Bush roses

A GARDEN OF ROSES

Last week we were looking at large shrub roses and this week we shall look at bush roses.

I have been in love with roses from childhood. A garden with a rose bush was very special as they were quite expensive to buy when wages were still quite low as work study and bonus had not been invented. As a young apprentice gardener I had managed to get a few bushes of what was popular at that time, i.e. Peace, Ena Harkness, Queen Elizabeth and the new vermilion rose Super Star. However rose breeders were bringing out numerous new varieties every year so I had to stretch my budget a wee bit further. My council house garden in St. Mary’s was big enough for a fair few, but as apprentice gardener wages were quite meagre I decided to buy 100 rose rootstocks and bud my own. I got over 70 bushes, which for a first effort at budding was quite good. I had not yet had any training in budding, but had a very good book with pictures. However I had to source my stock of buds for new varieties from a wide source of locations around Dundee and beyond. Enough said!!!

 

The Rose Bed

I now always have a rose bed or border in my garden, and try out new varieties as space allows.

I do not separate my hybrid teas from my floribundas as there is great merit in both types.

Over the years you always find favourites that you stick with. In the past, breeders wanted the best colours and a perfect hybrid tea shape but now we have plenty of these so demand is for a return to scented roses and healthy disease resisting foliage.

Pests and diseases

However many of our favourites were a wee bit susceptible to blackspot, mildew and rust so breeders have been trying to introduce vigour, strength and disease resistance into their new varieties. Not an easy task as the blackspot fungus continually mutates to form resistance to chemicals, and our wet weather has not helped to keep diseases down. There are suitable chemicals for rose pests and disease control, but you need to spray regularly and your time and chemicals are wasted if the rain washes the chemical off not long after spraying.

I no longer tolerate diseased roses, so unfortunately many of my favourites have been dug up and dumped. I had always liked Blue Moon, but it had to go, and my best scented white Margaret Merrill is only just hanging on. Iceberg is also a good white but has little scent and needs a sunny year to get the best from its flowers.

My rose favourites

E.H. Morse has always been my best red as it is large, has a great shape, good scent and is quite disease resistant. National Trust is the perfect red rose but with no scent it is not top of my list. Fragrant Cloud, Alec’s Red and Ingrid Bergman have all got shape, intense colour and strong fragrance. Evelyn Fison is an old but very reliable red floribunda.

Dearest is top of my pink floribunda list, but Rose Gaujard, a very old variety, is also very attractive though it does not produce a lot of flowers. Congratulations and Blessings are both excellent pinks and Wendy Cussons, a deep cherry red is strong, disease free and has a strong fragrance.

Piccadilly is the most popular red and yellow bicolour, and often my first rose to bloom. Foliage is shiny and very healthy.

Alexander is now top of my vermillion colour and for a bright orange try, Doris Tysterman or Dawn Chorus. Arthur Bell remains my best yellow floribunda, and Margaret Merrill my best white.

Rose culture

Roses like a well cultivated clay soil rich in organic matter as they are gross feeders, but once well established go easy on fertiliser otherwise they may respond with too much vigour at the expense of flowers. They flower better in a sunny spot that is well drained but retains moisture. An annual mulch of compost is beneficial.

Prune in late winter removing old and weak shoots and shortening others by about half. Do not prune too hard as some varieties do not like it. Roses will still be just fine even if they are never pruned, or as I found out cut evenly to two feet with hand shears.

Watch for pests and diseases and spray as necessary in dry weather in the evening.

Plant of the week

Delphiniums are a very popular summer flowering herbaceous plant with huge spikes of

intense blue flowers. They can grow up to six or more feet tall and as the flower spikes are solid with flowers they need thorough staking. They are easily grown from seed from specialist growers such as Blackmore and Langdon of Bath. They are very reliable coming up every year as long as you keep slugs at bay as they will chew the young shoots.

Handle this plant with care as every part is very poisonous.

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Shrub Roses

SHRUB ROSES

I had always been a lover of roses, but it was only when I gardened on a larger scale that could I indulge in trying out the larger growing shrub roses. The individual flowers may not have the perfect hybrid tea shape, but the sheer floral impact and scent from a mature bush in full flower at its best can be quite breathtaking. Flowers vary from single, double and full petalled and you soon get attracted to the old fashioned flower shapes.

Shrub roses have developed from many rose species and new varieties created by breeding with other bush roses. They can grow from three to six feet or more depending on variety, soil and local climate. When given plenty of room to grow they can put on a fantastic display of flowers. Some only give one show each year, such as Rosa rugosa Fru Dagmar Hastrup but others such as Benjamin Britten and Brother Cadfael are repeat flowering from early summer till autumn and many are highly scented. Rose breeders from all over the world have been selecting and crossing every type they can get their hands on. Sometimes they go for a colour, or size, or disease resistance and nowadays there is a demand for a return to scented roses. Numerous new roses appear every year, so it is worth trying some of them out. However nurseries offer some wonderful descriptions which may be as they find them in warmer drier locations, but in Scotland we are cooler and often not as dry so our roses are more prone to blackspot disease. I have already tried and discarded eight bushes that failed to survive diseases, or the flowers were not up to an acceptable standard.

Types of shrub roses

The oldest roses were species from Europe such as the Gallicas (Rosa mundi is very popular even though it is from the 12^th century) grown hundreds of years ago by the Greeks and Romans.

The Crusaders brought back the Damask roses (Ispahan is highly scented) from the Middle East.

The Albas (Maidens Blush) appeared in the Middle Ages, and the Centifolias (Fantin-Latour) grown in Holland. In Victorian times, the Mosses were very popular. William Lobb is a tall moss with deep crimson highly scented flowers, and the buds are covered in balsam scented mossy glands. These types all have one summer flush but there is also a range of repeat flowering old roses, which have a main display, then continue to flower till the autumn. These include the Chinas, (Old Blush China), the Portlands, (Jacques Cartier), the Bourbons, (Mme Isaac Pereire), and the Hybrid Perpetuals, (Baroness Rothschild).

Zephirine Drouhin is a popular thornless pink Bourbon used as a highly scented wall climber.

Plant hunters have collected many rose species from all around the world. These are very popular with landscape architects for urban landscape plantings (Rosa glauca, R. pimpinellifolia, the Scottish Rose, and R. moyessii well known for its huge colourful red hips) My own favourite is Rosa xanthina Canary Bird which has masses of large single yellow flowers in early summer.

Plant Breeders have had ample stock to use to create further shrub roses including the Hybrid Musks (Felicia and Lavender Lassie) and a wide range of modern shrub roses, bred from Rosa rugosa (Fru Dagmar Hastrup)

Planting and aftercare

As these are usually fairly large, give them plenty of space. They are excellent at the back of borders and some make excellent flowering hedges.

Roses are gross feeders so enjoy good soil with plenty of compost added, with an annual mulch to feed the surface roots, keep down weeds and retain moisture. They do not need much pruning other than removing any straggly shoots, diseased wood and an occasional old shoot to keep a balance of young and mature shoots.

Watch out for blackspot disease and spray with a rose fungicide, but if it does not cure it, remove the bush and try a different one. Always remove and destroy all diseased foliage.

Plant of the week

Cistus Silver Pink is a variety of the Rock Rose or Sun Rose flowering in June to July. Cistus thrive in a sunny location on poor stony soils where good drainage is very important. They do not like feeding, mulching or adding organic matter to planting holes. Cistus come with white, purple, pink and spotted flowers which are set off against their grey foliage. The variety Cistus purpureus is also excellent.

 

Painting of the month

Madonna is an acrylic on canvas painted for the Madonna art exhibition showing at Art et Facts gallery in Roseburn Terrace in Edinburgh from 16^th to 28^th July to coincide with her tour and concert in Edinburgh.

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An early harvest

AN EARLY HARVEST

It is very rewarding to pick those few early vegetables right at the beginning of the season. Nothing found in any supermarket can beat a freshly picked young lettuce or radish served on the plate within a few minutes to a couple of hours later. It is surprising that with a wee bit of research and planning you can have some fresh produce from the garden all year round.

Fruit

Although not truly a fruit, rhubarb is regarded as a sweet used in crumbles, tarts, stewed or added to compote. It also makes a fantastic jam when combined with figs and prunes.  Forced rhubarb gives the earliest sticks, but outdoor natural season comes in quickly behind the frozen and those spring bright red stems are just bursting with vitamins and minerals as well as flavour.

Strawberries are now becoming very popular as an early crop advanced with the help of low polytunnels which are cheap to make, and easy to erect. Use an early variety such as Mae, and follow this with a maincrop such as Elsanta then extend the season using a late e.g. Symphony or Florence. If you wish to have strawberries right up until the frosts come use a perpetual such as Flamenco. Protecting my early strawberries for a very early harvest has paid dividends this year as it has protected them from the continual wet weather. Modern strawberries have been bred to withstand the fungus botrytis which used to devastate crops without at least three chemical sprays of Elvaron (now withdrawn). However even these resistant varieties are struggling very badly trying to cope with constant rain showers, and botrytis is back but not as severe as in the past.

Vegetables

Radish, lettuce and spring onions have been used for a few weeks now. I thin my lettuce to about 4 to 6 inches apart, then do a final thinning over a few weeks using alternate young very tender lettuce plants for salads.

Radish and spring onion are usually sown as a quick intercrop between other slower growing crops such as sweet corn, parsnips and courgettes which are spaced wide apart but take a few weeks to cover the ground. As long as the ground has been well manured these salads will grow quickly.

Early carrots grown under fleece have come along very quickly and although the fleece did get a few holes in it over the weeks, it has given protection from the carrot fly. These small carrots are very tasty and tender.

Baby beetroot are now ready to harvest as the thinning from normal rows allowing the rest more space to grow.

Spring cabbage April is now just about finished, but these have been terrific, despite slugs, caterpillars and pigeons. The earliest cabbage were so tender they only needed two minutes boiling and were plate perfect. I will definitely grow this variety again with a sowing at the end of July.

Stored and frozen crops

The last twelve onion Hytech will be used this month. I did not expect them to store so well in my garage over such a long period and still remain so sweet.

French and broad beans are still available from the freezer as well as a few raspberries, blackcurrants and saskatoons. However with this year’s crop only a few weeks away, some of these will have to go to make room in the freezer.

Another batch of wine is being planned, as nothing gets wasted.

Cut Flowers

The first sweet peas are now flowering but the cool wet weather has held them back from other years, though growth is still quite strong. Always remove old flowers and do not let them go to seed.

Roses make a great display for the table, but it is hard to sacrifice the garden display. However we can always spare a single scented rose. Ernest Henry Morse is one of my favourites.

Garden pinks and border carnations are another excellent cut flower available in early summer and the clove scented varieties are hard to beat.

Plant of the week

Fuchsia Swingtime is my favourite hanging basket fuchsia now in full flower though still has plenty of growth to make. Purchased as plugs in early spring and grown on in a pot before planting alone in a hanging basket. I give it a feed once a fortnight to keep it growing. At the end of the season it will get dried off and stored in a cold but frost free place till next spring.

There are numerous different varieties to choose from for pots, tubs, baskets or outdoors in a border, and coming cheaply from plugs it is always worthwhile trying a few different ones each year.

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SUMMER JOBS IN BETWEEN THE SHOWERS

SUMMER JOBS IN BETWEEN THE SHOWERS

It looks like we are going to get a third wet summer, so I watch the weather forecasts and take every opportunity to get into the garden on every sunny day. Growing good garden plants has always been a challenge, but this weather does not make it any easier. On the plus side the garden hose is getting a good rest. It seems we rush out on a dry day to sow and plant, then sit back as they get watered in the following day. However some plants are doing just fine. Climbing roses have plenty flowers on them and not too much mildew. Greenfly begin to build up then a heavy shower comes along and washes a few away, but if I can get a couple of dry days I will give the remainder a rose spray to tackle greenfly, mildew, rust, and blackspot. I no longer grow those varieties susceptible to blackspot so it is not a major problem in these wet summers.

Flag iris, oriental poppies, Iceland poppies, Californian poppies, honeysuckle and peony roses have all been a mass of flowers despite the rain. The Californian poppies have naturalised themselves in the front of a border holding masses of crocus bulbs, but as they have different growing and flowering times they are perfect partners.

Delphiniums are putting on good growth and showing a lot of promise for a good display, but they need strong canes and tying in as they can reach five to six feet tall.

Bedding geraniums and petunias need sunshine so they are beginning to lose their flowers while they wait on summer returning. Busy Lizzies don’t mind rain, but they do not like cold weather which makes them look really sick.

Weeding continues on any sunny days to keep on top, but they seem less of a problem this year.

Seed sowing

Wallflower seeds have now been sown in an outdoor seedbed. After germination and they grow to about four to six inches tall they will get transplanted into rows a foot apart spacing the seedlings about four inches apart. They should make sturdy plants for planting out in late autumn.

Forget me nots (Myosotis) can also be sown this way but in past years slugs have devoured them as soon as they germinate and slug pellets are so weak that they are just not effective enough, so I have sown mine in compost in trays. They will go into plug trays after germination, and then a few weeks later they will be lined out outside to bush up.

I have sown a batch of broad beans in cellular trays to catch a late crop. They will replace my spring cabbage when that crop is finished in July.

Fruit trees

Primary infections (mildew infected young shoots) on my apple tree have been removed to prevent the disease spreading. It looks like a very poor year for Bramley apples. There was plenty of flowers, but very poor pollination or fertilisation, as much of the young crop has fallen off.

Plums are also having a rest this year as there is no more than a dozen fruit on a large mature tree which should have a couple of hundred young plums.

Oddly enough the outdoor Peach Peregrine (hand pollinated with a sable brush) has an excellent crop of young peaches, but the tree is so badly infected by peach leaf curl that there is just not enough foliage to support a decent crop. The tree was sprayed twice in late winter/early spring and once at leaf fall. I blame a combination of wet weather and poor chemical control. Chemicals available in garden centres are now formulated so weak that they are no longer very effective.

I just hope that if we get some warm days I might get a surge of growth and save the crop.

Greenhouse

Tomato Gardeners Delight is growing strongly and now flowering on its fourth truss, but Alicante fared rather poorly in the cold dull weather. It is alive and growing but nothing to be proud off.

My favourite Sweet Million cherry tomato could not handle this climate. Root rots set in and killed off my plants. They have now been replaced with fresh plants.

Feeding is done on every second watering.

Grape vine pruning continues on a twice weekly basis cutting all shoots to one leaf to prevent them taking over the glasshouse.

An Amaryllus potted up last autumn should have flowered just after Christmas, but all I got was a wealth of green leaves. I gave up after Easter and it got relegated to a quiet corner in the greenhouse where I could ignore it. It has now decided to flower. All very nice, but this is just not its time.

I reckon Anna felt sorry for it and every time she went on tomato feeding duties she gave it a wee drink.

Plant of the week

Serbian Bellflower known botanically as Campanula poscharskyana is a great rock garden plant displaying a carpet of lavender blue flowers in June. It is very easy to grow as long as you plant it in a moist but well drained soil and although it will grow in a shady spot it flowers more profusely in full sun. Propagate by dividing up bits around the edges of the clump in late autumn.

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