A belated Christmas greeting to all. The weather this month has been ….interesting …to say the least. We have clocked up 120 mils these last few days, and that’s on top of several other hundred (or so it seems) in recent weeks. Grass growth in the district has reached new heights, I believe somewhere nearby the dry matter production reached 60kg per hectare per day, which broke records and means a lot of unprecedented crazed growth in the garden. That goes for plants and weeds alike. So the roses are throwing up basal shoots like there’s no tomorrow. These immediately load themselves with buds and as the flowers start to open in record time the rain comes down, drenches the flowers and bingo, sappy new shoot snaps off at the base. This can be quite heart wrenching, especially when the rose concerned hasn’t been vigorous in the past.
The answer of course is staking, but unfortunately due to circumstances beyond my control, I haven’t had as much garden time as I would like, so I just have to cry a bit and take the broken shoot for house flowers and hopeful cuttings.
Having had an early first flush, the repeat roses are now pretty much in full flower again. It will be interesting to see if some of the once flowerers have a bit of a second go as they did last season…seems highly likely. Certainly the once flowering ramblers are extending their season, and still producing some late bunches. Also the spring perennials are carrying on with the abundance of moisture, so all in all the gardens are pretty crowded with flowers.
After a disappointing “take” from our Autumn/winter cuttings, in the spirit of hope, I’ve been making odd ones on through the spring and summer. Things are looking good on this front, we have quite a lot of new roses coming on which should be available in the Autumn.
We’re also flat out dividing perennials which can cope with summer amendment, so should have some good new selections available by our next Open Day on February 9th.Our Perennial selection will re appear on the site shortly, as possibilities to share box space with roses being sent. I made a few Christmas experiments, and our way of posting them appears to work fine in these hotter months.
Since I started this blog Summer has hit with a vengeance and the weather forecast shows no more rain in the meantime, so hopefully the weeding will last a little longer from now on! It’s pretty depressing when the area you weeded meticulously a week or two ago is knee high again!
I better draw to a close now before another week passes and I still haven’t published. So farewell 2018 and let’s hope 2019 is a good growing season for all.