Heirloom roses - Autumn's harvest .. At My Rose Garden

We love Autumn here At My Rose Garden.  This is the time when we see the roses reap a harvest of lots of new growth from the heat and rains of Summer in our sub-tropical climate.  And the coolness of Autumn is a welcome reprieve for the roses after surviving the heat, humidity and torrential storms of Summer.  

As the weather cools, the roses put out Autumn blooms that are larger and fuller.  Their perfume lingers in the cooler air, rather than dissipating quickly in the heat.  The colour of blooms also soften to subtler shades, often giving a layered, painterly effect.   

This year, our Autumn has been extremely hot with record breaking temperatures in the high 30’s (degrees Celsius).  As a result, the roses have continued to flower with lots of small blooms that quickly burn in the heat.  Fortunately, we have also had good rainfalls that have helped the roses withstand this unusual season of extended heat waves.  

Finally, now that it is April and midway through our Autumn, the weather is cooling as the days shorten.  And the roses are responding beautifully, with fresh blooms of the most glorious softly muted colours; a change from the intense colours of Summer, especially for the Tea roses.   

G. Nabonnand (Tea rose)

Unfortunately, after the heat and storms of Summer, weeds have also taken over the rose beds.  A major task has been re-edging the garden edges so that we can re-define where the rose beds start and finish.  Weeds have galloped across the lawns smudging the garden edges and attempting to take over the rose beds.  But because of the recent rains, the soil is soft and moist, easily relinquishing weedy roots.  We have carried away many wheelbarrow loads of weeds to eventually be turned into mulch.  

Mrs B R Cant (Tea rose)

The Head Gardener (hubby) has spent the Easter break weeding, re-edging and adding a thick layer of compost to our new Hybrid Musk hedges that were planted last Winter.   And the Hybrid Musk roses are showing their appreciation by enthusiastically putting out lots of new shoots and glorious buds.   An exquisite sight is the new buds unfurling without succumbing to the glare and heat of previous weeks. 

Safrano (Tea rose)

And the best harvest of all in Autumn ... beautiful roses for cutting and making into posies and bouquets that are more strongly perfumed and last longer in the vase.  

Heavenly ...