Choosing the best roses for your garden is easier said than done because there are so many beautiful roses to choose from at a nursery.
Whenever I visit a nursery, I tend to go home with roses that I didn’t have the faintest intention of buying. And it happens every time.
My problem has always been deciding which roses not to choose because I love them all. Roses of every size, shape and colour.
Trying to select roses from a rose catalogue doesn’t help much either because all the pictures are so tempting.
So I find it helpful to draw up a list of qualities that I want from my new roses before I hit the rose nurseries. But before doing this I run through a few questions like the following:
- Am I going to go for perfume this time?
- Do I want a particular colour?
- Do I need a new climber for the pergola?
- Do I want a few rambling roses for the bank?
- Do I want a rose for a container?
- Do I want a prolific and very free flowering low-growing floribunda?
Once I have decided what I need a particular rose for, I have a much clearer idea of what to buy.
For example if I want a bi-coloured rose with perfume I would choose Double Delight.
If I wanted a tall growing red rose to disguise a wall I would choose a row of Mr Lincoln.
I discovered my magnificent Kordes Brilliant climber by combining one or two requirements in this way. I have never seen a brilliant scarlet like this in any rose. I chose it both for its vibrant colour, its health and its ability to climb and cover an archway.
If you combine one or two requirements such as colour and purpose beforehand, it helps you to narrow down the choice. And that is a great help when choosing new roses.
For tons of info about your roses check out:
How to Plant and Care for your Rose Garden
Tags: choosing roses, How to choose roses, roses for your garden, the best roses
There are so many little things in Nature that can inspire us and make us happy. One would think that all we need to do is to become aware of them.
But it isn’t so easy because we are mostly programmed into thinking that only the big prizes are worth writing home about. Like buying a new house, getting a new car, going on a long-awaited trip or buying a computer, an ipod or an iphone.
Sure these things can make us happy while they’re new and before they lose their novelty.
But what a lot we miss by failing to appreciate the little things in nature. Our gardens alone can provide us with more inspiration than we will ever need – if only we allow ourselves to be more observant and aware.
Just looking out of the window this morning I saw a pair of black collared barbets starting to build their nest in an overhanging branch nearby.
With their lovely red breasts catching the early morning sunlight they were a joy to behold. They were so lively, energetic and totally absorbed in what they were doing that they were quite inspiring.
What an example of complete concentration! When we become alert to those seemingly insignificant things in nature that are all around us – we start to notice them more and more.
Nature Competition
I think that this type of awareness is so important that I want to start a competition about “Getting Inspiration from the little things in Nature”.
So in the comment box below, write and tell me of any little inspirational event in your everyday life and the effect it has had on your outlook.
I’ll choose the best one – or the one that resonates with me most – and as a prize I’ll give you a digital copy of my book “Flower Pressing Secrets” which you can see and read about here:
The competition starts now!
Tags: black collared barbets, inspiration from nature, little things in nature, nature competition
A little while ago I wrote about my prize irises being decapitated by birds. It seems that birds simply can’t resist the irises. But it’s frustrating me no end.
I have had the actual flowers eaten off at the base of the flower so that all the petals fall to the ground. The birds don’t seem to want the flower at all, just the juicy bit below.
So today I thought of a plan. I would shield the flowers with tin foil. So I grabbed a roll of tin foil and proceeded to give each iris bud a protective collar so that the flower could emerge but that the juicy calyx would be protected.
I didn’t have to wait too long for the result of my experiment. I went inside for lunch, and when I came out to view my handiwork, there lay the tin foil on the ground together with the bitten off iris buds. The birds had simply bitten off the stem below the tin foil.
Frustrating?
Yes!
But I haven’t given up yet. I’m determined to devise another plan and I’ll keep you posted as to my success or otherwise.
Meanwhile, if you have any suggestions please send them in. I will be ever so grateful!
Tags: birds eat flowers, birds eating irises, irises, prize irises
photo: flikr firecatstef
Add some yellow roses to your garden to bring happiness by the armful!
Yellow is a happy colour and yellow roses have always conveyed a special message of celebration.
People send them to celebrate happy occasions and to bring cheer into the lives of friends and loved ones.
You may have noticed how a patch of yellow roses can liven up a whole rose garden.
It’s as if a ray of sunlight has settled into the garden to show up all the other colours.
If you would like to grow yellow roses in your garden there one or two things to bear in mind before you go out to buy your rose bushes.
Unfortunately, yellow roses are notoriously difficult to grow successfully. Many of them are prone to diseases such as rust and black spot.
So before you even think of visiting the rose nursery remember to consult your rose catalogue first to make sure that the yellow roses you have selected are disease free.
This is essential because when roses are in bloom at a nursery they all look wonderful. They get specialist treatment there so you won’t see a sign of any rose disease or insect damage. Only when they are in your garden will you discover the problems.
So do your homework first before you allow yourself to be tempted.
For detailed info about growing roses check out:
How to Plant and Care for your Rose Garden
Tags: rose catalogue, rose disease, rose garden, yellow roses
If you’ve never seen what an iris looks like after the birds have been at it – I can tell you.
Decapitated” is the first word that comes to mind!
No sooner does an iris starts to show colour and begin to open than I find it lying in tatters on the ground.
Even the side blooms get decapitated one by one. Snapped off at the base of the flower with only a few ragged remnants lying on the ground to taunt me.
Flickr photo : Tie Guy II
Birds that eat irises certainly have good taste. They can’t be faulted on that one.
But why don’t they rather go for the dainty little lobelias or some other tasty flower nearby? Why are they choosing my prize irises?
To make matters worse, no one has heard of my particular gardening predicament. They find it very funny and think I’m joking!
Fortunately for the birds I have an organic garden so I don’t use poisons. And even though there are times when I could cheerfully roast those birds for our next Sunday lunch I don’t really want to hurt them.
So this is an urgent S.O.S. If you have had any experience with birds eating irises please get back to me in haste. If you have any suggestions I would be more than grateful.
S.O.S. Help me save my irises!
Tags: birds, organic garden, prize irises
I have noticed how some gardeners prune their roses almost right down to the ground so that the bush is left with canes that are only a few inches above the ground.
I think it’s nothing short of murder. I don’t think that this is what nature intended and let’s face it, pruning is not a very friendly act at the best of times.
But there are advantages to pruning and that is why we do it. It forces the bush to recover by producing fresh long canes and show-stopping roses.
So the bottom line is that we have to hit a compromise. Which is why I go for light pruning.
I try to keep to the original shape of the bush without cutting it down too low. I like my rose bushes to grow tall and bushy with lots of roses – a sort of natural look.
So I cut out dead branches and trim the tree well. I cut off all straggly growth and remove ugly crossing canes that hamper the bush.
Once the bush has been cleaned I reduce the canes by 1/3 to a half of the original height if the bush has grown too tall and straggly.
After that it’s simply a matter of caring for your rose bushes and waiting for the first leaves to sprout.
Let me know what you prefer – heavy pruning or light pruning. I would be interested to know your reasons too.
Tags: heavy pruning, light pruning, prune roses
