Wales On Sunday

How rosy is your garden?

Take care where you plant these beautiful blooms and they’ll flourish for years, says Diarmuid Gavin

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ST VALENTINE’S Day, last weekend, was a timely reminder for gardeners that there are about six weeks left in the bare root planting season if you want to introduce roses into your garden.

Bare root is the most economical way to buy roses – these are plants that have been grown in a field, lifted from October onwards and sold with the soil removed.

It’s a good idea to soak the roots in water for a couple of hours before planting to rehydrate them.

But with the current temperatur­es don’t try planting in frozen or waterlogge­d soil. Keep roots damp and cool until the winter weather is less severe.

The oldest rose in the world is thought to be more than 1,000 years old. Climbing the walls at Hildesheim Cathedral in Germany, this dog rose, Rosa canina, survived even bombings during the Second World War. Roses are good value and with a bit of care will last for many years in your garden.

Here are my top tips to help you grow healthy plants...

They flower best in the sunshine but there are varieties that will perform in north-facing situations – and a little bit of shade from hot summer sun is helpful too.

Don’t plant in the same place as a previous rose as this can lead to replant disease. Climbers like to be at least a foot away from the wall to avoid dryness around the root system.

Prepare the ground well by incorporat­ing a generous quantity of well rotted organic matter before planting. Sprinkle mycorrhiza­l fungi over the roots when planting – this helps roots establish much quicker and enhances nutrient and water uptake. You’ll find this in your local garden centre – ask for Rootgrow.

When roses are positioned among other plants – especially those that attract beneficial insects – they tend to stay much healthier and look very beautiful too.

Pests find it more difficult to find a suitable host for laying their eggs and the spores of diseases are less likely to fall on another rose.

However, be careful not to allow perennials to grow too much right round the base of the rose, they will take the lion’s share of water and nutrients and leave little for the rose.

Apply fertiliser around April and again in June – this can be well rotted manure or garden compost – but try to keep it a clean distance from stems.

If you choose a healthy variety of rose then diseases shouldn’t be a huge problem, but you can help boost their resistance by applying a foliar feed like Maxicrop or SB Plant Invigorato­r.

Roses love plenty of water at the roots, so an occasional good soaking in summer will help encourage strong growth and quicker repeat flowering – especially significan­t for roses near to walls or hedges.

If you do water then try to avoid getting the leaves wet, or water early in the day so the leaves can dry out quickly otherwise you may well be encouragin­g blackspot.

Inspect the leaves during summer – are they covered in greenfly? I tend to just squash them between my fingers and otherwise rely on the general insect eating population to do their bit.

It’s been my experience that a garden that encourages wildlife and doesn’t use pesticides tends to keep a healthy balance between predators and pests.

Lots of us get nervous when confronted with secateurs and a rose bush – what to do? There are many complicate­d theories about pruning, but you’re best keeping it simple.

With shrub roses, cut them down to around half their size in late winter/early spring – ideally before they spring into fresh growth. If they’re well establishe­d, choose one or two old stems – these will be brown or a dull green – and cut them out completely at base level which will encourage healthier new stems.

And with climbers, cut back last year’s flowering shoots to between 4 and 6 inches.

Finally, I’d like to share a good tip I received from gardening guru Helen Dillon about choosing varieties.

She told me breeders save their best varieties to name after family members. For example in the David Austin catalogue, you won’t do better than the likes of ‘Olivia Rose Austin’, a beautiful pink English shrub rose that flowers early with a delicious fragrance. Or try the climber ‘Claire Austin’ which has creamy-white highly fragrant double flowers that open from pale lemon buds – just gorgeous.

 ??  ?? Reach for the sky with Constance Spry
This David Austin has a lovely perfume
Fragrant Olivia Rose Austin
Reach for the sky with Constance Spry This David Austin has a lovely perfume Fragrant Olivia Rose Austin
 ??  ?? Rosa Canina
Rosa Canina

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