News From David Austin Roses!!!
One thing I simply love is the intoxicating scent of a garden rose and especially if it’s an English rose. Perhaps you saw my television show recently, when Senior Rosarian, Michael Marriott, of the prestigious company, David Austin Roses, came to visit. Gardeners everywhere know rose hybridizer David Austin for his English roses, which combine the forms and fragrances of old roses with the color range and repeat blooms of modern roses. Michael shared the exciting news that David Austin’s cut English roses, bred especially for the vase, are now available for mail order in the United States! Michael shared some of his favorite varieties of these beautiful specimens with us. He also demonstrated and gave some tips for planting rose bushes in the garden. I was fortunate to take the demo bushes home with me. However, it’s still winter and Shaun, my gardener, had to figure out what to do with the bare root plants until they can be placed in their new home in my garden.
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- When you order rose bushes from David Austin, each plant comes packaged in a very sturdy box.
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- The boxes are decorated with a beautiful rose print which has been specially designed for David Austin Roses.
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- Bare root means just that.
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- Shaun is inspecting the bud union, the swelling on the bottom of a plant stem where the graft is joined with the rootstock.
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- The bud union looks very healthy.
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- Shaun trimmed off broken roots.
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- The smaller roses went into smaller pots.
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- These roses are already growing new healthy shoots.
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- These particular roses are The Allnwick Rose, having a rich old rose scent. I can’t wait to see these blooms!
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- Rose bushes come either bare root or in containers. Container roses, make great gifts. They arrive planted in tall plastic pots filled with rich compost. These are the planting instructions.
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- This inspection seal means that the nursery stock is apparently free of dangerous insects and dangerously contagious diseases.
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- The roses were laid out and organized by size. These will require large pots.
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- Container roses arrive in the distinctive David Austin 3 gallon container premium pot.
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- Andrea, garden expert from TV, came to give Shaun a hand with the roses.
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- And smaller ones
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- When working with bare root roses, you may want to soften the roots for a few hours in water before planting.
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- Rose experts say that you can leave them in water for up to one week before planting.
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- The roots were spread out evenly.
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- The potting mix was added.
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- Since this is just temporary until the roses can be planted outdoors, minimal potting mix was used.
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- This mix is rich in compost and has good drainage.
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- Since the ground outside is still frozen, Shaun and Andrea decided to temporarily plant the bare root roses in pots using a good metro mix.
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- In the basement of the greenhouse, Shaun found this large stack of lightweight fiber pots.
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- The size of these roots is just amazing!
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