Country Garden Roses Blog
World Health Day 2022 – Stop and Smell the Roses.
Today (April 7th 2022) is World Health Day, with
this year’s focus being ‘Our Planet Our Health’ it’s really got us thinking
exactly what it is about the garden and of course our roses that makes us feel
so happy.
When we look at life over the past 20 years, it’s so clear
to see how things have changed. With social media and the internet giving us
constant access to information it’s increasingly difficult to find that space
both physically and mentally to just zone out. We have become so used to
instant gratification, fast overnight deliveries (no complaints here!) instant
answers to questions we have. Having to wait more than a few days, even a few
hours to find out information would seem quite simply unbearable to many of us
now.
Please don’t get us
wrong, instant access to information alongside social media is great, it has
huge benefits. Our ability to learn new information has increased along with
the ability to connect us with family and friends all over the globe that we
would otherwise lose touch with. Of course, from a business perspective, it allows
us to reach out to you, our customers and tell you about our incredible roses.
There is no denying it has its advantages. I do however wonder if this has
resulted in a new level of impatience, a new level of constant noise, in a
world that seems quite literally non-stop, it makes me think, have some of us
lost the ability to quite simply stop and smell the roses?
That’s what I think the garden gives us, space, space to
think, space to process, space to just…. breath and know that we are giving
something back to our planet throughout the process. I like that if I plant a
seed, I can’t just click my fingers and a flower appear, I need to nurture it
to watch it grow. When we plant our beautiful roses, our nursery team take the
time to tend each plant by hand. It isn’t an overnight process. It needs the
right conditions and the right care and food to grow happily and healthily.
Quite similar to us humans I guess 😊. I like that we can’t really be impatient in
the garden, it makes us wait, it makes us take the time to stop and breath and
think, away from the noise.
This World Health Day, we urge you to get in your gardens,
take that time, stop, breath and smell the roses.
World Health Day links/ resources:
https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-health-day/2022
How to Prune your Roses and Get the Most from your Blooms All Year.
How to Prune your Roses and Get the Most
from your Blooms all year.
With spring knocking, here at Country Garden Roses our team are busy ensuring our roses are in their usual tip top condition. In order to keep your roses in great shape we have some tips to demystify the whole process and to help you get the most from your blooms.
Start by pruning out any dead, diseased, damaged or crossing branches to leave an open frame-work.
Prune back top growth by reducing remaining stems by a third or to required height to prevent wind rock.
Remove any weak thin branches to encourage growth of strong healthy stems.
Cut at a 45-degree angle to discourage rot.
Clean off any old leaf or flower heads from the plant and underlying soil to prevent reinfection of any viruses or diseases such as black spot.
Weeding under the rose is a good way of preventing any competition for nutrients and moisture.
Mulch the ground under the rose with well-rotted manure to provide nutrients or top dress with a rose fertiliser such as our Empathy After Plant Rose Food and mulch with compost.
Clean your secateurs when finished to prevent any disease
spreading between rose bushes.
Frequently asked Questions
When is best to prune my rose?
March is a great time, temperatures are finally starting to
rise and you will notice exactly where new growth is coming through.
Roughly how much should I take off my rose?
Its difficult to say without seeing the rose itself, but as a rough guide, no more than one third. Once you have removed any dead, damaged, diseased, or crossing stems you are well on your way to having your rose ready for all of its new growth!
Does this advice apply to climbers and ramblers?
No, these should be pruned after flowering as they flower on last year’s growth - they really only need training and the occasional removal of the oldest canes to encourage younger ones to grow.
What does black spot look like and what can I do about it?
The below picture shows exactly what to look out for, regular pruning should help you control black spot.
Time to prune your roses!
How to prune your roses for fantastic results
This week in our gardens we have been carrying out a winter clean-up in the borders as the spring flowers are already coming through and, in some cases, already in bloom – a testament to the effects of climate change. We have seen plants such as Campion, Azalea and Cherry’s in sporadic bloom throughout the winter. As lovely as it is to see some cheer it’s a little unsettling! However, let us focus on more positive things… our Forsythia has begun to bloom and to a rose grower that is the signal that it’s time to prune!
Here’s a quick rundown on how to go about it.
Bush Roses
Remove any dead, dying, crossing or thin stems in order to leave a strong framework with good air circulation. You are looking for an open centre: a little like the shape of a trophy cup. This should help to prevent the development of fungal diseases during the growing season. The strong remaining stems should be cut back hard to an outward facing bud in order to encourage vigorous growth. Do this with a sloping cut to prevent any water settling on the wound and causing the wood to split. You are looking to reduce the height of the bush by a half to two-thirds. Any remaining old leaves should be stripped from the rose and destroyed.
It is essential when pruning, particularly thick stems, that your secateurs are sharp, as blunt blades will crush or split the stems, making them vulnerable to disease. Also ensure that when pruning multiple roses that you clean your secateurs in between each, to avoid spreading any disease that may be present.
We recommend applying a mulch of about 2-3” thick in a ring around the base of the rose, 3 or 4 inches clear of the stems. The reason we leave a gap is that if manure is used which is insufficiently rotted it may ‘burn’ the stems. You may use compost, manure or even chipped bark.
Climbing and Rambling Roses
Climbing and rambling roses require only training. Perhaps a little pruning to shape and occasionally the removal of one of the oldest canes to encourage the plant to replace it with a younger more vigorous cane.
When training a Climber, try to tie the canes in almost horizontally across the wall or fence. By doing this you will prompt the plant into producing an abundance of flowering canes which, at the end of the season, can be cut back to a few inches. Similar to pruning an espalier apple. You want to be left with a fan shaped framework with numerous ‘fruiting spurs’ coming from each cane.
With a Rambling rose you need to be sure which type you have - summer flowering or repeat flowering. The Summer flowering varieties need pruning in late summer, just after flowering. Pruning later than this will greatly reduce or even stop flowering the following year as these varieties flower on the previous year’s growth.
If you have a repeat flowering variety then you can prune any time through late winter or early spring. In both cases you are only looking to tidy the shape and remove any unwanted growth or dieback.
Our Rose of the Month for March 2020
This month we have chosen the very beautiful 'My Lovely Mum' rose. It is the perfect rose to give on Mothering Sunday or have in your garden as a loving memory remembrance rose.
With its beautiful yellow flowers that symbolize friendship, every garden should have one.
Spring has sprung!
The sun is shinning here at the nursery today and dispite the rain and the floods, spring is certainly on the way.
Beautiful Crocus in 'Pop's Garden'
Delightful Cherry Blossom
and stunning Hellebores.
Our Rose of the Month for Feburary 2020
'My Valentine' rose had to be our rose of the month for Feburary. Not just because of the perfect name for this month but because it is a stunning red hybrid tea rose with a delicious perfume.
Such a typical hybrid tea shaped flower that you can cut this gorgeous rose to have in a vase and to enjoy inside as well as outside.
Helping the Environment have a 'rosier' Future
We're working hard towards becoming carbon neutral in the near future and are making better and more informed decisions so that you are able to purchase from us, safe in the knowledge that we are doing our bit to support the environment.
Therefore, as part of our commitment to this, we are excited to announce that we have a new compost supplier. Yes, you read this correctly - we are very excited about compost – who would have thought that decomposed organic material would have had that effect on us!
During bare-root season (when all the new roses are potted up) we use approximately 160 tonnes of compost, so it's a key consideration for our carbon footprint. That's why we're now using compost that is made in Shropshire from green waste collected within the county. It is peat-free (unlike that used by many other rose growers), locally produced, has low compost miles and the quality is fantastic. It also happens that our supplier is just 10 miles away from our nursery keeping the transportation to a minimum. There is no packaging either; it's delivered loose to maintain the eco-friendly credentials.
Home Grown is Best
Most rose bouquets sold in the UK have been grown abroad, creating a huge carbon footprint of more than 30Kg CO2 per bunch taking into consideration the air travel – very often from thousands of miles away!
An even better option is to order a living rose bush from Country Garden Roses. Not only will you will receive a plant in superb condition thanks to the care we put into them, but it should deliver wonderful blooms every season for an average lifespan of 35 years!
By planting a rose, you will be helping the planet as each one will absorb carbon from the atmosphere every day rather than adding to pollution. You will also have a beautiful and lasting memory.
Our Rose of the Month for January 2020
'Sweet Honey' is not only our Rose of the Month for January but it is also 'Rose of the Year 2020'.
And you can see why…. Beautiful creamy apricot flowers all summer long, fabulous health record and a stunning fragrance. Perfect in the border or in a large pot on the patio. A must for every garden.
Planting Roses with Other Flowers
A fantastic bonus of companion planting is that many of our choices attract insects such as Hoverflies, ladybirds and lacewings that will prey on rose pests and can have a positive effect on rose health by improving soil health and reducing risk of diseases.
Our Rose of the Month for August 2019
Our rose of the month this August is the absolutely beautiful Ruffles and Flourishes.
It has gorgeously frilly edged blooms that smell divine. Pink blooms are produced from June until November.
A real show...
How to Keep Roses Looking Their Best in Hot Weather
This week with soaring temperatures, we’ve been talking to Mary Jinks; Country Garden Roses founder and renowned rose expert about how to keep roses looking their best during this hot weather. Here are her top tips to keep your roses looking healthyHow to Prune a Rose
The mystical art of pruning is one of the major deterrents to people buying a rose. This is sad, because pruning roses is actually very simple, and most roses are resilient enough to survive the odd bad pruning.
The Great Outdoors!
We are delighted to announce that this summer our garden centre, Country Garden Plant Centre, will be holding a family festival, The Great Outdoors’, together with Shropshire Wildlife Trust, in support of their ‘Scrapheap Challenge’.
Read on for more information on this amazing event, and how you can win in our charity raffle!
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