Yours in Green

Yours in Green is a garden blog for not-so-green thumbs and keen gardeners alike. It's written in layman’s terms with a dash of humour thrown in.

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Posts with Tag:roses

29 October 2012 ,18:05 No thorns in my side

By Jody Rigby

Wow! Just check out the flowers on ONE stem of my ‘Pierre De Ronsard’ climbing rose. It has a whopping 43 buds on it! I couldn’t believe it and just had to share this pic with you.

I gave it a fairly good prune back in July to the main lateral branches that I’ve trained horizontally along some lattice attached to the wall. With all this warmth I’ve seen masses of buds forming on new shoots, but this one must take the cake.

I think it helps that the heat of the day's sun is absorbed into the masonry and radiates from the wall well after the sun goes down. I water only three to four times a week, fertilise twice a year, and water in a soluble seaweed product every month or so. So not a great deal of TLC for this plant.

One thing I always maintain throughout the garden is a nice layer of sugarcane mulch, which lightens the area up, suppresses weeds, helps retain moisture in the soil, and breaks down to add small amounts of nutrient to the soil. Sugar cane goes a long way from a single compacted bale so check on the side how many square meters you’ll get from each bale before you buy.

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18 August 2011 ,15:20 Everything's coming up roses

By Jody Rigby

It’s not too late to prune your roses. There are generally two prunes a year when it comes to roses, an autumn and a summer prune. The autumn one should be done around July up until round now (or when there is no chance of frost affecting the new growth), and is generally a harder prune (cut back by around half). Whilst in the summer, a lighter prune or deadheading will produce a new flush of flowers.

Pruning a rose correctly will promote good health and flowering and is definitely an art form in itself. The general idea with pruning a rose is to create an open vase shape so that the plant has good air circulation. Here are a few pointers for mastering your roses:

Start by removing any dead canes or branches that have dieback
Remove any cross branches that may be rubbing on each other
Take care not to cut ‘water shoots’ back too hard as these will bare flowers. These are fresh green quick growing stems
I’m not afraid to cut back my roses a half to 2/3rds, sometimes you have to be brutal, especially with roses that haven’t been done for years. They will love you for it.
It’s all about directional pruning for roses. When choosing where to cut, always select an outward facing bud and cut just above that. This will encourage the new growth to face in that direction and open the plant out which will encourage air circulation and lessen the chances of fungal problems like black spot.
Remove any dead or diseased leaves from around each plant and disinfect secateurs between pruning each rose if you have several to prevent disease spreading.
When it’s all done, fertilise with a complete rose food 2-4 weeks after pruning

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About our Blogger

Jody Rigby
Jody Rigby is a well-known horticulturist and TV presenter.

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About this Blog

A constant learning curve, gardening is all about trial and error. Knowledge grows from sharing information between friends, passing down through generations, or just getting it wrong a few times before you get it right. It's about getting grubby outside and aching from digging too much, but then feeling that fall away when you get your first flower or prize fruit off a new tree... and getting so excited you need to tell everyone.

Yours in Green is everything I’ve learnt so far - what to do when, how to do it right the first time, and of course, some frustrations along the way and how to remedy them.

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November 26, 2012, 12:21 pm
In mint condition
One of the easiest herbs to grow if you’re starting out is common mint Mentha spicata. Actually the perfect spot for a mint plant is in a pot under a dripping tap, as they like reliable moisture and you can grow them in part shade to full sun.Read More...

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November 26, 2012, 12:13 pm
Mesembry...what?
Mesembryanthemum is a rather long name to remember, but you may be more familiar with it’s common name pigface. It’s that colourful groundcover that you’ll often see nestled in rockeries or mass planted on nature strips.Read More...

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November 12, 2012, 5:31 pm
Loads of potential
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