Spring is now coming and it's time to prune the roses, I have also bought some new bare root roses to add to my collection. I have placed them in small pots temporarily and they look fine. I will also place them in the ground shortly. It's time also for spring treatments and also to feed the roses. I prefer to use organic treatments but also organic rose food like "or brun". This year I have bought the famouse "rose food" at David Austin online store, hope the result will be the same as on the rose pictures.... Between the roses I have placed some hostas but also some buxus in order to sign the difference between to plants' groups and the grass. This year I will see (I hope) the blossoms of my new Japanese peonies, I have placed them in the ground last autumn. For the treatments I usually use in spring the so called "bouillie bordelaise", an organic treatment and then during the nice season I use some other organic products. Rose food is also very important, the more healthy the rose is the less you'll have to use treatments. Regarding watering I use the water a little at first so the plant is obliged to search water deep inside the ground. The result is less watering for the coming years, except during the very hot period. On the ground I have placed a lot of some small pieces of wood in order to avoid too much work in "cleaning" the ground and it keeps the ground wet longer! It is always better to water a lot every 2 or 3 days then to water a little every day. I am very excited to discover the blossom of my new roses but I know young rose plants needs up to five year to get well established! For my Austin roses I have noticed it is better not to prune too short during the first years, so the plant get stronger and are less prune to fall down on the ground with so long weak arching canes. The fist years are important to "structure" the plants in order to display then their maximum! Deadheading is very important as well to stimulate the re-bloom. I love Austin roses because they look like old roses but do repeat well. I have also some old roses I truly love, but it is so hard to wait an entire year to see during only 2 or 3 weeks the so beloved blossoms... This year I will try again to cross Cardinal de Richelieu (father) and Lady Hillingdon Climbing (mother), the fertility of both is very weak, but they are both triploid, it's gonna be the 4th year I am trying it...
For the old roses, I use to prune them right after flowering and quite nothing in spring, so they get very bushy with lovely leaves. Some of the them take very nice colors in autumn like "Gloire des mousseux" with yellow, orange and purple colors display. Usually I avoid to leave them getting hips as it takes too much energy from the plant.
In spring when I prune my roses I play with cuttings that root easily just like that in the ground near the mother plant; my only concern is that I don't have enough place to have more then one item from each varies....
I have noticed also Bourbon roses do not respond well to hard pruning and most of them hate wet weather, blossom tend to ball which is unpleasant.
World of roses is so passionating, I dream about huge pieces of land to grow all my favorite roses and to try an hybridising program like Paul Barden, Petre Beals, David Austin and Ralph Moor I so respect. I wish american varies to be available in Europe as well. It is also very interesting to communicate with other rose lovers from South America, South Africa and Australia as the seasons are "inverted" so during the European winter, we can get nice pictures and posts... For me, planting a rose in the ground is like a long term love with some negative results but most of them are so satisfactory... Imagine the morning having a coffee on the terrasse smelling the roses before going to the office, such a good morning start! Every year I am so excited to see my roses in blooms and to smell their parfum! Also one of my favorite moment is the Sunday afternoon on the terrasse, after a hot summer day, laying down and having all those parfums around and the display of those incredible colours.....
Anyway, now it's time to work hard in the garden, before enjoying it and I need to do a lot of thing before it but also a lot of patience....
Every spring is a promise of joy, pleasure and happiness in the garden, most of the time the expected result is so huge and satisfactory compered to the work it needs to achieve it....