News & Updates:

Disbudding is not the prerogative of exhibitors; all gardeners will improve the quality of their roses by this procedure. If it is not done, the young buds will be wasted by being cut with the main bloom. Roses can be had in larger numbers and in fairly good quality by removing the crown bud and leaving the two farthest developed of the other buds. Wichurai-anas, Polyanthas, and Floribundas should never be disbudded, of course.

It has often been stated that roses need a resting period after each crop of blooms. This applies only in midsummer in our hottest and driest areas. The plants should be kept working by providing them with ample moisture, and they will grow strongly, with healthy foliage, watershoots, and dozens of blooms. No big feeding should be given except after the winter pruning and before the summer trimming. Any manure applied later than August, except in very small lots for forcing spring blooms, would make the summer growth too soft, and liable to be damaged by hot, dry winds; manure applied in large quantities in autumn would be wasted to a great extent and would tend to make the soil very acid.

In Victoria water is usually withheld for at least part of January, to allow the plants to harden in preparation for the forcing that precedes summer trimming. This is done in New South Wales too, but not in Western Australia or Queensland, where the plants are kept growing; their blooming season is longer.

A gardener has not much chance of avoiding plant diseases if he allows his garden to become untidy. Rubbish heaps and general litter are sheltering places and breeding grounds for many pests. These remarks do not apply to a properly attended compost heap. Garden rubbish need not be burnt, though in suburban gardens, where space is very limited, hard woody material and plants badly infested with disease are best dealt with in an incinerator. All rose clippings should be burnt.