Hello dear rose friends … the cool Autumn night turned into a very frosty start last Sunday morning when it was minus 2 degrees here at CLONBINANE at 6.30am! The fire wasn’t burning from the night before because we had been out late at a family function so luckily the glorious sunny morning hastened our exit from the house as it was decidedly warmer outside than it was inside!
Lots of people who have been visiting the Rose Farm are amazed at the number and quality of rose flowers that are shining in the glory of this lovely Autumn – it really is a season to enjoy the roses! Driving through the northern suburbs of Melbourne last week was a pleasure – roses in all the gardens were flourishing and in the roadside plantings around Epping, Whittlesea, Wallan and Kilmore it is so wonderful that some Council Departments are starting to realise that planting roses is not only beautiful to delight the ratepayers but obviously very low maintenance as well.
I spoke with one of the horticulturalists on our Mitchell Shire last week when he came to collect more roses for the parks in our Shire and he has invited me to come along and demonstrate how the roses in Kilmore should be pruned this Winter … I will show them!!! I will kit-up with my Pellenc hedger and the guys will be gasping in envy at how quickly, quietly and environmentally soundly I have the roses pruned … and on that note, why not come to Silkies Rose Farm on the first Sunday in May and we’ll do some demo pruning while we do “WALK AND TALK IN THE GARDEN” … starts at 10.00am and will only be cancelled if it rains! We’ll have morning tea together too!!!
ROSE OF THE WEEK … ‘CASANOVA’ is such a stunning rose that three years ago, I planted a whole bed of it with 24 plants … you must come and visit with it because right now there are masses of glorious bright orange blooms with shiny, dark crimson foliage as a foil for the clusters of flowers. ‘Casanova’ has every quality ingredient you would expect of a rose – including fragrance, ability to stand up well in the vase and is an all-round very highly recommended rose for all gardens and situations …
SO … SO WISH YOU WERE HERE … to see the spectacle of my ‘bonnie’ on Sunday night!!! Had a thought that we should cancel these huge (public funded) fireworks displays in the City and go back to the ‘cracker nights’ we used to have when I was a kid … ok, no crackers because although nobody in my memory ever got hurt, I can remember having the shite frightened out of me by unsuspecting crackers going off around me and now that I’m older (maybe more sensible …?), I understand the danger of crackers/fireworks!
But, hey, how fabulous would it be if every person in your neighbourhood collected their garden refuse, packaging, etc. – anything that burns nicely – stacked it at an agreed destination like the local park in each suburb and you would all sit around and socialise while watching the sparks fizzle from your own local bonfire? … such a wonderful pleasure as well as a brilliant community ‘get to know your neighbour’ and ‘clean up’ opportunity.
If I was the Prime Minister, I would declare it mandatory to have an annual community bonfire in each suburb – who wants to be the Co-Ordinator? Or maybe to do the study or be the Co-Ordinator to implement the study or the Co-Ordinator to study the implementation of the study or the implementer of the co-ordination of the study … let’s just DO IT!
THIS WEEK IN THE ROSE GARDEN … If you haven’t done all the things which I recommended you do from the past weeks, do them now! It is especially important to have a layer of straw mulch (preferably lucerne, pea straw or wheat straw) over the garden beds – keeps the soil warm for longer and gives the worms a ‘homely’ place for breeding… they’ll be breeding from now through to October and the more worms you have in your soil, the less work you have to do.
In the spirit of the ANZACS, God Bless our beautiful Australia … kick back and enjoy the magnificence of the Autumn rose garden … take time out to smell the fragrance in the rose blooms … Winter is just around the corner now!!
Cheers from Diana & Graham and Dingo, Bonnie, at Silkies Rose Farm, Clonbinane
I was given a spirit of anzac rose back in the early nineties, it was a peachy / apricot color ( I think that is right ). I was wondering wondering if they are still available to buy. Kind regards. Kate