ROSE RAMBLER 27.11.2014

Hello dear rose friends – we’re on the home-run to Christmas – all the family festivities and fun; kids school holidays for six weeks and for lots, annual leave and some blissful free time … yeah!

To help you get gifts organised, here are a few ideas:

“ALL ABOUT ROSES”
A signed copy of Diana’s book which includes 30 years of rose-growing experience in a magnificently presented publication filled with hints and tips, glorious photographs and a very practical guide to growing roses using organic methods.  $29.95 – plus pack and post $44.95
Click here for more details


LOWE ANVIL-CUT SECATEURS
The most preferred secateurs we have ever used which suit young and old, small and large hands.  $49.50 – plus pack and post $64.50


GIFTROSES.COM.AU
Magnificently presented flowering rose of your choice can be sent direct to the recipient’s home with your own personal message transcribed in a beautiful card in time for Christmas.
$69.90 all inclusive
Visit www.giftroses.com.au

Cut-off date for parcel posting is – MONDAY, 15TH DECEMBER, 2014


GIFT VOUCHERS
Gift Vouchers an be posted until FRIDAY, 19TH DECEMBER, and we will add $10 to the redeem value of all gift vouchers purchased during December.
Click here for more details

GRA’S GARBLE …

The dog run fence is now a spectacle with Clematis scrambling through the climbing roses and I highly recommend you consider planting them together with your climbing roses – no, they’re not hard to grow and they have exactly the same cultural requirements as roses.  They’re tough plants when you plant them deeper than the pot, place them so that the climbing rose shades their roots and cover them annually with loads of compost and mulch.

We have the most spectacular range of Clematis at the Rose Farm NOW.

Q.  Did you hear about the messy soccer player?  A.  He dribbled a lot!

With the recent rainy weather, I’ve been diligent with snail baiting – my potato crop was being decimated.  Because Mooi (our toy poodle) is always in the garden with us, I did some research and have found a product developed by Australian scientist called ERADICATE which is of low-toxicity to non-target animals such as dogs, cats, birds and earthworms because the active ingredient is an iron EDTA complex.  ERADICATE is toxic to snails, slugs and woodlice and while there is some evidence that excessive consumption of Iron EDTA complex baits leads to vomiting and diarrhoea, these effects are probably due to the alkaline nature of the product.

Do your pets and the earthworms a favour – purchase ERADICATE next time you buy snail bait!

Q.  Why did the bacon laugh?  A.  Because the egg cracked a yolk.

ROSE OF THE WEEK

SUNDANCE – a spectacular Hybrid Tea rose which produces masses of intense, unfading yellow blooms with a hint of orange around the tips of the petals and is beautifully enduring in a vase.  Healthy dark green foliage compliments the long stemmed, very quick repeating blooms.  Great rose for a hot-spot in your rose garden.

With the Christmas rush impending, take quiet moments to relax and unwind in your rose garden … see you soon at Clonbinane.

~ Diana, Graham & Mooi

ROSE RAMBLER 20.11.2014

ROSE RAMBLER 20.11.2014

Hello dear rose friends … the spectacle of the Victorian State Rose Garden at Werribee is something you all deserve to see – it’s a hidden treasure managed by a host of volunteers under the banner of the Rose Society of Victoria and Wyndham City Council … you MUST go there and you MUST take a picnic lunch, a pen and paper and most definitely a camera.

The memory of this magnificent garden will stay in your mind forever but if you like to photograph rose flowers, perhaps you are contemplating planting more roses for your garden and not sure what varieties of roses you like – this is THE place in Victoria to see roses in their glory!

Our son Eric, who assisted us at Werribee last weekend sent this email after he was so inspired by the magnificent specimen trees in the park surrounding the mansion and rose gardens …

If today’s modest financial gain wasn’t necessary to live, provide for my family and have some things for us to enjoy, I would be most happy knowing that the hundred or so people who purchased roses today (and going home with all the knowledge necessary to grow them well) will succeed and hopefully be inspired to grow more and maybe go even further and plant something (like I am) that can be enjoyed (as I did today) by future generations. I would happily do it every day… Thanks for a great day.  Love you … Eric

Plan a visit to the State Rose Garden at Werribee soon!

GRA’S GARBLE …

If you continually pick roses for vases in the house, you are doing your rose bushes the best of favours!  This long-stemmed pruning will encourage strong re-growth which keeps the rose garden looking neat; you’ll enjoy the variety of colour in the new growth (usually red foliage) and older leaves (usually dark green foliage) and most pleasantly, your rose bushes will produce prolific numbers of large, quality blooms throughout the heat of summer!

Keep up the watering and feeding – most important!  Fertilize every 6-8 weeks over the entire soil surface around the rose garden with quality complete organic fertilizer and deliver at least 20 litres of water to each bush every time you water – this will ensure water is soaked to the roots of the plants.

All of this rose management is covered so well in Diana’s newly published book:  ALL ABOUT ROSES which should be in a bookstore near you (ask for the book if it isn’t on the shelf!!!) or can be purchased through our website:  www.rosesalesonline.com.au

Watering and feeding roses is such an important part of rose management and once you understand the mechanics of it, you will grow the most spectacular roses, easily and confidently.

Q.  On which day do giants eat people?  A. Chewsday (thankfully, our day off!)

During coming hot weather months, liquid fertilizing rose bushes fortnightly with AminoGro to which you add seaweed solution will lessen plant heat-stress and guarantee continual healthy foliage and flowering – during hot weather it is most important to have good foliage cover on the bushes – liquid feeds ensure this!!!

Q.  What’s the difference between broccoli and bogies?  A.  Kids will eat bogies

Get the kids into the garden with you and they just might start eating the goodies they have a hand in producing … happy gardening … Gra

ROSE OF THE WEEK …

Gawd, how do you pick just one???  I picked these flowers and put them in the water fountain nearby to photograph their unsurpassed beauty.  The bush is stunningly healthy, a very robust hybrid-tea bush which awes me each time I enjoy its glory – TROPICAL SUNSET

GIFTROSES.COM.AU

GIFTROSES.COM.AU is now launched and you can order flowering rose plants to be sent anywhere except TAS and WA.  Experience tells us that a gift rose for any occasion has such amazing impact – the rose can reflect joy, it can offer solace – a rose in the garden is most definitely an enduring reminder of an event in the life of the recipient.

With so many gloriously healthy, appropriately named roses available, do take advantage of this opportunity of gifting to your loved ones!  Take a look at the website which my creative assistants have recently developed and let us make your gift-giving a beautiful experience … giftroses.com.au

Have a beautiful week in your rose garden – talk soon
Diana, Graham & Mooi at Clonbinane

ROSE RAMBLER 13.11.2014

ROSE RAMBLER 13.11.2014

And better a week late than never!  Hello dear rose friends during this most glorious of rose seasons where roses are featuring in all their beauty everywhere.  Here at Clonbinane we have still been experiencing cold nights but gorgeous sunny days which has produced the most magnificent garden and potted nursery display that we have had in some years – we were starting to think our garden was just a ‘summer garden’ which became a picture very late November-early December but this year the weather has been kind.

A violent windy storm late this afternoon reminds me to tell you that staking your standard/weeping roses is a most imperative task in the rose garden – one that screams ‘DO IT NOW’ … you might see a slipped tie or a broken stake as you’re racing into the house after work … please do stop and tie the standard/weeping roses appropriately – re-stake with steel as necessary!

Yes, you might think it’s great for the industry when a gardener has to re-invest in a new rose… I despair at the waste which could well have been avoided – it also improves the overall aesthetic of the garden when your standard roses are appropriately staked.

I really like the ‘look’ of the ‘rio-rod’ because it is almost invisible and very, very easy to use – my local hardware cut the rod into 1.8metre lengths and they were simple for me to (standing up on a wire crate) bang into the ground.

When you purchase standard roses, they usually come with a cane stake which is totally inadequate for long-term support.  The rubber tie is designed to rot after a while – please make it a high-priority task to properly stake standards!

GRA’S GARBLE …

Gotta start with a funny one:
Q.  What’s worse than finding a worm in your apple?
A.  Finding just half a worm in the apple!

This applies to harvesting organic fruit and veg from your garden and you can be assured that you won’t die from eating a grub in an apple or a caterpillar on the lettuce or silverbeet; earwigs which are in the broccoli will float to the top when you cook it.

So important that you get out in the garden – whether it’s harvesting veggies, mowing lawns, trimming the roses – oh, by the way, be sure that when you are trimming roses, use sharp secateurs.  Blunt secateurs ‘tear’ the stems of the rose which will almost definitely result in dead/woody ends which may take time to recover with healthy new growth.  Good sharp cuts – whether to an outward-facing bud or not will result in healthy new shoots and flowering stems – time now to trim, trim, trim and don’t be shy.

Cut 30cm lengths of spent flowers and you’ll have an amazing display of roses for Christmas.

Q.  What do you give to a sick lemon?  A. Lemon aid.

STATE ROSE & GARDEN SHOW
THIS SUNDAY, 16th NOVEMBER
10.00am – 3.00pm

FREE EVENT

VICTORIAN STATE ROSE GARDENS, WERRIBEE

GARDEN STALLS, CHILDREN’S ENTERTAINMENT AND THOUSANDS OF ROSES
PICNIC IN THE PARK – VISIT THE WERRIBEE MANSION – OPEN RANGE ZOO

SILKIES ROSE FARM WILL BE THERE
WITH PLANTS AND DIANA’S BOOK – ALL ABOUT ROSES
– DO COME ALONG FOR A GREAT DAY OUT

ROSE OF THE WEEK …

There are so many glorious roses but EYES FOR YOU is outstanding with the most amazing fragrance which is distinct from other rose perfumes.  The eye-catching blooms are continual and the rounded, healthy bush is ideal for pots or garden borders.

Enjoy the delight of your rose garden this week …
See you at Werribee State Rose Garden on Sunday …

Cheers from Diana, Graham & Mooi at Clonbinane

ROSE RAMBLER 30.10.2014

ROSE RAMBLER 30.10.2104

Hello dear rose friends … here’s a pinch and a punch for the LAST day of the month – another one gone and yep, our roses are blooming.  They’re so healthy and robust – inviting you to come and take a look at how beautiful they are and the outstanding queen this week is FIONA’S WISH with her heavenly fragrance and stunning HUGE blooms demanding attention from the moment you step out of your car … gawd, what a rose …

Following on from last week’s Rose Rambler, the sharing continues and we are all benefiting from the input of readers – Noeline has this great contribution which will please those of you who are plagued by rosellas and other birds who strip your roses …

“Hello Diana, I am sending you the following email to let you know about the success I’m having with keeping the rosellas away from my roses. I’ve had it on each rose bush (a strip of about half a metre) for 3 weeks now and believe it to be the best protection ever. Believe me I’ve tried every other conceivable device. The tape is strong enough to withstand further use. Very effective especially when the sun is out and a slight breeze is blowing. The bright colours are amazing. I can send you a sample strip if you would like. I did forget to put the tape on one standard bush and the birds only just found it a couple of days ago. Threw my shoe at it and put a piece of the tape on it and they haven’t been back since.  Regards … Noeline”

Ok, so what is the product Noeline is successful with?  Here’s the information you need …

Holographic Tape
When exposed to sunlight the tape reflects multi-coloured light in a random chaotic manner and is available from:
Bird Gard Pty Ltd, PO Box 737, Cotton Tree QLD 4558
Tel: 07 5443 6344  darren@birdgard.com.au

It would be most interesting to know if this tape, when attached to roses where there is possibly some night light may deter possums … might be worth a try for those gardeners who despair at the destruction of the rose garden due to possums – let’s keep this conversation alive.

Here’s another tip: Yvonne has the snails stumped …  “Even the snails (of which there were many) are few and far between as we now use coffee grounds around the plants, and snails and slugs do not like coffee grounds.  The lemon tree was being attacked by snails and the fruit skins were snail marked.  So, out came the coffee grounds.  We sprinkled it around the tree and have not been bothered with snails on the lemon tree since that time.”

GRA’S GARBLE …

We’ve been collecting coffee grinds from a local Café since we left our own Café at Kilmore … we KNOW the coffee grinds are an amazing addition to the organic garden because worms absolutely LOVE them!!!

Q.  Where do ants go for their holidays?  A.  Fr-ants of course!… laugh till you cry.

So that you get great, CORRECT information to assist you in your quest for caring for our environment by employing organic management principles in all aspects of your garden adventures, please keep these addresses handy and sign up for their very useful, extremely informative newsletters: www.sgaonline.org.au
www.ecoorganicgarden.com.au

SGA is Sustainable Gardening Australia with whom our business is registered as a Sustainable Garden Centre while OCP are the creators of our eco-friendly rose management products.

RECYCLING …

Don’t throw away any old shoes or boots.  Get the kids to drill holes in the soles, paint them all the colours of the rainbow, then fill them with quality potting mix and plant flower seedlings or herbs for a beautiful display.  Ask this joke while you’re busy helping them:

Q. Why did the picture go to jail?  A. Because it was framed.

GET LOTS MORE ROSES – TRIM THE SPENT FLOWERS …

To get more blooms as soon as the flowers finish, continually trim 30cm of stem and I guarantee you will have new roses within 50 days.  Some people call this ‘summer pruning’ but if you do it at least once a week throughout the flowering season, you’ll have a continuous display of beautiful flowers and keep the rose bushes neat.  Remove any dead-wood when you see it as this will make the winter pruning a whole lot easier.

APHIDS …

We highly recommend that you NOT squish them with your fingers because you will very likely squish all the beneficial insects that are there trying to eat them!!!

Take a look at these pics … plump ladybird and

Lacewings (very fine-winged insects) voraciously ingesting aphids

If you have a severe outbreak of aphids, apply ECO-OIL (suffocates mainly the larval stage) with ECO-NEEM (starves both adults and young) at 3-5 day intervals until the blighters are under control but WILL NOT HARM all the beneficial insects!!!

Enjoy these last magnificent weeks of spring and do come and visit on this beautiful Victorian holiday weekend for the ‘race that stops the Nation’ … Melbourne Cup, for us, is all about the glorious roses but if you back a horse, may you back the winner …

~ Cheers from Diana, Graham and Mooi

ROSE RAMBLER 23.10.2014

ROSE RAMBLER 23.10.2014

Hello dear rose friends … more sharing as a result of last week’s Rambler.  It’s amazing how ‘toilet stories’ attract this kind of sharing … giggling still … but sad that nobody offered to take Graham on his long-worked-for holiday???

Hi Di – those eco products I got from you via phone call last week arrived next day by post (fantastic), and it saved me going to Bunnings etc, plus I was able to talk to you to learn a lot more about the product (not an option at the big chains).

Plus the products did a very good job, and not just on the roses  – Paul

Yes, for a minimal postage fee, I can post our organic rose management products direct to your door – call me on 03 5787 1123 if this works for you!

VERY EXCITING NEW RELEASE ROSE NOW AVAILABLE…

We had to wait for this rose to be ‘baptised’ so that we could attach labels – we now have the labels and some stunning plants ready to be sold.

Every family has one, every child thinks they are the one, every parent knows that each child is one … so which rose am I referring to?  Of course, THE GOLDEN CHILD.

An amazingly sturdy, bright yellow floribunda rose, THE GOLDEN CHILD was awarded ROSE OF THE YEAR in 2013 for extremely healthy, glossy dark foliage which is a brilliant foil for the stunning mass of fragrant, non-fading, waved-petal,  yellow blooms produced continually from season start to end.

This highly recommended rose is ONLY available on our website as a GIFT ROSE bush which means it will be gift-wrapped and a card with your personal message attached then posted to THE GOLDEN CHILD in your life.  Please send one to each of your children to alleviate sibling rivalry – I know which of her children my Mum would send the rose to; she has one son and three daughters … giggle!!!

Standard specimens of the rose are available FOR PICK-UP ONLY at Silkies Rose Farm, Clonbinane – limited numbers available this season.

GRA’S GARBLE …

To stop pots from drying out use glazed or plastic pots that lose less moisture from evaporation.  Paint the inside of terracotta pots with a sealer or plant the rose into a plastic pot, place it in the larger decorator pot and disguise the edges with mulch or a trailing ground-covering plant like ALYSSUM or other seedlings.

ALWAYS use top quality potting mix which you can be sure has a blend of quality ingredients including water-saving crystals and nutrients.

EVERY rose can be grown in a pot and since there is a good range of sizes available in the self-watering decorator pots, we recommend you purchase one of those so that you can guarantee your rose will always have water and nutrients available – pour seaweed solution into the water well.

The size of pot you select will determine the eventual size of the rose; climbing roses and large-growing hybrid tea roses, old-fashioned and modern-shrub roses perform beautifully in large tubs.  Use smaller pots for miniatures and some of the smaller growing floribundas. Group your pots together so that you’re not walking all over the yard with the hose running – it’s easy to forget ‘that one over there’!!!

EARWIGS IN THE ROSES …

Since they don’t fly, there’s only one way they can get to the flowers … crawl … soooo, if you have creepy-crawlies in your roses, try smearing petroleum jelly around the base stems.  Yes, it’s tedious but we know they won’t walk over it and if you end up with glorious roses to bring into the house that aren’t spilling earwigs over the kitchen bench, it’s worth it!

Q. What happens if you pour a bucket of hot water down a rabbit hole? 
A. You get hot cross bunnies!

Let us know what results you have with this method of deterring crawling insects in your flowering roses.  Clean up around the garden where the earwigs are camping … have a beaut week in your garden …. Graham

DATES TO LOCK-IN …

8TH/9TH NOVEMBER
ROSE SOCIETY ROSE SHOW

MT. WAVERLEY, VIC

SUNDAY, 16TH NOVEMBER
STATE ROSE GARDEN SHOW

AT WERRIBEE, STATE ROSE GARDENS

We will be there with a display site – definitely make this a ‘must do’ on your calendar – bring the whole family for a great day out!!!

The roses are almost flowering here at Clonbinane so do call in soon – when you come, please feel free to wander through the gardens …

~ Cheers from Diana, Graham & Mooi

ROSE RAMBLER 16.10.2014

 

Hello dear rose friends … this interesting email discussion is very worth sharing:

Hello Diana … Thank you so much for your weekly news sheets – they are most helpful. On the 12th September you referred to the organic spray to prevent black spot, etc.  After looking up recipes on the web, I found a carb soda and soap recipe which I used before the foliage had started showing.  The roses are looking really lush now.  But I cannot find whether this should be continued once the foliage is out, or is it ineffective now?It is the first time I have used it and I have to say that I was terrified of what may happen.  I decided that if I killed every rose, I would make a trip to Silkie Rose Garden and replace them all!  Fortunately, I didn’t kill any

I would so appreciate your advice.

Best regards Thea

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

My response: Hi Thea …

In the ‘old’ days when we first started our journey into sustainable/organic management practice, we also used all these recipes and it was a lot of mucking around – treat yourself to the AUSTRALIAN well-researched, economical and very effective OCP products – eco-oil and eco fungicide/eco rose (same product!!!) and you won’t have that immense worry about whether you’ll harm your roses or not!!!  It’s like fertilizer – yes, you can buy a bit of this and a bit of that and maybe somewhere in there, get it right – why not just buy quality fertilizer which has all the nutrients … easy and the science is done by professionals!  We are very lucky now that we have access to such brilliant Australian products and I recommend you use them!  Hope this is helpful …

Cheers

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Thea’s response:

Thank you so much Diana.  I hadn’t realised that ‘eco …’ is a brand name.  Have checked out Bunnings and Masters websites and found it.  So am all set!  Shame I don’t cook – I think that’s what carb soda is used for mostly.  But I am certainly not going to start.

Best wishes, Thea

GRA’S GARBLE …

Please, please support your local PLANT NURSERY!!!  Yes, the ‘big guys’ have it all but if you take a moment to wander through your local nursery, have a chat with the (usually) qualified person who gets up each and every morning (usually) at least 6 days a week, they will be the people who will offer you back-up support, great information, quality plants with (usually) a guarantee!

Think about what your kids/grandkids might be doing in years to come – hopefully working in a profession that makes them extremely happy and this great country of ours is the best place to be!  Yes, we sell our Australian products on the internet to Australian gardeners – consider where you buy and what you buy in the interest of the future for ALL of us!

Q.  What did the alien say to the garden?  A.  Take me to your weeder. 

Then he follows up with this one:
Q. What did the alien say to the cat?  A.  Take me to your litter. 

(Editor, Diana:  Gawd, I’ll let you figure all that out ‘cause I haven’t got a clue where he’s going with any of this.  He needs a holiday so I’m thinking of sending him to the moon – any takers for a co-driver?) 

HELP US PLEASE …

You’ve heard me talk about constructing a toilet facility for you when you come to visit.  Is there anybody out there who knows something about composting toilets, camping toilets – anything simple that is legal?

No, we don’t want to give you a shovel, no the ‘long-drop’ won’t work because we live on the Sunday Creek – boys can pee behind a tree but we would like to offer our lady visitors the comforts they expect without them coming into our home.

If you have experience with a toilet which might be used say, high out, 10 times a week, can you please send us an email with your ideas … thanks.

ROSE OF THE WEEK …

this magnificent Hybrid Tea rose has won awards for the most exquisite fragrance and beautiful, perfectly formed blooms on long, strong stems.  JARDINS DE BAGATELLE is a significantly important rose for me – when we demolished the gardens at Kilmore, Graham took particular time to carefully remove three bushes and replant them here at Clonbinane just below the veranda where I sit with my morning coffee – it’s one of my most favourite Hybrid Tea roses.

When customers purchase this rose, I know they’re in for a treat and Yoda sent this glorious photo of one of the first roses to flower in his garden this season:

WARNING …

Please do check the ties and structures where your roses are planted.  Last week I was raving about how magnificent MRS. B.R. CANT was flowering over the (33 year old) swing frame.  In the horrific winds of this past few days, the frame lifted out of the ground and massive canes shattered – Gra and I spent 3 hours pruning the rose today – hopefully she will be flowering again at Christmas unlike a few customers who have called to say their weeping/standard roses were ripped from their canes and there is no other option than replacement!  Not good!!!

Here’s another date to log into your diary –

ROSE SOCIETY OF VICTORIA Spring Rose Show
on the 8th – 9th November
at Mount Waverley
Details from the Society’s website on www.rosesocietyvic.org.au

Have a beaut week in your rose garden contemplating these words …

ALL THAT WE ARE IS THE RESULT OF WHAT WE HAVE THOUGHT. 
THE MIND IS EVERYTHING.
– BUDDA

~ Diana, Graham & Mooi

 

ROSE RAMBLER 16.10.2014

ROSE RAMBLER 16.10.2014

 

Hello dear rose friends … this interesting email discussion is very worth sharing:

Hello Diana … Thank you so much for your weekly news sheets – they are most helpful. On the 12th September you referred to the organic spray to prevent black spot, etc.  After looking up recipes on the web, I found a carb soda and soap recipe which I used before the foliage had started showing.  The roses are looking really lush now.  But I cannot find whether this should be continued once the foliage is out, or is it ineffective now?It is the first time I have used it and I have to say that I was terrified of what may happen.  I decided that if I killed every rose, I would make a trip to Silkie Rose Garden and replace them all!  Fortunately, I didn’t kill any

I would so appreciate your advice.

Best regards Thea

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

My response: Hi Thea …

In the ‘old’ days when we first started our journey into sustainable/organic management practice, we also used all these recipes and it was a lot of mucking around – treat yourself to the AUSTRALIAN well-researched, economical and very effective OCP products – eco-oil and eco fungicide/eco rose (same product!!!) and you won’t have that immense worry about whether you’ll harm your roses or not!!!  It’s like fertilizer – yes, you can buy a bit of this and a bit of that and maybe somewhere in there, get it right – why not just buy quality fertilizer which has all the nutrients … easy and the science is done by professionals!  We are very lucky now that we have access to such brilliant Australian products and I recommend you use them!  Hope this is helpful …

Cheers

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Thea’s response:

Thank you so much Diana.  I hadn’t realised that ‘eco …’ is a brand name.  Have checked out Bunnings and Masters websites and found it.  So am all set!  Shame I don’t cook – I think that’s what carb soda is used for mostly.  But I am certainly not going to start.

Best wishes, Thea

GRA’S GARBLE …

Please, please support your local PLANT NURSERY!!!  Yes, the ‘big guys’ have it all but if you take a moment to wander through your local nursery, have a chat with the (usually) qualified person who gets up each and every morning (usually) at least 6 days a week, they will be the people who will offer you back-up support, great information, quality plants with (usually) a guarantee!

Think about what your kids/grandkids might be doing in years to come – hopefully working in a profession that makes them extremely happy and this great country of ours is the best place to be!  Yes, we sell our Australian products on the internet to Australian gardeners – consider where you buy and what you buy in the interest of the future for ALL of us!

Q.  What did the alien say to the garden?  A.  Take me to your weeder. 

Then he follows up with this one:
Q. What did the alien say to the cat?  A.  Take me to your litter. 

(Editor, Diana:  Gawd, I’ll let you figure all that out ‘cause I haven’t got a clue where he’s going with any of this.  He needs a holiday so I’m thinking of sending him to the moon – any takers for a co-driver?) 

HELP US PLEASE …

You’ve heard me talk about constructing a toilet facility for you when you come to visit.  Is there anybody out there who knows something about composting toilets, camping toilets – anything simple that is legal?

No, we don’t want to give you a shovel, no the ‘long-drop’ won’t work because we live on the Sunday Creek – boys can pee behind a tree but we would like to offer our lady visitors the comforts they expect without them coming into our home.

If you have experience with a toilet which might be used say, high out, 10 times a week, can you please send us an email with your ideas … thanks.

ROSE OF THE WEEK …

this magnificent Hybrid Tea rose has won awards for the most exquisite fragrance and beautiful, perfectly formed blooms on long, strong stems.  JARDINS DE BAGATELLE is a significantly important rose for me – when we demolished the gardens at Kilmore, Graham took particular time to carefully remove three bushes and replant them here at Clonbinane just below the veranda where I sit with my morning coffee – it’s one of my most favourite Hybrid Tea roses.

When customers purchase this rose, I know they’re in for a treat and Yoda sent this glorious photo of one of the first roses to flower in his garden this season:

WARNING …

Please do check the ties and structures where your roses are planted.  Last week I was raving about how magnificent MRS. B.R. CANT was flowering over the (33 year old) swing frame.  In the horrific winds of this past few days, the frame lifted out of the ground and massive canes shattered – Gra and I spent 3 hours pruning the rose today – hopefully she will be flowering again at Christmas unlike a few customers who have called to say their weeping/standard roses were ripped from their canes and there is no other option than replacement!  Not good!!!

Here’s another date to log into your diary –

ROSE SOCIETY OF VICTORIA Spring Rose Show
on the 8th – 9th November
at Mount Waverley
Details from the Society’s website on www.rosesocietyvic.org.au

Have a beaut week in your rose garden contemplating these words …

ALL THAT WE ARE IS THE RESULT OF WHAT WE HAVE THOUGHT. 
THE MIND IS EVERYTHING.
– BUDDA

~ Diana, Graham & Mooi

 

ROSE RAMBLER 9.10.2014

ROSE RAMBLER 9.10.2014

Hello dear rose friends … are you a little lighter in the pocket after paying the kids to harvest snails, slugs, bugs … even worms got into my transactions – cost me $2.50 until Logan reminded me that we didn’t need any more snails because his lizards eat dog food anyway!!!  Laughed till I cried at that comment!

I so hope your garden looks as beautiful as ours … this is a season to beat all seasons with rose buds on so many early-flowering varieties and MRS. B.R. CANT (tea rose) in full bloom; lush, healthy green in every shade imaginable; blossom on the fruit trees.  How blessed are we to be caretakers of this small piece of paradise?  Very!!!

ROSE IDENTIFICATION LABELS …

Don’t you love to know the names of your roses when you’re showing somebody around your garden?  Many years ago I made great labels for each rose in the gardens at Kilmore by cutting 30cm lengths of conduit, with pop-rivets attaching 30cm lengths of venetian blind horizontally then hand-printing the rose name with oil-based black paint.

They were very durable and lasted well, however, several times our rose labels were returned to the nursery after being removed and tossed around the town so I gave up replacing them. I have often thought to make those again for our gardens here at Clonbinane but after planting a lovely new rose garden last week, I came upon this thought as a very sustainable gardening idea…

All our potted rose labels are now attached to a pink plastic ‘stick’ which is clipped to the side of each pot – great for the roses because the stem where we used to tie the plant label was stressed, the label now sits up from the pot and is nicely visible and looks sensational when you walk through the nursery because you see the labels ‘looking’ at you rather than them flapping wildly in the breeze.  When it’s time for trimming the potted roses, we don’t have to worry about re-attaching labels which was a very laborious chore!

As I was planting my new rose garden,

I unclipped a label from the pot and stuck it in the ground in front of each rose.  Then it occurred to me that Virginia (our assistant who thinks outside the square) did an experiment last year by painting rose labels with marine varnish to see if they would endure weather pressure when tied on the bush – a year later, those labels still look brand new.

Sooooo, in the new rose garden, each rose will be identified by re-using the ‘pink stick’ to which the plant label is attached.  I’ll buy a can of marine varnish and paint each label – durable, sustainable, identifiable … perfect solution to naming the roses in your garden – give it a go and check out the new garden when you visit us in the coming weeks!

GRA’S GARBLE …

been busy building a new shade-house area where I grow all my cuttings and seedlings as well as park my car – had to paint all the timber after I dug the holes for the posts – gawd, the things you do for love!  (I love my car and my seedling cuttings!)

Q.  Why did the man give up tap dancing?  A.  ‘Cause he kept falling down the sink! 

My Grandma used to call the sink the ‘zinc’ with a bit of her Scottish accent and this leads me to talking about the minerals we should be adding to the soil.  One of the simple ways we gardeners can provide a balance of minerals is by throwing MUNASH ROCKDUST around the garden.  Once you throw the ROCKDUST around, put ONE SMALL CAPFUL of MUNASH RENEW sea minerals in a watering can of water and pour that wherever you distributed the ROCKDUST.

We do this program over the potted rose plants in the nursery to keep a good balance of minerals up to the pots … amazing results which prevent the incidence of black-spot and mildew on the roses.  I don’t have any scientific studies to refer to our results – just know there are healthier plants when we apply these products.

If you grow vegetables, please, please use these products to mineralise the soil in your veggie garden because our OLD Australian soils are so deplete of a balance of minerals and we must ingest a good balance of minerals to stay healthy – since you don’t eat your roses, mineralise your veggies first and what product you have remaining, use on the roses and you’ll see amazing results!

DATES WHICH YOU MUST RESERVE …

We’ll talk more about in coming R/R’s :

YEA & DISTRICT OPEN GARDENS
SATURDAY – SUNDAY, 8TH & 9TH NOVEMBER

STATE ROSE GARDEN SHOW, WERRIBEE
SUNDAY, 16TH NOVEMBER

We wish you joy in your stunning spring garden …

~ Graham, Diana & Mooi (no, not mooey, moy!)

ROSE RAMBLER 2.10.2014

ROSE RAMBLER 2.10.2014

Hello dear rose friends … yes, no R/R last week but there’s so much going on that sitting at the computer takes a back seat – while I’m out pulling weeds and ‘doing stuff’ I speak with you all constantly, telepathically, do you hear me speaking with you rather than typing the R/R???  Probably not!

We’ve enjoyed busy days in prime-time weather out in the garden with our heads down and bums up being close and personal with the magpies who had to be part of the action by getting worms and bardy grubs after the weeds were pulled and the last few days have been taken up with helping erect a school holiday building project – cubby-house with the pea-straw bales, Mooi’s first birthday celebrations and personal time-out … nice stuff!

Once read a beautiful Chinese proverb which told me that if I had learned something of value, I had a moral obligation to share it with others.  This email gives some insight to our online business which I think is great to share …

Hi Diana … I am VERY pleased to say that my beautiful roses arrived yesterday. They were a little bumped and bruised in the box, but otherwise all good and still very moist in their packaging. TINTERN is soooooooo cute. They all look VERY healthy and I can’t wait to plant them up this coming weekend.

I loved reading through the Newsletter too, and will follow your suggestion re the ongoing maintenance with Eco products.

One question if I may … You mention in the Rosarian just above the Maintenance suggestion that you “fertilise every 8 weeks with half a handful of fertiliser”, but you don’t mention the name of the fertiliser. I’m guessing if it’s “half a hand full” it must be in pellet form? Can you please clarify that part of your publication?

Also, you say NOT to fertilise until Spring, but we are currently IN Spring up here in Bris Vegas (Brisbane). Does that mean I should fertilise at the same time as I plant the new ones?, or just follow the mixture of Eco-Fungicide, Eco-Oil, Eco-Aminogro and Eco-Seaweed all mixed up together in the same watering can?  I don’t intend to over stress the plants by also spraying with Eco-Neem, so when should I do that and how often?

Sorry to be a pain. I should just buy your book ;>}

Chrissie xx

PS: It was so lovely to see your picture in the Rosarian. Now I can put a face to the name. Gra looks lovely too. In fact you both look like the loveliest couple. I’m so glad I stumbled upon your website via Googling.

Fertilising roses remains a constant area of concern for some customers – because of the weight constraints, it is impossible to send you the brilliant Complete Organic Fertilizer we use.  The best we can do is recommend that you take note of what you are buying, only buy quality and be mindful that organic fertilizer is beneficial to the soil.  Follow the directions on the pack as every product will have a varying recommendation.

When all else fails, just follow your gut instinct – think the plants need a feed, feed them, think they need watering, water them!  A whole lot of ‘good gardening’ is about allowing your intuitive power to prevail!

GRA’S GARBLE …

A pinch and a punch for a whole new month but most exciting is that your roses will be displaying lush, healthy foliage and some of you already have masses of flowers – here at CLONBINANE buds are starting to show colour so it will be an early season indeed!

Q.  What is a cow’s favourite film?  A. The SOUND OF MOOSIC!

One of the first roses to be flowering here will be JOSEPH’S COAT which is a climbing rose of immense beauty with a parade of all colours from warm-yellow buds which, as they age, go through stages of being apricot, pink and then crimson to finish.

In full flower, JOSEPH’S COAT is a sight to behold and I’m glad we remember to send budwood to the grower each season which means this robust old climber which was released in 1963 stays in production.

Our specimen of JOSEPH’S COAT is planted in a huge tub and scrambling over an arch in the centre walk-way of the nursery.  It’s planted with a mauve CLEMATIS and together they are a true spectacle.

Speaking of CLEMATIS – we now have a great range of HYBRID CLEMATIS in stock.  They are very suitable to plant alongside a climbing rose because the climbing rose shades the ground to keep the root-run of the CLEMATIS cool which is exactly what they need to flourish.

A customer gave some great advice about successfully growing CLEMATIS – plant them deep, throw heaps of compost and manure around them and let them get on with it and that’s exactly what we do here in the gardens and they appear to be more frost-hardy than some of the roses!
Treat yourself – plant a few CLEMATIS near the climbing roses in your garden and see for yourself how easy they are to grow.

Have a beaut week in your garden, get the kids to help you pick snails off the veggie seedlings … 10 cents for every snail – you’ll be broke but you’ll have a ball!

See you soon at CLONBINANE … Diana, Graham & one year old Mooi