Prune when there’s less frost about is garden writer JACKIE WARBURTON’s tip for getting a good first flush of spring roses. 

PRUNE roses too early in winter and all the new growth will be burnt by frosts, which sets them back for their first flush of flowers in spring. So, the later the better. 

Techniques of pruning roses depend on the variety. There are two main types of roses – old roses and modern roses. Old roses are one-time bloomers and modern roses are multi-bloomers.

In 1867, Frenchman Andre Guillot bred the first hybrid tea rose called “La France”. While there is debate as to its parentage – it could be perpetual “Madame Victor Verdier” and tea rose “Madame Bravy” or a chance seedling – it is generally accepted as the first hybrid tea rose. 

Hybrid tea roses have large flowers, high flower buds above the shrub and tall, straight stems with pointed buds that unfurl slowly. One stem, one blossom and correct pruning in the growing season will keep them flowering repeatedly. 

Hybrid tea roses are the most popular rose in the world by far with their fragrance, symmetry and endless variety of colour. 

They are the easier group of roses to grow and hardier, more robust for our climate and disease resistance as well. 

Planting roses in the ground should be done now when they are dormant, and the soil is cold. Sprinkle a little blood and bone fertiliser at the bottom of the hole and place roots gently over a mound of soil and backfill. 

Water in and leave until you see new growth, then fertilise with a rose food that’s high in potash for flowering. Don’t plant a rose where another has grown before or has died as toxins can be left from the old rose. Planting a rose in new soil will give it a good start. 

Hybrid tea roses will benefit from any pruning than none at all. First, remove all the dead wood and crossing branches. Cut any centre branches to create a vase shape and then chop in half to a bud. 

Of course, there is more technique to pruning roses, but do this and you won’t go wrong. 

For a rose with a difference, I’d recommend Rosa chinensis “Viridiflora”, or the Green Rose, an old rose from the 1800s that grows well in Canberra. Its petals have been replaced with small leaves to form a green rose. It’s excellent for flower arranging. 

A NATIVE lilly pilly I’ve seen growing in pockets of Canberra is Acmena smithii. In spring, it grows small, white flowers and in late winter produces bright pink/purple edible berries that can be used for cordials and preserves. 

Terrific for attracting birdlife to the garden, it can grow to at least eight metres tall and one I’ve seen growing successfully in Canberra was on a west-facing wall outside a fireplace shaft. 

There’s also a dwarf variety that grows in Canberra called Lilly Pilly Minor and is hardy, fast growing and great for a dense shrub. Its coppery, new growth and small, shiny, summer green leaves grow three metres tall and two metres wide. Feed it native fertiliser in spring. It’s drought tolerant when established. 

Jottings 

• Feed spring bulbs that are starting to grow.

• Look at mail-order seed catalogues for spring sowing. 

• Top up mulch on all garden beds.

• Check that all irrigation is working and make repairs in winter.