I like roses. There I havesaid it. Shoot me.
In .my front garden I have several of themgrowing away, and this time of years a buSy one for the rose grower as there is a lot of mucking, mulching trimming and
spraying to do. Fuck Organic. Greenfly are bastards and must die, preferably taking black spot with them.
l have finished the front for now and So can settle down and relax for my Psyoh appt. On wednesday.
Today the GPextended my sick note and said in so manywords to play nicely with the shrink and not to break him.
l have more things later. But I wanted toshow you my roses waking up.
I agree freshly shooting roses are a joy and a promise of fragrance and beauty to come...and the colours you have captured are divine, but inky, spraying!!! What on earth for? How many greenfly can be congregating at this time of year anyway, and blackspot, pah, just a bit of cosmetic damage. Pull of the affected leaves and bin them. I am Monty's girl as you can tell.
ReplyDeleteI also have a secret (until now) urge to dig up that silver topped hedge. Too much woody stuff going on underneath for my liking....nah only joking. ;)
Hope things go really well on Weds. xxxx ♥
PS Every right thinking man loves roses, especially, imo, David Austin roses. Sigh. We keep buying more and more of them. 3 flowerbeds with roses now, and still hankering after Munstead Wood!!!
DeleteThe silver topped hedge is just post slashback. Its a late blooming lavendar which gets going when the roses die down. Blooms out to a 4 foot radius from hedge. I produce 2 binbags full of dried lavendar heads per annum. The bees love it.
DeleteSadly round here blackspit is a serious issue. One of the climbers, the one round the window, is albertine a legacy rise my grandma grew. It is susceptible to fungals. Too many wild roses in the hedges to eliminate.
The weediest rose in the front bed is falstaff. Wonderfull blooms but soooo tasty. Needs constant nursing to produce even one. And any aphid damage pits it horribly.
Im sorry but chemical control on roses is the only way to show the insects who rules.
I favour controlling pests by hand (!). That is squishing the buggers individually (red lily beetles) or en masse (aphids). But I am a murderous crone, and by nature prone to violence.
DeleteTake your point about blackspot and heritage varieties. Alison the gardener hisses in disapproval at my tolerance of occasional blackspot!
We too have Falstaff. We bought him when William Shakespeare proved feeble. Now both are growing well. I favour dilute tomato food for roses, lilies and clematis, as recommended by Alan Titchmarsh, to promote flowers over foliage. You just water it in regularly over the growing season. Thomas A' Beckett is our latest acquisition. I told him, no lice infested vests, please!
Point taken about the lavender. It must be glorious at its peak. Keep sniffing the stuff - I find it therapeutic.
Love, Cathy xxxx
Jus' like every cowboy sings a sad, sad song...
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