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Canberra Today 17°/20° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Gardening / Right time, right place for roses

Rosa "Gertude Jekyll" has an astonishing fragrance.
Rosa “Gertude Jekyll” has an astonishing fragrance.
ROSE-planting time is almost here and over the next few weeks the garden centres will be awash with roses.

It is preferable not to plant roses in the same spot when old or non-performing roses are taken out because the ground can carry an almost unidentifiable disease called rose sickness. Alternatively, dig out a full barrow load of the existing soil and replace with new soil.

I NOTICE some supermarkets have had packaged roses for sale for some weeks, but I reckon they should stick to the business they know and selling plants is not one of them.

Firstly, the roses are in unnatural, air-conditioned shops with artificial light and, in these conditions, roses can start to sprout new shoots that will be  quickly burnt off by the frost once planted in the open garden.

To try and be the first in the market, they order roses that have been dug too early and, to keep the cost down, these roses are often only a year old with a thin stem not much thicker than a pencil. The stems are very prone to frost damage.

I always recommend roses from a garden centre where roses are displayed in natural, outdoor conditions of light and temperature. Plus always buy two-year old roses with good thick stems.

I LIKE to recommend Canberra Organic Compost, which is chopped up, recycled, green waste that is allowed to compost for a few months and then put through the chopping machine again.

The result is a quite fine compost, almost black in colour and is easy to apply to even the smallest garden beds. Apply in spring to about 75mm thick. I have never had a client who has not liked it and, even more importantly, worms love it.

The only complaint is that, when it is first delivered, it has a very healthy smell. Most beneficial natural fertilisers have a smell as does cow and horse manure. However, once it is spread the smell quickly disappears.

Canberra Organic Compost is from Canberra Sand and Gravel.

GARDEN centres are stocking a wonderful range of hellebores with the colour range including deep pinks to mottles white or deep purple.

Unruly hellebores, with leaves flopping everywhere, should be cut to ground level in early autumn. However, they can be done now, but without delay, to allow the winter sun to reach the base of the plant for better flowering in winter and spring.

Erica darleyensis in flower at the National Film and Sound Archive.
Erica darleyensis in flower at the National Film and Sound Archive.
ERICAS and Callunas, nowadays referred to as heaths or heathers, can’t be beaten for winter colour. Even without flowers in summer they provide an attractive small, tight-leafed shrub. They will be coming into flower in garden centres now, an ideal time for colour selection.

They are acid-loving plants and ideal planted in front of azaleas and rhododendrons. Keep in mind the universal advice to plant in groups of the same colour, ideally with three, five or seven in each colour and variety, depending on the size of the garden. Ericas also make great pot specimens.

Jottings…

  • Large flowered clematis can be cut down to 45mm from the ground to encourage new shoots that, in turn, encourage more flowers in spring and summer
  • Prune grapevines and wisteria now to three nodes/leave joints to avoid sap bleeding
  • Another reminder to urgently remove plastic tap timers, portable sprinklers and hoses out of frost.
  • Keep indoor plants away from heater ducts and cold drafts near windows.

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Cedric Bryant

Cedric Bryant

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