Hello dear rose friends as the weather makes a slight shift from extreme cold … it’s only in single degrees upwards but moving in the right direction to encourage rose foliage and subsequent buds to flowers … aaah, the waiting is in some ways rather delightful!
NO, IT IS NEVER TOO LATE … to order roses for planting in your garden and I stress that the most important thing is to ensure garden beds are well prepared prior to planting! If you have to purchase roses which have been potted and so pay a little bit more, consider that rather than planting into unprepared garden beds!
Last summer, I sent beautiful standards up to Mike in Queensland – in some ways we were both racing – he desperate to have his garden looking lovely for the local Autumn open garden competition, me, very eager to sell roses to a young, enthusiastic guy to be sure he won a prize for his new garden … it was a dismal failure which we both learned from!
Mike had dug holes out on his nature strip, the roses were held up in transit due to Christmas tardiness with Australia Post and although some of the roses survived the torture, Mike didn’t win a prize in the garden competition! Thankfully, taking my advice, he prepared a garden bed these past months and planted a row of quality bare-rooted standard roses in late July.
Today Mike called me – over the moon, excited and totally enthusiastic about the performance of the standard roses I posted to him this winter … they’re leafing up beautifully and will be flowering within six weeks – total turn-around because he followed our advice and prepared a whole bed rather than just a hole in the grass verge!
Remember, www.rosesalesonline.com.au is open for posting roses ALL YEAR and there is no need to rush planting roses in winter! Prepare the rose beds with lots of compost and manure, seaweed solution every couple of weeks – feed the worms so they aerate the soil and leave their castings – the reward will be strong, sturdy, free-flowering roses for many years of pleasure!
GRA’S GARBLE …
Q. How do baby hens dance? A. Chick to chick!
I would like to repeat the 5 most essential requirements for growing beautiful roses:
- Roses must have at least five hours of direct sun daily;
- Avoid planting too close to established trees – trees will take all the water;
- Plant with copious amounts of compost – never raw manure or fertilizer;
- Never let rose roots dry out – soak with seaweed solution before planting, at planting and fortnightly after planting;
- Roses are very adaptable to many soil situations – clay sub-soil is great for roses as it hold nutrients and moisture.
It’s almost FATHER’S DAY so consider sending your Dad this special rose:
FATHER’S LOVE is a most special rose because it’s red, it’s fragrant, it’s lovely in a vase and it’s a very healthy bush – what more could your Dad wish for? Order online at www.giftroses.com.au or gift your Dad a gift voucher from www.rosesalesonline.com.au and let him procrastinate for the next six months while he considers which roses he would love to grow in his garden – it’s what men do!
IN CLOSING … Q. What do you give a bird that is sick? A. Tweetment.
Enjoy all the moments in your garden this week and hope to see you in Clonbinane soon …
Graham, Diana and Mooi at Clonbinane
