The weather is warming up here, only -3c last night! My roses are shooting but behind where they would normally be. I expect they will catch up. The dry is a worry though, no rain here since November.
I’ve cancelled my order with TCL, got fed up with the unexplained delays and lack of communication. Oh well, I can live without most of them and the few I really wanted can be obtained elsewhere.
The Saga of the GdeF Standard continues. Lens confirmed final postage cost of €152 which was three times their original estimate, so that’s well and truly scuppered that! The search continued and I found a new (to me) French rose nursery Francia Thauvin who had one and could send it to me in 5 days by special courier for €23 including a couple of other bare roots I slipped in of course 😆 Theirs is taller too, at 160-170cm. They have a great selection of interesting roses so if these turn out to be good uns (finger’s crossed) I’m sure there will be repeat orders. Here’s the link if anyone wants a nosey:
Dry as a bone n London for the best part of two months. We got some heavy rain in Dec for about three days but the rest of the time, hardly anything. As this is the main time for recharging aquifers, reservoirs etc, it is a concern. The forecast here for Feb is bone dry too. Not good news for the rest of the year.
It’s a worry @Fire, our local river is a sad trickle, I’ve forgotton what it looks like in full spate. Of course I’ll be moaning if we get torrential downpours ruining all my Spring rose blooms!
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
I've been worrying about rain too, as I'm on a meter and the butts are not yet full. The plentiful rain that was forecast for this week has pretty much fizzled out into sun and an extra-drying wind. It has just rained lightly for the first time this year...we have a high chance of light rain for 3 hours but I have around 800 litres of capacity still to fill. Especially vexed as the butts were all full before the December storms trashed them.
Ref the tetanus, that's very interesting as I'm certain when I tried to book my third jab I was told I was only allowed 3 and they couldn't find any of my records to say how many I already had. I had given the local surgery my armed forces operational vaccination record card along with my records (all paper) when I left the forces and apparently they had lost them. Eventually I was told they had found some record of when it was due but it didn't tally with my recollection at all so in a furious sulk I didn't bother.
Did manage to get some more pruning done - did the biggies - Malvern Hills and Ghislaine de Feligonde. Also Rhapsody in Blue, Lady Emma, Gabriel Oak and Eustacia Vye, but those last three didn’t need much!
Malvern Hills is a very long involved affair but I do enjoy it, and know it’ll be worth it in a few months time! I think it’s setting up for another awesome show.
I need to get some vine eyes into the main house wall, as it’s reached that now.
Ghislaine
Rhapsody in Blue
This is that super cane I took off Malvern Hills - the one that carried on growing after being tied down. I was trying to find a way to show how long it was but struggling. Attached it to the back wall. Well over 3 meters long possibly closer to 4!
Posts
I’ve cancelled my order with TCL, got fed up with the unexplained delays and lack of communication. Oh well, I can live without most of them and the few I really wanted can be obtained elsewhere.
The Saga of the GdeF Standard continues. Lens confirmed final postage cost of €152 which was three times their original estimate, so that’s well and truly scuppered that! The search continued and I found a new (to me) French rose nursery Francia Thauvin who had one and could send it to me in 5 days by special courier for €23 including a couple of other bare roots I slipped in of course 😆 Theirs is taller too, at 160-170cm. They have a great selection of interesting roses so if these turn out to be good uns (finger’s crossed) I’m sure there will be repeat orders. Here’s the link if anyone wants a nosey:
https://www.rosier-pepiniere.com/2-tous-nos-rosiers?page=1
As in just training a single cane upright attached to a stake, cutting out new growth from the base and "trunk" and maintaining a head.
Both Royal Jubilee and Ghislaine had structures on them that looked like the head of a standard rose.
I might try it with one of my cutting roses at the allotment.
Ref the tetanus, that's very interesting as I'm certain when I tried to book my third jab I was told I was only allowed 3 and they couldn't find any of my records to say how many I already had. I had given the local surgery my armed forces operational vaccination record card along with my records (all paper) when I left the forces and apparently they had lost them. Eventually I was told they had found some record of when it was due but it didn't tally with my recollection at all so in a furious sulk I didn't bother.
Malvern Hills is a very long involved affair but I do enjoy it, and know it’ll be worth it in a few months time! I think it’s setting up for another awesome show.