All about the Roses

My week at Heale was all about the Roses and my hands sure knew about it by Friday night! We were working in some Herbaceous borders called the 'Top Terrace' which amongst many other plants, incorporates some Rosa Rugosa 'Alba'. We renovated it after it had been neglected for a while. It required a lot of dead wood being removed and some serious pruning.

The borders are quite deep and are planted with some beautiful plants: Perovskia atriplicifolia 'Blue Spire' (long name!), which looks kind of ghostly with silvery foliage. Pretty thing.

Buddleja loricata which has fine elongated leaves which have a gorgeous white underside. It will flower with white flowers I am told. Some Viburnums, Hydrangeas, Yukka (which was removed), Romneya which I love and a very old Wisteria with a monkey perched beneath it.

Back to Roses. The Rugosa renovation was great practice for me before we moved onto Ramblers on the Balustrades near the house and Peto's ponds. A different beast, thorny and tangled, like octopus arms all over the place. We began by untying all the shoots and deciding which to keep and which to lose. Follow it up with pruning all the laterals and then tie in again. Sounds easy, I'd say it was a challenge but a fab one! Once it is done it looks fantastic and the plant can breathe a sigh of relief. So can I, these Roses have been around a while and I want it to remain that way! We began with Rosa 'Alberic Barbier' which should smell of an apple but I don't think I got that this Summer. Will try again next year.

Moving onto Rosa 'Crimson Shower' and along to give "Dorothy Perkins' a bit of attention.

HG has the knack of weaving the stems artistically through the balustrades. I need practice! But job done and I was pretty happy with it. All I could hear were Sheep, my Robin fluttering next to me, the Kune kune pigs snuffling around and the odd Pheasant squawking away when startled. The days have been really still.

It is the time of year for cutting back Hellebore leaves and seeing Cyclamen shoot up their flowers. Heale also has many Iris, some of which are coming into flower now. Iris unguicularis, their flower buds hiding in tangled foliage, be sure not to cut back too hard, you will destroy all the emerging flowers. What a beauty of a flower especially now when the garden is pottering off to sleep for the Winter.

Another striking colour in the garden right now is the red of the Cotoneaster berries.

When the sun shines, the autumnal colours really glow.

To top my week I received my WRAGS certificate in the post, just to remind me what it has all been about. Retraining as a Gardener and moving on to working with nature. I have to say, I am loving it!