Saturday 2nd July, 2022
Hi
Hybrid Teas, Floribundas and Shrub roses
No matter how much planning, and I will say there is quite a bit, but the roses just arrive when they arrive. Flooding and wet weather has hampered some down south. The new winter ills and chills delayed others and to my stress they have all seemed to have arrived together, rather late for us with roses and with a huge pile of trees due to arrive next week. It's no mean feat to get them all into bags and into some sort of alphabetical order in record time, keeping aside those that are all ordered. It so easy to misplace a couple of roses out of an arrival of several thousand. You only need to pick one or two up in the wrong groups and then it gets put away in the wrong letter. Too easy to do.
Seeing as we are in the thick of them and I am literally amongst them potting I thought it a relevant time to reflect over the differing flower types as I often get asked. I know that I have written about this before but hey it is always good to revisit and refresh. Though the more roses continue to be bred the lines seem to get more and more blurred.
Hybrid teas (HT)
Hybrid tea (HT) roses are what I consider to be classic roses and the more formal of them all. I always liken them to a cut flower rose or something that you would buy from a florist so that gives most a mental picture of the form. I will quickly add here that cut flower roses are not garden roses and have been bred to perform under glass for the cut flower market. Glass house roses wont perform in the harshness of our gardens.
Hybrid tea roses should have tight high centred buds that give that classic look, often one bloom per stem but this is less prevalent with the more modern cultivars of these kind. Usually HTs have many petals and its the petal number and the long stems that attract those that like to pick these for the vase as they often last the longest in water.
Loving Memory is a classic HT that I love, This one has huge red flowers on tall stems and makes also for a great shrub in the garden as it also has masses of flowers once it gets going.
Floribundas (Fl) Cluster flower roses
Floribundas (Fl) or cluster flower roses can still have beautiful buds but usually can have less petals than HTs and also many buds per stem so that when you pick a stem you almost have a bunch of flowers. Floribundas look fab in the garden because they put on a mass display of flowers and so you could just imagine a bed of these beauties. A classic Fl that you will all know will be the well renown
Iceberg rose and so you now have a mental picture of a classic Fl.
Shrub Roses.. Austins and Others
Shrub roses are just that shrubs for the garden though there are some pretty famous shrub roses like those of the English bred
Austins that have so much favour here. Austin roses have been bred to look old and come from David
Austins breeding between modern roses and old fashioned so that they combine the best characteristics of all, repeat flowering, better healthy plants and of course that old fashioned look that steals so many hearts.
Of course there are other shrub roses other than the Austin series and whilst we don't have any currently the flower carpet series is a good example of modern shrub roses. I could generalise here but the problem of doing that in horticulture is that once you say something then there is always an exception that doesn't fit the rule. So to generalise anyway most shrub roses are shrubby and bush like and often with a single or semi double flowers and are great garden roses that usually repeat well.
Lavender Dream is a goodie shrub rose and is always in flower with lavender pink semi double flowers that smother a bush that suits a sunny spot in any garden.
Abraham Darby is a gorgeous shrub rose with deeply cupped, very fragrant blooms in shades of warm apricot and pink.
Falstaff named after a Shakespearean character this beautiful rose smells as delicious as it looks. Large cupped blooms of rich dark crimson fading to a pleasing rich purple.
Of course these are not the only grouping of roses as roses have been with us from what must seem almost the beginning of time. For example Bourbons, Chinas and Tea rose just to name drop a few though these selections of roses haven't arrived in stock just yet.
Come and meet the Waikato Rose Society this weekend
This weekend is here and the the Waikato Rose Society will be here at the Nursery.
Saturday 2nd July 1pm - 3pm
Sunday 3rd July 11am- 1pm
It doesn't have to be about how to prune though I imagine that will be uppermost in our minds at this time of the year. You may have questions about the different sprays to use for different seasons. When to feed and what to feed? Come on out with a list like you would when you go to the doctor and I know for a fact that these guys just love sharing what they know.
If you asked me, not all roses are created equal and some need more care than say others so get help with reliable cultivars. Or if its one of those more tricky cultivars then the guys will give the best tips. I'm sure that what ever the question there will be some one there who will give an informed answer.
This weekend is the last one and we have one more session left and this is next Thursday
Thursday 7th July 11am - 1pm
I don't know where the time goes at this time of year but I have found a pretty quick and easy dish to make for dinner from Annabel Langbeins cook book Best ever meals for busy lives. Of course I slightly modified it and served mine with pork steaks but it could be a quick meal on its own. This is what I did
Spiced Chick peas with Haloumi
In a cast iron pot lightly sauté 3 chopped dried chillies (as much or as little as you like) or chilli flakes with 1 tspn of fennel seeds in some olive oil until fragrant.
I then added 1 finely chopped onion and 4 cloves of crushed garlic and sauté some more.
Add 1, 400g can of drained and washed Chick peas, and 1, 200g packet of diced Haloumi cheese and keep on a low heat. I found that on too hotter setting made the Haloumi melt too much. Now add two 2tspn of ground cumin. 1 tspn brown sugar, salt and pepper to taste and throw in a 400 gm can of cherry tomatoes and 1 tble spoon of tomato paste and bring to a simmer.
Throw in 5 to 6 handfuls of spinach leaves and wilt off and you are ready to serve. Too easy! I used NZ spinach from the garden. A great plant to have in the vege patch as there are always leaves to pluck and the other night when I made it I didn't have canned cherry tomatoes so I used tinned chopped tomatoes and served with pork steaks or the second time I made with pork sausages.
The shortest day and longest night is now past us and so we are now back on the incline for longer days. Hope they roll in quickly.
Whatever your plans for the weekend make sure that its full of fun with friends family and of course gardening.
Have a great weekend.
Cheers from Lloyd, Tony and the Wairere team.
