Good weather bodes well for roses
They’re looking healthy and vigorous and flowering earlier, too
What a great season we’re having! It’s very early due to the hot spell in April and May and I’ve never had as many roses in bloom so early in my garden. If this weather continues, I expect the first flush to be over any time now and this will mean the second flush will be much earlier than usual, too. Make sure to deadhead your roses and cut them for the house. In the glasshouse, the parent plants I use for breeding are covered in hundreds of blooms and I could do double the number of crosses I usually do if only there were enough hours in the day!
The long dry spell back in April meant I didn’t get to feed some of my roses with a solid food. But they’ve still grown very well as I made sure to put on plenty of foliar food. The plants are fantastic, full of buds, strong healthy leaves, growth and vigour. Some early disease, mainly downy mildew, has shown up on one or two susceptible varieties, but overall the roses are clean. This is down to the early spray I do against disease. All in all it bodes well for the season ahead. Once the rain comes the weeds will germinate like crazy so be vigilant.
As always, I watched the coverage of Chelsea Flower Show on the BBC in May. Dave is Editor of the Amateur Rose Breeders Association. He has been breeding roses for nearly 40 years. ‘Newsflash’, ‘Showmee Sunshine’ and ‘Lullaby’ are some of his best-known. His roses have been awarded the Gold Star of the South Pacific Award, two President’s International Trophies, two Gold Standards and medals in ARBA Trials. I must say I’d like to see far more about the flowers on show than the gardens, which the BBC concentrates on. Other than a few shots of flower stands we saw very little. There were some beautiful new roses introduced at the show, among them one named by David Austin Roses for actress Dame Judi Dench. Most of the new roses are introduced nowadays at Hampton Court in July, so I’m looking forward to that.
I end on a sad note. You may not have heard, but the Royal National Rose Society (RNRS) has gone into administration and closed its doors after 140 years in existence. At one time it had more than 100,000 members but with changes in lifestyle and hobbies the numbers fell rapidly and there were only about 1,500 members left. I’m sure there are several reasons for its demise but it’s hard to believe that access to the world- famous Gardens of the Rose at St Albans is now denied to people. The good news is the scheduled shows will go on this summer as planned. The other good news D is that a new organisation, The av e Ke Rose Society UK, has formed. nn y