Treat your garden to

How to make your new plant happy

✽ PICK A HEALTHY PLANT

Many David Austin English Rose varieties are readily available from garden centres, but a specialist rose nursery will have a wider range to choose from. Select a bareroot plant with at least three strong, healthy stems and a good root system with undamaged roots that haven’t withered and dried out. Avoid plants with a few, thin or damaged stems and few or no plump roots. ✽ HELP IT THRIVE

Roses are hungry plants so feed throughout spring and summer with a rose fertiliser such as Toprose Rose & Shrub Feed (£4.50/1kg, homebase.co.uk). And add a layer of compost or well-rotted manure on the soil around the plants in spring.

✽ KEEP IT ALIVE

Roses prefer a warm, sunny position but will grow in partial or light shade. They thrive in almost all types of soil except very chalky soils or those that dry out in summer, and they love heavy clay soil. Whatever your soil, dig in lots of bulky organic matter such as Verve Horse Manure Soil Conditioner (£4.37/50L, diy.com) when planting. In containers, use John Innes No. 3 Compost.

Once your new rose has had a chance to grow its roots deep into the ground, it’ll only need watering during prolonged dry periods in summer. If it’s in a container, you’ll need to water it regularly in spring as well as during the summer months.

Good to know

David Austin English Roses are easy to prune and the best time is when the first leaf buds start to open in late winter. First remove any stems that are dead, dying, diseased or damaged, plus any stems that look dismally weak. Then remove any stems that cross over each other and rub. Finally, chop all the remaining stems by around a third. Job done!

Visit the David Austin Rose Gardens in Albrighton, Shropshire, in summer to see (and smell!) lots of the roses in bloom; davidaustin roses.co.uk

‘Olivia Rose Austin’

To make cut blooms last longer, snip the stems under warm, running water at a 45-degree angle and change the water r recutting the stems when you do.

Line a wooden crate with plastic, make drainage holes, and fill with ‘Lady of Shalott’ (£19.50, d daustinroses.co.uk) for a stunning patio display.

Highlight your new rose by planting alongside an airy plant such as catmint in a contrasting colour. Rose ‘Roald Dahl’, £19.50, davidaustinroses.co.uk

How to make your new plant happy

✽ PICK A HEALTHY PLANT

Plants are available from garden centres and nurseries, as well as online suppliers. They’re usually regarded as alpines so that’s the most likely section to find them in a garden centre. Choose a plant with a good overall hummocky shape and a full covering of healthy, green leaves. If the plant has a poor shape, any dead areas or lots of dying, off-colour or yellowing leaves, don’t buy it!

✽ KEEP IT ALIVE

Saxifrages prefer a semi-shaded position but will tolerate a sunny spot as long as they aren’t in full baking sun in summer and the soil doesn’t dry out. They like a well-drained, alkaline to neutral soil that doesn’t become overly wet so to get plants off to the best start, especially in heavy clay soils, dig in compost or other organic matter such as Levington Organic Blend Soil Conditioner (£5.99/50L, longacres.co.uk). If you think there’s a chance the soil will get soggy in your chosen spot, mix some horticultural grit and/or sharp, gritty sand in Once they’re happily growing in their new homes, saxifrages planted in the ground are unlikely to need any watering except during long, prolonged dry periods. If yours is in a container, then water it around once a week in summer.

✽ HELP IT THRIVE

Feed your saxifrage in spring with a controlled-release fertiliser such as Miracle-Gro All Purpose Continuous Release Plant Food (£3/1kg, diy.com). After flowering, snip off all the old flower stems – this is most easily done with the kitchen scissors. A light sprinkling of sharp sand around and over the plant after it’s finished flowering will help keep the hummocks satisfyingly dense.

Did you know?

The scientific name saxifraga is derived from saxum, meaning stone, and frangere, to break. You might think that this is because these little plants growing on rock might cause the stone to crumble, but it’s because in the past the plant was used to treat kidney stones!

‘Ruby Red’

This little gem ‘Pixi Pan Appleblossom’ (£2.99/9cmpot, cowellsgc.co.uk) will happily grow in any nook sohave a l k e where you can squeeze it in!

Plant an odd number of teeny-tiny terracotta pots for the sweetest of patio-table displays. ‘Flower Carpet’, 50/250 seeds, sarahraven.com

If you’re popping saxifrage into a bed, nestle some pebbles around it to set it off to perfection.