We love our heirloom roses and cannot have enough varieties of old garden roses. As a result, we are constantly planning ahead beyond the next season. That includes revising what areas of the garden have worked well and what needs to be improved. We also begin designing new planting schemes and where and how to expand the garden. Then we choose which types of roses will work best for each area.
In early Autumn the fun starts when we order more roses that will fit in with the new planting schemes from specialist rose growers.
As well as ordering more roses, planning ahead means putting into action the designs for new garden beds. First of all the dead tree in the background will be perfect for allowing a rambling rose to climb through its branches. And these drifts of straw laid over newspaper may look messy, but they will get our beds off to a good start. The wet newspaper covered with straw and later a thick layer of mulch will give the earth worms a moist, dark place to start working their magic. The worms will aerate the soil and pull nutrients down into the soil as the materials break down.
That's how all of our rose beds start. Here's our Hybrid Musk hedge started less than twelve months ago. In a few years' time this hedge will be taller and wider with dense growth as a result of conditioning the soil well before planting.
Our rose allee started this way too, extending the rose garden further into what had previously been a paddock. Once the design had been mown in the rough pasture grasses, lots of wet newspaper, straw and mulch was laid before planting started in winter. After just a little over 12 months' of growth, the different varieties of climbing roses are starting to clothe the large arches.
Finally, the roses will put down deep roots, and start to offer beautiful blooms filled with fragrance.
So there you have it, a brief overview of developing the rose gardens for the next few seasons of roses ...
No comments:
Post a Comment