Garden Centre

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

May flowers - unknown roses

I don’t know what this rose is. It was planted in the front garden when we arrived, and in the first three years we lived in the house I don’t think it ever flowered. In year 4, armed with some pruners and a lot of hard-heartedness, I pruned it to within an inch of its graft. The following year it produced beautiful blush pink and golden blooms in May and has done so ever since. It’s strongly scented, with a tea and sugar fragrance, and has large open flowers. If you think you know which of the many hundreds of roses it is, please let me know.

Because we’re on pretty intractable clay and live in a windy, salt-exposed environment, even though the garden at the back as six foot fences, we don’t have massive success with roses. I have one Old English Rose, which holds its own but has never really been impressive, one Ernest Morse which does pretty well, and an Iceberg climber which thrives (but then Iceberg would survive in a dustbin, given an inch of soil) so this rose, whatever it is, makes me very happy as it provides the illusion of a British summer garden without putting me to too much effort!

Labels: English rose, may roses, rose garden

The All Seasons Gardener at 1:25 AM 0 Comments

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Tuesday, July 3, 2007

English Roses

Do you remember that Harry Enfield character ‘Loadsamoney’? He used to say ‘Gerra load of my wad!’ if that helps. Well, I’ve never felt like that, mainly because I’ve never had much money, but there is one time of year when I do feel like accosting people who walk past my house and yelling ‘Gerra load of my roses!’

In particular, this beautiful, heavy-headed, English rose from David Austin. I think it’s Perdita, but I bought it from a place that had lost its label, so it’s difficult to be sure. In any case, the rich colour, generous scent and beautiful drooping tendency make this one the rose that I love best.

Here’s what David Austin says about it: Perfect rosette-shaped flowers quartered at the centre and of delicate apricot-blush colour. The growth is strong and bushy with polished, deep green foliage. Good disease-resistance and repeat-flowering. A rose of charm and refinement. Won the Henry Edland Medal for fragrance at the Royal National Rose Society's Trials. A strong English Rose, myrrh fragrance with a Tea influence.

To which I would add that my garden is not ideal for roses, having the wrong soil, the wrong aspect and being infested with black spot, rust and other horrors from the amazing lady who used it as a market garden for several decades. Even so, this rose never disappoints me. One flower will scent a large room, and a bunch of flowers is intoxicating. I’d query myrrh fragrance (or mine is a different rose, perhaps?) because the scent that I pick up is sugared tea with a hint of orange, nothing musky or heavy and certainly nothing as strong as myrrh.

If you want to grow English roses, there are a few things to bear in mind.

Unlike most of the old roses, the new varieties of English rose often deliver two or even three flushes of flowers during the season. However, roses don’t enjoy competition and it is advisable to surround them with plants that are not too robust. Roses can be very effective in large pots and half barrels, although they need to be watered regularly and fed too.

To ensure repeat flowering:

1. Always plant roses with a good manure base, and ensure they are in a medium which helps them to extract nutrients and water from the soil – my ‘lovely’ clay and chalk mix soil is less than ideal and my roses go into a hole that has been entirely backfilled with good topsoil and vintage compost.
2. Water well and feed twice each year with a good slow release rose fertiliser.
3. Deadhead spent blooms right through the summer and remember that the final flush of flowers may arrive as late as October, so don’t slacken off the deadheading in September!

Labels: David Austin roses, English rose, garden flowers, rose growing

The All Seasons Gardener at 12:53 AM 2 Comments

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