…rose season this way comes. As August draws to a close , we’ve been rushing around trying to sign winter in the garden off with a bit of a spray and general tidy up among the rose beds. I’m not obsessed with pruning as many rose gardeners are. For a start we grow mostly shrub roses, (which are happy to grow unpruned thru the seasons) and they do tend to get regular trims as we “milk them ” for cuttings during the late summer thru to winter.. Pruning roses is one of those subjects that get a lot of press and probably one that puts many people off growing them , as they gather it is a science that the common man couldn’t cope with unless he had attended seminars and read books.
Nothing could be further from the truth! Roses have got to be one of the toughest species of garden plants there are, and will survive whatever nature throws at them and humans inflict on them…so if you haven’t got round to pruning your roses this season, don’t worry about it. Anytime will do for a tidy up, you can do it while you’re picking blooms for the house in November if you want…or just give it a miss till next year.
Sometimes an old rose becomes very unsightly if it hasn’t been pruned for some years and may be an eyesore in a garden you have inherited…no problem…stump it! If you just saw all its arms off near the base, and give it a good feed, you can be 99% sure it’ll send out new healthy shoots from the base and be beautiful again!
Our perennial business is now a happening thing, we have sent a few orders successfully and they travel well with their rose friends from the garden.
This summer we are hosting some open days in the garden, starting in late October. You are welcome to come along without appointment and view the 2 gardens. There will be roses and perennials at our very reasonable prices available, also some other garden related stuff for sale.
The first weekend will be 27/28 October. Admission free, refreshments available for a gold coin donation.
In the meantime the garden is continuing in it’s late winter glory. Plenty to catch the eye/nose and pick for nanas…the “spring bulbs”are probably at their best in our garden in late August. Some of course are done and dusted, but the daffodils are wonderful, and the dutch irises. The blue bells are sending up their magnificent blue heads and the friesias and spraxias are all getting their acts together. Then their are the magnolias, rhodos and camellias making a real impact around the edges.
The Tea roses continue to manage some late winter blooms and all the repeat flowering roses are starting to dress themselves, ready to produce spring abundance. Always such an exciting time, especially if you have new roses in the garden. We have several we have never had before this season…quite a big several really as we bought a fair few while they were still available and procured cuttings of many more. With kind assistance from some heritage rose members we have been able to welcome some old David Austins back to the collection, and even a couple of “new-old”ones that have never been commercially available…very exciting season ahead….