W ! N E OK LO
ROSE GROWING SPECIAL! June 13, 2015
B rit a in'sed st m o st t ru in vo ice g a rd e n in g
7
Encliandra fuchsias for unusual summer colour!
✔ Carol Klein: "My favourite climbing roses" ✔ How to grow easy Rosa rugosa ✔ Rose recipes: Home-made lip balm and pretty rose cupcakes!
S D E E S E FRE 1.99!
Worth
£
Plant out your tender beans Save & sow hellebore seed
3 steps to start of Oriental veg
Best-ever
roses!
g! Celebrate 800 years of rose growin Choose tried & tested varieties
HOW TO PRUNE HOUSEPLANTHSOT! Clematis montana THAT LIKE ITervatories Top varieties for cons
AboutNOW
Sky’s the limit for new rose Top 2016 variety beats seven other fnalists to Rose of the Year title this easy-to-grow variety are complemented by highly disease-resistant foliage on a 1m (39in) by 0.5m (20in) bush. Breeders submit their most promising varieties to the rolling two-year-long trials at various sites around the country. Plant performance, flower form, health and ease of maintenance are all characteristics considered before awarding the Rose of the Year accolade.
Words Ian Hodgson
R w Kordes
Rose of the Year 2016: ‘Sunny Sky’
ose of the Year for 2016, ‘Sunny Sky’ is set to debut at this month’s Hampton Court Palace Flower Show. The large-blossomed, repeatflowering Hybrid Tea, bred by German breeder W Kordes, will showcase in this year’s Festival of Roses at the premier event from June 30. The elegant soft yellow flowers and fruity fragrance of
The shortlist
Harkness Roses
Hybrid Tea. Named in memory of the much-loved actress (above left). Light, spicy perfume. Strong, compact habit to 80cm (32in).
Apuldram Roses
David Austin Roses
Shu erstock
‘Lynda Bellingham’
‘Desdemona’
‘Lilac Wine‘
Musk Hybrid. Peachy buds open to pure white fowers. Intense myrrh fragrance. Good weather resistance. Broad, open growth. Height: 1.2m (4ft)
Floribunda. Dark pink buds open to large lilac fowers fading to pale pink. Dark glossy disease-resistant foliage. Light perfume. Height and spread: 1m (3ft 4in).
Fryer’s Roses
Style Roses
Apuldram Roses
Style Roses
‘Wonderful You’
‘W B Yeats’
‘Moorcroft’
‘Blue Diamond’
Hybrid Tea. Produces up to six eye-catching blooms per stem. Excellent disease resistance. Light fragrance. Height: 90cm-1.2m (3-4ft).
Floribunda. Named to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the poet. Light perfume. Disease-resistant foliage. Height: 1m (3ft 4in).
Floribunda. Fragrant single violet-red blooms fade to lilac, silver reverse. Long fowering to late autumn. Compact habit to 60-90cm (2-3ft).
Hybrid Tea. Pink buds open silvery grey-lilac. Strong fragrance. Repeat fowering. Lush, mid-green foliage on a 1m (3ft 4in) shrub.
4 Garden News / June 13 2015
R ose Special
Simple papery flowers and pleated leaves are rugosa rose hallmarks
Plant
OF THE WEEK
5 varieties to try
Garden World Images
A delicate beauty belies the strength of these hardy tough customers
R
ugosa roses have something of a split personality – the fragile beauty of their flowers contrast with a strong constitution and fiercely spiny stems. They are among the first roses to appear in late May and early June, with single or double flowers emerging from abundant pleated foliage – either singly or in clusters, depending on variety. Very sweetly scented, the papery flowers can be white, apricot-yellow or shades of magenta and purple-red, and they all have a classic rose fragrance. ‘Fimbriata’ and ‘Grootendoorst’ varieties are unusual, with small crimped flowers that look more like pinks than roses. Some rugosa roses flower just once or sporadically throughout the summer, while others such as double white-flowered ‘Blanche Double de Coubert’ or
Fa ct
purple-crimson ‘Roseraie de l’Haÿ’ will keep flowering all summer and into autumn. Decorative, globular hips follow the flowers, so if you want a good show of hips don’t deadhead spent flowers. These roses can be semi evergreen or deciduous, with foliage that turns to gold and yellow in autumn. Rosa rugosa make substantial bushy plants, reaching around 1.5-2m (5-7ft) so they’re ideal to grow as a specimen shrub in a large border or as a perfumed hedge.
Photo:s David Austin
Rosa rugosa ‘Agnes’ An unusual colour and traditional double rose shape. Agnes fowers profusely in early summer and again sporadically towards the end of the summer.
‘Roseraie de l’Haÿ’ Sumptuous perfume and huge purple-crimson double fowers make this rose unforgettable.
‘Blanche Double de Coubert’ Flowering almost nonstop, this variety is over 100 years old and still one of the best.
Keep them happy Plant Rosa rugosa into welldrained, moderately fertile soil. Plants will cope with poor soil and shade, but they produce the best flowers on humus-rich soil in full sun. Mulch and feed with a balanced granular feed before flowering in early spring, and again in early summer.
In Japan, these roses are found growing wild in sand dunes and scrub. They make great plants for windy coastal gardens.
Subscribe now for £1 an issue! Go to www.greatmagazines.co.uk/gn
‘Fru Dagmar Hastrup’
‘Alba’
Single fowers appear in two fushes, the second in late summer at the same time as the previous fowers’ hips.
A good choice for informal hedging, this is a vigorous, rose with large red hips and fragrant single fowers.
● All these roses are available from Chelsea gold medallists David Austin roses, tel: 01902 376300; www.davidaustinroses.co.uk
June 13 2015 / Garden News 5
WHAT TO DO Meet the tea m
Clare Foggett
Ian Hodgson
Horticulturist Clare’s 50m (165ft) garden is home to fruit, cut flowers and ornamental borders.
Kew-trained horticulturist and garden designer. Previously with the RHS, Ian is interested in all aspects of gardening.
If y o u d o ju st o n e jo b...
THIS WEEK
Victoria Williams A keen new gardener who is hoping to get her first allotment soon.
Wait until plants are well-rooted and hardened off
Plant out tender beans These fast-growing plants don’t like to hang about!
N
Neil Hepworth
ow the risk of frost is well and truly over, it’s time to plant out your French and runner beans. If you sowed these tender beans in the greenhouse back in late April or May, they’ll be ready to go out into the garden about now. These quick growing plants don’t like to hang about, Once planted, so as soon as the roots start loosely tie stems showing through the bottom to encourage of the pots, it’s time to get them to twine them out into the soil. Make sure plants are hardened off newspaper and organic matter in the bottom properly, and that the soil is well prepared. before planting their runner beans. Beans love soil that’s rich in organic matter Proper support is vital for climbing French – many gardeners dig a trench about 30cm beans and runner beans. Use 2.5m (8ft) canes (1ft) deep and put a layer of shredded pushed well into the soil and tied together at
the top either in a row or a wigwam. Always put in supports before sowing or planting beans. You can make a permanent climbing frame for runner beans as they’re happy to grow in the same soil year after year.
Three varieties to sow now for a later crop
Dobies
Su ons
Su ons
‘Speedy’
‘Hestia’
‘Stanley’
The clue’s in the name! This rapid-growing dwarf French bean can produce pods for harvesting in an incredible two months from sowing. Available from Suttons Seeds, tel: 0844 922 0606.
Has lovely red and white fowers and is a true dwarf, growing to only 45cm (18in) high. Available from Suttons Seeds, tel: 0844 922 0606 and Thompson & Morgan, tel: 0844 573 1818.
Great for flling in gaps after early crops have been harvested, this dwarf French bean crops heavily after just 10 weeks from sowing. Available from Dobies of Devon, tel: 0844 701 7625
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June 13 2015 / Garden News 31
What to do this week
IN YOUR FLOWER GARDEN
St e p by st e p
1
Check the pods as they mature and open a few to test the seed. When it’s brown and ripe, pick the pods before they naturally open and drop the seed.
Collect and sow hellebore seed
2
Sow the seed in pots or trays of compost using a well-drained mix. Fill with compost, level, lightly firm and sow the fresh seed evenly on the surface.
They hybridise easily and your new plants will have a variety of diferent coloured fowers, says Victoria
H
3
Cover over with fine grit or a thin layer of the compost, label and water well. Stand the containers in a cold frame or outside in a sheltered position.
Garden News RECOMMENDS
Ashwood Nurseries
Ashwood Nurseries
32 Garden News / June 13 2015
winter can start to look tatty. Cut all the old foliage and stems back to ground level in late winter as soon as the new growth and flowers are seen in the centre of the clump. This not only instantly tidies up the clump, but also means that you can see the flowers as they develop and open in early spring. As the flowers open, a new flush of healthy leaves will follow.
in a wide range of colours from white through various shades of pink to deep purple, and many also have attractive marking and spots on the petals. These named hybrids are also easy to grow and will thrive in most soil types from sandy loam to clay and, once established, the clump will get bigger and better each year. The dark green, leathery leaves are evergreen, but by late
Mr Fothergill’s
ellebores make a great display in the garden from February through until April, and you can make more plants by collecting and sowing their ripe seed. After flowering, fat seed pods will develop on the plants and, if left, they will pop open in early summer and cast their seed on the soil around the plant. In some soils the seed will germinate and next spring hundreds of hellebore seedlings will appear. But you can also collect some of the pods and sow the seeds in containers to grow your own new plants. The great thing about hellebores is they hybridise easily and the new plants will have a variety of different flower colours. The plants take at least two years to reach flowering size but it’s worth the wait to see what exciting colours you get. The oriental hellebores and the many different hybrids that are available are excellent value for money and have a long flowering period. Flowers come
‘Christmas Rose’
‘Cherry Frost’
‘Phoebe’
Charming snow-white blooms, bringing floral flourish in winter. Seed from Mr Fothergill’s, tel: 0845 371 0518.
White single form, with a delicate red flush and spot around the centre. Available from Ashwood Nurseries, tel: 01384 401996.
A double form with fine spo ing to the pink petals. Reliably flowers from late January to April. From Ashwood Nurseries.