Ahhhhh - Spring!

The leaves are fresh and green, the skies are deep blue and the temperatures are, for the most part, very reasonable. I’ve been lucky enough to have had the last couple of weeks off work to potter around the house – it’s been great!

The first week was all about spring blossom as all the peach and nectarine trees were out.

The bottle brush was out as well. I have three cream trees down the western side of the house.

Then some of the roses started blooming.

Pat Austin

              

Skylark

Kathleen Harrop

And Seduction. This is my climbing one – after 4 years it still hasn’t got as big as a shrub of a similar age.

I spent part of the time building a couple of slightly dodgy structures to support my weeping standard roses.

Here’s one for the Lamarque.

I have my fingers crossed but it’s already leaning heavily towards the north with the back feet lifting. Time will tell, but I am making back up plans.

The other one is for the Red Pierre. I have a lot more confidence in this one.

Happy Spring!

Sue

The end of Autumn

Lamarque

Depending on how you count these things we are either at the start of winter now or coming to the end of autumn.

The Crimson Glory Vine has great autumn colours even in Perth

And it’s been a warm dry autumn here in Perth with the temperatures only now starting to drop, along with the leaves.

I can’t rave enough about the performance of Duchesse de Brabant

I got my camera out and have taken some photos of what’s in bloom around the garden.

A Darcey Bussel bud starts to open

With the warmth the roses are still blooming well

My Camellia in flower

William Shakespeare

Iceberg with a few hips

Young Lycidas, still only a young plant, is putting on a good display

Bold seduction

Sharifa Asma

My new rose, St Cecilia

The truly gorgeous Abraham Darby

Floribunda Bridal Pink in bud

And full flower

And that’s it – happy gardening!

This is Lamarque

Have a look at the beautiful Old Garden rose, Lamarque.

This is a Noisette rose bred by Marechal in France in 1830. If you would like to delve further into the story of Noisette roses have a look at this article. Go on –it’s interesting.

Lamarque has white blooms with a pale lemon yellow centre and mine is moderately fragrant.

The flowers are produced from spring through to late autumn in heavy clusters, producing a spectacular display.

It’s a large climber that can apparently grow to 6 metres. Mine is a weeping standard which I bought from Roworths Rose Nursery (this is not a sponsored post by the way). Luckily for me it doesn’t mind a prune. I give it a light prune in early autumn and when the canes start attacking me as I walk past, along with a harder prune in winter.

You can see in the photo how it looks at the end of autumn and, below, how it looks at this time of year, post prune.

Last year I pruned it much harder, almost back to the support ring, and I wasn’t that thrilled with the result. It was still large by the end of autumn, but it took quite a while to get to an attractive size and shape and the spring blooms weren’t as prolific, probably because there was less plant for them to grow on.

Apparently this isn’t always the case with Noisettes. My Gardening Neighbour has several and he has pruned them with unfortunate results – a very slow recovery. Certainly my rose book recommends not pruning Madame Alfred Carriere, another of the Noisettes.

I decided to buy a weeping standard for this spot based on this photo in the coffee table book, Rural Australian Gardens. The book doesn’t say what rose appears in the photo but I later found an earlier photo of the same property in another rose book I borrowed from the library; apparently it is a rambler I had never heard of – Minnehaha.

So when I went along to the nursery I had this image in my mind, with either pink or white flowers. On site the choices were either Iceberg or Lamarque and the ever helpful staff recommended this one. It hasn’t let me down.

Thanks for reading. Happy Gardening!

The Amazing Duchesse de Brabant

Let me introduce you to this old tea rose Duchesse de Brabant. It has a reputation for flowering 360 days a year and here they are in full bloom at the end of winter.

Rounded and bushy with lovely pink ball shaped flowers, it could be the perfect rose… except for two things. It has no fragrance and I can never work out when I should prune it.

 

I first saw these roses (or so I thought) in the rose gardens in the Adelaide botanic gardens (along with Sharifa Asma). It was love at first sight for both and I remember stalking back and forth between the two of them trying to choose one or the other. I ended up with both.

I have had these plants for around 3 years now I think. Because they really don’t have a dormant season in Perth they grow quite quickly to around waist high.

There is also a climbing version which my gardening neighbour has growing in his front yard. As it turns out, I must have spotted them before seeing them in the botanic gardens after all. I was researching the climber earlier this year, deciding on whether to try growing one over my shed (I decided yes). The climber is a sport of the shrub form which was discovered in Australia (I am suddenly filled with the urge to punch the air in a show of national pride, Aussie, Aussie, Aussie…). It also goes by the name of Comtesse de Labarthe.

More Autumn Roses

Here are some more of my autumn roses.

 

This is David Austin’s Princess Alexandra of Kent. It’s fairly new in my garden – only a couple of summer’s old. This rose flowers fairly infrequently in this spot. I have another one in a less harsh position which does slightly better and I am going to shift this plant near it.

 

 

And because it’s such a treat to see it in flower, this is a shot of the back with the bud of hybrid tea, Fragrant Plum.

 

And it’s very lovely bud.

 

This pop of colour was irresistible – a Pat Austin bud against the dark blue fence.

 

And the heavy droop of a fully open flower.

 

This is David Austin rose, Young Lycidas. It starts as a dark bruise…

 

And gradually fills with petals and fades through the red plum tones.

 

This is hybrid musk, Felicia. I planted this as a weeping standard last spring to provide a bit of shade over a scorched lawn area. I bought it from Roworths rose nursery in Landsdale. The guy there estimated it as being 5 years old and warned me not to expect much in the way of flowering. I had low expectations but, in a classic case of under-promise and over-deliver, it has flowered continuously all season. I don’t expect it to ‘weep’ as such, being more of a spreading shrub than climber.

 

And this beauty is English rose, Pretty Jessica.

Autumn Roses

The weather has cooled off and we have had some rain – a decent 28mm (just over an inch) in my gauge last weekend. And with the cooler weather comes new growth and roses, so today’s post is just about the photos.

 

This is David Austin English rose, Heritage.

 

 

A new one for me, David Austin rose, Abraham Darby.

 

My first ever rose purchase, hybrid tea Mr Lincoln.

  

Another Austin rose, this is Skylark.

 

 

The buds on floribunda, Bridal Pink.
 

 

Every home should have one, Iceberg in full display.

 

 

This is a Noisette rose, Madame Alfred Carriere.

 

And last but not least, climber Clair Matin.