ROSE RAMBLER 20.4.2017

ROSE RAMBLER 20.04.2017 …

Hello dear rose friends as we pack the iLoad with buckets of cut rose blooms, boxes of vases, potted roses and head off to the Tesselaar Gardening and Plants Expo – which is EXACTLY what it is!

A gathering of some of the finest specialist horticulturalists who meet at this magnificent destination to show our wares and offer our discerning gardening friends an opportunity to come along and meet us all at one place – the pulsing heart of horticulture at Silvan in Victoria.  Yes, some customers have flown to Melbourne for this event!

If you require information about attending this weekend, please call us 03 5787 1123.

GRA’S GARBLE …

I have an opportunity to once again speak at the…

Tesselaar Gardening and Plant Expo
SUNDAY, 23RD AT 1.30PM
ROSES – ALL THE TRICKS OF THE TRADE

Bring along your questions!  Never, ever, not ask a question because you think you ‘should know the answer’!!!  I feel privileged and honoured to be invited to share my years of horticultural experience at these events.

For all our customers, always, if you have a query, please land it in an email or bring pictures and all your questions to us here at the Rose Farm.  Our belief is – if you don’t ask the question, the answer is NO … just bring on the questions when you have them!

ALSO! Don’t miss out on this 2 for 1 offer for tickets to the expo. Simply print the below coupon and bring it along to Tesselaars with you this weekend!

Q.  What happened to the dog who swallowed a watch?  A.  He got ticks!

Ever tried weeding in garden beds and you pull at the base of the weed but it just won’t come out roots and all?  Other times, you can hand weed such deep-rooted weeds like ‘dock’ and it almost falls out of the ground!  Well, from 21st April till 26th April INCLUSIVE will be a most successful time for weeding this month – please test this for yourself and we would love to hear your feedback!

You can source the MOON PLANTING GUIDE in Better Homes and Gardens monthly magazine so that you know when to plant, when to weed and when to take a rest from gardening!  Great idea!!!

Q.  What position does a monster play on a soccer team?  A. You’re right … GHOULIE!

This past week we experienced another “TYPICAL SCENARIO OF A POTENTIAL ISSUE WITH A ROSE IN YOUR GARDEN” … It starts rather impersonally and we eventually end up as best friends with Diana and I trying to solve a problem together with our customer …

Dear Roses online, I bought several roses from you last year most are performing very well but I have two that I cannot get to flower.  They have been fertilized and watered just the same as the others. I have tried to give them a prune and nothing seems to be working.  The two roses are Brother Cadfael and Eglantyne both David Austin roses.  Your help would be appreciated.  I can send some photos if it would help.  Thankyou.  Jayne

A photo is always helpful.  However, my thought is that the roses are not getting enough sun?????  Sometimes, when a rose isn’t performing, I will recommend digging it up and holding in a pot for some time, re-working the soil then replanting.  What do you think?

Hi Diana, I have included some photos hopefully you might see something that I cannot.  They all have full sun so no worries there.  If you can`t see anything I will remove the plant from the garden and try it in a pot.  Thanks Jayne

Jayne:  Everything seems in order … are you perhaps cutting/pruning roses which want to grow taller than others … they’re both rather tall in their habit and if you keep trimming, then you’ll deplete flowering potential …???  The foliage is healthy and in both cases, I can see they’re true to variety – BROTHER CADFAEL has that lovely new dark red foliage so is easily identifiable.  Since they’re in full sun, I don’t know other than they’re robust plants and you are potentially cutting off the flowers in order to keep the plants short … ???

Hi Diana , many thanks for your help I will leave them alone for a while and see what happens.  If they don`t flower thru the autumn I will have to put something in it`s place.  Another excuse to buy some more??  Many thanks Jayne.

Jayne:  We would prefer to resolve the issue happening in that location … there HAS TO BE SOMETHING WRONG … not wrong perhaps but definitely not 100% ok … if we can be of further assistance, please let us know  … best wishes

Hi Diana and Graham, I think that I may have solved my problem with my roses – I was digging the top of the soil to loosen it up the other day and I seem to have a lot of curl grubs.  I don`t know if they eat the roots of roses but I do seem to have a lot in there.  I would of thought that the other roses would be suffering as well.  My husband has sprayed with confidor so I am hoping that will get rid of them, fingers crossed that it is the problem.  Regards Jayne

Jayne:  Well there you go … a little bit of fossicking and you’ve probably solved the problem … would the grubs be eating the roots of the roses you ask?  We don’t know but them being there is obviously an issue … keep regular applications of seaweed solution (weekly perhaps) to those roses and please do let me know how it all goes.
Appreciate you following through and telling us about this …
Best wishes, Diana & Graham

So you see, good communication generally gets to the bottom of an issue … 10 days of backwards and forwards emailing, a few photos and Jayne will probably have those two roses flowering this autumn.

Believe me, roses are tough as indicated by our very long-time customer Wendy who popped in today and we took a walk in the garden together – she revelled in the fact that we had lots of roses flowering – hers have been dormant through a very long, hot spell in northern Victoria when she didn’t water her gardens!

A few weeks ago she turned on the tap and thoroughly soaked all her rose gardens and then we’ve had this lovely rain so she is totally excited about autumn flowering.

THE LOVELIEST ROSES IN THE NURSERY THIS WEEK …

GRA’S BLUE
No matter how cold or wet, customers are invited to sniff the fragrance … aaaaah, it is amazing and very worthy of its GOLD MEDAL AWARD for MOST FRAGRANT ROSE at the AUSTRALIAN ROSE TRIALS, 2015 …

CREPUSCULE
Is rich apricot now and will flower right up until the coldest winter weather shuts it down for a rewarding spell as this thornless beauty has flowered and flowered absolutely continually from October onwards …

FLOWER CARPET
You cannot deny a rose which has won more than 25 international awards and sold more than 90 million plants world-wide – it will flower freely until the frost tells it to take a rest!

Enjoy all the glorious moments of your autumn garden and remember, if you have a query about something in your garden, let us help you get it sorted!

We hope to see you at Tesselaar’s Garden Expo this weekend – for our interstate gardening friends, we hope you continue to enjoy your autumn roses and remember, the online store is now open for ordering bare-rooted roses!

Graham and I still hope to get across to see the 2017 new release roses flowering at Penola so that we can give you our opinion of their growing habit and fragrance – it’s so very important to us that you read our personal experience of the new release roses …

Happy gardening and best wishes …
Graham & Diana at Silkies Rose Farm, Clonbinane

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *