Watering - how much and how often?

We are finally getting some warm weather, here in Kalangadoo, and that's always exciting for us because it means our plants in the field start flowering, our potted plants are growing and beautiful colours will soon cover our nursery.

For you, it's certainly time to start enjoying your new roses and make sure you're giving them all they need in this first period.

And if you missed some plants in the bare root season and want to add more roses to your collection, don't worry; you won't need to wait for next winter as we have many varieties available in a pot, ready to be posted to you today.

Black Forest is a Winner!

Black Forest, one of our beautiful new releases this year, is the big winner of 2019 National Rose Trial Garden of Australia, announced last 29th October in Adelaide.

A well deserved Gold Medal for this reliable landscaping rose with a profuse amount of blooms in an unfading, shining red and remarkable health.

We love this new variety and we've just potted some plants, that are available now online and will be more established and ready to be planted in your garden in 2-3 weeks (pre-order them now to avoid disappointment).

Black Forest will also be available again as bare rooted plant next winter.

Order Black Forest here

Rose Trial Garden Awards

Every year, at the end of October, one of the main awards in the world is announced to Australian rose breeders and growers (and rose lovers, of course).

After 2 years trial in Adelaide's Botanic Garden, the winning roses are announced and we are happy to say we are growing many of these champions.

Golden Eye is our 2019 Release and just won a Bronze Medal; Floriana, Princess Claire of Belgium, Espresso and Miss Jane will be our 2020 Releases - details will be released in the next month - and all received a Medal or a Certificate of Merit.

David Austin varieties Thomas a Becket(Auswinston) ® and The Lady Gardener (Ausbrass) ® also received some awards and confirmed to be great rose plants, that we've been successfully growing for the last 2 years.

In your garden this month...

One of the most common questions we are asked in this period of the year regards watering:

"How much should I water my roses?"

"Better a little every day or a lot only once a week?"...

Brian's answer is always the same... And it'll probably surprise you.

Always Deep Water your Roses

Sometimes we think we are giving enough water to our roses, watering them every day, with a hose and up to 1 minute for each plant... But we are not happy with their growth; it's already summer and they should be bigger and more vigorous.

What are we doing wrong?

"A good way to check if all the water you're giving is enough for your plant is to dig a spade depth hole nearby the rose, the day after you watered it - Brian explains - and check if the soil has got moisture or it's still dry".

Deep watering is the way to have beautiful roses. "Water your roses for 10 or 15 minutes if necessary, once or twice a week. The roots spread very deeply and need water up to their very end. Watering a little every day it's often not enough because it doesn't reach the deepest roots of the plant".

Mulching around the plant is another good way to keep your rose plants always moistured, especially with warmer months approaching.

Eco-Friendly Potted Roses

Just like you, we are committed to help our planet and reduce the impact of plastic and chemicals on our environment.

As commercial growers, it's not that easy to change our production habits and go totally plastic-free in a short time, but we've decided to try our best and start from our packaging.

As you'll see when you'll receive our potted roses, we are now using compostable bags - made of corn and totally plastic-free - and jute string to deliver our roses to you.

Our pots are all made with recycled plastic and can be reused many more times.

We are now working on our gift-wrapped potted roses, and I'm sure we'll find soon an elegant and plastic-free wrapping for them as well.

Stay tuned and follow our progress, and don't hesitate to give us some ideas to improve.

Did You Know...?

In our effort to reduce chemicals at our nursery, we are proud to say that we hardly use insecticides on our plants.

On average, only once every 2 years we use a commercial product specific for aphids, without harming predatory insects though (those beautiful ladybirds, for example...).

If you enjoyed reading this Newsletter, suggest it to your friends and rose lovers around you.

We send out our News every 1st day of the month.

If you have a question or a particular subject you want us to write about, please let us know.

Send an email to [email protected] and we'll do our best to help you.

Grazie e a presto!

Benedetta