Saturday 8th July, 2023
Hi
It's the school holidays and my cousin Christie has come down to stay with her daughter Georgia. On the agenda was a family dinner with the two grandmas, myself, Tony, Christie and of course Georgia. The evening duly started with a reasonable gin and tonic, dinner on the way and halfway in Georgia requested a game of cards, well memory cards. Georgia got them all out and organised, and maybe not surprisingly, the first two she turned over just happened to be a match. Several turns later for me turned up nothing but I had my mother piping up advising me. In the end I gave up and passed my position over to mum in the pretence that dinner needed attending to but, lol, obviously children's memory games are not for me, especially after a G & T.
The next day we started to re-block the roses into alphabetical order and there are literally thousands to get into place and often the same rose from multiple suppliers. Sure, we had a list to follow but sometimes they weren't on the list for whatever reason and then they were just put down all over the place. The funny thing was I'm good at this game of remembering where I had seen the roses to match them up and then get them into some reasonable order so that we all can find them. No mean feat when there are so many though. It's taken all week to get the roses into alpha order and we have now finished the bushes with just the climbing roses to do.
If there is time next week, we will tackle the
standards but there are still a few of these to come as wet weather in the south island has delayed their lifting. The trees will start this coming week and so a new learning curve for all the new potters as trees are much bigger than the roses.
Climbing roses, well I guess that term suggests what they are all about but there are different styles to consider. Rambling roses tend to well ramble and have a more lax habit or have the ability to go over things like arches or along fences or even manoeuvre their way into trees.. A couple of classic examples would be
Albertine and
Alberic Barbier. Ramblers are often once flowering but don't let this put you off these as usually their display is totally spectacular and often for quite a prolonged length of time.
Modern climbing roses on the other hand are much stiffer and more upright than ramblers and really I think of them as large bush roses even though they will easily get to three metres or more. They really lend themselves to walls pergolas and the like where they can be espalier trained and tied back. These more modern climbers repeat well, particularly if you remove the spent flowers and will rebloom in 6 to 8 weeks.
When re-blocking the climbers I spied a newer range of roses in a warm coppery apricot.. Check these out!! Note that Clg is our abbreviation for climbing.
Effervescence Clg. Effervescence is a strong climber with rich cream blooms that age to near white as they open and has dark glossy foliage and the added bonus of having very few thorns.
Eye spy. New Release. A luscious new Persica hybrid in a warm, rich, amber touched with blood red at each petal's base. As with all Persica roses the colour will fade as the flower matures.
Tropical essence. Large, well formed, peach blooms on nice long stems, great for cutting. It's gorgeous tropical fragrance is the proverbial flag on top of the cocktail. Nice compact habit for a climber making it great for smaller spaces.
Crepuscule. Noisette. We just love this rose at Wairere and it is much admired in our garden. Seldom without a bloom from spring through to autumn. The flowers are a silky shade of apricot yellow with a loose relaxed petal formation. Good sweet fragrance and simply stunning in full bloom.
Breath of life, has been around for a while. Large Flowered. The very pretty shade of soft apricot and hybrid tea shaped blooms make this climbing rose most desirable. Named by the Royal College of Midwives to celebrate new life. Oh yes, there is a pleasing fragrance as well. Award winner. 1982.
If you are into red roses, and many are, then Dublin Bay is a classic that has been around for what seems forever. Hardy classic red floribunda style bloom on a vigorous climber. One of the very best red climbers - ever - and bred right here in NZ. An easy to grow and well behaved climbing rose that is nearly always in flower with semi-double, dark red blooms. Generally healthy, never fails to please and looks great growing along a fence.
Double fragrance. Stunning dark red blooms, a delightfully powerful fragrance and all packaged into a climbing rose. Glossy dark green foliage. This is a climbing sort of
Deep Secret. Repeats well
Red Flame. A multi award winning red, red, rose bred in France. This rose has even won an award for fragrance so you 'nose' it smells delicious. The hybrid tea shaped blooms appear from summer to autumn. It may be shy the first year after planting but will soon settle in. Glossy green foliage. 2001. This one is really healthy and a great doer.
A couple of oldies in red are
Etoile de Hollande Clg Large, fragrant, double, deep crimson blooms from summer to autumn and masses of glossy, dark green leaves. 1931.
Ena Harkness clg, Attractively hanging heads of crimson-scarlet Hybrid Tea flowers. Vigorous growth. Summer flowering, with a few blooms later on. Strong Old Rose fragrance. Bred by Albert Norman (UK, before 1940).
Just in
Daphne and what's not to love about this plant. A tad fussy in that it likes a spot with the morning sun and not the afternoon, so not so hot. Great rich peat like soil that's perfectly drained and so likes to be on the drier side. A kind of woodland position it will love. Well worth getting it right for the gorgeous fragrant flowers that delight all towards the end of winter.
Odora leucanthe is the classic pink form with the more bushy shape and also comes as
Alba or the white version with the same fragrance..
Potatoes. It seems early but we are getting the call for these and so Ang has got a fab range of these in. For those that like to get early spuds to sprout before they plant or those in warmer climes, not that we have really had any frosts. All the names are there, some quick or early varieties like
Swift and
Rocket, then there are the perennial favourites like
Jersy bennes,
Rua and
Agria. Of late there has been a huge resurgence in Maori potatoes like
Huakaroro,
Karuparera and
Kowiniwini to name drop a few.
Petrea v. Snow stars, I have not seen this one before. Of course I know of the normal sandpaper vine being
Petrea volubilis with its attractive purple flowers but I didn't know of a white-flowered form and so if you are on the market for a different climber then check this one out.
Roses session Thursday 13th 10.30 to 12.30 is the first one
This coming week is the first session happening with the Waikato Rose Society. If you can't make this one, then there are a couple of weekend slots and so mark the dates in your calendar. Come on out to the nursery and get the lowdown on all things roses from those that one of their favourite things is to grow perfect roses. With thanks to the
Waikato Rose Society members who give up their time to spend with our clients and share their knowledge.
Thursday 13th July 10.30 - 12.30
Sunday 16th July 11 - 1pm
Saturday 29th July 1 - 3pm
Trust that the school holidays are going well for everyone and that, like us, it has been an opportunity to reconnect with family. They did start off a tad shabby, but the latter part of the week has been really quite nice. Anything without rain is great in my book. The nursery here is looking fab and we have already sprayed the roses here a couple of times to keep them in good health for you the home gardener and the best part is they are now mostly in some reasonable order.
Take care and have a great weekend!
Cheers from Lloyd Tony and the Wairere team.
