Hello all, been on holiday for a couple of weeks, so busy catching up on the ginormous number of posts since I was here last. A bit of a feeding frenzy over the new Austins I see! BMS looks good but I’m not especially taken with Elizabeth. I shall look forward to seeing how all yours do.
I’m definitely done with rose orders for the year* - my final order was with roses.it as I had been trying to get hold of Buff Beauty for ages and saw they had it. I added Alberic Barbier for my planned new arch and William Shakespeare 2000 made up the minimum order, so be interesting to see how that Austin oldie does here.
There is a small puddle at the bottom of my water butts from a brief shower in my absence, but otherwise no rain for 4 whole months now. Spent my first whole day soaking the garden with the hose. Got to get on with my delayed perennial orders, but will post some pics of new rose growth soon, they seem to have survived, thankfully, even those in pots!
* please use this post to bash me with if you notice me slipping anything else new in 😆
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
@Nollie, i was thinking today morning that haven't heard from you for a while, and nice to see a post from you now.
I am crazy busy at work but have ordered some top soil, mpc etc. The mix should be enough for my new plants, all of which will go to pots as I wont have any chance to rearrange.
This thread and endless cups of coffee are my little breaks from work.
Aww, thanks for the welcome back. We had a great holiday, in Grenada with an ‘e’ as opposed to Granada in Spain, so lots of tropical plants. Visited nutmeg and cocoa plantations, herb and spice gardens and a wonderful visit to a private garden. The owners of our villa also took us on a tour of their farm, where he grew coffee, cocoa, nutmeg, cloves, proper cinnamon and every imaginable tropical and citrus fruit. They sweetly gave us a huge bag of fresh fruit and spices. Few roses, sadly, but the private garden had a few HT’s and this, which looks very like my Cramoisi Superieur, but the owner didn’t know and I’m not totally certain either, since I’ve only had it a year:
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
...did you all get the DA Handbook of Roses? I thought it was very good, some interesting stuff.. I've not seen anyone else mention it. Not impressed?..
@Marlorena, yes I got it, it’s very nicely done — in addition to the rose profiles, I loved the old photos and the stories about their first Chelsea show. It’s on my bedside table right now, for drooling over at night…
I got the DA handbook. So tempting... There are so many that I would like to get still - Graham Thomas, Tottering, Roald Dahl, Gertrude and maybe Bring me Sunshine.
But they’re SO expensive now, almost the cost of what the potted roses used to sell for. I just can’t justify it.
I only have to look back at my photos and remind myself of how much loveliness I’ve already got to look forward to in the garden this coming year, so many third year roses, and I realise that I really don’t need any more!
RE pots - I have used garden soil mixed with multi purpose and grit sand. Also bagged top soil when I had some of that left over from making the shed bed. First time I used John Innes but it was on offer and I’ve not seen it or priced that low since. So cheapo soil and compost every time.
I’m quite low on sand actually. My last bags were reduced ones that had split open at the garden centre, so got them half price. They can also be quite expensive.
I remember now actually, I picked up the bags which had been placed on the cheap/damaged section because they were all faded (I’d assumed) no actual damage to the bag but there were lots of them on there. When I got to the til they wouldn’t let me have them and as good as accused me of trying to cheat them by taking the bags and claiming they’d been reduced! Not great customer service!
Someone eventually came with me so I could show them that they’d been there - but they said it must have been done mistakenly. He did help me find some genuine reduced ones though that were still practically full.
That was 3 or 4 years ago and I’ve still been going through the same bags!
I got the handbook today. I am slightly surprised that they went for matte paper, it looks nice but some photos are a little bit too dark and many roses look like the colour doesn't match their real colour. Also no additional photos of the new roses, not even of roses from previous years. At this point, I am not buying a rose without seeing its growth habit and seeing it with other plants.
Posts
I’m definitely done with rose orders for the year* - my final order was with roses.it as I had been trying to get hold of Buff Beauty for ages and saw they had it. I added Alberic Barbier for my planned new arch and William Shakespeare 2000 made up the minimum order, so be interesting to see how that Austin oldie does here.
There is a small puddle at the bottom of my water butts from a brief shower in my absence, but otherwise no rain for 4 whole months now. Spent my first whole day soaking the garden with the hose. Got to get on with my delayed perennial orders, but will post some pics of new rose growth soon, they seem to have survived, thankfully, even those in pots!
* please use this post to bash me with if you notice me slipping anything else new in 😆
I am crazy busy at work but have ordered some top soil, mpc etc. The mix should be enough for my new plants, all of which will go to pots as I wont have any chance to rearrange.
This thread and endless cups of coffee are my little breaks from work.
Belated happy birthday @Fire!! 🎂
Hope everyone enjoys their plant purchases!
But they’re SO expensive now, almost the cost of what the potted roses used to sell for. I just can’t justify it.
I only have to look back at my photos and remind myself of how much loveliness I’ve already got to look forward to in the garden this coming year, so many third year roses, and I realise that I really don’t need any more!
RE pots - I have used garden soil mixed with multi purpose and grit sand. Also bagged top soil when I had some of that left over from making the shed bed. First time I used John Innes but it was on offer and I’ve not seen it or priced that low since. So cheapo soil and compost every time.
I’m quite low on sand actually. My last bags were reduced ones that had split open at the garden centre, so got them half price. They can also be quite expensive.
I remember now actually, I picked up the bags which had been placed on the cheap/damaged section because they were all faded (I’d assumed) no actual damage to the bag but there were lots of them on there. When I got to the til they wouldn’t let me have them and as good as accused me of trying to cheat them by taking the bags and claiming they’d been reduced! Not great customer service!
Someone eventually came with me so I could show them that they’d been there - but they said it must have been done mistakenly. He did help me find some genuine reduced ones though that were still practically full.
That was 3 or 4 years ago and I’ve still been going through the same bags!