Yesterday I dug out all the roses I hadn't planted in the garden. They are now sitting outside my gate, so if anyone wants them they are welcome to take them. I confess I am not a rose fan. The flower, yes, but the plant, no. If you have the room and the patience to cultivate them, then by all means do so, put them in pots, or their own bed, but beware of the thorns!
As far as I know, one is Iceberg, (white) another is Mr Lincoln, (red) one is a pale pink flower carpet and the other three not sure, possibly Margaret Merril from memory of what my brother told me, but I could be wrong. They have not done particularly well for me and only give maybe two or three blooms at a time, but it could be they are just in the wrong place. However I decide I am over the bush type roses that aren't performing well and look like sticks in the winter. I don't want to plant them at church either even though if they flowered more the roses would smell lovely, I just don't like the thorns. And they are way too much maintenance, Always and forever you need to prune, deadhead and check for diseases which roses are prone to.
There are certainly other flowers that are just as colourful and perfumed that do not have thorns. So I've put in some cannas where some of the roses used to be, and cuttings of lavender.
Some favourite flowers, that are performing well in my garden currently are
Abutilon (red, yellow, white and pink)
Penstemon (pink and white)
Snapdragon (red, pink, white and yellow)
Salvia (blue and purple)
Canna lily (red)
Bromeliad (hot pink and blue)
Love-lies-bleeding (crimson red)
I am hoping at some stage to get to the church garden again to tidy up a messy patch but still now word on whether I can even get another flower bed going, endless wrangling with AT over what land we can use, and it seems like there's a planned deck area next to the church building - the sunniest, sheltered and most ideal place for a flower garden all I need to know is WHERE can I plant. I need a compost bin and a designated place where our flowers are NOT going to be mown over. Lord knows I do not intend to have to mow lawns at church just for the sake of keeping up appearances and doing AT's job. Maybe if they GAVE us a lawnmower or the tools and equipment? Or, better yet, the plants, like groundcovering plants that don't need to be mown? Flowers even?
Ok, maybe am griping a bit but spring is not far away only a couple of months, if we miss the preparation now it will be too wet and sticky to dig.
In my own garden I have a not so endless task list of things that need to be done but I do need to get some sort of trellis up to train the passionfruit vine against the garage wall. So either wires around some stakes or plastic trellis, or better yet a metal grid climbing frame strong enough to stand up on it's own, as the metal hoops aren't really cutting it. I could use them somewhere else or in the community garden to hold up broad beans or other vines.
Well it's dark now hope someone will take the roses as free to a good home, maybe yours? I'm sure there are some people that love looking after roses and they could be worth all the trouble but remember they are high maintenance and need good rose parents who will lavish them with affection (or banana peels) and treat them with kid gloves.
