Modern Roses are roses bred after 1867 because it was in 1867 that French Breeder 'Guillot' introduced 'La France', the first Hybrid Tea rose. Since then, breeders have introduced a broader colour palette to include many new bright colours and two-tone roses. Modern roses are available in a diversity of shapes, heights and growing habits. “A… Continue reading Modern Roses
What colour is in a picture, enthusiasm is in lifeVincent Van Gogh Yes, I am addicted to roses, I admit it. My mother too, loved her garden in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, which was perfect for roses and she indulged as well. As a family we enjoyed her passion for roses and… Continue reading Colour my World
Winter has struggled to take a firm hold this year. The usual severity of the white, crisp frost has been light around the garden this winter ( so far) The cold nights and early morning chill is followed by the warmth of bright sunshine on most days. If no sun then welcome rain has fallen,… Continue reading “There are always flowers for those who want to see them”
Art is a harmony parallel with nature. Paul Cezanne The beautiful rose, Paul Cezanne- JACdeli, is part of the Delbard Painters Collection. Bred in France in 1992 and named to honour Paul Cézanne, one of the French Post Impressionists painters who lived and died in Aix-en-Provence France. We live in a rainbow of chaos. Paul… Continue reading La Rosa Paul Cezanne
– Centre front in my mind and heart over the last few months are my roses. Living in isolation in a rural environment is quite usual, although not quite anti-social as we have experienced this year. Without the opportunity to see family and friends, my focus has been on the garden, and I have busily… Continue reading “Each moment of the year has its own beauty, a picture which was never seen before, and which shall never be seen again.”
New Weathervane If unexpected self-isolation can teach us anything, we must be grateful for simple things that perhaps we sometimes take for granted. Our personal freedom, health, and loved ones are the most important aspects of life I am grateful for. What joy I felt to be free again after those three weeks of lockdown… Continue reading “The rose and the thorn, and sorrow and gladness are linked together.”
Miracles do happen as Mirabel Osler once said in the quote above and my garden is testament to this. When I first glimpsed the destruction from the ravage of January this year, I thought I'd never have a bloom on a rose again. I described in my last post " There is no gardening without humility". … Continue reading “At the heart of gardening there is a belief in the miraculous.”
“There is no gardening without humility, an assiduous willingness to learn and a cheerful readiness to confess you were mistaken. Nature is constantly sending even its oldest scholars to the bottom of the class for some egregious blunder.” [So just keep studying and enjoy it!]Alfred Austin, English poet laureate, in The Garden That I Love,… Continue reading “There is no gardening without humility…
As a beautiful new rosebud, the new decade begins. But it is a sombre morning today to wake to the shock of the plight of thousands of people in bushfire regions of Australia who are stranded and frightened on the South Coast of NSW and Victoria. It is hard to be cheerful when so many… Continue reading “Success and failure, triumph and disaster. That is the rhythm of life in the garden.”
Water As the year closes and mid-summer moves on, the garden roses need some care and attention if you want the blooms to continue into Autumn. Water is the number one essential ingredient in summer for roses. They are reasonably drought tolerant unless not completely established yet, but roses will not thrive and flourish without… Continue reading “It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.”
It is customary in Australia to ring in the New Year with the excitement of fireworks, parties, friends, and champagne and the good intentions of new year resolutions. I have always enjoyed New Year's Eve, and since early childhood, I've been able to celebrate the coming year at a party. My first memories of New… Continue reading A new year is simply the turn of a calendar page — and a beautiful chance for us to turn over a new leaf.
All we need in Australia this year for Christmas is RAIN. Apart from wishing for rain my hope is that everyone enjoyed a wonderful Christmas with family and friends and that the New Year brings fulfillment in all areas of life. Australia is in a dreadful situation with severe bushfires across the country, due to… Continue reading Christmas is the day that holds all time together.
"You have to have a sense of humility when you grow plants-never forget that nature is in charge"Sebastion Bras How could we ever forget that nature is in charge when we live through such extreme weather conditions.? Smoke filled atmosphere from the fires burning many kilometres away, the continual chance of dust storms, no rain,… Continue reading “Hope is one of the essential tools of a farmer or gardener.”
Summer is upon us and the days are becoming extremely hot so that my time in the garden is earlier and earlier in the morning. No use leaving watering and other tasks too late because once the sun is up the heat builds very quickly. I love this time of year, and I'm patiently waiting… Continue reading “The hum of bees is the voice of the garden”
It would be lovely if the sentiment expressed in today’s quote were the reality in the garden now, but the roses are still not as prolific as anticipated. There are some beautiful blooms but no grand colour splash across the garden as a whole. Patience is what is needed now. Coaxing the roses through the… Continue reading “And the shower of roses spun around me, inviting me to take part in their ever-present waltz.”
I love inspiring quotes. At times I'll come across a quote that rings so true to me, and is exactly the sentiment I had thought of but not quite been able to express. The quote above by garden author C Z Guest says it all, and in a similar vein to columnist and landscape designer… Continue reading “I’ve always felt that having a garden is like having a good and loyal friend. ”
The Summer glow that radiates from The Lady Of Shalott Rose is one reason it is one of my favourite roses. The colours are rich, in shades of deep apricot, red and salmon pink with a faint touch of yellow underneath that gleams in the sun all season. The flower is romantic and shaped like… Continue reading Who killed the Lady of Shalott?
The title quote by Mirabel Osler rings true to me as I knew nothing at all about roses when I began. Now three seasons on and three hundred roses later, give or take a few, I am none the wiser. There are so many unanswered questions that race through my mind every day of what… Continue reading When I first began with roses, moving into that vast territory of scent, form and colour. I knew nothing.
It's pretty tough in the garden sometimes even though Spring's colour and fragrance have replaced the cold and frosty days of winter. We have experienced extreme weather this Spring with long days of high winds, heat and dust storms that have created havoc. Many plants are struggling from wind damage and the ground, despite my… Continue reading “Life is itself a school, and nature always a fresh study.”
What have I been up to in my garden in recent days as I move forward with optimism through the gorgeous Spring season? There are many new roses this year that have yet to flower as Spring moves on. After the dust storms devastation, I have cut almost all damaged blooms and deadheaded the roses.… Continue reading “Perhaps optimism is a rosy interpretation of the facts, or perhaps optimism is a factual interpretation of the rose.”
In almost every garden, the land is made better and so is the gardener.Robert Rodale When I reflect on the past few years of growing a rose garden, I often wonder, after a day of being scratched by rose thorns, bitten by mosquitoes and exhausted by the heat, why it is I love it so much? … Continue reading “To Plant a Garden is to Believe in Tomorrow”
Perfect blooms in the garden this season are scarce because I've had a few setbacks. The roses are not looking good at all. Growing roses definitely has it's up and downs and this week is a mix of both. It still hasn't rained. The air is dehydrated, and it feels as if it has not… Continue reading “Every spring, like it or not, we are all beginners, all over again.”
In between the 15th century Palazzo Della Gherardesca and the "Conventino", a 16th century Palazzo, once a convent is an 11 acre botanical garden in the Renaissance city of Florence. It is on the right bank of the Florentine Arno River The Giardino Della Gherardesca, a refined, lush garden of magnificent, natural beauty and one… Continue reading Giardino Della Gherardesca Italy
I love the quote above from Alice Walker, the American writer and author of 'The Colour Purple'. It resonates with me and encapsulates so much in just a few words. Although I never set out in search of my mothers garden, her gardens were magnificent and memorable. When you grow up playing in a beautiful… Continue reading “In search of my mother’s garden, I found my own.”
What gardener hasn't dreamt of the possibilities of a new garden and lost themselves for hours in catalogues for bulbs, seeds or roses? Imagination can run amuck with ideas of glorious garden vistas, the beautiful colours and colour schemes. One can spend hours planning and researching trees, shrubs, roses, grasses and perennials. This is gardening,… Continue reading You don’t have to garden to garden.
“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant.”Anne Bradstreet, 1612-1672, I am enjoying the changeable weather of Spring, including the early morning and evening cool weather of the past few days. Although the wind, typical for Spring, has been excessive and not so enjoyable as it has blown all the blossoms… Continue reading “Everything in the garden is rosy”
First rose bloom of the season. Spring is here that wonderful time of the year when gardens come into their own and the colours entice us to spend more time outdoors. The signs of new growth in the garden is enchanting. Plants look like perfect, healthy specimens before the heat of summer ravages them. I… Continue reading Spring, Roses and Dust
Image by Couleur from Pixabay “To contemplate roses is to punctuate one’s days with poetry.” Wild Roses are also called Species roses. Roses native to the Northern hemisphere and considered to be the roses that all modern roses have been bred from. Many of them date back to ancient times or pre-date our civilisation. Wild… Continue reading The Wild Rose
Roses exude charm and beauty, but why are there so many different types and where did they originate? Today I'm uncovering the mystery of rose classes and what is meant by Heirloom, Heritage and Old Garden Roses. Roses come in three distinct classes; A. Species Roses see post Wild Roses B. Old Garden or Heirloom… Continue reading Heirloom Roses
Before What continues to astonish me about a garden is that you can walk past it in a hurry, see something wrong, stop to set it right, and emerge an hour or two later breathless, contented, and wondering what on earth happened. The Palm Garden is the name chosen for a large garden bed started… Continue reading The Palm Garden
Jude The Obscure The sentiment in the Robert Browning quote above could have been written about David Austin, the English rose Breeder who revolutionised garden roses with his team in Shropshire, United Kingdom. David Austin will always be remembered for bringing the charm and romance back into rose breeding. From a young teenager until the… Continue reading It was roses, roses all the way.
Spring is here although in some areas the season has been slow in starting with unusually cold, frosty mornings contrasting with high daytime temperatures. Patience is needed, as I wait for the leaves to sprout on the bare root roses. I can see that the sap is moving and there are signs of life and… Continue reading Fragrance always clings to the hand that gives roses
My green thumb came only as a result of the mistakes I made while learning to see things from the plant's point of view. Evidently the idiom having a 'green thumb' dates back to the early part of the 20th century and means a person with a gift for gardening or who can easily grow… Continue reading A Green Thumb
This week, I enjoyed working in the garden, hand in glove with one of my son's. Our main task was to mulch the garden in preparation for the hot, dry summer ahead. It was wonderful to spend time gardening closely with someone else and even more special when it is family, and you work so… Continue reading Hand in Glove
“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” Spring has begun and the garden sings with new growth. What a fabulous time of year it is as we wait in anticipation for the bare roses and perennials to green up… Continue reading Spring is nature’s way of saying, “Let’s party!”