ROSE RAMBLER 10TH APRIL, 2014
Hello dear rose friends … Warm welcome to all our new subscribers who joined up to receive our ramblings after meeting with you at the Tesselaar Plant Expo last weekend.
The weather was glorious and just as well because I had forgotten to order a marquee. It was delightful to watch people walk past our site and then do a double-back because the fragrance was unbelievable and they just had to come and have a closer look and sniff. Rose flowers in vases like this are simply magic.
Graham and I walked through the rose fields to pick the roses which is such a joyous thing to do. Arms loaded with roses out in the middle of a paddock. After being in the sun at the Expo for two days, I expected to have to bin the flowers but we still have them in vases all about the place here – lovely!
RAIN, RAIN, RAIN …
Not the best timing to be so wet since we have bus groups visiting this weekend but we are not complaining. If it stays mild after all this rain, we will enjoy an extended autumn flowering season. Often a good deep soaking of rain is all a rose garden needs to promote more flowers and although our gardens are irrigated, tap water just isn’t quite the same.
BONUS FERTILIZER …
Great mobs of kangaroos have pooped all over our yard during recent months because grass stayed green as a result of run-off from watering pots in the nursery and our yard was the only place with a decent bit of green pick.
They’ve returned us a favour because all their poop has ‘melted’ with the rain and I’m quite sure it’s added a heap of nutrient to the soil. Worms will be starting to breed soon so they’ll have a party too. Nature is wonderful, isn’t it?
I’ll be needing to mow again as soon as we see the first peek of sunshine. So refreshing to see green after the long hot summer.
WEBSITE UPGRADE …
Within the next few weeks, our website will be set up ready to take orders for winter roses. Our new assistant, Virginia, is currently working with my niece, Katrina who is a professional photographer (InVision Photography) and if the proofs are anything to go by, those girls will put together an amazing website.
If you would like to place winter orders in the meantime, please don’t hesitate to call me on
03 5787 1123. I will keep you posted when the new site is up and ready for ordering your winter roses – very exciting.
GRA’S GARBLE …
If you haven’t fertilized, do it now while it’s raining. Sprinkle over the entire soil surface and if you happen to throw fertilizer over foliage at the base of the roses, hose it off because it can burn the foliage.
Some pets eat fertilizer so to avoid this, soak the fertilizer in a garbage bin for a few days and pour the liquid over the roses – add seaweed to the ‘brew’ as an extra tonic for the roses and you’ll get more flowers for longer.
With all this humidity, regular applications of the rose maintenance spray program will keep fungus at bay and maintain healthy foliage. The fungicide works by altering the pH of the foliage surface so fungus spores cannot live there. The more foliage on the plants, the more photosynthesis occurs and this equates to more flowers … simple!
I planted yellow pansy seedlings for loads of colour in the winter – with all the rain, I’ll have to go and put out the snail-bait.
Q. What is a slug? A. A snail with a housing problem …
Gra.