Hello dear rose friends – welcome to spring! Today is the actual birth date of my first-born son, Eric – he’s now a strapping 35 year old lad who, most delightfully, is a true plantsman, one of Mother Nature’s own gentlemen – Happy Birthday Eric with our wish to you and yours for many happy years of gardening and good health!
GRA’S GARBLE …
I like this:
THE SIX BEST DOCTORS IN THE WORLD
SUNLIGHT REST EXERCISE DIET SELF-CONFIDENCE FRIENDS
Maintain them in all stages of life and enjoy healthy life.
“Soil is the engine of human existence” was conclusively decided at a recent conference at Texas A&M University – since soil provides most of what is needed to keep the human body healthy! Humanity relies on the ongoing provision of eco-system’s goods and services and this can only be achieved with a soil resource that is utilised according to its capability and managed properly to maintain its condition!
Do we ever, as home gardeners, consider our soil in such a special way? How can this be regarded in a practical sense when we are working in our gardens? What can we do? Here are my suggestions:
- Make compost
- Always keep mulch on open soil
- When feeding plants use only organic materials/fertilizers
- Respect earthworms – only walk on layers of mulch in garden beds – dig with a fork
- Grow some of your own vegetables and fruit
- Grow lots of flowers to make your soul sing
- Use liquid teas / seaweed on compost to encourage micro-life
- Apply stone-dust to put essential minerals back into the soil
And of course, as a rose grower, I would say you will grow the most magnificent roses if you apply all of the above methods in your rose garden! A simple thought: because roses are SO productive, they love to be cared for and then they’ll flower for 8-10 months each year!
Q. What type of suit does a duck wear? A. A duxedo – of course! And then one for every gals ‘blond moment’ … Q. Why did the lady put lipstick on her head? A. Because she wanted to make up her mind. Have a great week in your garden … Gra
YES, WE ARE STILL POSTING ROSES … Although cut back and potted, I gently lift the roses from the pot, put some of the coir-fibre potting mix around the roots which are then wrapped in damp newspaper and tightly sealed in a plastic bag. The roses transit extremely well and we recommend you get them into the soil as soon as they arrive and this email might be helpful when your roses arrive as they do now:
Good morning Diana, CREPUSCULE arrived safely yesterday and we put her in the garden. I have a question. She had many small laterals all over and these had clumps of very small shoots already in leaf — also very small leaves. Should I trim those back and if so, by how much? Thanks again, Gabrielle
My response: No, no … please don’t remove them … we have sold soooo many CREPUSCULE that we are now down to the very cut back specimens … they’re ideally cut back for potting like that because as you now see, they’re producing masses of WATERSHOOTS – these are the new branches which will carry heaps of flowers and you’ll have a very sturdy plant because of all those new branches!!! Seaweed solution over the entire plant and foliage once a week for the first 6 weeks and then fertilize … you watch how beautifully it grows!!! Cheers
WHEN THE WRONG ROSE HAPPENS …
I posted a rose last week and after it was beyond retrieval with Australia Post and I realised I had sent the wrong rose, this tete-a-tete of emails followed:
Hi Diana
I haven’t received any call from you but I wanted to let you know that I have received the rose – thank you. Unfortunately, as you say, it is “Blue for You”. I would definitely prefer the Beyond Blue rose since I believed that the sale of it would contribute to the organisation to support depression in memory of our friend’s son?
Do you want me to return the “Blue for You” rose? To your farm? Should I water it again before sending it? Regards Judith
This is
BEYOND BLUE rose, the proceeds of royalty payments go to BEYOND BLUE FOUNDATION which supports mental health:
Hello Judith … I took the initiative to post another rose rather than call you – please find a lovely spot in your garden for
BLUE FOR YOU which is an outstanding rose … you should have BEYOND BLUE early next week – once again, my absolutely sincere apologies for this mix up! Cheers Diana
Thank you Diana. I shall think of you when BLUE FOR YOU flowers! Kind Regards Judith
Judith … Thanks for being so kind – the (faceless) internet affords people an opportunity to be nasty if something goes wrong and I always worry when I make a mistake – thankfully, not often!!! Your lovely message here is ‘phew’ … you will truly love BLUE FOR YOU as I featured it in a wide-spread in my book so it is obviously one of my favourites!!! Enjoy and take care of you at this time of grieving with/for your friends – my life has been touched by suicide too so I understand your pain! Cheers – Diana
This is BLUE FOR YOU … a wonderful shrub rose with lovely fragrance and a magnificent display of blue flowers with silver reverse – stunning rose!
Enjoy the moments of early spring in your garden – weed today and part of Friday – don’t do any planting or gardening this Saturday but then remove weeds until next Thursday, 10th September – remember to mulch the garden immediately after weeding!
HAPPY FATHER’S DAY to all the Dad gardeners! Have a beaut day of breakfast in bed then go weeding the garden with the kids … enjoy all the moments of being DAD!
Cheers from Graham, Diana and Mooi at Clonbinane …
