sunnyvalley's blog: This and that ... and ROSES!

During the last two weeks temperatures took a dip down to 15C on June 7 with the cold front that brought us a bit of rain the night before. It was a small reprieve during an otherwise rather hot dry period; temperatures ranging between 25C and 30C and no rain to speak of.

I took advantage of the cooler weather on June 7 to trim some boxwood. It took me most of the day to trim the small hedges around the roof rose beds. I use a hand clipper as it gives a cleaner cut and also had to organise a set-up to keep the clippings from flying all over the mulch on the beds. The lavender in the middle of the rose bed has since been removed. It was a large variety – just too big and untidy for the position. I didn’t get around to trimming any of the individual boxwood shrubs and just as well because the weather turned hot again. The leaves on the trimmed hedges turned brown within a day but with the extra watering I am already seeing some new growth.


The lack of rain did have one advantage. I was able to get all my rose crosses done for this year without having to cover any freshly pollinated blooms. First I did quite a few crosses with freezer stored pollen from last year and then with freshly harvested pollen. This is also the first year that I have pollinated roses I have bred myself. In total 116 crosses which is probably more than I can handle.
First all the petals are removed from a bloom which is just about to open. I then remove all the anthers and pollinated with pollen from another rose. After that, I label the cross noting the parents and date. A minimum of 120 days, longer if we don’t have frost, and then the hips will be ready for harvesting and stratification until January next year.


DH did me a big favour last week – I think he also enjoyed the project. It involved making a support for an oversized standard rose (2.5m to the graft) which I grafted three years ago. Out with the welder and the result is an ingenious support with a ‘crown holder’.


Last week, I also tackled a job that has been on my to-do list for absolute ages. I finally removed the rootstock of a standard rose which didn’t survive the -20C we had in the winter of 2011/12. I had been using it as a rootstock supply for new standard roses. But now that I have planted a cutting of it in my trial bed it is no longer needed and I can free up the space for something else. I had to remove all the other plants – boxwood, sedge, lilies, anemone and hebe – to get to the rootstock. I am still debating on what to plant now. Iris or another rose or both????


Edge cutting was also on the agenda! I just love seeing neatly trimmed lawn edges – it is something I inherited from my mother. Call me crazy but I don’t use the conventional edge cutting equipment such as grass shears or a string trimmer although we do own both and they are well-used. No, no! I raid the kitchen for a small vegetable knife and DH’s workshop for the sharpening stone!


I think the result speaks for itself! Perfectly cut edges – an absolute joy for me!!!


Here are some photos of the garden taken last week ...


I think all but four of my rose seedlings have bloomed. Slowly but surely I am getting to the part of breeding which I find the most difficult – selecting which to keep and which are destined to enrich the compost. I am putting it off until the last four bloom and then I really have to make a decision. In the meantime I have taken tons of photos – this is just a small selection:


And in closing, the highlight of the past two weeks – THE ROSES!!!
Acapella, Astrid Gräfin von Hardenburg, Ave Maria


Berolina, Blauwe Stad, Blue Girl


Dick Clark, Ferdinand Pichard, Herkules


Honey Dijon, Infinity, Julia's Rose


Little Sunset, Loving Lorna, Mamy Blue


Mind Games, Moonstone, Papagena


Pope John Paul II, Princess of Infinity, Purple Lodge


Purple Tiger, Rokoko, Stephen Rulo


Valencia, William Shakespeare


And three florist roses grafted onto rootstock and now growing in my garden

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