain? A: A mind reader.

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GROWING ROSES IN SHADY LOCATIONS …

Hi Diana, just a quick question if I may. I have a shady(ish) spot in the front garden that I’d like to grow something. It gets sun in summer for half a day (but not full sun where I’m planting the other roses you’re sending) and a little sun in winter. There’s a frangipani in the same planting bed but not much else. I’ve been reading that the DANSE DE FEU climbing rose can be grown in shade but not sure if that’s really true!

Any ideas for a shade loving rose that can cover a semi shady corner? There’s a low wall it can grow up. Thanks Lisa

MY RESPONSE: Honestly Lisa … if ANY rose doesn’t get at least 5 hours of sunlight per day while it IS ESTABLISHING it will not give you the joy I would expect … if you were planting the rose in open ground, no frangipani, no other shade trees, etc. then you plant ALL THE PLANTS TOGETHER … it MIGHT work for a rose of exceptional quality – very high-health and extremely prolific since the shady location might cause foliage to incur powdery mildew / black spot but it might also reduce the flowering capacity!

However, to plant a rose in an existing shady location, it probably won’t flourish. The rose you mentioned: DANSE DE FEU is one I have never grown but do remember the name from when we first started in roses 35 years ago.

A magnificent red CLIMBING/PILLAR rose which just might pull this off is DUBLIN BAY if you want to venture! Hope this works and you enjoy planting your new roses this week … best wishes

We’ve done it so many times but it is a great rose so let’s do it again!

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Hope you enjoy all the moments in your rose garden this week and perhaps we’ll see you at GARDENER’S DAY OUT, 2018 this weekend or perhaps you’ll pop up to the Rose Farm at Clonbinane .. Graham and Diana

Hello dear rose friends as winter kicks in and we share this quotation from ‘The Four Seasons’ newsletter of Australia Biodynamic – Victoria Inc’ most interesting winter edition.

Winter is a very important time for nature. The earth is inhaling; all the forces are drawn underground into the soil to enable new life in spring. Plants submerge their energy into their roots; movement slackens as matter and energy concentrate.

Here at Clonbinane we have put our heads down and our bums up as we get stuck into distributing the most glorious rose bushes – another consignment arrived this week … so please be patient as we are processing your orders efficiently and quickly as possible.

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A FEW GOOD NEWS STORIES

Yes, the GIFT ROSE goes out now without flowers but beautifully gift wrapped with extremely important messages which matter so much, right when your message is needed to be conveyed:

“Hi Diana, I just wanted to thank you so much for the Rose I ordered for my friend who is currently undergoing treatment for cancer. The rose arrived at the same time as I received a text from her to say she was in hospital, so it was perfect timing. She was so thrilled with the rose and even more thrilled with what ‘Joy of Life’ symbolises. It certainly made the rose extra special.

JOY OF LIFE

Thank you so much for your assistance and understanding when particular roses are wanted. As always it arrived in perfect condition. Helen Webb”

and another one:

“Good afternoon Diana, I have just collected my ALI BABA climbing roses that I purchased from you from the post office. Beautifully packaged. Once opened I found two magnificent roses.

ALI BABA

I have sat them in the shade outside and I will plant on Saturday morning. My only problem is: where shall they go. I keep changing my mind. I have loads of fence to cover, but I want to be able to see them from my office.

Thanks again for your prompt, well packaged and reliable product. If these roses do well with our climate and the growing aspect, I shall be returning for more. Have a great weekend … Merryl”

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GRA’S GARBLE…

Do you need a bit of a hand with pruning your roses this winter? Come on up to Clonbinane on one of these dates and I’ll spend an hour or so teaching you all the different pruning methods so you can go home and prune your roses with confidence.

There’s no cost for the demonstrations – bring your secateurs, your kids and a bucket-full of enthusiasm for rose pruning and organic rose management!

SATURDAY, 23RD JUNE 10.30AM
SUNDAY, 15TH JULY 10.30AM
SATURDAY, 28TH JULY 1.30PM

Q: Why did the cat put the letter “M” into the freezer? A: Because it turns ‘ice’ into ‘mice’.

There are some glorious roses still flowering despite having endured freezing conditions here and it’s important to know which varieties hang on and on …

LICHFIELD ANGEL was recently planted on the driveway border – it was spectacular this afternoon and even the foliage is clean which means it’s not ready to shut-down for winter this early – I guess, because it was bred in England by David Austin it has special qualities?

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NAHEMA is always continually pruned for flowers so it would naturally be still flowering now but in the bed facing south-west, it gets brutally hammered by frost … I could go and pick a bunch of flowers today … such a special climbing rose!

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HOMMAGE A BARBARA is also subjected to extreme frost facing south on the shed wall yet there is a great show of colour and I could definitely pick a vase of flowers to place on Diana’s desk this week … a real beauty for a hedge and constant display of darkest red!

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Q: Why can’t you play a practical joke on snakes? A: Because they don’t have a leg to pull!

Lots of customers are sharing their ‘autumn rose garden’ stories … lots of lovely blooms, extreme fragrance but foliage starting to show signs of shutting down for winter – don’t bother applying the organic rose management program to your roses now as it’s time for them to lose their foliage and the only mechanism they have for this is to incur black-spot and yellow foliage which then drops and the rose plant defoliates.

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THIS IS NORMAL FOR ROSES DURING WINTER

If you don’t like looking at the affected foliage, get to and prune the roses. If you like to be a bit more ‘c’est la vie’ let the roses shut down naturally before you prune – either way is OK!

If you plan on travelling this winter, don’t stress about the roses – either prune BEFORE you leave or pack your bags, have a beaut winter holiday and prune the roses when you get home in August/September! Yes, with quality fertilizing after a decent late winter prune, the roses will still flower in November!!!

Enjoy all the fragrance of the last roses from this past flowering season – it might be months before we experience this delight!

Cheers from the team here at Clonbinane who are working flat-out to get your bare-rooted roses dispatched so you can plant your rose garden!

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Graham, Diana, Tova, Ben, Leigh and of course, MOOI who knows you’re here!

Hello dear rose friends as we say GOODBYE to glorious autumn and WELCOME to winter and the start of a whole new season in our gardens!

Winter might be considered THE ‘SEASON’ OF ROSES … there’s so much going on in the rose world at this time of year … selecting and purchasing/planting new bare-rooted roses in your garden, pruning roses and getting management procedures in place to ensure your roses grow robustly healthy during the impending flowering season.

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GRA’S GARBLE…

the leaves of our magnificent ornamental trees have fallen to create a superb mulch over the soil around our trees and although we still have lovely sunny days interspersed with clouds and some rain, winter is with us tomorrow!

Joke: A COW COCKY was filling in the census form. In answer to the question, “What is the length of residence in Australia”, he wrote: Thirty feet, ten inches with a verandah front and two sides.”

An email from Catriona … When do you recommend we start pruning?

My response: Whenever you like really … we’ll be pruning the potted roses up in the nursery in the next few weeks … garden roses will gradually be pruned as time permits rather more than consideration of the weather since we get soooooo cold here! It’s hit and miss for us because we get such severe frost … prune early can mean the bushes produce shoots which harden in the early frost conditions but prune late and when the bushes shoot, those shoots can be frozen!

If you’re in a mild climate or large town where there are lots of street lights which warm your environment, you can do it anytime I guess. Pruning is a bit like that now! Cheers

The above email response is pretty much how we are experiencing the issue of when to prune … it does definitely depend on:

• Your climate
• What suits you ie. Do you travel during winter – prune before or after?
• Time constraints

I recommend you prune when you’re feeling happy about doing the job – do it in bits and pieces rather than make it a ‘chore’ … we all know that doing a job with negative vibes is way harder and can incur negative responses than when you do a job with joy in your heart and a spring in your step!

Please know that pruning your roses should be a joyous occasion in your garden – you’re doing your roses a huge favour by pruning them during this winter so that they are able to rejuvenate by producing lots of new water-shoots, healthy foliage and subsequent flower buds for next season’s flowering.

Just reminding you and you can pass on to the kids: Chooks are the only things you can eat before they are born and after they are dead!

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LOOKING FOR A REALLY SPECIAL ROSE TO PURCHASE NOW OR IN THE FUTURE WHEN IT IS APPROPRIATE

There are so many times when you just need to send a magnificent rose which expresses exactly what you wish to say as a GIFT ROSE – all you have to do is add your message which I will personally inscribe onto a lovely card. Here are a few suggestions: …

LINKED HEARTS

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EARTH ANGEL

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REMEMBER ME

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MOTHERS LOVE

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GOLDEN CELEBRATION

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Although the roses are ‘just sticks’ right now, be reminded that those ‘sticks’ when potted into a 20cm pot of top-quality coir-fibre potting mix, will be a magnificent flowering plant by this SPRING and will then endure to be a loving reminder of your consideration in sending a GIFT ROSE during this winter.

Let our lovely roses do the talking for you!

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Cheers from the team at Silkies Rose Farm, Clonbinane …

Hello dear rose friends as we welcome the new season’s roses which are being sorted, labelled and very importantly, kept moist AT ALL TIMES during this processing!

You’ll be hearing from us soon if you have ordered bare-rooted roses – please be patient and wait for us to contact you as some varieties are still in the ground … remember too, standard roses will ALWAYS BE DUG LATER … it will be July before we call you to advise posting or collection of orders which contain STANDARD ROSES!

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GRA’S GARBLE…

Its time to be planting bare-rooted winter roses. GIVE ROSES A BOOST TO START THEIR NEW LIFE in your garden by following these planting tips:

• Dig a hole at least 50cms x 50cms and at least that deep so that the graft is just above the existing soil level;
• Blend 30% of quality compost with the existing soil;
• Scientific research has shown that mycorrhiza (good soil bugs) can be obtained from mulch/soil material around other plants in your garden so add a bucket full of this to the planting hole;
• ALWAYS soak the newly planted rose with at least two buckets (20 litres) of water;
• Add seaweed solution to the final bucket of water and continue seaweed applications at least every two weeks.

Q. How can you tell a Martian would be a good gardener? A. They all have green thumbs.

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AWESOME CLIMBING ROSES …

here are a few highly recommend ones which would nicely cover a stark fence and require very little in the way of support …

DUBLIN BAY

TWILIGHT GLOW

PIERRE DE RONSARD

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Q. Which bird can never be trusted? A. A lyre-bird.

May the last days of autumn afford you the joy of stunning fragrant roses and amazing colour from the trees around you! We’re revelling in the last blooms and the most gloriously colourful garden we’ve ever experienced here at Clonbinane!

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Talk to you next week… meantime, enjoy the autumn colours all around you… Graham, Diana and the crew at Silkies Rose Farm, Clonbinane…

Hello dear rose friends as we return home from a very special reunion at Mt Tamborine, QLD with Graham’s mates from his days in the Rover Scouts – a catch-up with many memories and laughs!

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GRA’S GARBLE…

I hope all you Mums had a beautiful day last Sunday when your family celebrated your specialness!

Q. What kind of sharks NEVER eat women? A. Man-eating sharks

Diana likes to throw me an impossible task sometimes; this is one of them: If I was only allowed to buy three roses this winter, which would I choose?

After much deliberation and writing down more than twelve varieties in a very short time, I ended up with these three:

UNCONVENTIONAL LADY – is one of the most exciting new climbing roses because not only does it flower very, very continually but it holds a lot of healthy foliage throughout winter – a really important aspect of covering an area which would enjoy winter foliage! A very highly recommended rose!!!

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MUNSTEAD WOOD Because I just LOVE this glorious rose which grows on a short hedge-row in my garden … it stops me EVERY time I walk past because I have to take a sniff and its flowering all the time! My favourite David Austin Rose without a doubt!

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KARDINAL I just have to have the most perfectly formed red rose in my garden so that I can pick bunches of long-stemmed blooms to fill vases for the kitchen bench throughout the flowering season and KARDINAL is so PERFECT! It’s so long-lasting and if you get it at the right moment, yes, it does indeed have a fragrance too!

Be sure and write down your lists of preferred roses, make ‘wish lists’ and do your research so that when you plant, you hopefully get the planting right FIRST TIME. It doesn’t always quite go to plan – read on:

Hi Diana, I was given ‘Perfume Passion’ two years ago.

The label said it grew to 1.5 metres. After a year in the ground it just took off! I’ve never seen such vigorous growth (apart from maybe ‘Best Friend‘).

Even with a good winter prune I’m finding it’s growing closer to 1.8 metres which is a bit too tall for its current position.

I can always move it but what I’m wondering is, how is the height of a rose determined? Regards – Jon

MY RESPONSE …

Sometimes, the height is determined by the fact that it just LOVES it at your place. Seems that’s the case in this instance – see, I would say to another customer, yep, 1.2 – 1.5 for BEST FRIEND but I know for a fact that there are locations where the rose is growing to the eaves of the house and beyond, simply because it loves the position its planted in and, it was a quality rose from the start!

If your PERFUME PASSION is too large for the current location (it is flowering well I imagine? ie. It’s not understock?) I recommend you move it to a place where it can do its thing! Cheers – Graham

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FREE GARDEN DESIGN / CONSULTANCY …

Send your plans, wish-lists and specifications to us at info@rosesalesonline.com.au and we’ll be more than pleased to assist with organising your new or refurbished rose garden from design to soil preparation, rose selection and planting information.

There’s lots of information at www.rosesalesonline.com.au but you’re welcome to call us on 03 5787 1123 any Fri Sat Sun or Mon 9.00am – 4.00pm if you would like to have a chat about anything to do with roses in your garden.

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Talk to you next week… meantime, enjoy the autumn colours all around you… Graham, Diana and the crew at Silkies Rose Farm, Clonbinane…

ROSE RAMBLER 10th MAY, 2018 … 

Hello dear rose friends.  And … drumroll … the WINNER IS: LISA MUNNS from LAVINGTON IN NSW

Sincere thanks to you all for your AMAZING support of this competition by emailing your answer and details accordingly … most of you got it right!  Steph takes the prize for the most creative response:

Q. WHAT’S WORSE THAN FINDING A WORM IN YOUR APPLE?

A. FINDING HALF A WORM IN YOUR APPLE! Why?  — because: (1) you have ingested some unexpected extra protein; and (2) you’ve lost the opportunity to put the apple and a lovely wriggling lively worm in your compost where the apple will break down, the worm will thrive and create lovely compost to PUT ON YOUR ROSES! 🙂  Kind regards …Stefanie 

Along with this beautifully creative contribution from Sonia’s little girl:  “Finding half a worm or a family of baby spiders, earwigs or a human eyeball … ewhh – yuk”

We were overwhelmed by the incredible number of email responses and we’re so pleased to be able to continue presenting this weekly Rose Rambler for your learning and gardening pleasure knowing so many of you actually continue to read it!

The reason we did such a low-key Rose Rambler last week was that I had had a rather serious car accident on MY dirt road into Kilmore and wrote-off Graham’s vehicle!  I am 100% OK and a walking – talking miracle really!  There was a lot to organise and the accident was a signal for me to slow down and take time out to ‘smell the roses’!
Graham and I will be taking time out in these next few weeks before the busy bare-rooted season starts.   Ben and Tova are more than capable of holding the fort so continue to place your winter orders for bare-rooted roses!

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NOW IS THE TIME TO ORDER YOUR ROSES FOR WINTER …

Here are a few highly recommended varieties which you MUST consider:

 

ALI BABA – is one of the most exciting new climbing roses because not only does it flower very, very continually but it holds a lot of healthy foliage throughout winter – a really important aspect of covering an area which would enjoy winter foliage! A very highly recommended rose!!!

DREAM CHASER – was one of the outstanding roses in the field this past summer – it’s got everything you want in a rose … highly fragrant, very easy care, extremely high-health and a lovely rounded shrub which just ‘fits in’ … you MUST have this beauty in your garden!

MY YELLOW – is absolutely stunning and again, extremely high-health, fragrant and it just doesn’t seem to EVER BE WITHOUT FLOWERS … we’ve been trialling this beauty in our gardens here at Clonbinane and it is EVERYTHING we never expected to enjoy in a yellow rose – an Australian-bred beauty by Bruce Brundrett and if you love YELLOW roses, then this is the rose you MUST grow – a real beauty!

If you don’t like online ordering then call us at the Rose Farm every Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday when we are open – otherwise, order at www.rosesalesonline.com.auwhere you can see a plethora of beautiful photos of the roses available for ordering NOW.

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GRA’S GARBLE …

Since you obviously all love a good joke, here’s my contribution for this week:

Q. What do you get if you cross a worm with a baby goat?  A. A dirty kid!  

Many of you will still have beautiful blooms for weeks to come in your rose garden so be sure to apply the organic management spray program regularly as it will retain healthy foliage for longer as the nights get cooler/damper – to 10 litres of water add:

• 1/4 cup ECO-ROSE / FUNGICIDE (these products are one and the SAME!!!  Eco-Rose has a red coloured label and Eco-Fungicide has an aqua coloured label)
• 1 small scoop ECO-SEAWEED (the 600g pack is still on special because we forgot to change the price several weeks ago – you’ll make 120 x 9 litre watering cans of seaweed solution from each 600g pack!  Real value at full price of $32.50 but currently just $25.00
• 1/4 cup ECO-OIL – although it is an insecticide, ECO-OIL also acts as a ‘sticker’ so it’s a very important component in the organic rose management spray.

Thoroughly mix all the products into a spray unit or watering can and cover rose foliage fortnightly during this cool/damp weather to keep foliage healthy right up to winter when all rose leaves will start to show signs of black-spot and yellowing.

Remember that this decline in healthy rose foliage is a NATURAL MECHANISM for roses to LOSE their FOLIAGE and go into winter dormancy.  When they’ve completely defoliated it will be time to prune – more on that topic later.

Here’s an email exchange with Jodie in Queensland:  “Hi Gra … my roses are all flowering and looking great – the only challenge I have is black spot.  I have started to spray them with the special eco powder for black spot that I purchased from you, but I suppose it will take a number of more sprays before it starts to work?”

My response:  The organic spray management program works very efficiently, effectively and economically when applied regularly and in line with prevalent weather conditions … so rather than wait for damp weather to affect rose foliage by staying damp overnight and increasing the possibility of black spot or mildew affecting the leaves, SPRAY BEFORE such weather is expected – if and when possible!

Just another thought … do you have the ECO OIL as well???  Always add that to the spray because it also acts as a ‘sticker’ … makes the fungicide and seaweed solution ‘stick’ to the foliage because it is oil based!  If you don’t have ECO OIL you should at least add a dash of detergent – the soap will make the spray solution stick to the rose foliage … 

Since I started with a joke, I’ll end with one also:

Q. Why did the singer climb a ladder?  A. To reach the high notes!   … cheers

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TESTIMONIALS …

Thank you for continuing to send emails commending the quality of our roses, our helpful assistance with all manner of rose issues and your general approval of how we conduct our business.

In order to voice your opinion more widely, can you please submit your testimonial on here, so that potential customers will confidently allow us at Silkies Rose Farm and www.rosesalesonline.com.au to encourage them the pleasure of growing beautiful roses in their gardens!

Be sure to ‘smell the roses’ while they are still flowering in your garden and a very HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY to all the wonderful Mum’s / Grandmother’s and Women in general who make this country a loving place for all of us!

Graham, Diana, Mooi and the crew of helpers:  Ben, Tova and Leigh.

Hello dear rose friends as we enter the last weeks of autumn and the cold weather is starting to shut down our rose flowering for this season – we’ve already had some below zero frosts here at Clonbinane!

This is a very brief Rose Rambler offering you a chance to go into a draw for a spectacular MOTHER’S DAY GIFT PACK which includes the following:

* Chair not included

DE WIT (Made in Holland) 4 Tine Garden Fork ($75.00), ALL ABOUT ROSES book ($30.00), LOWE SECATEURS ($62.50) along with our favourite rose gardener’s gloves, organic rose management pack and a ROSE BUSH of your choice – TOTAL VALUE $300(includes pack/post if necessary!)

ALL CORRECT ANSWERS to Graham’s joke will be placed in a draw for this great MOTHER’S DAY GIFT PACK to be drawn at the Rose Farm on MONDAY, 7TH MAY at 9.30am (so that it can be posted in time for Mother’s Day gifting).

When answering the joke via email to:  info@rosesalesonline.com.au please don’t forget to include your name, phone number and postal address!

Here’s the joke Graham chose:

Q.  WHAT’S WORSE THAN FINDING A WORM IN YOUR APPLE?  

Have a great week in your garden and we’ll be back with lots of rose garden talk next week … cheers from Graham, Diana and the team at Clonbinane.

ROSE RAMBLER 26TH APRIL, 2018 …

Hello dear rose friends as we bask in the glory of autumn and our rose garden looks its most majestic best and we enjoy planting a new area of garden with all the potted roses we ‘snavelled’ from stock throughout this past season!

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GRA’S GARBLE …

I haven’t been able to help myself – madly planting lots of kale and silver beet, the pansy border is done and I’ll definitely get the team to assist with planting more roses in MY GARDEN BED!  The last few bulbs will go in this week too and I expect a truly magnificent display coming spring.

Q.  What do you call a cow with no legs?  A.  Ground beef!

We all have a different style and approach to gardening – mine is random and without order, Diana is orderly and tidy – she weeds and mulches in timely fashion and usually according to moon phases so HER gardens usually look neat and well-tended. Neither of us ‘over think’ colour blending because we know from experience that all the colours work together … I guess we complement each other in our different styles of gardening yet we definitely appreciate OUR OWN GARDEN while we work the entire property very much as a team!

Q.  Why did the Math book look so sad?  A.  Because it had so many problems!

If you need a hand with selecting rose varieties or planning a rose garden this winter, please don’t hesitate to send your wish-list and some pictures, perhaps a rough mud-map with dimensions so that we can assist you to plant the rose garden of your dreams!
I hope you’re planting your garden in readiness for a mass of winter veggies and colourful display with annuals such as pansies –

Be sure to plant some more roses in your garden during this most ideal season for rose planting!

While the soil is warm, the roses will settle well before a light winter pruning and perform as well-established roses when they flower this coming spring.  Perhaps my spontaneous SPECIAL OFFER will prompt you to come and do WALK ‘N’ TALK IN THE GARDEN WITH GRAHAM THIS COMING SATURDAY AND SUNDAY AT 1.00 PM EACH DAY – BRING KIDS AND PETS ON A LEAD Here’s my SPECIAL OFFER …

Here are a few suggestions of roses which are performing at their absolute autumn BEST in the nursery NOW

MAGGIE

HOT COCOA

SPIRIT OF RURAL WOMEN

LA SEVILLANA

EMAIL FROM JUDY: PERFUME PASSION is my new favourite! …

Hi Diana …Hope you are well!  The perfume is to die for…gorgeous form…red new growth…healthy, no bugs…what more could you want? 😊

People often ask us which rose is our favourite – both of us genuinely love roses for their enduring beauty, continual flowering, amazing fragrances and simply because they afford us such enormous pleasure in our gardens!  We each have lots of favourites … you’re welcome to share your favourite with us and other RR subscribers – send a pic!

Just for an extra giggle to overlook the RR mess last week:  Q.  What did Mozart get when he ate baked beans? A.  Classical gas!

Enjoy this last week of April and hope we see you at the Rose Farm this weekend …
Graham, Diana, Mooi and the team …

 

 

ROSE RAMBLER 19TH APRIL, 2018 …

Hello dear rose friends as we now recover from a very busy time! Unfortunately, the weather this past weekend was woeful and it surprised us enormously that so many of you ventured to Silvan for the Tesselaar Plant Expo – it was so cold and the wind blew unmercifully so management there decided we should set our magnificent vases of roses in a dark but sheltered walkway with just one spotlight!

We consider ourselves very lucky because we have exhibited at many outdoor events over the past 32 years and we haven’t had such miserable weather EVER! There had to be a first time and we’re sorry it was this event because the roses were SPECTACULAR in the extreme! Here are a few photos …

 

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GRA’S GARBLE …

Diana and her friend Marilyn did an amazing job with our magnificent display of roses in vases despite the howling wind and icy rain! We enjoyed the weekend together with delightful breakfast at Sassafras Bakery, dinner at The Cuckoo and hanging out at a lovely B&B – thanks to Ben, Leigh and Tova for manning the Rose Farm!

However I have just received my BBG Committee email and it was noted that I had to contact you re the Art and Flower (March) Show. But  it  was too late when the subject was addressed  and consequently  that date was already filled. But hoping that you will be staging another one next year we will be delighted to attend that one.  Would appreciate the date and details for the next one so that we can plan for it in the next 2019 calendar.

Kindest regards from Noeline Gilmour

It was very opportune for me that the huge marquee provided refuge from inclement weather so lots of gardeners attended my presentation so they will now manage their roses with greater knowledge, use our organic rose management program and enjoy pruning their roses with confidence this winter!

Q.  What do you call a cow that eats your grass?  A.  A lawn mooer!

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GRA’S GARBLE …

Hello Diana. Nice to see you and Graham briefly last Saturday amidst the shocking weather. Good on you both for staging your roses and giving the talk Graham. Very interesting. You can’t always depend on the weather but that was ridiculous. I just felt so sorry for all the stall holders and food people. We were still there when almost everyone had left trying to keep ourselves warm and dry in the Marque. A nice warm car awaiting us and a pleasant drive back to our B&B

Diana and her friend Marilyn did an amazing job with our magnificent display of roses in vases despite the howling wind and icy rain!  We enjoyed the weekend together with delightful breakfast at Sassafras Bakery, dinner at The Cuckoo and hanging out at a lovely B&B – thanks to Ben, Leigh and Tova for manning the Rose Farm!atHealesville . Was tempted to go back on Sunday but believe the weather was much the same. 

However I have just received my BBG Committee email and it was noted that I had to contact you re the Art and Flower (March) Show. But  it  was too late when the subject was addressed  and consequently  that date was already filled. But hoping that you will be staging another one next year we will be delighted to attend that one.  Would appreciate the date and details for the next one so that we can plan for it in the next 2019 calendar.

Kindest regards from Noeline Gilmour 

It was very opportune for me that the huge marquee provided refuge from inclement weather so lots of gardeners attended my presentation so they will now manage their roses with greater knowledge, use our organic rose management program and enjoy pruning their roses with confidence this winter!

Q.  What do you call a cow that eats your grass?  A.  A lawn mooer!

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IDENTIFICATION OF A ROSE …

We get lots of emails about this topic and here is how it goes…

EMAIL:  Subject: Can you identify this Rose?  

Hello Diana, Could you or Gra possibly identify this rose for me? Also I need two Nahema roses plus 1 soul sister. Do I call you or order on line? Many thanks Virginia.  NSW 

What is it … ?  A climber, a bush ???  Does it have an amazing fragrance ?  A bit more information is very important if we are to have a go at id … talk soon

On this occasion, we probably got it right – PAPA MEILLAND.  However, if you have a rose you would like to know the name of, please, send us as much information as you can – along with pictures of course.  Close up is great, foliage is important and any information you provide will assist!

Dear Diana – Could you help us with some questions on our potted roses. We have large terracotta pots with straight sides. They don’t make trays to go underneath them. Should we raise them off the ground a little as they seem to send roots out if we don’t (does this matter if they do send their roots out) afnd, do potted roses need manure placed in the pots. Thanks so much – Kim

My response to this query is as follows:  Every potted rose should be repotted every 2 years … if they send roots out and settle in soil then you might remove some potting mix above and around the root ball, trim those roots back and replace soil with new potting mix – I do it here very successfully with climbing roses which are planted over arches in a centre walkway of the nursery … I’ll talk about this is r/r in coming weeks …Yes, you MUST FERTILISE potted roses very frequently – at least every four weeks with quality fertilizer and eco=seaweed applications regularly just to keep potting media actively stimulated to keep the plant producing healthy foliage!  Graham

Q.  What do you call a pony with a cough?  A.  A little hoarse!

It’s now very spectacular here in the gardens with the autumn trees putting on their most spectacular display so if it’s sunny any Friday – Monday soon, do jump in the car and come for a visit.  Remember, you are ALWAYS WELCOME to walk around the gardens when you come here!

Enjoy autumn in your garden – sniff every bloom because yesterday we had our first frost! Cheers from us all at Clonbinane …

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ROSE RAMBLER 12TH APRIL, 2018 … Hello dear rose friends after a most amazing experience at the inaugural Upper North Shore Rose Show at Galston last weekend – thank you so much to my hosts Celia and Ian for a truly wonderful weekend in Sydney!  The Rose Show was amazing with their onsite Café well stocked with scones baked by … yep, Diana up at the crack of dawn with a smile Naturally, when I leave the Rose Farm, others have to step up and manage the nursery so thank goodness, Cooper was happy to assist his Dad, Ben and Poppy, Gra …   GRA’S GARBLE … Let’s start with a joke… Q.  Why can’t you borrow money from a leprechaun?  A.  Because he’s always a little short! We enjoy your email enquiries as they inspire us to share our knowledge through this Rose Rambler – this week we’ll cover some interesting facets of growing roses in pots … Rosemary asks:  “SHOULD I REPOT MY ROSES WHICH HAVE BEEN IN THE POTS FOR MORE THAN TWO YEARS?” Hi Rosemary … you would do well to re-pot the roses any time NOW … if there are any in really large pots, remove soil around the border (sides) of the pot, cut roots out as well and place fresh soil in the space, water in with seaweed solution and the roses will literally jump out of their pots!  They’ll flower super well this season.  Hope this is helpful … cheers “HOW MUCH BIGGER SHOULD THE POTS BE?” If you’re going to completely re-pot, why not just use the same pots?  You’ll bare-root the roses, trim the roots and the tops and then plant them back into the same pots I would think???  However, if you want to get larger pots, you might increase the size by at least 20cms I guess ??? “ALSO CAN WEEPING STANDARD BE GROWN IN A POT?” Ofcourse you CAN grow a weeper in a pot but I would only recommend such a situation if you were using the weeper to cover say, a pergola / veranda / or some other structure that the understock cane of the weeper can be well supported by such a structure.  Remember, a weeping rose could easily grow a ‘head’ which is up to 2 metres diameter so unless you have a pot which is 2 metres in diameter, the head will require substantial support! “KIM’S ROSES GROW WELL IN POTS – NOT SO WELL IN THE GROUND – WHY???” Hi Kim … Pots work well provided you water them adequately … since you’ve been so successful, I guess there might be just a bit of an issue with those two varieties?  If a rose doesn’t perform, take a look OUTSIDE THE SQUARE … is it the rose at the end of the row – on the high side (it might be dry or maybe getting more shade than it likes), perhaps the lowest point (is it too wet or not getting adequate air circulation)? RULES TO APPLY FOR POTTED ROSES … When roses are being kept in pots I suggest you use QUALITY POTTING MIX and don’t muck with it by adding bits and pieces … always pour ECO-SEAWEED over the entire plant at least once a fortnight and feed regularly once the rose has foliage.  The bigger the pot, the bigger the plant!  For roses especially, more roots and foliage, MORE FLOWERS! “SEAWEED APPLICATION … EASY OR NOT?” An email from Judy makes me think we glibly offer you this recommendation … “apply ECO-SEAWEED to encourage health, vigour and continual flowering …”  “JUST A SILLY QUESTION…IF YOU WANT TO GIVE THE ENTIRE GARDEN A BIT OF SEAWEED, HOW DO YOU DISTRIBUTE IT?  WATERING CAN (EXHAUSTING!)…SPRAY IT ON – DOES EACH PLANT GET ENOUGH THAT WAY?” My response Hi Judy .. I would think that your entire rose garden would be ‘seaweeded’ with oooh, 5 watering cans???  It’s a sprinkling over the roses and yes, as the bushes grow it might be exhausting with watering cans but then load up a spray unit … there are lots of small garden units available so you can get 25 – 50litres of spray distributed very economically .. worth investing in a unit similar to what we use at the Rose Farm!  Q.  What did one candle say to the other candle?  A.  Are you going out tonight? KABLOOM and TESSELAAR’S PLANT EXPO This weekend we are exhibiting at this magnificent destination so do come along and see and smell our awesome display of field-grown roses – lots of new-release varieties – over 40 vases of fragrant roses will be displayed! There is a SPECIAL OFFER during the EXPO ONLY – order any 5 BARE-ROOTED ROSES for this winter and receive one rose FREE*   (*select one of our highly recommended roses as your FREE ROSE) Graham will be doing a presentation on stage at 10.30am on SATURDAY MORNING. ALSO THIS WEEKEND – KILMORE ART EXPO  If you can organise a group of 8 or more, you will enjoy the following FREE entry to Art Expo FREE catalogue and guided walk through Art Expo FREE entry to one of Kilmore’s finest gardens FREE walk ‘n’ talk around Silkies Rose Farm and gardens Here are a few pics of roses in the gardens and pots this past week … (Top Left: MAGGIE Top Right: JEANNE LA JOIE  Bottom Left: HONEY DIJON Bottom Right:  APRICOT NECTAR) Hope we catch up with you at one of these destinations this weekend – cheers from Graham, Diana, Mooi, Tova, Ben and Leigh – this weekend we’ve got our friend Marilyn helping us as well!